Noctua U12S “Air 1” Overclocking
As this is the smallest CPU cooling solution it did not surprise all that much to see it hit a hard limit rather early on. Some of this is due to the rather aggressive factory overclocking pre-sets MSI has used to ensure as broad range of compatibility as possible, but mostly it is just because this is a smaller heatsink that can only do so much and this is a hot running processor when overclocked.
Regardless of the reason consumers should consider 1.350volts a good hard limit if they plan on using this class of coolers. With our MSI Gaming Pro Carbon X99A that meant using the ‘8’ setting on the Game Boost dial. This will result in 4.2GHz on all ten cores, uncore set to 3.1Ghz and will enable XMP up to DDR4-2666 settings. Overall this is actually a very good place for most consumers as it blends noticeably improved performance without a drastic increase in cooling or power consumption. By the same token we personally would be hesitant to use 1.350v and would recommend consumers stick to 1.300 or lower if they plan on using smaller air based CPU cooling solutions. This will provide more headroom and keep – for example – a hot summer’s day from causing thermal throttling to occur.
Noctua D15 “Air 2” Overclocking
While this is a downright massive CPU cooling solution Noctua NF-A15 fans are not known for their high performance abilities, as such this did handicap this cooler more than expected. That is not to say we did not obtain a very good overclock but feel we would be remiss if we did not mention this handicap that could easily be avoided by using three higher performance fans. Handicapped or not we were able to using setting ’10’ on the Game Boost dial and this really is the we would want to take such an expensive processor. This is because in order to get all ten cores to 4.4GHz (and two active core ratio to 4.5Ghz) MSI feels it is necessary to use 1.450volts.
Please note that even with three NZXT 140mm 2000rpm fans we were unable to use the Game Boost setting 11 without thermal limiting. In other words, 1.450volts is about the most a D15 can do with a 6950X regardless of the fans use. As with the Noctua U12S we consider this to be a rather hard limit and really would not recommend going above 1.4v without using three fans. For truly long term usage we would consider 1.400v to be a good safe limit for the D15 with three fans and 1.350v for dual fan configuration.
Corsair H110i GT “Water 1” Overclocking
It is rather obvious that MSI were not being subtle when they labeled the highest Game Boost setting ’11’ on their dial, as this really does push everything to eleven. To be precise the MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon will happily push 1.550 volts to the CPU in an effort to hit 4.6Ghz on all cores (with 2 active core ratio being set to a whopping 4.7GHz). That really is a lot of voltage and we would not recommend this for the faint of heart. We would also not recommend it for consumers interested in only dual fan configurations. Even with two uber-high performance NZXT 140mm 2000rpm fans we did get thermal limiting and it was only by adding in two more that things were kept just below the thermal wall.
More to the point we are not 100 percent sure that such an overclock would be fully stable if ambient temperatures were to go much above the 20° we keep our testing room at. For this reason, we would consider 1.400v to be a much more reasonable limit for dual fan configurations on dual 140mm AIOs and 1.45v to be a more reasonable number for quad fan configurations. To be honest we consider 1.450v the most we would want to push to such an expensive 6950X as the added performance would not offset the added stress on us. You may feel differently, and if so the MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon’s Game Boost ’11’ setting is there ready and waiting for you.
i7 6950x – CINEBENCH R15
CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation.
i7 6950x – 3DMark Fire Strike Benchmark
The latest version of 3DMark from FutureMark includes numerous benchmarks including one they have dubbed “Fire Strike” and we have used the ‘Extreme’ settings. Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark designed for high-performance gaming PCs. Fire Strike features real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today.
i7 6950x – winRAR Benchmark
WinRAR is a popular file compression and decompression tool that also happens to be multi-threaded application. While it does have a built in benchmark we have opted to use a custom 3GB test consisting of small, medium, and moderately large files. We then time how long it takes to compress the files into one .rar file with all WinRAR settings left at their defaults.
i7 6950x – x264 HD Benchmark
x264 HD Benchmark is a benchmark that allows you to measure how fast your PC can encode a 1080p video clip into a high quality x264 video file. It allows for an easy comparison because everyone running it will use the same video clip and software. The x264 video encoder has a fairly accurate internal benchmark (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encode and it also uses multi-core processors very efficiently. All these factors make the x264 HD Benchmark an ideal tool in comparing the video encoding performance of different processors and systems.
i7 6950x – Sleeping Dogs Gaming Benchmark
Sleeping Dogs is an open world action-adventure video game developed by United Front Games in conjunction with Square Enix London Studios and published by Square Enix, released on August 2012. Sleeping Dogs has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are the Extreme display settings and a resolution of 1920×1080. World density is set to extreme, Vsync disabled, high-res textures are enabled, and shadow resolution, shadow filtering, screen space ambient occlusion, and quality motion blur are all set to high.
i7 6950x – Metro: Last Light Gaming Benchmark
Metro: Last Light is a DX11 first-person shooter video game developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver released in May 2013. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world and features action-oriented gameplay. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play. Scene D6 was used and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are Very High for quality and a resolution of 1920×1080. DirectX 11 is used, texture filtering is set to AF 16X, motion blur is normal, SSA turned on and tessellation is set to high.
i7 6950x – BioShock Infinite Gaming Benchmark
BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games, and published by 2K Games released in March 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are UltraDX11 (option 3) for quality and a resolution of 1920×1080.
i7 6950x – Tomb Raider Gaming Benchmark
Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game published by Square Enix and released in March 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are Ultimate default settings for quality (sans ‘hair’ shading), VSync disabled and a resolution of 1920×1080.
i7 6950x – Batman Arkham Origins Gaming Benchmark
Batman: AO is an action-adventure video game published by Warner Bros and released in October 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 1920×1080. Anti-Aliasing is set to TXAA (high). Motion blur, Distortion, Lens Flare, Light Shafts, and Reflections set to On. Geometry, Dynamic Shadows, Depth of Field, and Ambient Occlusion all set to DX11 Enhanced.
i7 6950x – Battlefield 4 Gaming Benchmark
Battlefield 4 is first person shooter video game, published by EA Digital Illusions CE and released in October 2013. Unlike most, this games does not include an in-game benchmark. This makes it perfect for more real world gaming tests. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded the first 90 seconds of the single player Tashgar level. An average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are Ultra pre-set for quality, with VSync disabled and a resolution of 1920×1080.
i7 6950x – Assassins Creed: Black Flag Gaming Benchmark
Assassins Creed: BF is an historical action-adventure video game, published by published by Ubisoft and released in October 2013. Like Battlefield 4 this games does not include an in-game benchmark. This makes it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded a custom run through Havana’s marketplace. An average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 1920×1080. Environment quality was set to very high, Anti-Aliasing was set to TXAA 4X, Ambient Occlusion set to HBAO+ (high), Shadow Quality set to ‘soft shadow’, Motion Blur and Volumetric Blur both set to On. Texture Quality, Reflection Quality, and God Rays all set to High.
i7 6950x – Call of Duty: Ghosts Gaming Benchmark
Call of Duty: Ghosts is a first person shooter video game, published by Activision and released in October 2013. Since it does not include an in-game benchmark, it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded 90 seconds of the single player ‘Ghost Stories’ level, starting as soon as we resume control of Logan back on Earth. An average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 1920×1080. Image Quality, Textures Resolution, Normal Map Resolution, and Specular Map Resolution set to Extra. Screen Space Ambient Occlusion and Antistrophic Filtering set to High, Terrain Detail set to ON, and Anti-Aliasing was set to TXAA 4X. With Shadows, Distortion, Motion Blue and Depth of Field set to Yes.
i7 6950x – Crysis 3 Gaming Benchmark
Crysis 3 is a first person shooter video game, published by Electronic Arts and released in February 2013. While older than some of the others it is one of the most visually stunning games released to date and puts a lot of demands on the GPU. This makes it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded 90 seconds of the single player ‘Post Human’ level, starting as soon as soon as prophet is handed a Hammer II pistol by Psycho. An average of four runs was taken.
The settings used in the testing below are highest settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 1920×1080. Texture Quality, Game Effects, Objects, Particles, Post Processing, Shadows, Shading, Water, and System Specs all set to Very High. Motion Blur was set to High and Lens Flare was set to On. Anti-Aliasing was set to MSAA 8X and Antistrophic Filtering was set to 16x.
