ECS Z87H3-A2X Golden Motherboard Review

Testing methodology

To test the ECS Z87H3-A2X Golden motherboard, the CMOS was cleared and used the default values, except for a few options. Memory was set to 2133 The time and date were set accordingly.

Testing Software:

• Aida64 Engineer
• Crystal Disk Mark
• CineBench R15
• PCMark
• WinRAR
• Handbrake
• Performance Test 8.0
• RightMark Audio Analyzer

Windows 7 Professional was installed on the SSD with all the latest patches available fromMicrosoft.
A reboot was performed between each benchmark run.

All applications were run at their default values unless specified otherwise.

VisionTek Radeon R9 280X: All games were run in full screen at 1920×1080 with the in game performance settings set to ultra quality settings. AA & AF were set to the maximum available. Bioshock infinite, Tomb Raider, Hitman, Dirt 3, and Dirt Showdown were benchmarked using the respective Adrenaline benchmarking tool with the ultra quality preset used for the test. DirectX 11 was chosen for all graphics tests if available. For Battlefield 4, we used the Shanghi mission. The benchmark was started after the player gets off the boat and ends once they reach the roadway.

All tests were taken a total of three times and the results were averaged together to get the final results.

For 3D Mark 11, we used the Extreme test. 3D Mark was left at the default settings and did not use the extreme settings.

AMD beta Catalyst 14.3 drivers were used for testing.

Both motherboards were updated to the latest BIOS available from the manufacture’s website.