Asus X99-A Motherboard Review

One of the suggested benefits (that we can actually test) of Asus' OC Socket is enhanced memory performance. Asus suggests that the extra pins allow enhanced CPU Cache frequencies to be set, leading to better memory performance.

We used G.Skill's Ripjaws4 modules set to their 3GHz XMP frequency to test memory bandwidth and latency numbers. This is a set of performance metrics that we may look to include in future reviews.

While Asus' X99-A is indeed able to deliver greater memory bandwidth than MSI's X99S MPower, memory latency performance shows the opposite result.

The main performance differences are derived from tighter secondary timings set by the MSI-based configuration.

Data was gathered using the default Cache frequency that is set when XMP is enabled. Further tweaking of Cache speed may deliver better results for one solution over the other and is something that could be explored in future articles.

Become a Patron!