Haswell vs. Ivy in Gaming – The ECS Z87H3-A2X golden motherboard and i7-4770K

Test Configuration

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7-4770K (reference 3.5GHz, HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 3.7GHz; also overclocked to 4.2GHz, 4.4GHz, 4.5GHz and 4.6GHz; DX11 CPU graphics), supplied by Intel.
• Intel Core i7-3770K (reference 3.5GHz, HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 3.7GHz; also overclocked to 4.2GHz and 4.8GHz; DX11 CPU graphics), supplied by Intel.
• ECS GANK Domination Z87H3-A2X motherboard (Intel Z87 chipset, latest BIOS, PCOe 3.0 specification, CrossFire/SLI 8x+8x) supplied by ECS
• EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard (Intel Z77 chipset, latest beta 03-12-13 BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 16x+16x using Plex chip), supplied by EVGA.

• Kingston 8 GB HyperX Predator DDR3 PC2800 RAM (2×4 GB, dual-channel at 2400MHz for Ivy Bridge and 2800MHz for Haswell, supplied by Kingston)
• GeForce GTX 680, 2GB (reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• GeForce GTX 780 Ti, 3GB (reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia
• Two 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hard drives
• Two 240 GB Kingston HyperX SSDs, supplied by Kingston
• Cooler Master Platinum Pro 1000W PSU, supplied by Cooler Master and used for Ivy Bridge platform
• Thermaltake ToughPower 775W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake and used for Haswell platform
• Cooler Master Seidon 240 CPU watercooler, supplied by Cooler Master, used for Ivy Bridge
• Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro watercooler, supplied by Thermaltake, used for Haswell platform
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• Genius SP-D150 speakers, supplied by Genius
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake for Haswell platform
• Thermaltake Chaser MK II, full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake for Ivy Bridge platform
• Philips DVD SATA writer
• HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD

Test Configuration – Software

• GeForce WHQL 331.95 drivers; High Quality; Single-display Performance mode; Prefer Maximum Performance, Vsync off. No overclocking; power and temperature targets set to maximum with stock voltage and fan profiles.
• Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
• Latest DirectX
• All games are patched to their latest versions.
• Vsync is forced off in the control panels.
• Varying AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for Crysis.
• All results show average frame rates
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 7 64, all DX9 titles were run under DX9 render paths, DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths and DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.

The benchmarks

The Game benchmarks

• Crysis
• STALKER, Call of Pripyat
• Far Cry 3
• Tomb Raider: 2013
• Crysis 3
• Metro: Last Light
• GRID 2
• Splinter Cell: Blacklist
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

• Synthetic
  • 3DMark Vantage
  • 3DMark 11
  • Heaven 4.0
  • Valley 1.0
  • FireStrike/FireStrike Extreme

Other Tests

• Super Pi
• Fritz Chess Bench
• Custom PC Benchmark
• Cinebench
• x264 HD
• Crystal Disk Mark
• AS SSD
• ATTO
• Folder copy
• HD Tach
• HD Tune

Synthetic Benching Suites

• SiSoft Sandra 2014
• PC Mark Vantage
• PC Mark 7

We have got an interesting project going. First we look at synthetic and real world benches before we head for gaming results