Shootouts

Intel Z370 motherboard shootout: New CPUs, new boards

By Koh Wanzi - 14 Feb 2018

Benchmark performance

Benchmark performance

 

SYSmark 2014 SE

SYSmark is a general productivity benchmark suite that measures the response times of tasks on a PC using real-world applications like Microsoft Office 2013 and Adobe Photoshop and simulated user input. Task response times are used to generate a performance rating that reflects actual user experience, so the faster a PC responds to application workloads, the higher its score will be. The method of measuring response times can take many forms, such as the time it takes for an application to show a pop-up completion message, or how long it takes a progress dialog to disappear and for a user to regain application control.

The 2014 SE version of SYSmark adds a new Responsiveness usage model, where the system's ability to react quickly to user input affects the overall user experience. This means situations where the system needs to respond smoothly and quickly, such as with application launches, multi-tab web browsing, file copying, and background app installation.

Unsurprisingly, there’s little to distinguish the boards in SYSmark, and they performed very similarly given the otherwise identical configurations. But even though the Gigabyte board looks like it is the bottom performer in terms of overall scores, the difference between the ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero and the former is just under 3 per cent - which is within a reasonable tolerance of deviation.

 

SPECviewperf 12.1

SPECviewperf is used to assess the 3D graphics performance of systems in professional applications. Each individual workload, called a viewset, represents graphics and content from an actual real-world application. SPECviewperf actually runs a total of eight different viewsets, but we’ve picked the four which have the greatest performance variation across CPUs display here.

The 3ds-max viewset comes from traces of the graphics workload generated by 3ds Max 2016, while maya-04 is derived from Autodesk’s Maya 2013 application. The catia-04 viewset involves the numerous rendering modes from the CATIA V6 R2012 application, and includes things like anti-aliasing, depth of field, and ambient occlusion. Finally, the sw-03 viewset comes from SolidWorks 2013 SP1, and involves various rendering modes including environment maps

Performance was similarly close in SPECviewperf 12.1, but the Gigabyte board acquitted itself quite well here, coming ahead in the 3ds-max and maya-04 viewsets.

 

Cinebench R15

Cinebench is a benchmark tool used to compare CPU performance across different systems, so we’ll be using it to evaluate how well our Intel Core i7-8700K plays with the different motherboards. The multi-threaded test scenario uses all of the system’s processing power – it can utilize up to 256 threads – to render a photorealistic 3D scene, making use of various algorithms to stress all available processor cores. Conversely, the single-core test stresses just one core.

A meager 0.97 per cent separates the Gigabyte and ASUS motherboards – the bottom and top performing boards respectively – in the multi-threaded benchmarks. Similarly, there was little to distinguish them in the single-core benchmark.

The Gigabyte board may have ended up at the bottom in both cases, but it’s really nothing you’re going to notice in real-world use.

 

3DMark

3DMark is a synthetic gaming benchmark that tests graphics and computational performance at different resolutions, starting at 1080p and going all the way up to 4K. A series of two graphics test, one physics test, and then a combined test stresses your hardware in turn to assess its performance.

We’ve also teased out the Physics and CPU scores for the Fire Strike and Time Spy tests and compiled them in separate tables to give a better idea of CPU performance on each board.

The results were similarly unremarkable here, and are pretty much too close to call. 3DMark scores can vary up to 3 per cent between runs, so for all practical intents and purposes, there’s once again no significant difference here.

 

Ashes of the Singularity

Ashes of the Singularity is one of the few CPU-bound games out there, if you’re playing on lower resolutions and settings that is.

The numbers pretty much speak for themselves, and it’s safe to say that in this case at least, benchmark performance isn’t going to be a major factor in your decision as to where to put your money. What’s more, there was never a single board that consistently took the lead, and they all traded blows for the most part.

These benchmark figures are therefore more useful in sussing out a board that performs below expectations, but they all managed to keep pace with each other.

 

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is one of the most demanding games out there right now, where the GPU is a major limiting factor.

The same story repeats itself in Mankind Divided, and there’s really little point in splitting hairs over these minuscule performance differences.

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