Test laboratory "ComputerPress" tested nine motherboards with GUI support PCI Express x16 processors designed to work with Socket 939 AMD Athlon64 and AMD Athlon64 FX processors. The following motherboards took part in testing: ABIT AX8, ABIT Fatal1ty AN8, Albatron K8X890 Pro, ASUS A8V-E Deluxe, Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-9, Gigabyte GA-K8VT890-9, MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum, WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS and reference model based on the ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 chipset.
Introduction
The object of our regular testing was motherboards designed to work with AMD Athlon64/AMD Athlon64 FX (Socket 939) family processors and supporting PCI Express x16 graphics interface. This choice was due to several reasons. First, the growing popularity of solutions based on the AMD64 architecture, in particular, desktop processors built on its basis. And this is not at all surprising, since the appearance of AMD Athlon64 processors was a kind of breakthrough that brought a number of innovative solutions to the world of desktop PCs, among which, first of all, we should note the appearance of a memory controller integrated on the processor core, which made it possible not only to reduce latency when working with RAM, but also coupled with the use of the HyperTransport bus as a system interface, it will greatly facilitate the life of system logic manufacturers, and Cool'n'Quiet technology. By dynamically controlling the clock speed and voltage of the processor depending on its load level, this technology can reduce system power consumption and provide more efficient (and most importantly, quieter) cooling of the central processor.
Secondly, we paid attention to this particular category of mainboards because a large number of new chipsets are currently offered, designed to work with processors from the AMD Athlon64/AMD Athlon64 FX family. Almost all system logic manufacturers have presented solutions for these processors that support the PCI Express x16 graphics interface. The choice of the Socket 939 processor socket is primarily due to the desire to present the most productive models of motherboards, since this particular package form factor of the AMD Athlon64/AMD Athlon64 FX processors implies the presence of a dual-channel memory controller.
As for specific models motherboards, in this test we tried to cover the widest possible range of Socket 939 solutions in order to give the most complete picture of the capabilities and range of motherboards that support the PCI Express x16 graphics interface and are designed to work with AMD Athlon64/AMD Athlon64 FX processors. Unfortunately, we were unable to find any samples of motherboards based on the SiS 756 chipset, since serial models of such motherboards were not yet available at the time of testing.
Thus, nine mainboards based on ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 (ATI RS480), NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra and VIA K8T890 chipsets took part in our testing - these are ABIT AX8, ABIT Fatal1ty AN8, Albatron K8X890 Pro, ASUS A8V- E Deluxe, Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-9, Gigabyte GA-K8VT890-9, MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum, WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS and reference model based on ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 chipset.
Test participants
Considering the capabilities of motherboards, it would be logical to start with an acquaintance with their main technical characteristics (Table 1), after which our readers may be interested in getting acquainted with some subjective assessments and comments regarding the presented models.
The ABIT AX8 motherboard is based on the VIA K8T890 chipset (VIA K8T890 + VIA VT8237R). The first thing you immediately notice when looking at the ABIT AX8 motherboard is its unconventional asymmetrical design. So, the northbridge chip in this model is located closer to the output panel, and the processor socket is now slightly to the right of the imaginary central axis of the board, exactly in the center of the DIMM slots intended for installing modules random access memory. By the way, despite ABIT's well-known predilection for all sorts of original active cooling systems, this time a passive, albeit rather large, aluminum heatsink should ensure the optimal temperature regime for the northbridge chip, which will surely appeal to users who want to reduce the noise of their computer. systems. Speaking about the design features of this motherboard, it is worth noting three more unusual design solutions: the use of PATA IDE connectors parallel to the motherboard, the placement of the main 24-pin power connector on the left side of the board (near the output panel) in close proximity to the 4-pin connector ATX12V and the presence of an additional MOLEX connector (apparently, it should provide additional power to the PCI Express x16 slot when using powerful graphics cards if a power supply unit with a 20-pin main cable is connected).
Today, of course, it is impossible to imagine a new motherboard from ABIT without ABIT Engineered technologies, and the AX8 is no exception. To understand this, it is not necessary to study the specifications and accompanying instructions, since even a cursory glance at the board is enough to notice a small chip with a holographic sticker on which there is a name already familiar to many users? Guru, indicating that the ABIT AX8 motherboard has the full range of features provided by ABIT? Guru Technology. These include ABIT OC Guru, ABIT EQ, ABIT Flash Menu, ABIT Black Box and, of course, the old love of many overclockers - the low-level ABIT ?Guru Utility, accessible through the BIOS Setup menu. It should be noted that another ABIT Engineered technology that has found its application in the described model of the motherboard is CPU ThermalGuard Technology, which provides additional protection processor from overheating and by means of which, in case of reaching a critical temperature, the system is turned off.
Another very useful solution, which can be considered traditional for ABIT motherboards, is a two-digit seven-segment POST progress indicator, thanks to which you can easily locate and identify possible malfunctions. computer system.
ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 is based on the NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra chipset. A more detailed acquaintance with the capabilities and scope of supply of this motherboard can lead to the conclusion that this model has become a real testing ground for new ideas from ABIT specialists. Everything in this board testifies to its special place among other models of the company. Even the packaging—a black book-like box with an ominous “Built to kill” slogan on the centerfold and windows that reveal some of the key design elements with explanations of what benefits they offer—is not typical of the company's products. Already by the appearance of the box, it is easy to guess that target audience this decision ABIT marketers consider gamers and computer enthusiasts first and foremost.
Among a number of original solutions used in the ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 model, in our opinion, two implementations of the proprietary ABIT OTES Technology cooling concept — OTES Power and OTES RAMFlow — are of the greatest interest, which should provide correspondingly more efficient cooling of the hot elements of the VRM unit and memory modules. This solution makes ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 a real find for fans of extreme overclocking experiments, especially since the board provides the widest possibilities for overclocking and diagnosing possible malfunctions thanks to ABIT ?Guru Technology functions and a two-digit seven-segment POST progress indicator. CPU ThermalGuard Technology features provide a higher level of protection for the processor from overheating.
Another interesting feature of this motherboard is the original approach to the implementation of sound capabilities. So, the sound codec chip and audio connectors are soldered on a separate AudioMAX module, for installation of which a special connector of the same name is provided on the motherboard. ABIT specialists called this solution the sonorous name of AudioMAX Technology. It is, of course, not new, but for the ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 model it came in handy, since a significant part of the space usually reserved for output panel connectors is occupied by the OTES Power cooling system.
Perhaps this model will find its fans among fans of computer modding. Red textolite, red and black slots, red illumination of the board (by the way, the board has eight LED indicators, six of which (red glow) are located on the back of the motherboard, apparently for a purely decorative purpose) - all this will help bring some design ideas to life.
The Albatron K8X890 Pro based on the VIA K8T890 chipset (VIA K8T890 + VIA VT8237R) surprised us with two unexpected solutions. Firstly, there are no PCI Express x1 expansion slots on the board, and one PCI Express x4 slot is implemented instead. At first glance, this decision may seem controversial, although from a practical point of view it is quite justified, since this interface is compatible with both PCI Express x1 and PCI Express x2. As for the number of slots, there are currently very few expansion cards with a PCI Express interface (unless, of course, we take video cards into account), and the functionality of the motherboard is such that hardly anyone will doubt that their quantity will not be enough even for very demanding users.
Secondly, this is the mPOWER technology implemented in this model. Apparently, the laurels of GIGABYTE Technology, with which it was crowned for the invention of new power schemes, haunted the specialists from Albatron Technology. And now their research in this area has materialized in the form of the mPOWER module, the installation of which allows you to get not three-, as it was before its installation, but a four-phase power supply circuit, which should reduce the load on the power channels (first of all, this concerns the power supply of the central processor), and this, in turn, should lead to an increase in the stability of the supply voltage and, as a result, increase the stability of the system as a whole. It is also important that the motherboard can successfully work both with the installed mPOWER module and without it.
In addition, I would like to note that the Albatron K8X890 Pro motherboard is the only one of the models built on the VIA K8T890 chipset that fully implements the capabilities of VIA Vinyl Audio technology, which implies the implementation of eight-channel audio using a VIA Envy 24PT audio PCI controller and six-channel audio codec.
The ASUS A8V-E Deluxe motherboard, which is based on the VIA K8T890 (VIA K8T890 + VIA VT8237R) chipset, has become another model that has joined the ranks of the Proactive AI series. And this already says a lot, because only the best of the best, the most perfect, the most functional motherboards that incorporate the latest proprietary developments can be marked with the logo of this elite series.
The first thing that immediately attracts attention when looking at the board is the Wi-Fi controller physical layer chip covered with a shiny metal screen. It is the presence of this controller that supports the operation of the IEEE 802.11g wireless network that has become one of the main advantages of this motherboard. But still, the main advantage of this model, in our opinion, is the richest set of tools for overclocking the system, ranging from the banal "manual" increase in frequencies and supply voltage of the main system interfaces and ending with such specially developed technologies as AI Overclocking (providing the simplest way to overclock the system ), AI NOS (Non-delay Overclocking System, which allows for dynamic overclocking depending on the system load) and PEG Link Mode (which increases the performance of the graphics subsystem). Since we are talking about overclocking, it is useful to note that in order to ensure better cooling hot elements of the VRM module uses an aluminum radiator, which to a certain extent contributes to a more stable operation of the system with increased loads on the power channels. All this, coupled with a number of technologies that ensure the "unsinkability" of the system even with extreme overclocking experiments, such as ASUS CrashFree BIOS2 (allows you to restore the BIOS using the motherboard support CD) and C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall - allows you to restore after a reboot BIOS settings default when overclocking fails) makes this board a great choice for those looking to try their hand at overclocking.
Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-9
Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-9 is based on the NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra chipset, and what about other 8 series motherboards? company GIGABYTE Technology, has a phenomenal level of functionality, supporting, perhaps, all modern interfaces that the user may need, including the ability to connect to 802.11g wireless networks, which was achieved thanks to the included Gigabyte GN-WPKG PCI module. And of course, what Gigabyte motherboard, especially one of this series, can do without an extensive set of proprietary technologies and utilities, among which it is worth noting the Dual Power System (DPS) six-phase power supply technology, Dual BIOS code storage technology - Dual BIOS and , of course, an impressive package of proprietary ShieldWare utilities, including:
- M.I.B. function 2, aimed at increasing the performance of the memory subsystem;
- the EasyTune 5 utility, which allows you to overclock the system directly from the Windows environment;
- low-level "tweaker" of the M.I.T. (Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker), which makes it possible through the BIOS Setup menu to carry out all the settings directly related to overclocking;
- S.O.S technology (System Overclock Saver), which allows you to avoid the consequences of rash actions of the user who overdoes it when overclocking the system;
- system for remote monitoring of the state of the system C.O.M. (Corporate Online Management);
- the Xpress Recovery option, embedded in the BIOS and allowing you to backup systems with the possibility of subsequent recovery from the created image;
- the Xpress Install utility, which allows you to extremely simplify the process of installing motherboard drivers and utilities that come with it.
The Gigabyte GA-K8VT890-9 motherboard is based on the VIA K8T890 chipset (VIA K8T890 + VIA VT8237R).
Creating this model, the specialists of GIGABYTE Technology, apparently, did not set themselves the task of once again surprising the world with original solutions and unusual technologies. This is simply a high-quality and reliable product, which, in our opinion, is the main advantage of the Gigabyte GA-K8VT890-9.
Based on the NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra chipset, the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum board is a prime example of an attempt to create a basic PC platform with the highest possible level of functionality. And it should be noted that Micro-Star International specialists succeeded: at least, only the most complete motherboards presented in this test can be compared with this model in terms of the number of integrated devices.
The specific features of this model include the presence of a PCI Express x4 slot, which, by the way, can only work in PCI Express x2 mode, since there are two more PCI Express lanes (in total, the chipset supports 20 PCI Express lanes, 16 of which are used for the graphical interface PCI Express x16) are used by the network controller and the PCI Express x1 slot.
Looking at the board, it's hard not to notice the orange PCI slot that stands out from the rest of the slots. This is the so-called communication slot (Communication Slot), specially optimized for the operation of various network cards, including branded MSI Dual-Net modules, and combining Wi-Fi and Bluetooth controllers on one PCI-board.
And of course, speaking of Micro-Star International motherboards, one cannot ignore such know-how of the company as the CoreCell chip, which opens up new possibilities for energy saving (PowerPro technology), noise reduction (BuzzFree technology), and increasing the lifespan of components. systems (LifePro technology based on constant temperature control and intelligent fan control) and dynamic overclocking (Speedster and D.O.T). By the way, here it would probably be appropriate to remind readers that MSI, which once implemented the D.O.T. technology on its motherboards for the first time, is a pioneer in the development of tools that provide dynamic overclocking of the system.
The last interesting feature of this model is the use of a button to reset the CMOS BIOS instead of the traditional "jumper".
WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS
The WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS motherboard based on the NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra chipset is, in our opinion, good example of how to create a top model without resorting to any circuitry sophistication, but simply by implementing the capabilities inherent in the base chipset. Although in fairness it should be noted that there is still one additional integrated device on the board - this is the IEEE-1394a Agere FW3226 controller.
Among the features of the WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS motherboard, one can probably include the presence of an additional MOLEX connector (apparently, it should provide additional power to the PCI Express x16 slot when using powerful graphics cards in case of connecting a power supply with a 20-pin main cable) .
In conclusion, I would like to bring some clarity regarding the manufacturer of this model. The fact is that Leadtek has recently abandoned the production of motherboards and now WinFast-branded motherboards are produced by Foxconn (which was the company that produced them for Leadtek).
This reference motherboard is based on the ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 chipset (ATI RS480 + ATI IXP400). This motherboard is the only microATX model in our review. But, perhaps, its main feature is not the form factor, but the presence of the integrated graphics core ATI RADEON XPRESS 200, which was based on the already well-known RADEON X300 solution, though with a halved number of pixel pipelines (their number was reduced from four to two) . And although the assessment of the capabilities of the integrated "graphics" is not at all the task of this test, we cannot but note the fact that this model of the mainboard built on the RADEON XPRESS 200 chipset from ATI Technologies, which, by the way, became the first system logic chipset with an integrated graphics core for computer platforms based on AMD Athlon 64 processors and also has full DirectX 9 hardware support, including vertex and pixel shaders version 2.0 (there is a version of this chipset without a graphics core - it is called ATI RADEON XPRESS 200P.) In fairness, it must be said that motherboards based on these chipsets have not yet become widespread - we were even able to get a model of the motherboard for testing only thanks to the assistance of the Russian representative office of ATI Technologies. Nevertheless, we considered it necessary to include it in the testing program so that readers can get an idea about the capabilities of products based on the new chipset, which will most likely appear on the Russian market in the near future.
Test Methodology
For testing, we used test bench the following configuration:
Processor – AMD Athlon64 4000+ (2.4GHz);
Memory - 2x512 MB PC3200 Transend,
memory timings:
RAS act. to Pre 8,
CAS# Latency 2.5,
RAS# to CAS# delay 3,
RAS# Precharge 3;
Graphic card— PowerColor X800 Pro;
HDD- Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80 GB (ST380013A8).
Testing was carried out under the control of the operating room Microsoft systems Windows XP service pack 2 with installed chipset updates and ATI CATALYST 5.2 video driver. Each tested motherboard used the latest version at the time of testing. BIOS firmware. At the same time, all the settings of the basic I / O system were turned off, allowing any kind of overclocking of the system.
The tests used test packages that evaluate the overall performance of the system when surfing the Internet, namely the test package BAPCo WebMark 2004 (patch 1), and when working with office applications and multimedia applications used to create Internet content - Office Productivity and Internet Content Creation from the BAPCo SySMark 2004 test suite (patch 2). The capabilities of the tested models of motherboards on 3D gaming applications were determined using the FutureMark 3DMark 2005 v.1.2.0 test package and a number of test clips of such popular games as Half-Life 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, FarCry (patch 1.3) and DOOM III ( patch 1.1). For a more detailed analysis of the operation of motherboards (primarily the memory subsystem), synthetic tests SiSoft Sandra 2005 SP1, ScienceMark 2.0 and Cache Burst 32 were used. In addition, during testing, the performance of motherboards was evaluated when performing complex mathematical calculations, for which the Molecular utility was used. Dynamics Benchmark from the ScienceMark 2.0 test package, which was used to determine the calculation time for the thermodynamic model of the argon atom. The time of converting a reference WAV file into an MP3 file (MPEG-1 Layer III) was also estimated, for which the AudioGrabber v1.83 utility with the Lame 3.97 codec was used, as well as a reference MPEG-2 file into an MPEG-4 file using the VirtualDub 1.5 utility .10 and DivX Pro 5.2.1 codec and to a WME file using the utility Windows Media encoder 9.
Criteria for evaluation
To assess the capabilities of motherboards, we derived two integral indicators:
- integral performance indicator - to evaluate the performance of the tested motherboards;
- integral quality indicator - for a comprehensive assessment of the performance and functionality of motherboards.
The need to introduce these indicators was due to our desire to compare boards not only in terms of individual characteristics and test results, but also in general, that is, integrally. In this test, we decided to abandon the evaluation criteria related to the price of motherboards, since many of the presented models are new and are not yet sold on the Russian market.
A few words about how the above integral indicators were determined. To calculate the integral performance indicator, all the tests we conducted were divided into four groups:
- Office and multimedia tasks (BAPCo SySMark 2004 and BAPCo WebMark2004).
- Estimated conversion time (WAV > MPEG-1 Layer III, MPEG-2 > MPEG-4, MPEG-2 > WME).
- Scientific computing (Molecular Dynamics Benchmark from the ScienceMark 2.0 test package).
- Game tests (FutureMark 3DMark 2005, Half-Life 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, FarCry and DOOM III).
Each group of tests was assigned a weight coefficient (Table 2), which, in accordance with our subjective opinion, reflects the level of priority of one or another kind of task for a modern high-performance PC.
Table 2. Weighting coefficients
For each group, a geometric average was calculated that characterizes the performance of a particular motherboard for various types applied tasks:
,
where g i is a geometric mean that characterizes the performance of the motherboard when executing application tasks i-th groups; R ij is the result of the j-th i-th test groups; n is the number of tests in the group.
The integral performance indicator was defined as the geometric mean of the weighted normalized values of the geometric mean of each group.
,
where P pr - integral indicator of productivity; G i is the normalized value of the geometric mean index, which characterizes the performance of the system board when performing applied tasks of the i-th group; k i - weight i-th coefficient groups; i is the number of groups.
We used the integral quality indicator as a kind of comprehensive assessment of the functionality of motherboards (when setting it, we were guided by the criteria given in Table 3) and their performance.
List of assessed motherboard features |
Grade |
| Support for two SATA ports with the ability to create RAID arrays of levels 0 and 1 | |
| Support for four SATA ports with the ability to create RAID levels 0 and 1 | |
| Support for six or more SATA ports with the ability to create RAID arrays of levels 0 and 1 | |
| Availability of 6-channel audio | |
| Availability of 8-channel audio | |
| Availability of a gigabit Ethernet controller | |
| The presence of a second gigabit controller | |
| Availability of a 10/100-Mbit Ethernet controller | |
| The presence of a Wi-Fi controller (802.11g) | |
| Availability of IEEE-1394b controller | |
| Availability of an IEEE-1394a controller | |
| Implementation of proprietary technologies, etc. |
Table 3. Evaluation of the functionality of motherboards
This indicator was determined as the geometric mean of the normalized value of the integral performance indicator and the normalized value of the assessment of functionality:
,
where P k is an integral indicator of quality; nP pr is the normalized value of the integral performance indicator; nPφ is the normalized value of the comprehensive assessment of functionality.
The result of all the above manipulations with points and coefficients was the definition of the "quality / price" indicator for the tested models of motherboards.
Test results
Comparing the performance of motherboards designed to work with AMD Athlon64/AMD Athlon64 FX processors is a difficult task, especially when it comes to models based on different chipsets. Since when making such comparisons, one always wants to come to an unambiguous and, if possible, objective conclusion about which set of system logic (and, consequently, decisions based on it) is the most productive. But in the case of the AMD64 architecture, everything is not so simple, since with the same configuration of the disk and video subsystems, the main contribution to the overall performance is made by the operation of the "central processor-memory" link. Under the traditional architecture, the operation of this bundle meant the interaction of the central processor with the northbridge chip, and each system logic manufacturer offered its own options for implementing the controller and memory arbiter, its own technologies for processing requests to the processor through the system bus controller. In the case of AMD Athlon64/AMD Athlon64 FX processors, which, in addition to the processor core itself, also include a memory controller, we can no longer speak of a clear performance advantage of one or another chipset. For this reason, the test results turned out to be more than ever dependent on the chosen configuration, in particular, on how well this or that motherboard works with the specific model of memory modules used in the test. It was the work of RAM that turned out to be the decisive criterion in determining the leader. Although, in fairness, it should be noted that motherboards based on the NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra chipset turned out to be slightly faster than their rivals on average, which, in our opinion, is explained by the single-chip architecture of this solution, which resulted in a decrease in latency when accessing system devices, for the operation of which Traditionally, the southbridge is responsible for the memory and processor. In order not to be unfounded in the above statements, let's consider the test results (Table 4).
We would especially like to note the results shown by WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS and ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 motherboards. In most tests, they were unrivaled, taking first and second places, respectively, so it is only natural that they were placed in this order after determining the winner in the "Best Performance" category.
But still, the main criteria when choosing a motherboard for most users are, first of all, its functionality and, of course, in these aspects, the difference between solutions based on different chipsets of system logic is much more obvious. Thus, motherboards based on the NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra chipset are indisputable leaders in terms of the level of offered functionality. This chipset provides many important features:
- bidirectional HyperTransport bus (16x16 bits, operating frequency 1 GHz);
- graphic interface PCI Express x16;
- support for three PCI Express x1 ports;
- support for six PCI slots;
- quad-port SATA 2.0 controller (maximum throughput channel - up to 3 Gb / s, support for NCQ);
- dual-channel IDE ATA133 controller;
- the ability to organize a RAID array of level 0, 1 or 0 + 1 from disks connected to any built-in IDE controllers;
- gigabit ethernet controller (MAC layer);
- eight-channel audio controller AC'97;
- 10 USB 2.0 ports;
- ActiveArmor Firewall with hardware core.
It is clear that motherboards based on the NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra chipset turned out to be the most functional solutions, especially since manufacturers such as GIGABYTE Technology, ASUSTeK Computer, Inc. and Micro-Star International, in their models that participated in our testing, further expanded the already considerable capabilities of the basic chipset of system logic by placing additional integrated controllers on the board and implementing a number of interesting proprietary developments.
But competing solutions also have their trump cards. So, for VIA K8T890 chipsets, with, of course, a more modest, but nevertheless quite acceptable, by modern standards, level of functionality - this is, of course, more low price. And motherboards based on the chipset from ATI Technologies will surely find their fans thanks to the excellent integrated graphics core ATI RADEON XPRESS 200.
The editors express their gratitude to the companies for providing equipment for testing:
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Hi all. In today's article, we will talk about a complete diagnosis of all devices in your computer. I will show and tell you how to independently diagnose a computer and all its component devices:
- HDD.
- RAM.
- Video card.
- Motherboard.
- CPU.
- Power Supply.
We will check all this in this article and for each of the computer devices I will make a video in which I will clearly show how to diagnose a particular device.
In addition, by diagnostics, you will be able to determine whether you should completely change the device or you can repair it, we will also analyze the main sores of devices that can be determined without diagnostics. Well, let's start with the most important question of interest to everyone - diagnostics HDD/SSD.
HDD and SSD disk diagnostics.
Disk diagnostics are done in two directions, they check the Smart systems of a hard or solid state drive and check the disk itself for bad or slow sectors in order to check the SMART HDD and SSD, we will use the program. You can download it from our website in the download section.
Well, now let's go directly to the disk diagnostics itself, after downloading the program, launch the file of the desired bitness and look at the main window if you see a blue icon with the signature good or in English good means with your SMART drive everything is in order and further diagnostics can not be carried out.
If you see a yellow or red icon with caution, bad inscriptions, then there is some problem with your disk. You can find out about the exact problem below in the list of basic SMART diagnostic items. Wherever there are yellow and red icons opposite the inscription, it will indicate that your disk has suffered in this part.
If you have already exhausted the resource of the disk, then it is no longer worth repairing it. If you have several bad sectors there is still room for repair. I will talk about the repair of bad sectors later. If the disk has a lot of bad sectors, more than 10 or a lot of very slow sectors, then you should not restore such a disk. After a while, it will still fall further, it will need to be constantly restored / repaired.
Software disk repair.
By repair, I mean the relocation of bad and slow sectors on the disk. This instruction only suitable for HDD drives, that is, only hard drive. For SSD given the operation will not help in any way, but will only worsen the condition of the solid state drive.
Repair will help extend the life of your hard drive a little more. To restore bad sectors, we will use the HDD regenerator program. Download and run this program, wait until the program collects data about your drives after the data is collected you will see a window in which you will need to click on the inscription - Click here to bad sectors on demaget drive surfase directly under Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. Click on the inscription you need to quickly in OS 8 and 10, so the window will quickly disappear, in 7 everything is fine. Then press NO. Then select your drive from the list. Press the start process button. A command line window will appear in which you will need to press 2, Enter, 1, Enter.
After the performed operations, the system will start scanning for bad sectors and moving them to unreadable disk partitions. In fact, bad sectors do not disappear, but in the future they do not interfere with the operation of the system and you can continue to use the disk further. The process of checking and restoring the disk may take a long time, depending on the size of your disk. At the end of the program, press the button 5 and Enter. If you have any errors while testing and fixing bad sectors, then your disk cannot be recovered. If you have found more than 10 bad sectors, then restoring such a disk does not make sense, there will always be problems with it.
The main signs of disk failure are:
Video on how to diagnose HDD / SSD:
RAM Diagnostics
This time we will run a memory diagnostic. There are several options in which you can check the RAM, this is when your computer still turns on and somehow works, and when you can’t turn on the computer, only the BIOS is loaded.
The main signs that the RAM is not working:
- When loading resource-intensive applications, the computer freezes or restarts.
- With prolonged use of the computer, more than 2 hours, Windows starts to slow down, with an increase in time, the slowdown increases.
- When installing any programs, you cannot install them, the installation fails.
- Sound and visual jamming.
The first thing we will cover is how to check the RAM if your Windows boots. Everything is very simple, in any of operating systems Starting with Windows Vista, you can search for Windows Memory Checker. We launch the shortcut that appears as an administrator and see a message stating that you can reboot and start checking right now or schedule a check the next time you turn on the computer. Choose the value you need. After the computer restarts, you will immediately automatically start the RAM test. It will be carried out in standard mode, wait until the end of the test and you will find out if everything is in order with your RAM. In addition, after you have already loaded Windows, in the event viewer you can open Windows logs, select the System item and find the memory diagnostic event in the list on the right. In this event, you will see all the information about the diagnostics performed. Based on this information, you can find out if the RAM is working.
The next option for diagnosing RAM is if you cannot boot Windows. To do this, you need to write to disk or to bootable flash drive program and run it from BIOS. In the window that appears, a test to check the RAM (RAM) will be automatically launched. Wait until the end of the test and if there are any problems with your memory, the test window will change from blue to red. This will indicate defects or damage to the RAM. That's all, you have learned - how to diagnose RAM.
Video on how to check the RAM:
Video card diagnostics
The main signs of a defective video card:
- Computer throws blue screen of death.
- Artifacts appear on the screen - multi-colored dots, stripes or rectangles.
- When downloading games, the computer freezes or restarts.
- With prolonged use of the computer in the game, performance decreases, the game starts to lag.
- Video jamming, video playback failure, problems with the flash player.
- Lack of smoothing in text and when rewinding documents or web pages.
- Changing colors.
All these are signs of some kind of video card defects. Testing a video card should be divided into two stages: checking the graphics chip and checking the memory of the video card.
Checking the graphics chip of the video card (GPU)
To check the graphics chip, you can use various programs that put a load on this chip and detect failures under critical load. We will use the program and FurMark.
We launch Aida at the bottom in the tray near the clock, click right click and select the system stability test. in the window that appears, check the box next to GPU Stress Test. The test will run at the bottom you will see a graph of temperature changes, fan speed, and current consumption. To check, 20 minutes of the test is enough, if at this time the bottom field with the graph turns red or the computer restarts, then there are problems with your video card.
We start OCCT. Go to the GPU 3D tab, do not change the settings and press the ON button. Next, a window will appear with a fluffy donut, which is a visual test. The test will take 15-20 minutes. I recommend monitoring the temperature and monitoring the power readings, if multi-colored dots, stripes or rectangles appear on the screen, this will indicate that there is a problem with the video card. If the computer turns off spontaneously, this will also indicate a defective video card.
Now we have analyzed the diagnostics of the video card processor, but sometimes there are problems with the memory of the video card too.
Video card memory diagnostics
For this diagnosis, we will use the program. Unpack the program and run it as administrator. In the window that appears, check the box next to the inscription signal if there are errors and press the start button. A check of the RAM of the video card will be launched if any errors with the memory are found, the program will emit a characteristic sound signal, on some computers the signal will be a system one.
That's all, now you can do video card diagnostics yourself. Check the GPU and memory of the video card.
Video on checking the video card:
Motherboard Diagnostics
The main signs of a motherboard malfunction:
- The computer knocks out the blue screen of death, reboots and turns off.
- The computer freezes without restarting.
- The cursor, music and video (friezes) stick.
- Connected devices disappear - HDD / SSD, drive, USB drives.
- Ports, USB and network connectors do not work.
- The computer does not turn on, does not start, does not boot.
- The computer is slow, often slows down or freezes.
- The motherboard makes various sounds.
Visual inspection of the motherboard
The first thing to do to diagnose the motherboard is to conduct a visual inspection of the motherboard. What you need to pay attention to:
- Chips and cracks - in the presence of such damage, the motherboard will not turn on at all or will turn on after a time.
- Swollen capacitors - due to swollen capacitors, the computer can turn on with 3, 5, 10 attempts or after a certain time, it can also go out for no reason and slow down.
- Oxidation - the computer can turn on after a time, slow down. It may not turn on at all if the tracks are completely oxidized.
- Warmed chips, microchips will have small burning points or holes - because of this, the computer may not turn on or ports, network cards, sound or USB will not work.
- Scratches on the tracks - the same as with chipped cracks.
- Burn around chips and ports - leads to the complete inoperability of the motherboard or its individual parts.
Software diagnostics of the motherboard
If your computer turns on and Windows boots, but there are incomprehensible glitches and slowdowns, you should do software diagnostics of the motherboard using the program. Download and install the program, run it, at the bottom in the tray near the clock on its icon, right-click and select "service" - "system stability test". Check the boxes next to Stress CPU, Stress FPU, Stress cache, remove the rest of the checkboxes. We press the "Start" button, the computer will freeze, the test will begin. During the test, monitor the temperature of the processor and motherboard, as well as power. The test is carried out for a minimum of 20 minutes, a maximum of 45 minutes. If during the test the bottom field turns red or the computer goes out, then the motherboard is faulty. Also, the shutdown may be due to the processor, uncheckStress CPU and check again. If you find overheating, then you need to check the cooling system of the motherboard and processor. with power fluctuations, there may be problems with both motherboard same with BP.
If the computer starts but Windows does not boot, you can check the mainland through the boot test. It must be written to a disk or flash drive. I'll show you how to use it in more detail in the video.
Diagnostics of the power supply unit (PSU)
The main symptoms of a power supply failure:
- The computer does not turn on at all.
- The computer starts for 2-3 seconds and stops working.
- The computer turns on from 5-10-25 times.
- Under load, the computer goes dead, reboots or throws out a blue screen of death.
- When under load, the computer slows down a lot.
- Devices connected to the computer spontaneously disconnect and reconnect (screws, drives, USB devices).
- Squeak (whistling) during computer operation.
- Unnatural noise from the PSU fan.
Visual inspection of the PSU
The first thing to do if the power supply fails is to make a visual inspection. We disconnect the PSU from the case and disassemble the PSU itself. We check for:
- Cinder, melted PSU elements - we look to make sure that all the elements are intact, if you find cinder or something obviously melted, we carry the PSU for repair or change it to a new one.
- Swollen capacitors - replace swollen capacitors with new ones. Because of them, the computer may not turn on the first time or go out under load.
- Dust - if dust is clogged in the fan and radiators, it must be cleaned, because of this, the PSU in the load may turn off due to overheating.
- Blown fuse - a fuse often burns when there is a voltage drop, it must be replaced.
We checked everything, but the power supply is behaving badly, we look.
PSU software diagnostics
Software diagnostics of the power supply can be carried out using any test program that gives the maximum load on the PSU. Before doing such a check, you need to determine whether all the elements of your PC have enough power from the power supply. You can check this as follows: run the AIDA 64 program link above and go to the site for calculating the required PSU power. On the site, we transfer the data from Aida to the appropriate fields and press the Calculate button. So we will be sure exactly how much power the power supply is enough for the computer.
We proceed to the diagnosis of PD itself. We download the program. Install and run it. Go to the Power Supply tab. check the box to use all logical cores (does not work on all computers) and press the ON button. The test lasts an hour and if at this time the computer turns off, restarts, knocks out a blue screen, there are problems with the power supply unit (Before checking the power supply unit, you must first check the video card and processor in order to avoid the test being incorrect).
I will not show how to diagnose a PSU with a multimeter, because there is a lot of this information on the network, and it is better for professionals to do such diagnostics. I will show more testing of the PSU in the video below:
Hello dear reader! In this article, we will Stress test computer for stability program OCCT (OverClock Checking Tool) at the time of writing this article itself latest version — 4.4.1.
With the help of the program OCCT we will be able to test the following components of our PC:
Program OCCT when passing the test, it gives the maximum load on the tested components of our PC. And if the testing ended without errors, then your PC and cooling system are fully functional, and they are not going to fail yet!
First, download the program, or from the official site, install.
The installation is standard, after running the downloaded installation file, in the first window, click "Next", in the second click "Accept", in the third "Next" and in the fourth window - the button "Install"
After installation, you will see the following program icon on your desktop OCCT
We launch the program from the shortcut. And before us appears something like this window.
Why about? Because the program window changes depending on the settings, I have already configured the program, and in the end, after all the settings, you will get the same program window, and then you will change it according to your interests.
So, let's start setting up the program OCCT.
In the main window of the program, click on this button
Getting into the settings window
In this window, the most important thing is to set the temperatures at which the test will be stopped, this is necessary to prevent the failure of any node from overheating.
ADVICE- If you have a fairly new PC, then the temperature can be set to 90 ° C. The components of the latest releases have rather high operating temperatures.
But if your PC is 5 or more years old, then set the temperature to 80 ° C. Later production parts are very sensitive to overheating.
The best option is to look at the maximum allowable temperatures of your iron on the manufacturer's website.
Components in overclocking do not pass the test! Program OCCT gives such a load that the temperature exceeds 90 ° C and stops the test.
90°C to 100°C and above is the critical point at which parts on your components will start to desolder from their seats if they don't burn out first.
But you should not be afraid to burn the system in panic! “I repeat” The main thing is to check all fans (Coolers) for operability before passing the test in the system block and clean the cooling system from dust.
And to spend computer stability test a must! To crash your PC (let's say at the time of writing some archi-important material for you) didn't come as a surprise.
After solving the issue of temperatures, in the last column of settings called "Real-time", we check the boxes for the graphs that we want to see when passing the test.
So, with the settings figured out, you can close them. Now let's go back to the main window of the program.
There are four tabs in the main program window. CPU:OCCT, CPU:LINPACK, GPU:3D and POWER SUPPLY.
Processor, RAM, and Motherboard Test - CPU:OCCT
Let's start with the values here: For convenience, I numbered them.
1. Type of testing: Infinite - The test will run without time until you stop it yourself. Auto - The test will run according to the time set in paragraph 2. Duration.
3. Periods of inactivity– Time before the start of the test, and after the end. The report of which you will see in the program window after starting the test.
4. Test Version- The capacity of your system. My program itself determined the bit depth at the first start.
5.Test Mode- Here we select one of the three sets in the drop-down menu: Large, Medium, and Small.
- Big set – Tested for errors Processor, RAM, and Motherboard (chipset).
- Medium set – Tested for errors Processor and RAM.
- small set– Only the Processor is tested for errors.
6. Number of threads- Set the number of threads that your processor supports. My program itself determined the number of processor threads.
Go to the second tab CPU:LINPACK
CPU Test - CPU:LINPACK
On points 1. 2. 3. I think everything is clear. See above in the first test
Point 4. We leave it unchanged.
5. Check the box if you have a 64-bit processor and system.
6. AVX is Linpack compatible. This parameter is determined for each processor separately.
I will not describe the processor microarchitecture in full here, this is a separate topic, and I think it will be interesting for every user to delve into it.
7. Use all logical cores - Check the box so that our processor uses its full potential, including logical cores (if any).
Everything is clear here, let's move on to the next tab.
Video card test - GPU:3D
On points, everything is unchanged 1. 2. 3. I think everything is clear. See above in the first test
4. Install the version of DirectX that your Windows supports.
DirectX 9- shader model 2.0 Windows XP and more old windows
DirectX 11- shader model 5.0 Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
5. Choose your video card.
6. Set the resolution of your monitor.
7. Put a tick. If you, like me, have 2 video cards installed in SLI mode.
8. If the checkbox is checked, then the heating of the video card will be lower, and error detection will be more efficient.
9. Uncheck the box if we want to use all the memory of the video card.
10. For video cards from Nvidia, a value of 3 is better. For video cards from ATI, a value of 7.
11. Set the number of frames per second. The value 0 is off. You can set the value to "0" to check how much FPS your video card can give.
Here, too, everything is set up, go to last tab— POWER SUPPLY
PSU (Power Supply) Test
The settings are almost the same as on the tab GPU:3D
Here the principle of the test is as follows: The whole system operates at its fullest possible power, trying to strain our PSU to the maximum.
P.S. in the settings at the bottom of the main program window there is a field where hints appear when you hover over a custom item
With the release of 7th generation processors and system logic for these CPUs, Intel toughened its attitude towards lovers of "free MHz", i.e. overclockers by blocking the possibility of overclocking processors with and without the "K" index, for all chipsets, except for the top-end Intel Z270 Express. Therefore, if you want to build yourself a powerful computer with an overclocked processor, you need to choose a motherboard based on an older chipset.
We have already got acquainted with a large number of interesting motherboards from GIGABYTE, each of which is unique in its own way and has interesting features. The GA-Z270X-Gaming 5, GA-Z270X-Gaming 7 and GA-Z270X-Gaming K3 reviewed by us are located in the upper and middle price range, starting from 9000 rubles. and higher. But what about those who do not want to spend a large amount on a motherboard, but at the same time want to get the maximum out of it?
In this case, you need to pay attention to budget boards, for example, GIGABYTE GA-Z270-HD3, which can be found in Russian retail at a price of 7500 rubles. (according to Yandex.Market, the cost may vary depending on the region and date).
At first glance, it may seem that the GIGABYTE GA-Z270-HD3 is too simple a board and you can forget about overclocking, but this is not so, and after reading this review to the end, you will see this.
Specifications.
| Manufacturer | GIGABYTE |
| Model | GA-Z270-HD3 |
| System logic | Intel Z270 Express |
| socket | LGA1151 |
| Supported processors | Intel 7- / 6 - Generations Core i7 / Core i5 / Core i3 / Pentium / Celeron |
| Supported memory | 4 x DDR4, max 64 GB; DDR4 3866(O.C.) / 3800(O.C.) / 3733(O.C.) / 3666(O.C.) / 3600(O.C.) / 3466(O.C.) / 3400(O.C.) / 3333(O.C.) / 3300(O.C.) / 3200(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2133MHz. |
| Expansion slots | – 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16 mode); – 2 x PCIe 3.0 x1; – 1 x PCI. |
| Disk subsystem | 6 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s or 1 x SATA Express + 4 x SATA 6 Gb/s; 1 x M.2 (Key M). |
| LAN | 1 x Intel GbE (10/100/1000Mbit). |
| Sound subsystem | 7.1-channel HD audio codec Realtek ALC887. |
Packing and equipment.
The GA-Z270-HD3 motherboard comes in a small, by modern standards, cardboard box with interesting design. On the front we are greeted by a large UD5 logo (Ultra Durable 5), which is a kind of quality mark. GIGABYTE's Ultra Durable motherboards use high quality components to ensure the processor, RAM and system performance is stable throughout the life of the product.
On the opposite side we see specifications GA-Z270-HD3 and description of its features. Despite the affordable price, the motherboard received a lot of useful technologies in its arsenal. For example, Smart Fan 5 - allows the user to monitor the operating temperature of the motherboard in real time, thanks to 6 temperature sensors, and adjust the operation of the fans.
Inside the box, the board is placed in a cardboard tray and packed in an antistatic bag.
In the package we found:
- user's manual;
- disk with software;
– 2 x SATA cables;
– plug for the interface panel;
– G connector.
Appearance.
The GA-Z270-HD3 motherboard is based on brown textolite. The board belongs to the ATX form factor, but in reality its dimensions are slightly smaller - 305 x 225 mm. GA-Z270-HD3 is not to be expected for design frills, after all, this is a board entry level, but, even despite this, it looks quite modern.
The layout of the motherboard is quite standard, the RAM slots and the top PCIe 3.0 x16 slot are located at a sufficient distance from each other, so that you do not have to remove the RAM from system block video card.
The opposite side of the printed circuit board looks standard, the only thing that can be noted here are the plastic clips for fastening the heatsinks, which turned out to be very reliable in practice.
There are four slots for RAM. The GA-Z270-HD3 supports modules up to 3866 MHz and up to 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) in total.
The full list of supported frequencies is as follows: DDR4 3866(O.C.) / 3800(O.C.) / 3733(O.C.) / 3666(O.C.) / 3600(O.C.) / 3466(O.C.) / 3400(O.C.) / 3333(O.C.) / 3300 (O.C.) / 3200(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2133 MHz.
Next to the DIMM slots, two pads for additional USB3.0 ports are soldered, in total you can connect up to 4 ports.
There are six slots for installing expansion cards on the printed circuit board:
– 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16 mode);
– 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 (x4 and x4 mode);
– 2 x PCIe 3.0 x1;
– 1 x PCI.
For hard drives and SSD drives, there are four SATA 6 Gb / s ports and one SATA Express. The latter, if you do not have devices compatible with this interface, can be used as a pair of regular SATA ports.
Faster SSD drives can be installed in the M.2 port, which supports the following sizes: 2242 / 2260 / 2280 / 22110. The drive can be configured to work both in PCIe 3.0 x4 mode and in SATA mode.
At the bottom of the PCB there is a large set of blocks for connecting peripheral interfaces: F_AUDIO, COM, LPT, TPM, 2 x USB2.0, F_Panel.
The interface panel has the following connectors:
– 1 x DVI-D;
– 1 x D-Sub;
– 1 x HDMI;
– 1 x PS/2;
– 1 x LAN RJ45;
– 4 x USB 3.1;
– 2 x USB 2.0;
– 6 x audio ports.
The GIGABYTE GA-Z270-HD3 audio subsystem is based on the Realtek ALC887 8-channel HD audio codec, and the part of the PCB on which it is located is isolated from the rest of the board's wiring. also in sound path used high quality Japanese audio capacitors.
The motherboard cooling system consists of two aluminum radiators, one cools the chipset, and the second removes heat from the CPU power module. Despite the compact size of the radiators, they do their job well, the temperature of the hottest of them was only 35 degrees!
The CPU power supply module has seven phases at its disposal, organized in a 4+3 phase scheme. Four phases are dedicated to powering the processor cores, which are cooled by the radiator, and three more phases are dedicated to powering the integrated graphics core. The elementary base of the power system is recruited from high-quality components, solid capacitors and chokes with a ferrite core.
The VRM is controlled by the Intersil 95866 controller.
The GIGABYTE GA-Z270-HD3 motherboard, despite its external simplicity, has an informative graphical shell that boasts a spectacular and intuitive user interface. BIOS capabilities, in terms of overclocking and system settings, are in no way inferior to more expensive devices. In EasyMode on home page we are greeted by ten blocks, with information about:
- processor temperature;
- system components;
- motherboard temperature and Vcore voltage;
- speed of rotation of connected fans;
- connected SSD and HDD drives.
In the ADVANCED mode, which has advanced functionality, we get to the M.I.T. page. It contains many parameters necessary for overclocking and simply setting up the system. All the parameters necessary for overclocking the processor and RAM are concentrated here: CPU multiplier, BCLK frequency, memory frequency, power system settings, timing settings and the ability to increase voltages. In addition, there is a separate submenu for setting the processor power system.
Advanced Frequency Setting is responsible for setting: processor multiplier, BCLK bus frequency, RAM frequency, north bridge frequency, integrated graphics core frequency.
The Advanced Memory Setting contains settings related to RAM, the XMP profile activation function, timings and sub-timings settings.
Advanced Voltage Setting allows you to set the main operating voltages you will need for overclocking: Vcore, Vmem, etc. Here you can also configure the operation of the processor power system and RAM.
The System tab contains time and date settings, as well as a language selection function, by the way, BIOS is translated into Russian, so if you don’t care about English, you can still easily navigate in BIOS.
The BIOS tab contains information about the computer's boot mode.
In Peripherals, you can disable or enable the controllers you need, for example, the LAN controller.
In Chipset, the operation of the audio codec and integrated graphics is configured.
The Power tab will allow you to configure the PC to turn on when you click on the mouse button or keyboard key.
The Save & Exite tab is clear for what it is needed.
Survey of firm PO.
Included with the motherboard is a disk with all branded software GIGABYTE, you can also download it from the official website of the company. Let's start with the simplest CPU-Z program, the design of which was changed to suit the manufacturer's corporate identity.
Next on the list is the APP Center program - this basic program, you can even say the basis, which you can supplement with the functions you need. All installed programs from GIGABYTE will automatically go here, and save you from dozens of shortcuts on your desktop.
There are several tabs here, for example, Advanced CPU OC contains settings responsible for overclocking the processor. Moreover, here you can control not only frequencies, but also voltages, which greatly simplifies and speeds up the process of overclocking and searching for stable frequencies. As you can see, GIGABYTE GA-Z270-HD3 is no exception and has exactly the same customization options as more expensive boards.
Advanced DDR OC contains memory settings including timings.
CPU power management is presented in the Advanced Power tab.
In HotKey, you can set up hotkeys that will save profiles with the settings you choose.
The next program in the queue is Ambient LED, in which you can customize the operation of the LED backlight. In the case of the board we are considering, only two modes are available for change (static glow and pulsing).
System Information Viewer - a program that allows you to configure the operation of the computer's cooling system, or rather the fans connected to the motherboard. The first tab provides information about the system.
Further, on the Smart Fan 5 Auto tab, the program offers to choose one of the pre-prepared profiles: Quiet, Standard, Performance, Full Speed. The modes are set in ascending order, the quietest is Quiet, and the most productive is Full Speed. The most optimal noise/performance ratio, in our opinion, has Standard, although this will depend on the type of fans installed in your PC.
By going to Smart Fan 5 Advanced, you can configure the operation of each connected fan by manually setting the rotation speed depending on the temperature of the components.
In the Record tab, you can activate monitoring of the main system parameters and save the data to a separate file.
3D OSD is a program completely designed for monitoring computer parameters. In addition to the fact that she can monitor the state of the computer, she can also display the information the user needs on the monitor screen, on top of all windows.
Testing.
Test stand:
- Intel processor Core i5-7600K
- CO: Corsair H110i GTX
- RAM KFA2 Hall Of Fame DDR4-3600 2 x 8 GB
- Corsair AX1200i power supply
- Radeon graphics card R9 280X.
Testing was carried out in two stages: first, test applications were run at nominal frequencies, and then the same applications were run at higher frequencies in overclocking mode.
Nominal system settings.
Overclock settings.
On the GIGABYTE GA-Z270-HD3 motherboard, we managed to overclock the processor to a frequency of 5000 MHz, while maintaining full stability in all benchmarks. To do this, we had to increase the voltage on the core to 1.315 V.
For ease of perception, all test results in benchmarks are shown as graphs.
Less is better
Less is better
Less is better
Less is better
Less is better
More is better
Less is better
During testing, using a thermometer, we measured the operating temperatures to which the radiators of the cooling system are heated. The radiator of the power system in idle time warmed up to a temperature of 34 ° C.
Radiator Intel chipset Z270 Express warmed up to 35°C.
Below in the graphs, we present all the temperature values measured by us during testing.
Conclusion.
The GIGABYTE GA-Z270-HD3 is the perfect base for your home computer. The motherboard will easily provide stable operation of modern Core processors i5 or Core i7 even when overclocked. A computer built on the GIGABYTE GA-Z270-HD3 will be able to solve a wide range of tasks, from work or surfing the Internet to modern games.
To be honest, when we first saw this board, we did not expect anything outstanding from it, not to mention the overclocking of the processor to 5 GHz. However, after a detailed acquaintance, these thoughts immediately disappeared.
Yes, the GIGABYTE GA-Z270-HD3 looks much simpler than more expensive solutions, but this does not degrade its performance in any of the parameters. Which was clearly demonstrated in the testing section.
Do not forget about the expansion options, the GA-Z270-HD3 is all right with this, in addition to additional USB ports, 2nd and 3rd generations, you can connect devices with COM and TPM interfaces to it, which may be relevant for office tasks.
Perhaps, the design of the device may seem too simple to some of the users, however, if you do not use a computer at home in the form of an open stand, this will not be a problem. And fans of cool design should pay attention to a more expensive price segment, for example, the AORUS line.
Therefore, based on the results of testing the GIGABYTE GA-Z270-HD3 motherboard, we can say the following. GA-Z270-HD3 will become good choice for building a PC with a limited budget and a desire to further overclock the processor in order to, if necessary, increase the performance of the computer.
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