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3DMark
We used 3DMark‘s ‘Fire Strike Ultra’ benchmark which is designed to be used on high-resolution gaming PCs.
Sandra Processor Arithmetic
Sandra Memory Bandwidth
Solid performance is shown by Gigabyte's board in the 3DMark Physics and Sandra CPU arithmetic tests.
The Sandra memory bandwidth result is about 10GB/s off the mark of the competing pair, so this gives an indication that Gigabyte currently has a BIOS bug which is hampering memory performance.
We used the latest F4b BIOS, which is technically in beta form, although we have seen Gigabyte use its beta BIOS profiles as the latest updates for many months on some motherboards. The issue is present on the Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 operating systems that we tested, with multiple memory kits, and while using different overclocked settings.
I fail to see how this board is slower than the other 2 as the frame testing is within margin of error.
When one activates the XMP profile it automatically activates a memory stability option that should be set to normal to regain those 10Gbps extra. I don’t remember exactly how that option is called but just search for a memory related option that says “compatibility” or “stability” and switch it to “normal” instead.