Cinebench
We used the ‘CPU’ test built into Cinebench R15 .
WinRAR
WinRAR’s built in benchmark and hardware test can help us outline the performance differentials between each motherboard. We record the amount of data processed after a 30-second run.
Handbrake Conversion
We measured the average frame rate achieved for a task of converting a 4.36GB 720P MKV movie to 720P MP4 format.
CPU-heavy benchmarks show little variation between each Z97-based board. Handbrake conversion frame rates show a slight preference to the Asus motherboard thanks to its higher cache frequency, although the minute difference is almost irrelevant.