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.
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.
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.
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.
MSI X99A Tomahawk – Overclocking Results
As we have all come to expect the MSI X99A Tomahawk comes with two ways to overclock your system: the easy way and the manual way. Also as expected the easy way takes the form of MSI’s world renowned OC Genie option. While it may not be a physical button on the motherboard the end result is the same: an overclocked system via single push of a button. The only difference is the button is a virtual button icon in the BIOS instead of a physical one.
When you push this ‘easy button’ the system will reboot, your RAM’s XMP profile will be enabled and a moderate overclock will be automatically applied to the CPU’s cores. Depending on your CPU the end result will vary but in the case of our 5930K it will push all cores to 3.9Ghz.
Overall that is a nice little boost as it is 3.9Ghz on every core… even if you are using all cores at the same time. On the other hand for enthusiasts who do not mind doing a bit of tweaking the MSI X99A Tomahawk is sure to please enthusiasts.
Put simply the combination of an extremely robust power delivery system and a BIOS filled with all the tuning settings you could ask for is a winning one. It is for this reason we had no troubles whatsoever hitting the same maximum overclock that our CPU is capable of. That is to say we turned a 5930K CPU into a 4.5Ghz CPU, with the UNcore set to 4.0Ghz. Equally impressive is on the RAM side of the equation we turned our DDR4-2666 into DDR-2800 with very, very little effort. That is indeed one potent combination to say the least.
MSI X99A Tomahawk – Onboard Audio Performance
To test a motherboard’s onboard audio solution’s abilities we have used RightMark Audio Analyzer.
Even though this is a reasonably priced X99 motherboard the onboard sound solution is everything the typical consumer could hope for. While it may not overly impress audiophiles this level of performance will all but ensure that your headset/headphones/speakers are the weak-link. That is pretty darn good for a sub $300 X99 motherboard!
