Motherboard peripheral performance
Core logic chipsets integrate a wealth of peripherals, but they don't handle everything. Firewire and audio are farmed out to auxiliary chips, for example. Intel chipsets also rely on third-party silicon for networking, and many motherboards feature additional SATA controllers to complement south bridge Serial ATA offerings.
To provide a closer look at the peripheral performance you can expect from the motherboards we've tested today, we've complied USB, Firewire, Serial ATA, and Audio performance results below. You'll notice that there isn't much variance from one board to another, but there are a few things worth pointing out. Our 780i-based motherboard is highlighted and in bold to make it easier to pick out from the crowd.
| HD Tach USB performance | ||||
|
Read burst speed (MB/s) |
Average read speed (MB/s) |
Average write speed (MB/s) |
CPU utilization (%) |
|
| Asus P5E3 Deluxe WiFi-AP @n | 33.9 | 32.5 | 30.2 | 4.7 |
| Asus P5K3 Deluxe | 33.9 | 32.5 | 26.2 | 5.7 |
| EVGA 122-CK-NF68 | 33.9 | 32.6 | 32.4 | 4.3 |
| Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 | 33.9 | 32.6 | 27.4 | 3.0 |
| Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 | 33.9 | 32.6 | 30.1 | 9.0 |
| XFX nForce 780i SLI | 34.3 | 32.6 | 32.4 | 4.3 |
Nothing to see here, move along.
| HD Tach Firewire performance | ||||
|
Read burst speed (MB/s) |
Average read speed (MB/s) |
Average write speed (MB/s) |
CPU utilization (%) |
|
| Asus P5E3 Deluxe WiFi-AP @n | 42.0 | 37.5 | 28.7 | 1.0 |
| Asus P5K3 Deluxe | 42.4 | 37.5 | 28.7 | 0.3 |
| EVGA 122-CK-NF68 | 30.5 | 28.5 | 14.4 | 0.3 |
| Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 | 42.3 | 37.6 | 28.7 | 1.3 |
| Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 | 42.1 | 37.4 | 28.7 | 2.0 |
| XFX nForce 780i SLI | 42.1 | 37.4 | 21.7 | 2.7 |
The 780i reference board's Texas Instruments Firewire chip is an improvement over what was used with the 680i SLI. However, the board's average write speeds are still lower than the competition's.
| HD Tach Serial ATA performance | |||||
|
Read burst speed (MB/s) |
Average read speed (MB/s) |
Average write speed (MB/s) |
CPU utilization (%) |
Random access time (ms) |
|
| Asus P5E3 Deluxe WiFi-AP @n | 133.4 | 78.0 | 101.3 | 3.0 | 8.2 |
| Asus P5K3 Deluxe | 133.4 | 78.0 | 104.7 | 3.7 | 8.3 |
| EVGA 122-CK-NF68 | 128.1 | 78.0 | 94.4 | 2.3 | 7.9 |
| Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 (ICH9R) | 134.5 | 78.0 | 100.5 | 3.3 | 8.3 |
| Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 (GSATA) | 131.6 | 78.0 | 49.5 | 3.3 | 8.0 |
| Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 | 133.3 | 78.0 | 101.2 | 2.3 | 8.2 |
| XFX nForce 780i SLI | 132.0 | 75.2 | 88.8 | 4.0 | 8.4 |
Without auxiliary storage controllers, the 780i SLI's only SATA option is the chipset itself.
| RightMark Audio Analyzer audio quality | |||||||||
| Overall score | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | THD + Noise | IMD + Noise | Stereo Crosstalk | IMD at 10kHz | |
| Asus P5E3 Deluxe WiFi-AP @n | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Asus P5K3 Deluxe | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| EVGA 122-CK-NF68 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| XFX nForce 780i SLI | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
RMAA scores are pretty close. Note that 780i SLI board posts a higher overall score than the 680i-based EVGA board, though.
