Review: ASUS P9X79 WS
Published by Marc Büchel on 03.02.12Fazit
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| ASUS leaves a very good impression with its P9X79 WS. For example, there is plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest coolers comfortably. Furthermore we liked that ASUS equipped this board with no less than six full size PCI Express x16 slots. This makes it possible to for example setup a Quad-SLI system. Considering that the P9X79 WS will be a future proof choice and more than just ready for next-gen GPUs. | - Design - 6 x Full-Size-PCI-Express - Quad SLI Support |
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| Layout | + | - | |
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Generally the ASUS P9X79 WS's Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. There even is a debug display which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. The reason that there are six full size PCI Express slots make inevitable that in a quad SLI setup you'll have to place one card in the last slot available. This means, that if you have a dual slot card, the connectors as well as the power and reset buttons will be covered by the graphics card. Something else that has to do with the placemtn of the first PCI Express x16 slot concerns the power design. In this case the phases, which are normally right between the CPU socket and the first PCI Express x16 slot couldn't be placed there. There simply isn't enough space. Because of this ASUS decided to make use of a wider form factor and they now put those phases between the DIMM slots and the ATX power plug und the right side of the board. This is an unusual spot but we think it's very well chosen. |
- Angled SATA connectors - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Spac around the CPU socket - Placement of the power design |
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| Performance | + | - | |
| In our overall rankings the P9X79 WS was able to score quite well. There are no first places but one can definitely say that this board really offers some solid performance. Looking at it from this point of view there is nothing to complain about. Digging a bit deeper we find two glitches. The first appears reagarding to 3D Mark 11 total performance and the second concerns Street Fighter 4. In these two benchmarks the P9X79 WS scores last. | - 3DMark Vantage - Sandra Cache and Memory access |
- 3D Mark 11 Total - Street Fighter 4 |
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| Power Consumption | + | - | |
| As soon as one takes power consumption into account you can see that all the features, which one can find on this board, really need power to operate. Considering this it's no wonder that under idle conditions the P9X79 WS needs seven percent more power than the one we took as reference model. Under load it needs nine percent more power. Overall one can say that despite the fact that this board offers a lot of features power consumption isn't too bad. | |||
| Recommendation | + | - | |
| If you're looking for a rock solid basis regarding Intels latest Core i7-3960X and Core i7-3930K, then the P9X79 WS belongs to the absolute best the market has to offer at this time. These days the board costs CHF 365.- (est. EUR 304.-). | -
Enthusiasts - High Performance Workstations - High-End PC - Gaming System |
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| Rating | |||
| We give the ASUS P9X79 WS good four out of five stars. | |||
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch
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