Sub System Benchmarks (Storage, Audio and Networking)
Storage Benchmarks
For Storage benchmarks, We used two different benchmarks. The first being the ATTO Disk Benchmark. The other is CrystalDiskMark5. ATTO and CrystalDisk Mark were used to test two drives. We tested both an NVMe M.2 and a 2.5″ SATA 6 SSD. The first drive we tested was the Crucial P1. The P1 is the latest NVMe M.2 SSD from Crucial, using Micron 3D NAND technology. The BX500 is also from Crucial. We recently did a review of their 480 GB version you can check out here: https://www.modders-inc.com/crucial-bx500-480gb-sata-ssd-review/ In the review, we tested the 960 GB version of the BX500 using 96 layer nand. The full review on that drive is coming soon.
ATTO Disk Benchmark
The ATTO Disk Benchmark utility was designed to measure regular disk drive performance. However, its more than capable of measuring both USB flash drive and SSD speeds as well. The utility measures disk performance rates for various sizes of files and displays the results in a bar chart showing read and write speeds at each file size. The results are displayed in megabytes per second. The Crucial P1 did as expected on this Z390 Aorus Xtreme, if not a bit better. On the ATTO Disk Benchmark, the Crucial P1 maxed out at about 1860 MB/s on the read speed and about 1580 MB/s on the write speed. This was slightly slower than the advertised speeds of 2,000 MB/s read and 1,700 MB/s write. But respectable enough. The BX500 hit a max of about 532 MB/s on the read speed and a max of about 485 MB/s on the write speeds. The reads were decent, but the writes were slower than I expected in the ATTO Disk Benchmark.
CrystalDiskMark 5
“CrystalDiskMark 5 is designed to quickly test the performance of your hard drives. Currently, the program allows to measure sequential and random read/write speeds.” It’s one of the most commonly used utilities for testing drives. Both the Crucial P1 and BX500 did better on Crystal Disk Mark 5. The Crucial P1 hit 1953 MB/s on the read speed and 1505 on the write speeds. Still a bit slower than the advertised speeds of 2,000 MB/s read and 1,700 MB/s write. The BX 500 did much better in Crystal Disk Mark 5 than it did on ATTO. The BX500 hit 558/2 MB/s on the read and 510.4 on the write speeds.
Audio Testing
To test the on-board audio on the Z390 Aorus Xtreme, we use the Rightmark Audio Analyzer benchmark. However, before we run the benchmark, we must test the DPC, or Deferred Procedure Call latency. The DPC is checked to ensure the audio can produce useable results in Rightmark. DPC, or Deferred Procedure Call latency, is a Windows function that handles driver efficiency and allows high-priority tasks to defer required, but lower-priority tasks for later execution. We use LatencyMon to test the DPC Latency.
We had LatencyMon run for a little over 12 minutes. The highest reported ISR routine execution time was 136.24. The highest reported DCP routine execution was 140.34. At the 4000 microseconds, the system will be unsuitable for real-time audio playback. Since both results were under this range, we can continue to Rightmark Audio Analyzer.
To test with Rightmark, you must first plug into both the rear headphone jack and the rear mic jack using a double-ended 3.5 mm jack cable. This creates an audio loop to test the internal audio performance of the on-board audio. We tested using both 16 and 24-bit settings through a range of frequencies from 44 kHz up to 192 kHz. On both the 16 and 24 bit testing, the Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce did very well. In fact, it has the best on board audio I’ve personally ever tested. At least according to the Rightmark Audio Analyzer. The chart below is to give an idea of what good results for the Rightmark benchmark look like.
Network Testing
For network testing, I used my Comcast Business class router from Motorola. The server PC was my standard test bench. This consists of an I7 8700k on the Z390 Aorus Pro. The Z390 Aorus Pro features an Intel Gigabit LAN. The Client PC was the Z390 Aorus Xtreme running the I9 9900k. The system We use the Networking Test in the PassMark Performance Test 9. For this review, we ran both the TCP and UDP Networking tests. As the charts show, the Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce did out perform the Z390 pro on the networking test.
Since this motherboard has 802.11 2×2 WAVE WIFI, it wouldn’t be a full review if we didn’t run a speed check on the WIFI. My office has Comcast Business class internet. The plan is 150 Mbps download by 30 Mbps upload. The 802.11 ac WIFI on the Z390 Aorus Xtreme hit 174 Mbps download and 23 Mbps upload. Through Ethernet, the speeds test results were 176.6 Mbps download and 23.8 Mbps upload. The WIFI on the Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce is really no different than if it were running wired. At least in my case, that is. The WIFI on this board is more than suitable for gaming, streaming or uploading to YouTube. The limit is going to be your connection to the internet.
