ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ Motherboard Review
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System Benchmarks
When running the SuperPI 32MB benchmark, we are calculating Pi to 32 million digits and timing the process. Obviously more CPU power helps in this intense calculation, but the memory sub-system also plays an important role, as does the operating system. We are running one instance of SuperPi via the HyperPi 0.99b interface. This is therefore a single-thread workload.
wPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton's method for estimating functions, with f(x)=x2-k, where k is the number we're sqrting, until Sgn(f(x)/f'(x)) does not equal that of the previous iteration, starting with an estimation of k/2. It then uses an iterative calling of the estimation method a set amount of times to increase the accuracy of the results. It then confirms that n(k)2=k to ensure the calculation was correct. It repeats this for all numbers from 1 to the requested maximum. This is a highly multi-threaded workload.
Cinebench R10 64-bit
Test1: Single CPU Image Render
Test2: Multi CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score
Developed by MAXON, creators of Cinema 4D, Cinebench 10 is designed using the popular Cinema software and created to compare system performance in 3D Animation and Photo applications. There are two parts to the test; the first stresses only the primary CPU or Core, the second, makes use of up to 16 CPUs/Cores. Both are done rendering a realistic photo while utilizing various CPU-intensive features such as reflection, ambient occlusion, area lights and procedural shaders
Cinebench R11.5 64-bit
Test1: CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score
The latest benchmark from MAXON, Cinebench R11.5 makes use of all your system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene using various different algorithms to stress all available processor cores. The test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects containing more than 300,000 total polygons and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights and shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. This particular benchmarking can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. The result is given in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor.
PCMark 7 v1.0.4
PCMark Suite / Default Settings
Comparison: Generated Score
The main focus of our General Tasks category lies with the most recent installment of the PCMark series, Vantage. While still classified under the description of a Synthetic benchmark, PCMark Vantage uses many of Vista's (Note - Vantage is Vista-only) built-in programs and features along with its own tests, so it is "real-world" applicable in regards to CPU performance. The following is a general list of the tests in the PCMark suite, very much in line with tasks of an average user: Data encryption, Data compression, CPU image manipulation (compression/decompression/resize), Audio transcoding, Video transcoding, Text editing, Web page rendering, Windows Mail, Windows Contacts, and CPU game test.
Lame Front End v1.0 is a single-threaded application, which means that it only utilizes a single processor core. This will obviously limit performance but it will allow us to see the benefits of Lynnfield aggressive Turbo Boost with single-threaded loads. We will be encoding a WAV rip of Santana’s Supernatural album and converting it to MP3 using the highest fidelity VBR 0 quality preset.
For the image editing portion of this review, we will use Photoshop CS4 in coordination with Driver Heaven’s Photoshop Benchmark V3, which is an excellent test of CPU power and memory bandwidth. This is a scripted benchmark that individually applies 15 different filters to a 109MB JPEG, and uses Photoshop’s built-in timing feature to provide a result at each test stage. Then it’s simply a matter of adding up the 15 results to reach the final figure.
x264 HD Benchmark v1.0
Test: MPEG-2 HD 720P Video Clip Conversion to x264
DVD Video Length: 30 Seconds
Comparison: FPS of Second Pass
x264 is quickly becoming the new codec of choice for encoding a growing number of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC videos. Think of it as the new Divx of HD and you can understand why we felt it critical to include. Tech Arp's recent development of the x264 HD Benchmark takes a 30 second HD video clip and encodes it into the x264 codec with the intention of little to no quality loss. The test is measured using the average frames per second achieved during encoding, which scales with processor speed and efficiency. The benchmark also allows the use of multi-core processors so it gives a very accurate depiction of what to expect when using encoding application on a typical full length video.
WinRAR 3.94 x64
Test: Compression of 1GB of Assorted Files
Comparison: Time to Finish
One of the most popular file compression/decompresion tools, we use WinRAR to compress a 1GB batch of files and archive them, timing the task until completion.
9.20 x64
Test: Compression/Extraction of 1GB of Assorted Files, with AES-256 encryption
Comparison: Time to Finish
Here we ran into an I/O limitation when extracting. Our hard drive simply isn’t fast enough to write the data being extracted by highly clocked AES NI-capable chips (Sandy Bridge/Gulftown/Clarkdale).
System Benchmarks
SuperPi Mod v1.5
When running the SuperPI 32MB benchmark, we are calculating Pi to 32 million digits and timing the process. Obviously more CPU power helps in this intense calculation, but the memory sub-system also plays an important role, as does the operating system. We are running one instance of SuperPi via the HyperPi 0.99b interface. This is therefore a single-thread workload.
wPRIME 2.03
wPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton's method for estimating functions, with f(x)=x2-k, where k is the number we're sqrting, until Sgn(f(x)/f'(x)) does not equal that of the previous iteration, starting with an estimation of k/2. It then uses an iterative calling of the estimation method a set amount of times to increase the accuracy of the results. It then confirms that n(k)2=k to ensure the calculation was correct. It repeats this for all numbers from 1 to the requested maximum. This is a highly multi-threaded workload.
Cinebench R10
Cinebench R10 64-bit
Test1: Single CPU Image Render
Test2: Multi CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score
Developed by MAXON, creators of Cinema 4D, Cinebench 10 is designed using the popular Cinema software and created to compare system performance in 3D Animation and Photo applications. There are two parts to the test; the first stresses only the primary CPU or Core, the second, makes use of up to 16 CPUs/Cores. Both are done rendering a realistic photo while utilizing various CPU-intensive features such as reflection, ambient occlusion, area lights and procedural shaders
Cinebench R11.5
Cinebench R11.5 64-bit
Test1: CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score
The latest benchmark from MAXON, Cinebench R11.5 makes use of all your system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene using various different algorithms to stress all available processor cores. The test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects containing more than 300,000 total polygons and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights and shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. This particular benchmarking can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. The result is given in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor.
PCMark 7
PCMark 7 v1.0.4
PCMark Suite / Default Settings
Comparison: Generated Score
The main focus of our General Tasks category lies with the most recent installment of the PCMark series, Vantage. While still classified under the description of a Synthetic benchmark, PCMark Vantage uses many of Vista's (Note - Vantage is Vista-only) built-in programs and features along with its own tests, so it is "real-world" applicable in regards to CPU performance. The following is a general list of the tests in the PCMark suite, very much in line with tasks of an average user: Data encryption, Data compression, CPU image manipulation (compression/decompression/resize), Audio transcoding, Video transcoding, Text editing, Web page rendering, Windows Mail, Windows Contacts, and CPU game test.
Lame Front End
Lame Front End v1.0 is a single-threaded application, which means that it only utilizes a single processor core. This will obviously limit performance but it will allow us to see the benefits of Lynnfield aggressive Turbo Boost with single-threaded loads. We will be encoding a WAV rip of Santana’s Supernatural album and converting it to MP3 using the highest fidelity VBR 0 quality preset.
Photoshop CS4
For the image editing portion of this review, we will use Photoshop CS4 in coordination with Driver Heaven’s Photoshop Benchmark V3, which is an excellent test of CPU power and memory bandwidth. This is a scripted benchmark that individually applies 15 different filters to a 109MB JPEG, and uses Photoshop’s built-in timing feature to provide a result at each test stage. Then it’s simply a matter of adding up the 15 results to reach the final figure.
x264 HD Benchmark
x264 HD Benchmark v1.0
Test: MPEG-2 HD 720P Video Clip Conversion to x264
DVD Video Length: 30 Seconds
Comparison: FPS of Second Pass
x264 is quickly becoming the new codec of choice for encoding a growing number of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC videos. Think of it as the new Divx of HD and you can understand why we felt it critical to include. Tech Arp's recent development of the x264 HD Benchmark takes a 30 second HD video clip and encodes it into the x264 codec with the intention of little to no quality loss. The test is measured using the average frames per second achieved during encoding, which scales with processor speed and efficiency. The benchmark also allows the use of multi-core processors so it gives a very accurate depiction of what to expect when using encoding application on a typical full length video.
WinRAR
WinRAR 3.94 x64
Test: Compression of 1GB of Assorted Files
Comparison: Time to Finish
One of the most popular file compression/decompresion tools, we use WinRAR to compress a 1GB batch of files and archive them, timing the task until completion.
7-Zip
9.20 x64
Test: Compression/Extraction of 1GB of Assorted Files, with AES-256 encryption
Comparison: Time to Finish
Here we ran into an I/O limitation when extracting. Our hard drive simply isn’t fast enough to write the data being extracted by highly clocked AES NI-capable chips (Sandy Bridge/Gulftown/Clarkdale).
Gaming Benchmarks
3DMark06 v1.2.0
Graphic Settings: Default
Resolution: 1280X1024
Test: Specific CPU Score and Full Run 3Dmarks
Comparison: Generated Score
The Futuremark 3DMark series has been a part of the backbone in computer and hardware reviews since its conception. The trend continues today as 3DMark06 provides consumers with a solid synthetic benchmark geared for performance and comparison in the 3D gaming realm. This remains one of the most sought after statistics, as well as an excellent tool for accurate CPU comparison, and it will undoubtedly be used for years to come.
3DMark Vantage v1.0.2
Graphic Settings: Performance Preset
Resolution: 1280X1024
Test: Specific CPU Score and Full Run 3Dmarks
Comparison: Generated Score
3DMark Vantage is the follow-up to the highly successful 3DMark06. It uses DirectX 10 exclusively so if you are running Windows XP, you can forget about this benchmark. Along with being a very capable graphics card testing application, it also has very heavily multi-threaded CPU tests, such Physics Simulation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which makes it a good all-around gaming benchmark.
Crysis v1.21
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti Aliasing: 0
Quality Settings: High
Global Settings: DX10 / 64-Bit
Test 1: Ice benchmark_CPU2 demo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Still one of the most hardware intensive game on the market today, Crysis has been chosen for its obvious ability to be able to showcase the differences between platforms and to showcase just how far one will need to go in the quest for maximum performance. The game also features the renowned CryEngine, the power behind the incredible graphics, which is expected to be foundation of future titles.
Far Cry 2 1.02
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti Aliasing: 0
Quality Settings: Very High
Global Settings: DX10 Enabled
Test 1: Ranch Long Demo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Far Cry 2 is the hot new new first-person shooter from Ubisoft's Montreal studio, and the first game to utilize the new visually stunning Dunia Engine, which will undoubtedly be used by numerous future games. Using the included Benchmarking Tool, we ran the Long Ranch demo in DX10 mode at 1680x1050 with all settings set to very high.
X3: Terran Conflict 1.2.0.0
Resolution: 1680x1050
Texture Quality: High
Shader Quality: High
Antialiasing 4X
Anisotropic Mode: None
Glow Enabled
Game Benchmark
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Left 4 Dead (Latest Update)
Resolution: 1680x1050
Filtering: 4X MSAA / Anisotropic 8X
Graphic Settings: High
Shader Detail: Very High
Test 1: HWC Custom Timedemo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Left 4 Dead is the latest disorienting, fast-paced zombie apocalypse mega-hit from Valve. L4D uses the latest version of the Source engine with enhancements such as multi-core processor support and physics-based animation. We test here at 1680x1050 with in-game details set to their highest levels, with MSAA 4X and AA 8X. For benching, we used a pre-recorded 20 minute timedemo taken on the No Mercy campaign during The Apartments mission.
Team Fortress 2 (Latest Update)
Resolution: 1680x1050
Filtering: 4X MSAA / Anisotropic 8X
Graphic Settings: High
Texture Detail: Very High
Test 1: HWC Custom Timedemo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
We test here at 1680x1050 with in-game details set to their highest levels, with MSAA 4X and AA 8X. For benching, we used a pre-recorded 20 minute timedemo taken on the cp_dustbowl map.
Valve Particle Simulation Benchmark
Default
Comparison: Particle Performance Metric
Originally intended to demonstrate new processing effects added to Half Life 2: Episode 2 and future projects, the particle benchmark condenses what can be found throughout HL2:EP2 and combines it all into one small but deadly package. This test does not symbolize the performance scale for just Episode Two exclusively, but also for many other games and applications that utilize multi-core processing and particle effects. As you will see the benchmark does not score in FPS but rather in its own "Particle Performance Metric", which is useful for direct CPU comparisons.
Resident Evil 5 1.0.0.129
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti-Aliasing: Off
Motion Blur: Off
Shadow Detail: High
Texture Detail: High
Overall Quality: High
Test 1: Built-in Timedemo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
World in Conflict v1.010
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti-Aliasing: 4X
Anisotropic Filtering: 4X
Graphic Settings: Very High
Test 1: Built-in Benchmark
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
One of the most visually stunning real-time strategy games in recent history, World in Conflict can really push systems to the brink, which is what we attempt by running the game in DirectX 10 mode at 1680x1050 with all settings maxed out. For this test we used the in-game benchmarking tool.
Gaming Benchmarks
Futuremark 3DMark06
3DMark06 v1.2.0
Graphic Settings: Default
Resolution: 1280X1024
Test: Specific CPU Score and Full Run 3Dmarks
Comparison: Generated Score
The Futuremark 3DMark series has been a part of the backbone in computer and hardware reviews since its conception. The trend continues today as 3DMark06 provides consumers with a solid synthetic benchmark geared for performance and comparison in the 3D gaming realm. This remains one of the most sought after statistics, as well as an excellent tool for accurate CPU comparison, and it will undoubtedly be used for years to come.
Futuremark 3DMark Vantage
3DMark Vantage v1.0.2
Graphic Settings: Performance Preset
Resolution: 1280X1024
Test: Specific CPU Score and Full Run 3Dmarks
Comparison: Generated Score
3DMark Vantage is the follow-up to the highly successful 3DMark06. It uses DirectX 10 exclusively so if you are running Windows XP, you can forget about this benchmark. Along with being a very capable graphics card testing application, it also has very heavily multi-threaded CPU tests, such Physics Simulation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which makes it a good all-around gaming benchmark.
Crysis
Crysis v1.21
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti Aliasing: 0
Quality Settings: High
Global Settings: DX10 / 64-Bit
Test 1: Ice benchmark_CPU2 demo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Still one of the most hardware intensive game on the market today, Crysis has been chosen for its obvious ability to be able to showcase the differences between platforms and to showcase just how far one will need to go in the quest for maximum performance. The game also features the renowned CryEngine, the power behind the incredible graphics, which is expected to be foundation of future titles.
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 1.02
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti Aliasing: 0
Quality Settings: Very High
Global Settings: DX10 Enabled
Test 1: Ranch Long Demo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Far Cry 2 is the hot new new first-person shooter from Ubisoft's Montreal studio, and the first game to utilize the new visually stunning Dunia Engine, which will undoubtedly be used by numerous future games. Using the included Benchmarking Tool, we ran the Long Ranch demo in DX10 mode at 1680x1050 with all settings set to very high.
X3: Terran Conflict
X3: Terran Conflict 1.2.0.0
Resolution: 1680x1050
Texture Quality: High
Shader Quality: High
Antialiasing 4X
Anisotropic Mode: None
Glow Enabled
Game Benchmark
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead (Latest Update)
Resolution: 1680x1050
Filtering: 4X MSAA / Anisotropic 8X
Graphic Settings: High
Shader Detail: Very High
Test 1: HWC Custom Timedemo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Left 4 Dead is the latest disorienting, fast-paced zombie apocalypse mega-hit from Valve. L4D uses the latest version of the Source engine with enhancements such as multi-core processor support and physics-based animation. We test here at 1680x1050 with in-game details set to their highest levels, with MSAA 4X and AA 8X. For benching, we used a pre-recorded 20 minute timedemo taken on the No Mercy campaign during The Apartments mission.
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 (Latest Update)
Resolution: 1680x1050
Filtering: 4X MSAA / Anisotropic 8X
Graphic Settings: High
Texture Detail: Very High
Test 1: HWC Custom Timedemo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
We test here at 1680x1050 with in-game details set to their highest levels, with MSAA 4X and AA 8X. For benching, we used a pre-recorded 20 minute timedemo taken on the cp_dustbowl map.
Valve Particle Simulation Benchmark
Valve Particle Simulation Benchmark
Default
Comparison: Particle Performance Metric
Originally intended to demonstrate new processing effects added to Half Life 2: Episode 2 and future projects, the particle benchmark condenses what can be found throughout HL2:EP2 and combines it all into one small but deadly package. This test does not symbolize the performance scale for just Episode Two exclusively, but also for many other games and applications that utilize multi-core processing and particle effects. As you will see the benchmark does not score in FPS but rather in its own "Particle Performance Metric", which is useful for direct CPU comparisons.
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5 1.0.0.129
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti-Aliasing: Off
Motion Blur: Off
Shadow Detail: High
Texture Detail: High
Overall Quality: High
Test 1: Built-in Timedemo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
World in Conflict
World in Conflict v1.010
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti-Aliasing: 4X
Anisotropic Filtering: 4X
Graphic Settings: Very High
Test 1: Built-in Benchmark
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
One of the most visually stunning real-time strategy games in recent history, World in Conflict can really push systems to the brink, which is what we attempt by running the game in DirectX 10 mode at 1680x1050 with all settings maxed out. For this test we used the in-game benchmarking tool.
SLI Gaming Benchmarks
The biggest and most exciting announcement surrounding the launch of the 990FX chipset is obviously the revelation that the AMD platform will now support SLI. We obviously had to test this out, so we whipped out another GeForce GTX 460 and installed it on the Sabertooth. We are not necessarily looking for real-life in-game performance, we just want to see what kind of multi-GPU scaling we are getting from this new SLI implementation.
3DMark Vantage v1.0.2
Graphic Settings: Custom Preset
Resolution: 1680x1050
Comparison: Generated Score
3DMark Vantage is the follow-up to the highly successful 3DMark06. It uses DirectX 10 exclusively so if you are running Windows XP, you can forget about this benchmark. Along with being a very capable graphics card testing application, it also has very heavily multi-threaded CPU tests, such Physics Simulation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which makes it a good all-around gaming benchmark.
3DMark 7 v1.0.1
Graphic Settings: Custom Preset
Resolution: 1680x1050
Comparison: Generated Score
3DMark Vantage is the follow-up to the highly successful 3DMark06. It uses DirectX 10 exclusively so if you are running Windows XP, you can forget about this benchmark. Along with being a very capable graphics card testing application, it also has very heavily multi-threaded CPU tests, such Physics Simulation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which makes it a good all-around gaming benchmark.
Crysis v1.21
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti Aliasing: 8X
Quality Settings: Very High
Global Settings: DX10 / 64-Bit
Test 1: benchmark_gpu
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Still one of the most hardware intensive game on the market today, Crysis has been chosen for its obvious ability to be able to showcase the differences between platforms and to showcase just how far one will need to go in the quest for maximum performance. The game also features the renowned CryEngine, the power behind the incredible graphics, which is expected to be foundation of future titles.
Far Cry 2 1.02
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti Aliasing: 8X
Quality Settings: Ultra High
Global Settings: DX10 Enabled
Test 1: Ranch Long Demo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Far Cry 2 is the hot new new first-person shooter from Ubisoft's Montreal studio, and the first game to utilize the new visually stunning Dunia Engine, which will undoubtedly be used by numerous future games. Using the included Benchmarking Tool, we ran the Long Ranch demo in DX10 mode at 1680x1050 with all settings set to very high.
Resident Evil 5 1.0.0.129
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti-Aliasing: C16XQ
Motion Blur: On
Shadow Detail: High
Texture Detail: High
Overall Quality: High
Test 1: Built-in Timedemo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
As you can see, we were able to achieve a very impressive 73% to 78% scaling in most cases, peaking at 98% in 3DMark 7. Clearly, SLI has been implemented perfectly well on this motherboard and the performance benefits are eye-opening. We were using NVIDIA's ForceWare 275.36 drivers, were are still beta, so there still be some improvements to be had once the retail drivers are released.
SLI Gaming Benchmarks
The biggest and most exciting announcement surrounding the launch of the 990FX chipset is obviously the revelation that the AMD platform will now support SLI. We obviously had to test this out, so we whipped out another GeForce GTX 460 and installed it on the Sabertooth. We are not necessarily looking for real-life in-game performance, we just want to see what kind of multi-GPU scaling we are getting from this new SLI implementation.
Futuremark 3DMark Vantage
3DMark Vantage v1.0.2
Graphic Settings: Custom Preset
Resolution: 1680x1050
Comparison: Generated Score
3DMark Vantage is the follow-up to the highly successful 3DMark06. It uses DirectX 10 exclusively so if you are running Windows XP, you can forget about this benchmark. Along with being a very capable graphics card testing application, it also has very heavily multi-threaded CPU tests, such Physics Simulation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which makes it a good all-around gaming benchmark.
Futuremark 3DMark 7
3DMark 7 v1.0.1
Graphic Settings: Custom Preset
Resolution: 1680x1050
Comparison: Generated Score
3DMark Vantage is the follow-up to the highly successful 3DMark06. It uses DirectX 10 exclusively so if you are running Windows XP, you can forget about this benchmark. Along with being a very capable graphics card testing application, it also has very heavily multi-threaded CPU tests, such Physics Simulation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which makes it a good all-around gaming benchmark.
Crysis
Crysis v1.21
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti Aliasing: 8X
Quality Settings: Very High
Global Settings: DX10 / 64-Bit
Test 1: benchmark_gpu
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Still one of the most hardware intensive game on the market today, Crysis has been chosen for its obvious ability to be able to showcase the differences between platforms and to showcase just how far one will need to go in the quest for maximum performance. The game also features the renowned CryEngine, the power behind the incredible graphics, which is expected to be foundation of future titles.
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 1.02
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti Aliasing: 8X
Quality Settings: Ultra High
Global Settings: DX10 Enabled
Test 1: Ranch Long Demo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
Far Cry 2 is the hot new new first-person shooter from Ubisoft's Montreal studio, and the first game to utilize the new visually stunning Dunia Engine, which will undoubtedly be used by numerous future games. Using the included Benchmarking Tool, we ran the Long Ranch demo in DX10 mode at 1680x1050 with all settings set to very high.
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5 1.0.0.129
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti-Aliasing: C16XQ
Motion Blur: On
Shadow Detail: High
Texture Detail: High
Overall Quality: High
Test 1: Built-in Timedemo
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)
As you can see, we were able to achieve a very impressive 73% to 78% scaling in most cases, peaking at 98% in 3DMark 7. Clearly, SLI has been implemented perfectly well on this motherboard and the performance benefits are eye-opening. We were using NVIDIA's ForceWare 275.36 drivers, were are still beta, so there still be some improvements to be had once the retail drivers are released.
Temperatures / Power Consumption
For this test, we set all the BIOS settings to default, and then ran one hour of both Prime 95 V26.5 64-bit In-place large FFTs and OCCT v3.1.0 GPU:OCCT stress at the same time. In this case, our thermal probe was actually put in direct contact with the northbridge, southbridge, one MOSFET on the surface of the motherboard and one undernearth the motherboard. The ambient temperature was 21°C.
Overall, we were impressed with the cooling capabilities of the Sabertooth 990FX’s ceramic-covered heatsinks. Our test setup has zero airflow so this was a worst case scenario, and it was done with AMD’s highest-end processor, the Phenom II X6 1100T. Since we expect AM3+ 32nm Bulldozer processors to draw less power than the current generation, we have no concern over the Sabertooth’s abilities to cool itself, even when overclocked.
For this section, every energy saving feature was enabled in the respective BIOSes and the Windows 7 power plan was changed from High Performance to Balanced.
For our idle test, we let the system idle for 15 minutes and measured the peak wattage through our UPM EM100 power meter.
For our CPU load test, we ran Prime 95 V26.5 64-bit In-place large FFTs on all available threads for 15 minutes, measuring the peak wattage via the UPM EM100 power meter.
For our overall system load test, we ran Prime 95 In-place large FFTs on all available threads for 15 minutes, while simultaneously loading the GPU with OCCT v3.1.0 GPU:OCCT stress test at 1680x1050@60Hz in full screen mode.
Despite the 990FX chipset actually having a lower TDP than the 890GX (18W vs. 22W), the Sabertooth 990FX did have ever so slightly higher power consumption numbers. This is expected though since the Sabertooth does have a few extra onboard controllers and full-size PCI-E slots. When we enabled the EPU feature and set it to Max Power Saving Mode, we did witness a small decrease in idle and full load power consumption numbers.
Temperature Testing
For this test, we set all the BIOS settings to default, and then ran one hour of both Prime 95 V26.5 64-bit In-place large FFTs and OCCT v3.1.0 GPU:OCCT stress at the same time. In this case, our thermal probe was actually put in direct contact with the northbridge, southbridge, one MOSFET on the surface of the motherboard and one undernearth the motherboard. The ambient temperature was 21°C.
Overall, we were impressed with the cooling capabilities of the Sabertooth 990FX’s ceramic-covered heatsinks. Our test setup has zero airflow so this was a worst case scenario, and it was done with AMD’s highest-end processor, the Phenom II X6 1100T. Since we expect AM3+ 32nm Bulldozer processors to draw less power than the current generation, we have no concern over the Sabertooth’s abilities to cool itself, even when overclocked.
Power Consumption
For this section, every energy saving feature was enabled in the respective BIOSes and the Windows 7 power plan was changed from High Performance to Balanced.
For our idle test, we let the system idle for 15 minutes and measured the peak wattage through our UPM EM100 power meter.
For our CPU load test, we ran Prime 95 V26.5 64-bit In-place large FFTs on all available threads for 15 minutes, measuring the peak wattage via the UPM EM100 power meter.
For our overall system load test, we ran Prime 95 In-place large FFTs on all available threads for 15 minutes, while simultaneously loading the GPU with OCCT v3.1.0 GPU:OCCT stress test at 1680x1050@60Hz in full screen mode.
Despite the 990FX chipset actually having a lower TDP than the 890GX (18W vs. 22W), the Sabertooth 990FX did have ever so slightly higher power consumption numbers. This is expected though since the Sabertooth does have a few extra onboard controllers and full-size PCI-E slots. When we enabled the EPU feature and set it to Max Power Saving Mode, we did witness a small decrease in idle and full load power consumption numbers.
Overclocking Results
This time around, we dedicated quite a bit of time to squeezing every last megahertz from this new X6 1100T. Below you will find our modest achievements, which were all accomplished with up 1.45V vCore, 1.275vNB, and 1.65Vdimm. We elected for relatively modest voltages since we wanted these frequencies to represent realistic and safe 24/7 overclocks. Obviously, some samples will be better than ours and some will be worse. Overclocking is a game of chance, although skill helps a little bit too.
4133Mhz at 1.45V stable for 3 hours of Prime 95 Blend and 20 runs of LinX is obviously a very good result, and it is actually a little bit better than we have previously managed to achieve on the ASUS M4A89GTD PRO. We didn't expect any huge gains, since in this case it is a lack of voltage and not the motherboard that is limiting the overclock.
We put a * since we could have possibly achieved 340Mhz stable with some further tweaking, but such high bus speeds are really unnecessary since they don't provide any actual performance gains. Furthermore, even the lowly & locked Athlon II 245 has a high 14.5X multiplier, which combined with a 335Mhz bus speed would give you overclocking headroom up to an unlikely 4.86Ghz.
Achieving this bus speed was extremely easy, we simply selected moderate voltages (1.45V Core/1.30V CPU-NB/1.20V NB) and lowered the CPU, HT Link, memory, and northbridge multipliers. No tiresome fiddling necessary.
The BIOS-based OC Tuner only takes about 30 seconds to overclock the system, but it's a little convervative since it is based on a preset. Effectively, as soon as you click on “OK” in the BIOS, the system reboots and your new overclock is set. It is not a 'smart' auto-overclocking feature, but it works well for those who want instantly better performance without any manual inputs.
Overclocking Results
This time around, we dedicated quite a bit of time to squeezing every last megahertz from this new X6 1100T. Below you will find our modest achievements, which were all accomplished with up 1.45V vCore, 1.275vNB, and 1.65Vdimm. We elected for relatively modest voltages since we wanted these frequencies to represent realistic and safe 24/7 overclocks. Obviously, some samples will be better than ours and some will be worse. Overclocking is a game of chance, although skill helps a little bit too.
Highest Stable CPU Overclock
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
4133Mhz at 1.45V stable for 3 hours of Prime 95 Blend and 20 runs of LinX is obviously a very good result, and it is actually a little bit better than we have previously managed to achieve on the ASUS M4A89GTD PRO. We didn't expect any huge gains, since in this case it is a lack of voltage and not the motherboard that is limiting the overclock.
Highest* Stable Bus Speed Overclock
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
We put a * since we could have possibly achieved 340Mhz stable with some further tweaking, but such high bus speeds are really unnecessary since they don't provide any actual performance gains. Furthermore, even the lowly & locked Athlon II 245 has a high 14.5X multiplier, which combined with a 335Mhz bus speed would give you overclocking headroom up to an unlikely 4.86Ghz.
Achieving this bus speed was extremely easy, we simply selected moderate voltages (1.45V Core/1.30V CPU-NB/1.20V NB) and lowered the CPU, HT Link, memory, and northbridge multipliers. No tiresome fiddling necessary.
Auto Overclocking Results
Click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge
The BIOS-based OC Tuner only takes about 30 seconds to overclock the system, but it's a little convervative since it is based on a preset. Effectively, as soon as you click on “OK” in the BIOS, the system reboots and your new overclock is set. It is not a 'smart' auto-overclocking feature, but it works well for those who want instantly better performance without any manual inputs.
Conclusion
First and foremost, let’s talk about the “new” AMD 990FX/SB950 chipset. Aside from the revised microcode needed for upcoming Zambezi processors, a HyperTransport 3.1 link to the socket and slightly optimized data paths, there is really nothing that differentiates this Northbridge/Southbridge combo from the previous 890FX/SB850 iteration.
That is not necessarily a big deal though since it does have its strong points like 40 PCI-Express lanes, native SATA 6Gb/s and more than enough bandwidth for third party USB 3.0 controllers. We actually feel like the 890FX/SB850 sported features which were forward thinking enough that the combination could have been carried forward without too much of an issue. However, unless there are some technological advances which haven’t been discussed with the press, this isn’t the type of next-generation chipset that we would have expected to the paired with AM3+ Zambezi desktop nor the new Bulldozer architecture.
Thankfully, what actually redeems this chipset launch is the introduction of SLI support. While we have had SLI capabilities on the AMD side as recently as 2009 with the NVIDIA nForce 980a chipset , this is the first time that a native AMD chipset supports this previously exclusive NVIDIA technology. Based on our testing, it has been implemented perfectly as well, since we were consistently getting a very solid 75% performance boost in a 2-way configuration.
When it comes to the Sabertooth 990FX itself, we are admittedly impressed. At first, the concept behind ‘The Ultimate ‘Force’ series seemed a little unusual to us since there was nothing lacking in the build quality and reliability of run-of-the-mill ASUS motherboards. However, the increased focus on monitoring and management is what we really like. This motherboard has 6 fan headers that can be fully controlled in the BIOS or in Windows via the TUF Thermal Radar utility. It is a dream come true for control freaks.
Speaking of control freaks, the dual CPU fan headers are also a no-brainer addition that we hope become the norm since more and more people have CPU coolers with two fans (Noctua NH-D14 anyone?). The Sabertooth also has an impressive 10 thermal sensors located at all the critical areas. This is the very first motherboard that actually exceeds our expectations when it comes to temperature and voltage readouts.
We raved out the UEFI BIOS on the P8P67 PRO, and it is clearly as good if not better on this motherboard. The purely graphical EZ Mode is a little too limited for our liking, but then again it is targeted towards novice users. The Advanced Mode has everything that we have come to expect in a modern BIOS, which is to say a user-friendly layout and every feature you could possibly want to tweak. The level of control over the VRM is extremely impressive and does lead to tangible overclocking benefits when used correctly. We were in fact able to surpass our previous best Phenom II X6 1100T overclock, albeit very slightly. Being reviewers, we absolutely love the ability to take screenshots from within the BIOS. It is a novelty feature for most users, but it is a pretty cool little time-saver for overclockers that like sharing their BIOS settings.
The new user-friendly Ai Suite II toolbar is great since you no longer have to go hunting for the utility you want, nor do you need to have desktop icons everywhere. The TurboV and DIGI+ VRM utilities were definitely our favourites, since they allowed us to tweak all the aforementioned overclocking settings from within the OS. However, we were obviously also quite fond of the aforementioned Thermal Radar utility since it really has excellent monitoring capabilities.
While we like the overall layout, there are a few issues. We weren’t able to install our very tall Corsair Dominator GT memory modules on this motherboard because our Thermalright Ultra-120 heatsink (along with many other AM2 / AM3 coolers) can only be installed in one orientation on AMD platforms. This caused it to hang over the memory slots. You will need to have either low-profile memory or a CPU cooler with an adjustable mounting kit. Secondly, when you install two dual-slot graphics cards on the Sabertooth, you lose access to the legacy PCI slot. This is not a big deal for some people, but many high-end PCI sound cards like the ASUS Xonar Essence ST are quite popular.
Because the Sabertooth 990FX is so good though, and quite reasonably priced considering all the functionality that has baked in, we can overlook the aforementioned issues. We can even turn a blind eye to the fact that the new 990FX chipset is nothing revolutionary. The build quality, performance, features, and 5 year warranty speak for themselves, but right now there is relatively little incentive to buy a 990FX-based motherboard until the AM3+ Bulldozer processors are released.
Pros
- AM3+ support.
- Great performance.
- Four mechanical PCI-E x16 slots.
- 3-Way CrossFireX & 3-Way SLI capability.
- Excellent manual overclocking capabilities.
- Very capable automatic overclocking feature.
- Superior monitoring capabilities.
- Dual CPU fan headers are a nice touch.
- Impressive SATA and USB 3 connectivity + performance.
- Great new software package.
- Socketed BIOS chip.
- User-friendly and tweaker-friendly new UEFI BIOS.
- Reasonable price tag given the features list.
Cons
- Only one BIOS chip.
- Large CPU coolers + tall memory heatspreaders will cause installation issues.
- No onboard power and reset buttons.
Conclusion
First and foremost, let’s talk about the “new” AMD 990FX/SB950 chipset. Aside from the revised microcode needed for upcoming Zambezi processors, a HyperTransport 3.1 link to the socket and slightly optimized data paths, there is really nothing that differentiates this Northbridge/Southbridge combo from the previous 890FX/SB850 iteration.
That is not necessarily a big deal though since it does have its strong points like 40 PCI-Express lanes, native SATA 6Gb/s and more than enough bandwidth for third party USB 3.0 controllers. We actually feel like the 890FX/SB850 sported features which were forward thinking enough that the combination could have been carried forward without too much of an issue. However, unless there are some technological advances which haven’t been discussed with the press, this isn’t the type of next-generation chipset that we would have expected to the paired with AM3+ Zambezi desktop nor the new Bulldozer architecture.
Thankfully, what actually redeems this chipset launch is the introduction of SLI support. While we have had SLI capabilities on the AMD side as recently as 2009 with the NVIDIA nForce 980a chipset , this is the first time that a native AMD chipset supports this previously exclusive NVIDIA technology. Based on our testing, it has been implemented perfectly as well, since we were consistently getting a very solid 75% performance boost in a 2-way configuration.
When it comes to the Sabertooth 990FX itself, we are admittedly impressed. At first, the concept behind ‘The Ultimate ‘Force’ series seemed a little unusual to us since there was nothing lacking in the build quality and reliability of run-of-the-mill ASUS motherboards. However, the increased focus on monitoring and management is what we really like. This motherboard has 6 fan headers that can be fully controlled in the BIOS or in Windows via the TUF Thermal Radar utility. It is a dream come true for control freaks.
Speaking of control freaks, the dual CPU fan headers are also a no-brainer addition that we hope become the norm since more and more people have CPU coolers with two fans (Noctua NH-D14 anyone?). The Sabertooth also has an impressive 10 thermal sensors located at all the critical areas. This is the very first motherboard that actually exceeds our expectations when it comes to temperature and voltage readouts.
We raved out the UEFI BIOS on the P8P67 PRO, and it is clearly as good if not better on this motherboard. The purely graphical EZ Mode is a little too limited for our liking, but then again it is targeted towards novice users. The Advanced Mode has everything that we have come to expect in a modern BIOS, which is to say a user-friendly layout and every feature you could possibly want to tweak. The level of control over the VRM is extremely impressive and does lead to tangible overclocking benefits when used correctly. We were in fact able to surpass our previous best Phenom II X6 1100T overclock, albeit very slightly. Being reviewers, we absolutely love the ability to take screenshots from within the BIOS. It is a novelty feature for most users, but it is a pretty cool little time-saver for overclockers that like sharing their BIOS settings.
The new user-friendly Ai Suite II toolbar is great since you no longer have to go hunting for the utility you want, nor do you need to have desktop icons everywhere. The TurboV and DIGI+ VRM utilities were definitely our favourites, since they allowed us to tweak all the aforementioned overclocking settings from within the OS. However, we were obviously also quite fond of the aforementioned Thermal Radar utility since it really has excellent monitoring capabilities.
While we like the overall layout, there are a few issues. We weren’t able to install our very tall Corsair Dominator GT memory modules on this motherboard because our Thermalright Ultra-120 heatsink (along with many other AM2 / AM3 coolers) can only be installed in one orientation on AMD platforms. This caused it to hang over the memory slots. You will need to have either low-profile memory or a CPU cooler with an adjustable mounting kit. Secondly, when you install two dual-slot graphics cards on the Sabertooth, you lose access to the legacy PCI slot. This is not a big deal for some people, but many high-end PCI sound cards like the ASUS Xonar Essence ST are quite popular.
Because the Sabertooth 990FX is so good though, and quite reasonably priced considering all the functionality that has baked in, we can overlook the aforementioned issues. We can even turn a blind eye to the fact that the new 990FX chipset is nothing revolutionary. The build quality, performance, features, and 5 year warranty speak for themselves, but right now there is relatively little incentive to buy a 990FX-based motherboard until the AM3+ Bulldozer processors are released.
Pros
- AM3+ support.
- Great performance.
- Four mechanical PCI-E x16 slots.
- 3-Way CrossFireX & 3-Way SLI capability.
- Excellent manual overclocking capabilities.
- Very capable automatic overclocking feature.
- Superior monitoring capabilities.
- Dual CPU fan headers are a nice touch.
- Impressive SATA and USB 3 connectivity + performance.
- Great new software package.
- Socketed BIOS chip.
- User-friendly and tweaker-friendly new UEFI BIOS.
- Reasonable price tag given the features list.
Cons
- Only one BIOS chip.
- Large CPU coolers + tall memory heatspreaders will cause installation issues.
- No onboard power and reset buttons.
Our thanks to ASUS for making this review possible!
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