discussion EVGA X99 Classified Review

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Feature Testing: Onboard Audio

Feature Testing: Onboard Audio

Since fewer and fewer consumers seem to be buying discrete sound cards, the quality of a motherboard's onboard audio is now more important than ever. We figured that it was worthwhile to take a closer look at just how good the analog signal quality is on this new EVGA X99 Classified and compare it to the ASUS X99 Deluxe and ASUS Maximus VII GENE motherboards that we have recently reviewed. The EVGA features a dedicated Creative Core3D CA0132 quad-core audio processor, while the two ASUS models use Realtek's latest ALC1150 CODEC, although in two wildly different implementations. We are going to do this using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, since sound quality isn't really something that can be adequately explained with only numbers. To do this we have turned to the RightMark Audio Analyzer, basically the standard application for this type of testing. Since all the three motherboards support very high quality 24-bit, 192kHz audio playback we selected that as the sample mode option. Basically, what this test does is pipe the audio signal from the front-channel output to the line-in input via a 3.5mm male to 3.5mm male mini-plug cable, and then RightMark Audio Analyzer (RMAA) does the audio analysis. Obviously we disabled all software enhancements since they interfere with the pure technical performance that we are trying to benchmark.

As always, we used a mix of Grado SR225i and Koss PortaPro headphones, Westone UM1 IEMs, and Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers for our extensive listening period, and we are happy to report that the sound quality was very good to excellent depending on what hardware we were listening through. Obviously without a dedicated headphone amplifier - which is present on both ASUS models - the X99 Classified was not able to push our Grado headphones quite as loudly. Furthermore, the soundstage was noticeably smaller and less detailed than it was on the X99 Deluxe. Having said that, without a back-to-back listening session with all three motherboards it's impossible to declare an overall winner. As we have mentioned in the past, at this high level we suspect that your average user will be perfectly content with this motherboard's onboard sound quality and perhaps overjoyed by its gaming audio capabilities.

Although EVGA's audio implementation clearly achieved very solid numbers, we are still curious as to what effect the missing EMI shield on the Creative processor and the lack of a PCB audio separation line had on the overall results. Numbers don't tell the whole story though, and if you are a gamer you really have to take into account the powerful Creative software suite.

In the end, the dedicated Creative Sound Core3D quad-core audio processor should excite the gaming crowd, and is a real differentiating factor when compared to the endless sea of Realtek based onboard audio solutions on the market right now.

 

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Manual Overclocking Results

Manual Overclocking Results

It wouldn't be an HWC review if we didn't include some overclocking results, so we thoroughly tested out this motherboard's capabilities. Lately we have put a special emphasis on automatic overclocking functionality but this motherboard has none, so that's out the window. Though it features a new chipset, the X99 Deluxe is still fundamentally an LGA2011 motherboard, and as a result there is nothing new to report on how to overclock on this motherboard. Our personal pointers are to keep the vCore at around 1.35V or lower, the CPU Cache voltage at up to 1.30V, and the System Agent voltage at up to 1.25V. These last two are really only needed if you plan on seriously pushing the Uncore frequency or the DDR4 memory speed.

With that out of the way, here is what we were able to accomplish:

Click on image to enlarge​

While we were able to achieve roughly the same overclock as on the ASUS X99 Deluxe, it was rather difficult since everything had to be entered manually. If we hadn't of remembered all of the critical settings, timings and voltages from our time with the ASUS, it would have taken many more hours (if not days) of trial & error to achieve this overclock...assuming we could have done it at all. The simple fact is that the BIOS is simply not as well tuned or dialed in as the one on the ASUS board, so it is much less forgiving to novice users. Whereas on the ASUS you can leave most settings on Auto and it will self-adjust to whatever it is you're trying to accomplish, this EVGA BIOS didn't prove to be anywhere as user-friendly during our overclocking endeavours.

Having said all of that, as we outlined in the introduction, the X99 Classified isn't geared for the casual overclockers. It is designed to overclock at the limit using sub-zero cooling while in the hands of an experienced overclocker. If that sounds like you, and you like spending a few hours tweaking, then this motherboard won't stand in your way while you attempt to set or break records.

 

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System Benchmarks

System Benchmarks

In the System and Gaming Benchmarks sections, we publish the results from a number of benchmarks performed on the Core i7-5960X and EVGA X99 Classified at default clocks and using own our manual overclock. This will illustrate how much performance can be achieved with this motherboard in stock and overclocked form. For a thorough comparison of the Core i7-5960X versus a number of different CPUs have a look at our Intel Haswell-E Core i7-5960X Review.

SuperPi Mod v1.9 WP

When running the SuperPI 32MB benchmark, we are calculating Pi to 32 million digits and timing the process. Obviously more CPU power helps in this intense calculation, but the memory sub-system also plays an important role, as does the operating system. We are running one instance of SuperPi Mod v1.9 WP. This is therefore a single-thread workload.

wPRIME 2.10

wPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton's method for estimating functions, with f(x)=x2-k, where k is the number we're sqrting, until Sgn(f(x)/f'(x)) does not equal that of the previous iteration, starting with an estimation of k/2. It then uses an iterative calling of the estimation method a set amount of times to increase the accuracy of the results. It then confirms that n(k)2=k to ensure the calculation was correct. It repeats this for all numbers from 1 to the requested maximum. This is a highly multi-threaded workload.

Cinebench R11.5

Cinebench R11.5 64-bit
Test1: CPU Image Render
Comparison: Generated Score

The latest benchmark from MAXON, Cinebench R11.5 makes use of all your system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene using various different algorithms to stress all available processor cores. The test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects containing more than 300,000 total polygons and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights and shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. This particular benchmarking can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. The result is given in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor.

Sandra Processor Arithmetic and Processor Multi-Media Benchmarks

SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. The software suite provides most of the information (including undocumented) users like to know about hardware, software, and other devices whether hardware or software. The name “Sandra” is a (girl) name of Greek origin that means "defender", "helper of mankind".

The software version used for these tests is SiSoftware Sandra 2013 SP4. In the 2012 version of Sandra, SiSoft has updated the .Net benchmarks and the GPGPU benchmarks have been upgraded to General Processing (GP) benchmarks, able to fully test the new APU (CPU+GPU) processors. The two benchmarks that we used are the Processor Multi-Media and Processor Arithmetic benchmarks. These three benchmarks were chosen as they provide a good indication of three varying types of system performance. The multi-media test shows how the processor handles multi-media instructions and data and the arithmetic test shows how the processor handles arithmetic and floating point instructions. These two tests illustrate two important areas of a computer’s speed and provide a wide scope of results.

MaxxMem Benchmark

Created by MaxxPI², the MaxxMem benchmark tests your computer’s raw memory performance, combining copy, read, write and latency tests into one global score. This memory benchmark is a classic way to measure bandwidth of a memory subsystem.

MaxxMem uses continuous memoryblocks, sized in power of 2 from 16MB up to 512MB, starting either writing to or reading from it. To enable high-precision memory performance measurement, they both internally work with multiple passes and averages calculations per run.

Further, the main goal was to minimize (CPU) cache pollution on memory reads and to eliminate it (almost completely) on memory writes. Additionally, MaxxMem operates with an aggressive data prefetching algorithm. This all will deliver an excellent judge of bandwidth while reading and writing.

 

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Gaming Benchmarks

Gaming Benchmarks

Futuremark 3DMark (2013)

3DMark v1.1.0
Graphic Settings: Fire Strike Preset
Rendered Resolution: 1920x1680
Test: Specific Physics Score and Full Run 3DMarks
Comparison: Generated Score


3DMark is the brand new cross-platform benchmark from the gurus over at Futuremark. Designed to test a full range of hardware from smartphones to high-end PCs, it includes three tests for DirectX 9, DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 hardware, and allows users to compare 3DMark scores with other Windows, Android and iOS devices. Most important to us is the new Fire Strike preset, a DirectX 11 showcase that tests tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Like every new 3DMark version, this test is extremely GPU-bound, but it does contain a heavy physics test that can show off the potential of modern multi-core processors.

Futuremark 3DMark 11

3DMark 11 v1.0.5
Graphic Settings: Performance Preset
Resolution: 1280x720
Test: Specific Physics Score and Full Run 3DMarks
Comparison: Generated Score


3DMark 11 is Futuremark's very latest benchmark, designed to tests all of the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. At the moment, it is lot more GPU-bound than past versions are now, but it does contain a terrific physics test which really taxes modern multi-core processors.

Futuremark 3DMark Vantage

3DMark Vantage v1.1.2
Graphic Settings: Performance Preset
Resolution: 1280x1024

Test: Specific CPU Score and Full Run 3DMarks
Comparison: Generated Score

3DMark Vantage is the follow-up to the highly successful 3DMark06. It uses DirectX 10 exclusively so if you are running Windows XP, you can forget about this benchmark. Along with being a very capable graphics card testing application, it also has very heavily multi-threaded CPU tests, such Physics Simulation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which makes it a good all-around gaming benchmark.

Valve Particle Simulation Benchmark

Valve Particle Simulation Benchmark
Resolution: 1680x1050
Anti-Aliasing: 4X
Anisotropic Filtering: 8X
Graphic Settings: High
Comparison: Particle Performance Metric

Originally intended to demonstrate new processing effects added to Half Life 2: Episode 2 and future projects, the particle benchmark condenses what can be found throughout HL2:EP2 and combines it all into one small but deadly package. This test does not symbolize the performance scale for just Episode Two exclusively, but also for many other games and applications that utilize multi-core processing and particle effects. As you will see the benchmark does not score in FPS but rather in its own "Particle Performance Metric", which is useful for direct CPU comparisons.

X3: Terran Conflict

X3: Terran Conflict 1.2.0.0
Resolution: 1680x1050
Texture & Shader Quality: High
Antialiasing 4X
Anisotropic Mode: 8X
Glow Enabled

Game Benchmark
Comparison: FPS (Frames per Second)

X3: Terran Conflict (X3TC) is the culmination of the X-series of space trading and combat simulator computer games from German developer Egosoft. With its vast space worlds, intricately detailed ships, and excellent multi-threaded game engine, it remains a great test of modern CPU performance.

 

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Voltage Regulation / Power Consumption

Voltage Regulation / Power Consumption

Our voltage regulation testing will focus on the various voltages and the differences encountered between what is selected in the BIOS and what is measured by a digital multi-meter (DMM). Thanks to the onboard EZ voltage read point cables we didn't have to go poking & prodding everywhere, since all the voltage read points are located in one convenient spot. Users can either take their measurements straight from the voltage read pads, or by attaching the DMM leads to the voltage headers via cables.

Now that we have established where the read points are, let’s have a look at the results. These measurements were taken at stock system speeds and with C1E, C-STATE, Enhanced SpeedStep, and Turbo Boost enabled in the BIOS. Here are our findings:

The EZ voltage read point accessory has eight cables, four of which are used for ground, which leaves us with the ability to measure four system voltages. Theoretically that would be fine, but as you can see above EVGA have selected the weirdest voltages possible. The CPU Input voltage is clearly important, but VCCIO and PCH 1.05V are pointless to most overclockers. Now we could have manually measured the vCore, CPU cache, and system agent voltages by flipping the motherboard over, but we want to make a point here...which is that we are truly confused by EVGA's choice when it comes to the voltage read points. Having said that, the results that we did get do look pretty much perfect.

Power Consumption

For this section, every energy saving feature was enabled in the BIOS and the Windows power plan was changed from High Performance to Balanced. For our idle test, we let the system idle for 15 minutes and measured the peak wattage through our UPM EM100 power meter. For our CPU load test, we ran HyperPi 0.99b on all available threads until completion, measuring the peak wattage via the UPM EM100 power meter. For our overall system load test, we ran HyperPi 0.99b on all available threads while simultaneously loading the GPU with 3DMark (2013).

Although the EVGA X99 Classified features similar idle power consumption as the ASUS X99 Deluxe, it achieves much lower full load numbers. Part of this is likely due to the fact that it doesn't have onboard Wi-Fi or nearly as many storage controllers and other ICs. It also has two additional CPU phases to spread the load across and thus can remain in the efficiency sweet spot longer.

 

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Conclusion

Conclusion

EVGA has done a lot right with the X99 Classified. The packaging and presentation are top-notch, the best that we have ever seen in fact, especially with regard to protecting the motherboard during transit. Likewise, the accessories are individually sealed in a special foil packaging that you don't get with any other company, and it lends a nice feel of exclusivity to this motherboard. That positive impressive lends itself to the hardware too.

The digital 10-phase CPU VRM design is excellent, the five physical PCI-E x16 slots are fed directly from the CPU's PCI-E lanes with no chips or switches in between to reduce performance, the onboard Creative Sound Core3D quad-core audio processor is a fantastic addition (though we would have liked to see an EMI shield and a dedicated headphone amplifier as well), two Intel-powered Gigabit LAN ports are always a welcome addition, and the angled 24-pin ATX power connector is nothing short of awesome.

Now if you stopped reading here, you would get the impression that the presentation and packaging are industry leading, and the hardware is excellent. While that is true, there are some noteworthy shortcomings.

First and foremost, this is the first motherboard that we have reviewed where we couldn't install our graphics card in the primary PCI-E slot. The slot in question is simply too close to the CPU socket, and as a result the back of our GTX 780 Ti makes contact with our large Prolimatech Mega Shadow CPU cooler. We suspect that many of the large heatsinks from Noctua and the like would have similar clearance issues. If you are planning to use an all-in-one liquid cooler or some form of extreme cooling, this should be a non-issue.

Secondly, we are a bit puzzled by the absence of SATA Express. While the usefulness of SATAe might be dubious at this point, this is still a flagship motherboard and we would expect it to fully support both of the high speed next-gen storage interfaces that were implemented on this new platform. We are glad to see two M.2 slots, but we wish that one wasn't exclusively for connectivity purposes, and that the other had more than one mounting screw location so that it would support M.2 SSDs shorter than 80mm long. Speaking of connectivity, there are only four USB 3.0 ports on the rear I/O shield, which is much less than we are used to seeing on X99 motherboards. This is likely due to the fact that EVGA did not want to use any third-party controllers that would require their own PCI-E lanes, so they are instead relying solely on the native capabilities of the X99 PCH. Whether this is good or bad depends on what you plan to use this motherboard for.

Lastly, the EZ voltage read points should have been a great feature, but its implementation is really bewildering. Out of the four voltages that you can monitor, only one of them is arguably of any interest to overclockers. Furthermore, none of the cables are labeled - nor is there any mention of them in any of the documentation - so it just comes down to trial and error.

Truthfully, whatever misgivings we have regarding the hardware is simply overshadowed by the uncompetitive BIOS and incomplete software utility. While it is unquestionably getting better - as evidenced by the arrival of in-bios firmware updates - this UEFI BIOS simply pales in comparison to what the other large manufacturers have created, both in regards to user-friendliness and overall features and number of settings. For example, the motherboard could not successfully apply our G.Skill memory kit's DDR4-3000 XMP profile. It was also extremely unforgiving to any overclocking while leaving any of the voltage options on "Auto". As a result, the time required to dial-in our manual overclock was substantial, and might not have even been possible without the knowledge that we have accrued on previous X99 motherboards.

On a similar note, the usually terrific EVGA E-LEET X Tuning Utility still needs a lot of work on this platform. Almost two months after launch it is rather bizarre to see this crucial piece of software be in such a limited state, especially since it is the only piece of software that EVGA offer for tweaking and monitoring purposes. It should also be mentioned that there is no automatic overclocking functionality whatsoever on the Classified, which perhaps hints at who its clientele truly is.

Having said all that, knowledgeable overclockers and serious benchmarkers should be well served by the digital 10-phase CPU VRM design, the pair of 8-pin CPU power connectors that can deliver up to 600W to the CPU, the PCI-E slot disabling switches, the unique dual purpose LED display with debug and CPU temperature monitoring capabilities, and the plethora of onboard buttons and switches and diagnostic LEDs. This motherboard's performance is excellent and since its PCI-E 3.0 lanes are unadultered, it should have exemplary multi-GPU performance for those who want to make use of its 4-way SLI or CrossFireX capabilities.

Ultimately, as we mentioned earlier in the review, the X99 Classified is ill-suited for casual overclockers, and it was arguably designed to cater to a small niche of EVGA loyalists and skilled extreme overclockers who dabble in sub-zero cooling and who enjoy spending a few hours tweaking a motherboard to perfection. For that crowd, this motherboard is definitely worth a look, but everyone else would be better served by the much more polished models offered by the likes of ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI.