ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional Review - IDE and Floppy on Z77
by Ian Cutress on May 20, 2012 1:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- ASRock
- Fatal1ty
- Z77
3D Movement Algorithm Test
The algorithms in 3DPM employ both uniform random number generation or normal distribution random number generation, and vary in various amounts of trigonometric operations, conditional statements, generation and rejection, fused operations, etc. The benchmark runs through six algorithms for a specified number of particles and steps, and calculates the speed of each algorithm, then sums them all for a final score. This is an example of a real world situation that a computational scientist may find themselves in, rather than a pure synthetic benchmark. The benchmark is also parallel between particles simulated, and we test the single thread performance as well as the multi-threaded performance.
Due to the default overclock enabled option of ASUS and Gigabyte boards, the ASRock unfortunately lags behind noticeably in multithreaded testing. The ASRock should have average single thread performance in comparison, but in our 3DPM test, the Professional comes in with the lowest score.
WinRAR x64 3.93 - link
With 64-bit WinRAR, we compress the set of files used in the USB speed tests. WinRAR x64 3.93 attempts to use multithreading when possible.
As a test that utilizes multithreading where possible, WinRAR exposes how the motherboards react to changes in load and application of turbo modes. The ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional does well here, edging out the ASUS Pro and coming streaks ahead of the Extreme4.
FastStone Image Viewer 4.2 - link
FastStone Image Viewer is a free piece of software I have been using for quite a few years now. It allows quick viewing of flat images, as well as resizing, changing color depth, adding simple text or simple filters. It also has a bulk image conversion tool, which we use here. The software currently operates only in single-thread mode, which should change in later versions of the software. For this test, we convert a series of 170 files, of various resolutions, dimensions and types (of a total size of 163MB), all to the .gif format of 640x480 dimensions.
Focusing purely on single threaded performance, the Fatal1ty does not perform too well. With the ASUS Deluxe somehow blitzing the field, nothing is coming close.
Xilisoft Video Converter
With XVC, users can convert any type of normal video to any compatible format for smartphones, tablets and other devices. By default, it uses all available threads on the system, and in the presence of appropriate graphics cards, can utilize CUDA for NVIDIA GPUs as well as AMD APP for AMD GPUs. For this test, we use a set of 32 HD videos, each lasting 30 seconds, and convert them from 1080p to an iPod H.264 video format using just the CPU. The time taken to convert these videos gives us our result.
As Xilisoft stresses all cores all of the time, the ASUS and Gigabyte boards have the advantage with that default overclock in multithreaded load. As a result, the Professional lags behind a touch.
x264 HD Benchmark
The x264 HD Benchmark uses a common HD encoding tool to process an HD MPEG2 source at 1280x720 at 3963 Kbps. This test represents a standardized result which can be compared across other reviews, and is dependant on both CPU power and memory speed. The benchmark performs a 2-pass encode, and the results shown are the average of each pass performed four times.
In yet another multithreaded test, the Professional does not break into the top half of the motherboard testing due to that speed deficit.
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SlyNine - Monday, May 21, 2012 - link
It's not pointless at all. Because you don't know wtf you're talking about or what I use my stuff for.f4phantom2500 - Monday, May 21, 2012 - link
clearly you're looking for a flame war, noting twice that you needed to use a fuckload of hard drives without stating why, then jumping some guy's shit when he points out the impracticality of it, again without stating why...but don't worry man i'm sure you're too busy saving the world with your 10 hard drives and shitty internet to be bothered to explain your master plan to a simpleton like assball or myself.SlyNine - Saturday, May 26, 2012 - link
LOL whatever you say. Like we all have a choice on where we live or our ISP. So somehow because I don't share details of my setup with you im instigating a flame war. Weird logic.If anything you're adhominem attack is instigating some flame war.
I have a media server...seems like kind of a DUH statement, as thats the most likely thing someone would use that many HDDs for. I take blu-rays (about 250 so far), demux and remux them in to MKVs and I have about 2 TB of lossless music. Plus I have a lot of shows. It makes sense, since I have a crappy internet and streaming isn't practical, not that I want someone to control my media anyways.
DJMiggy - Monday, May 21, 2012 - link
My LCD makes my crappy internet better as well.... Wait WHAT?Dark_Eternal - Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - link
I'm pretty sure he meant that he doesn't play FPS games online anymore because his Internet connection is slow and LCDs are too laggy for him. Even though he did sound really angry. :PSlyNine - Saturday, May 26, 2012 - link
Yea, it doesn't make me happy lol.SlyNine - Saturday, May 26, 2012 - link
Wait you got "My LCD makes my crappy internet better as well.... " out of "To bad I moved to a place with crappy internet, and was forced to buy a LCD."?Seems pretty clear, I use to have a good internet and good CRT, but because I had to sacrifice both of them my gaming suffered.
SlyNine - Sunday, May 20, 2012 - link
nt.LeftSide - Sunday, May 20, 2012 - link
Thanks for the post times! This will be such a great benefit when I decide to upgrade my HTPC. Plus, shining light on post times gives MB manufactures incentive to increase performance!ShieTar - Sunday, May 20, 2012 - link
"One interesting novel setting that ASRock now have is the ‘Dehumidifier Function’."Is there any justification why this is labeled as dehumidifier? Is this supposed to be relevant for people with leaky water cooling systems that run up a significant relative humidity inside their cases? Without a source of humidity inside the case, there is no reason why the air that was pulled in at room temperature should suddenly have a higher humidity after cooling down to room temperature again.
Or is this setting still exactly as useless as it was a few years back when some company tried to sell it as an "overheating at switchoff" protection?