Conclusion

Allgemein		+	-
The Fatal1ty X79 Champion is ASRocks interpretation of an Intel X79 based high end gaming motherboard. This board scores with a very nice design, whereas the black PCB, the red expansion slots and the golden caps create stunning looks. Furthermore there are no less than five PCI Express x16 slots and on the back panel you'll find not four but eight USB 3.0 ports as well as six SATA 3.0 with four SATA 2.0 as backups. Even the delivery is convincing, you will find everything you could possibly need to setup your new board appropriately.		- Design - Creative Recon3D HD Audio
Layout		+	-
Generally the ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Champion's layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors. There are also practical power- and reset-buttons along with a clr_CMOS which one is on the back panel very accessible. Furthermore 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. Totally you find five PCI Express x16 slots, which have been very well positioned. Between each 16x slots there is another slot space. This makes 4-way GPU systems possible. Also between the two PCIe 16x @ 16x you will find three slot space to provide good airflow for a simple dual graphics card setup. You also get two LAN controllers offering two LAN ethernet gigabit connectors as well as an high quality audio chip. With the Sound Core 3D (Recon3Di HD) from Creative you get better quality audio than with common Realtek's chips and an optical out. Not that you will probably use this motherboard for extreme overclocking but anyway ASRock added voltage reading points on their Champion Gaming Gear.		- Angled SATA connectors - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display / CLR_CMOS - 8x USB 3.0 - 2x LAN
Performance		+	-
A closer look at this boards performance reveals that the Fatal1ty X79 Champion is a very good contestant. In our 2D as well as our 3D comparison tables the board is able to score very well. Especially when it comes to the 2D results we see a new leader in our comparison tables. Furhtermore the Fatal1ty X79 Champion has been able to score fourth in our 3D comparison lists. Although this board comes with a long feature list power consumption doesn't go through the roof. In fact this board is very competitive in this regard too.		- 2D Performance - 3D Performance - Performance/Watt
BIOS / Overclocking		+	-
ASRock ships this board with a well structure BIOS. You'll find the settings you're looking for quickly and you won't have to search them at places where you don't expect them to be. Furthermore there are also possibilities to quickly and easily overclock your rig. We really like what ASRock has done within the past two years. The have been able to push their graphical BIOS significantly towards much better usability.		- Well structured
Recommendation		+	-
If you should be looking for a high end gaming motherboard for Intels socket LGA2011 then you'll do nothing wrong if you go for the ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Champion.		- Gaming - High-End
Rating
We give the ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Champion four and a half out of five stars.

Page 1 - Introduction	Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
Page 2 - Specs and Delivery	Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
Page 3 - Layout	Page 11 - Super Pi 1M / 32M / wPrime
Page 4 - Connectors and I/O	Page 12 - Games
Page 5 - BIOS	Page 13 - Power Consumption
Page 6 - Test setup	Page 14 - Performance Rating
Page 7 - 3D Mark 11	Page 15 - Conclusion
Page 8 - PC Mark 7

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Author: c.ney@ocaholic.ch