CPU/Motherboard/Memory Benchmarks

[whoislinus]

Hi guys, obviously there are benchmarks available for GPUs (3DMark etc) but are there ones available for whole systems (motherboard, CPU, memory combinations)?

 

Would be useful to see which motherboard works best with a particular CPU or what the impact is of a having an older CPU with a modern graphics card etc.

[Imakuni]

1 minute ago, whoislinus said:

Hi guys, obviously there are benchmarks available for GPUs (3DMark etc) but are there ones available for whole systems (motherboard, CPU, memory combinations)?

 

Would be useful to see which motherboard works best with a particular CPU or what the impact is of a having an older CPU with a modern graphics card etc.

CPU + GPU is a hit and miss. You might find benchmarks from random Youtube videos. Though they usually aren't that great, with lots of variable factors, settings are often not stated, the methodology is prone to inconsistencies, it happens on a single pass and per-game basis...

 

About motherboard, though, good luck. Mobos usually don't affect performance, at least not related to CPU / GPU workloads. And the effect it has on OCing generally is not relevant either, depending on the mobo.

[whoislinus]

Thanks for that - I'm running a 4770s (socket 1150, z97) and am thinking about the 1070.

[Imakuni]

Just now, whoislinus said:

Thanks for that - I'm running a 4770s (socket 1150, z97) and am thinking about the 1070.

Yeah, go for it. Nothing to really say other than that.

[Naeaes]

19 minutes ago, whoislinus said:

Hi guys, obviously there are benchmarks available for GPUs (3DMark etc) but are there ones available for whole systems (motherboard, CPU, memory combinations)?

 

Would be useful to see which motherboard works best with a particular CPU or what the impact is of a having an older CPU with a modern graphics card etc.

Motherboard isn't really a part to benchmark. The things that matter (CPU power delivery, RAID controller efficiency, USB speeds, Network speeds/latencies etc.) are tested by benchmarking those components in question. I guess you could do all at once and benchmark the chipset heating up but I can't imagine that mattering much. 

As for CPU, you gotta think about what you want exactly it is you want to know. 3DMark, Heaven and the like have a degree of real-world-like gaming strain for the CPU too. A GPU-only benchmark would be something along the lines of Furmark for instance. A good CPU-only benchmark  would be Cinebench for instance It's a type of rendering test. But then there are the absolute maximums different CPUs can reach. How many calculations can you reach in a time period. Say, a program called Prime95 can tell you exactly that. But it's not a benchmark. It's an actual program for calculating huge prime numbers. It can absolutely rape your CPU and really burn it. Unlike your benchmark programs, Prime95 has no alert system built in. If it's going to crash, it'll just crash. If it's to set your CPU on fire, it'll do just that. For instance I've used it to weed out faulty parts or un-overclockable CPUs. BUt you gotta sit right there monitoring your voltages and heats. Until the info it can provide you is relevant, I'd stick with Cinebench.

[Nena Trinity]

There are benchmarks for RAM!

[Sintezza]

4 hours ago, Imakuni said:

 

 

About motherboard, though, good luck. Mobos usually don't affect performance, at least not related to CPU / GPU workloads. And the effect it has on OCing generally is not relevant either, depending on the mobo.

 

Well i can tell you that a motherboard is one of the most important parts of a system.

It exaly effects how well a system runs.

How stable and reliable it is etc.

Next to that, it definitely effects how well a system will overclock.

I see people make similar comments like yours about motherbords allot.

And it personaly makes me a bit worrying.

If you want to do overclocking, and want it to be stable and reliable.

Then a decent motherboard which is build with quality VRM components definitely matters!.

[Sintezza]

55 minutes ago, Nena360 said:

There are benchmarks for RAM!

There are also benchmarks for motherboards.

You just need to dig certain sites for it.

There are exaly more diffrences in mobo performance then people might think.

But if the average user would notice it, is ofc another story.

 

[typographie]

23 minutes ago, Sintezza said:

There are also benchmarks for motherboards.

You just need to dig certain sites for it.

There are exaly more diffrences in mobo performance then people might think.

But if the average user would notice it, is ofc another story.

Yes, but as said above, you measure the 'performance of a motherboard' by testing the components of the motherboard. You would use a storage benchmark to measure storage performance; you would use a USB benchmark to measure USB performance; you would use a CPU or memory benchmark to measure CPU or memory overclocking success. It becomes a "motherboard benchmark" when you isolate the motherboard as the variable altered between tests.

 

And in practice, the conclusion most such benchmarks draw is that the differences aren't very big. Once you get to the $150 level or so, most motherboards have what they need to overclock a well-cooled 84–95 Watt Intel CPU to the level most of us would expect. There may be benefits to extremely high-end motherboards for competitive/world record overclocking, but they usually aren't necessary for the rest of us.

[Sintezza]

2 hours ago, typographie said:

Yes, but as said above, you measure the 'performance of a motherboard' by testing the components of the motherboard. You would use a storage benchmark to measure storage performance; you would use a USB benchmark to measure USB performance; you would use a CPU or memory benchmark to measure CPU or memory overclocking success. It becomes a "motherboard benchmark" when you isolate the motherboard as the variable altered between tests.

 

And in practice, the conclusion most such benchmarks draw is that the differences aren't very big. Once you get to the $150 level or so, most motherboards have what they need to overclock a well-cooled 84–95 Watt Intel CPU to the level most of us would expect. There may be benefits to extremely high-end motherboards for competitive/world record overclocking, but they usually aren't necessary for the rest of us.

With a decent motherboard, then i dont mean the highend top of the line ones persee.

But just a decent board is indeed capable to do most things that the average user would need.

But there is definitely a diffrence between the cheap lowend crap, and more decent stuff for that matter.

 

Overclocking is definitely something that relies on the motherboard aswell.

TDP of cpu´s is just thermal design power, a number in wattage that you cooling solution must be capable to dissipate from the die

It doesnt realy say much about how much current and overall power the cpu once overclocked exaly draws.

It does ofc depends on the platform aswell.

But VRM overheating issues and voltage trottle due a cheap VRM implementation, will definitely limmit overclock potential and performance.

Lets say that i have seen a couple of boards went up in smoke.

Especialy on AM3+ and X99 platforms.

 

But i agree that at a >$150,- + price point most intel Z170 mainstream boards should be okay for the average user.

But i´m not sure which platform OP is refering to.

 

 

[typographie]

1 minute ago, Sintezza said:

TDP of cpu´s is just thermal design power, a number in wattage that you cooling solution must be capable to dissipate from the die

Sorry if I was unclear, I know what TDP is. I mentioned 84–95 Watt CPUs to exclude the X99 platform, where motherboards cost much more than $150 and the higher-power CPUs may benefit a bit more from beefier VRMs. My point was that you do not need an extravagant motherboard to overclock mainstream Intel processors. Midrange motherboards tend to do just as well.

[Sintezza]

6 minutes ago, typographie said:

Sorry if I was unclear, I know what TDP is. I mentioned 84–95 Watt CPUs to exclude the X99 platform, where motherboards cost much more than $150 and the higher-power CPUs may benefit a bit more from beefier VRMs. My point was that you do not need an extravagant motherboard to overclock mainstream Intel processors. Midrange motherboards tend to do just as well.

Ah okay yes.

I totaly agree on that.