Hardware Asus P9X79 Pro Review

We take a look at Asus' latest mid-range X79 motherboard

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2012/02/13/asus-p9x79-pro-review/1

 

Is it just me or are these Sandybridge E CPU's coming up short in the overclocking department, i dont think i've seen one that's been stable past 4.6Ghz....is it a CPU or Mobo problem?.

 

This saw the GD65 (8D) leap up the graphs,

Last paragraph before conclusion - an error I presume ?

dunx

 

I think it's more the heat they pump out. Pookeyhead, thetrashcanman and True_gamer all have SB-E chips running at 5GHz or over.

On topic, excellent review. I want more money to upgrade

 

They were never going to clock as well with the additional cores. It's a great motherboard, I'm currently at 4.9Ghz on water using it. Not sure why people see <5Ghz and automatically their brain tells them it's a poor performer. I think it's pretty impressive for a hex-core. (no additional VRM cooling besides roof mounted radiator / rear motherboard fan)

Edit: Mid-range? pffft.

 

Getting any 3000 series hexa core to 5GHz is a challenge on any board. You're looking at 200W + through the CPU. To me that puts VRM waterblocks as a prerequisite as 5GHz can be done on an open bench but in a case the VRMs just don't get the airflow they need. We've done 4.75GHz for a few customers and ended up a 4.6GHz for the Cobra: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/desktop-pc/3336884/cyberpower-cobra-review/?tab=verdictTab#top

 

You need a bigger case

 

I suspect it's more than any 200W.......

 

Been rocking this board since December, really enjoying it so far. Can't wait to get some water loops going for some proper clocking

 

Yea, agree they really do need cooling at the very high-end, but the problem is most people see a bundled fan and stick their nose up because they think it's required for everything, or, they have a preferred case fan they already own. I would expect cases like Cooler Master ones with a large 200m fan placed right over the VRM area in the roof should cool quite well.

It's actually where our TProbe is real-world useful rather than a 'nice to have' value-add, as it modulates the load according to temperature. If you are still over-temping the VRMs though (say if you set it to Extreme/500Hz/no fan), our boards set the CPU to throttle or in worst case scenarios the system resets itself with 'OC failed' to prevent VRM damage.

I had a school day from RD. But I also think it's important people understand this rare situation might not be an 'unstable board', for example.

 

I run at 4.7GHz as a 24/7 overclock. The only reason I stop there is cooling. I've passed a maximum stress test IBT run of 20 loops (with 16GB that's around 8 hours) at 4.9, but my temps were horrible. That was at 1.42v. I only have a H100. With a decent loop 5GHz would be no problem at around 1.46/1.5v.

You miss the point though. You don't NEED the same clock speed with a SB-E. Even at stock speeds, it beats overclocked SB chips with heavily threaded tasks, and let's be honest, if all you do is game, you don't need SB-E. These chips are for people who heavily multi-task, or do a lot of maths intensive tasks like rendering, graphics work, or encoding. Look at the Geekbench leader boards. I posted a time made with the P9X79 Pro at STOCK speeds with a 3960X and it beats all but the fastest overclocked SB chip.. at the stock speed of 3.6GHz. Even my "modest" 4.7GHz overclock sees nearly 20,000 points.. that's 5k clear of 2700Ks clocked at 5.1 and above. With heavily threaded apps, 4.5GHz with this chip will smoke anything, at any speed. Even a SB rig at 5.5GHz running on chilled water only JUST beats the stock speed of the 3960X and this Asus board. You need to get this 5GHz as a minimum out of your head.

Nice review!

I had this board for a few weeks. The only reason I changed it is because it can't run three GPUs at 16x, 16x, 8x. Best it can do is 16x, 8x, 8x. Only a problem if you want triple SLI of course. If you don't plan on going triple SLI, this is a killer board.

 

There's a minor typo on the first page, it says "seven fan headers" when it should say "six fan headers". Great review!