The 970 Pro Gaming/Aura from ASUS is part of the manufacturer's Gaming-Series motherboards, which makes it feature a black PCB and red-colored heatsinks. This board certainly offers more than just a pretty color scheme like for instance great versatility regarding storage and peripheral connectors like USB 3.1 and M.2 SSD. Also the price of this motherboard is very competitive.
ASUS doens't need any introduction here, hovewer we're going to spend a few words on what ASUS must have been thinking putting this platform together. The AM3 socket was released in 2009 when AMD introduced their Phenom II series processors and the back in the days the chipset supported DDR2 as well as DDR3. In 2011, AMD released Bulldozer as well as the AM3+ socket. There are only small differences between AM3 and AM3+. In fact, even today you can use an AMD AM3+ CPUs on an older AM3 motherboard.
Since the platform/chipset definitely not young anymore one could ask why ASUS is using the 970 chipset instead the more powerful 990FX. The answer is quite clear to us: with this particular board ASUS wanted to create a well equipped board priced as low as possible.
[pagebreak]
Specs and Delivery
|
Chipset |
AMD 970/SB950 |
|
Memory |
4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 2133(O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
|
Slots |
- 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8)
- 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1
- 2 x PCI
|
| Audio |
SupremeFX 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel MIC Jack-retasking
- High quality 115 dB SNR stereo playback output
|
|
Storage |
AMD SB950 controller
- 6 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s)
- Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
- 1 x M.2 Socket 3, , with M Key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE 2.0 x4)
|
| Network |
LAN
- Intel I211-AT Gigabit LAN controller
|
| Internal Connectors |
- 1 x ReTry jumper
- 1 x Safe Boot jumper
- 1 x USB 3.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 2 USB 3.0 port(s) (19-pin)
- 3 x USB 2.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 6 USB 2.0 port(s)
- 1 x M.2 Socket 3 for M Key, type 2242/2260/2280 devices
- 1 x TPM header
- 1 x COM port(s) connector(s)
- 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s)
- 1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)
- 1 x CPU OPT Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)
- 3 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (3 x 4 -pin)
- 1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector(s)
- 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector(s)
- 1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP)
- 1 x System panel(s)
- 1 x Clear CMOS jumper(s)
- 1 x Water Pump header (4-pin)
- 1 x Slow Mode jumper(s)
|
| Extrenal Connectors |
- 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s)
- 1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
- 2 x USB 3.1 (red)Type-A
- 8 x USB 2.0
- 1 x Optical S/PDIF out
- 6 x Audio jack(s)
|
|
Forfactor |
ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS |
1 x 64Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI
BIOS |
- User's manual
- I/O Shield
- 2 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s)
- 1 x M.2 Screw Package
- 1 x pack of cable tie
- 1 x Supporting DVD
- 1 x SLI bridge(s)
- 1 x 12 in 1 Cable Label (s)
[pagebreak]
Features
Digi+ |
Since quite some time ASUS has been
equipping its boards with digital power
designs. Using the right software it is not only possible to adjust voltages while being in
Windows on can now also control impedances. Furthermore this board
features high quality 10K black metallic capacitor which guarantee a
long lifespan. |
|
| |
EPU |
EPU
monitors the current system load and moderates power usage.
It offers a system-wide energy optimization and is able to reduce fan
noise. |
|
| |
|
AURA
|
Aura is ASUS software tool to control the onboard RGB lighting. It allows you to choose the lighting from the entire color specturem and therefore you can individualize this board entirely. |
|
| |
SupremeFX 2015
|
With
SupremeFX 2015 you get ASUS's interpretation of high quality onboard
audio. Supporting up to eight channels, the SupremeFX 2015 solution received shielding from other onboard components. Apart from that there are high quality Nichicon capacitors offering as clear as possible audio. |
|
[pagebreak]
Layout
The ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura motherboard
comes with a great looking design. The PCB has a matte black
finish and the heatsinks feature red covers. The layout
has been well thought and there are plenty of useful features, like one header to attach external USB 3.0 ports, SATA 6Gbps Ports and an M.2 Gen 3 x2 slot.
ASUS equipped the 970 Pro Gaming/Aura motherboard with a 7+1-phase digital power design.The CPU is backed up by 7 phases, while the CPU-NB is covered by a separate one. Furthermore ASUS equips this board with their 10K Black Metallic Capacitors, which have an average life span of 10'000 hours. The power design is overall adequate, which allows the board to easily deal with standard workloads as well as even extreme overclocking.
As far as the memory goes, you can find four DIMM-slots on the 970 Pro Gaming/Aura motherboard.
Officially supported are DDR3 2133(O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz. There is enough space between the
DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you will not run into any issues
with large coolers.
The south bridge as well as the current converters are being held at adequate
temperatures via passive heatsinks. The heatsink for the current converters is made from
a single aluminium block. The
heatsink covering the south bridge has also been made from aluminium and is pretty simple and flat. Generally all the heatsinks have been well made and also they are perfetcly attached to the board to provide enough pressure on the components
they have to cool. The aluminium blocks are black with red sheet metal covers, overall resembling a completly new design.
[pagebreak]
Connectors and I/O
In total, ASUS equipped the 970 Pro Gaming/Aura motherboard with six SATA 6Gbps connectors, which have all been natively wired to the SB950 controller. This
means you get six native SATA-III ports. Close to the bottom edge of this board there is one M.2 x2 Gen 3 slot, which is compatible with 2242, 2260 and 2280 form factor M.2 drives. Having a closer look at the full-sized PCIe Gen 2 slots, we find two PCIe 2.0 x16, two PCIe 2.0 x1 and two legacy PCI. This model is also compatible with Nvidia SLI and AMD CrossFire. Regarding onboard audio there is ASUS' latest SupremeFX solution. Also on this version of ASUS' SupremeFX audio solution there are high quality Nichicon capacitors as well as an ES9023P DAC.
Unfortunately there are no
practical onboard power- and reset-buttons and there is also no debug LED.
The ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura motherboard features a total of five fan headers,
which is basically enough to provide a punchy AMD system with fresh air. A closer look at the pictures below shows where they have
been placed. All fan headers feature 4 pins and support PWM functionality. Therefore it's possible to control fan speeds from within Windows as well as the BIOS.
Looking at the external connectors placed directly at the I/O-panel, ASUS
equipped the new 970 Pro Gaming/Aura motherboard with a P/S2 connector, two USB 3.1
ports, eight USB 2.0 ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port as well as an analogue audio
panel with optical out. Unfortunately there is no CMOS reset button.
[pagebreak]
BIOS
The most recent version of ASUS’s UEFI BIOS presents itself with an attractive design, and especially the new interface which called EzMode, where we can not only monitor system information, CPU and motherboard temperature, CPU voltage and DRAM status but also set system and CPU fans as well as directly change the boot priority and tune the system to different profiles, is leaving a good impression. If you wish to go back to the good old times, where you were racing through the menus hammering up and down arrows as well as the enter key ridiculously fast, you just have to press F7 and there you go. Since this motherboard features a very solid power design it is suitable for gaming and high overclocking. The BIOS features all the usual ASUS options, which allow for altering virtually anything when it comes to overclocking. Overall, there is certainly no lack of options in this BIOS. Especially when it comes to the BIOS settings ASUS did a great job. There are numerous profiles for a vast variety of memory chips and modules, which are really helpful if you want to push your memory to its limits.
[pagebreak]
Test setup
Hardware |
| Motherboard |
- ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z
- ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura
- ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
- ASUS M5A99X Evo
|
| Processor |
AMD FX-8320 |
| Memory |
16 GB (4x4) KLEVV Essencore 1600 |
| Graphic card |
EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti GAMING ACX 2.0+ |
| Driver |
ForceWare 364.72 |
| Hard disk |
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB |
| Power supply |
Seasonic X-Series X650 |
[pagebreak]
Preview / Gallery
[pagebreak]
3D Mark
Ice Storm
| 3D Mark Ice Storm Score |
Points | Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
197'501 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
196'460 |
99.47 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
196'288 |
99.39 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
196'124 |
99.30 |
|
more is better |
Ice Storm Physics
| 3D Mark Ice Storm Physics Score |
Points |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
37'998 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
37'970 |
99.93 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
37'868 |
99.66 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
37'820 |
99.53 |
|
more is better |
Fire Strike
| 3D Mark Fire Strike Score |
Points |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
18'421 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
18'404 |
99.91 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
18'302 |
99.35 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
18'281 |
99.24 |
|
more is better |
Fire Strike Physics
| 3D Mark Fire Strike Physics Score |
Points |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
6'972 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
6'968 |
99.94 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
6'960 |
99.83 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
6'954 |
99.74 |
|
more is better |
[pagebreak]
3D Mark 11
| 3D Mark 11 Total |
Points |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
22'422 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
22'325 |
99.57 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
22'201 |
99.01 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
22'173 |
98.89 |
|
more is better |
CPU
| 3D Mark 11 Physics |
Points |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
6'489 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
6'475 |
99.78 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
6'466 |
99.65 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
6'459 |
99.54 |
|
more is better |
[pagebreak]
3D Mark Vantage
| 3D Mark Vantage Total |
Points |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
31'131 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
30'982 |
99.52 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
30'750 |
98.78 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
30'629 |
98.39 |
|
more is better |
| 3D Mark Vantage CPU |
Points |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
19'178 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
19'668 |
99.70 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
19'600 |
99.40 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
19'558 |
99.34 |
|
more is better |
[pagebreak]
PC Mark 08
Total
| PC Mark 08 Total |
Points |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
2'920 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
2'912 |
99.73 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
2'908 |
99.59 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
2'903 |
99.42 |
|
more is better |
| Web Browsing - JunglePin |
sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
0.354 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
0.354 |
100.00 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
0.354 |
100.00 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
0.353 |
99.72 |
|
more is better |
| Web Browsing - Amazonia |
sec |
Percent |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
0.145 |
100.69 |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
0.144 |
100.00 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
0.143 |
99.31 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
0.142 |
98.61 |
|
more is better |
| Writing |
sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
6.27 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
6.25 |
99.68 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
6.25 |
99.68 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
6.24 |
99.52 |
|
more is better |
| Casual Gaming |
fps |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
59.15 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
58.74 |
99.31 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
58.62 |
99.10 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
58.54 |
98.97 |
|
more is better |
| Video Chat Playback 1 |
fps |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
29.97 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
29.95 |
99.93 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
29.95 |
99.93 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
29.94 |
99.90 |
|
more is better |
| Video Chat encoding |
ms |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
75.70 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
75.67 |
99.96 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
75.43 |
99.64 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
74.38 |
98.26 |
|
more is better |
| Advanced Photo Editing |
sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
0.560 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
0.561 |
99.82 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
0.563 |
99.47 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
0.565 |
99.12 |
|
more is better |
[pagebreak]
SiSoft Sandra 1
Arithmetic Benchmark
| SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Dhrystone |
GIPS |
Percent |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
100.30 |
100.30 |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
100.00 |
100.00 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
99.80 |
99.80 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
99.70 |
99.70 |
|
more is better |
| SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark -
Whetstone |
GFLOPS |
Percent |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
65.46 |
100.00 |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
65.46 |
100.00 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
65.38 |
99.88 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
65.33 |
99.80 |
|
more is better |
Multimedia
| SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - Integer |
MPixels/sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
271.92 |
100.00 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
271.89 |
99.99 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
271.62 |
99.89 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
270.73 |
99.56 |
|
more is better |
| SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia -
Floating Point |
MPixels/sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
185.85 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
182.32 |
98.10 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
181.68 |
97.76 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
180.37 |
97.05 |
|
more is better |
Crytography
| SiSoft Sandra - Crytography
- AES 256 |
GB/sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
5 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
5 |
100.00 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
5 |
100.00 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
5 |
100.00 |
|
more is better |
| SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - SHA
256 |
GB/sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
1.3 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
1.3 |
100.00 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
1.3 |
100.00 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
1.3 |
100.00 |
|
more is better |
[pagebreak]
SiSoft Sandra 2
Memory bandwidth
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth -
Integer |
GB/sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
18 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
18 |
100.00 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
18 |
100.00 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
18 |
100.00 |
|
more is better |
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory
bandwidth -
floating point |
GB/sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
18 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
18 |
100.00 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
18 |
100.00 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
18 |
100.00 |
|
more is better |
Memory latency
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory
latency |
ns |
Percent |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
72 |
102.86 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
71 |
102.86 |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
70 |
101.43 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
70 |
100.00 |
|
less is better |
more is better |
Memory and cache access
| SiSoft Sandra - Cache |
GB/sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
94.47 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
94.37 |
99.89 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
94.10 |
99.61 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
93.97 |
99.47 |
|
more is better |
[pagebreak]
UC Bench
| UC Bench |
PW/sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
1134.5 |
100.0 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
1134.3 |
99.98 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
1133.8 |
99.94 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
1133.4 |
99.90 |
|
more is better |
[pagebreak]
Super Pi 1M - 32M
Super Pi 1M
| Super Pi 1.5 XS - 1M |
sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
23.198 |
100.00 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
23.227 |
99.88 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
23.229 |
99.87 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
23.432 |
99.00 |
|
less is better |
more is better |
Super Pi 32M
| Super Pi 1.5 XS - 32M |
sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
1550.652 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
1552.561 |
99.88 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
1554.854 |
99.73 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
1555.134 |
99.71 |
|
less is better |
more is better |
[pagebreak]
wPrime 1024M Multicore
| wPrime - 1024M Multi Core |
sec |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
290.552 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
291.001 |
99.85 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
292.087 |
99.47 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
292.643 |
99.29 |
|
more is better |
more is better |
[pagebreak]
Cinebench R15
| Cinebench R11.5 - Multi Core |
pts |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
521 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
519 |
99.62 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
517 |
99.23 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
517 |
99.23 |
|
less is
better |
more is better |
[pagebreak]
Tomb Raider
Low resolution - 1024 x 768
| Tomb Raider (low resolution, low details) |
fps |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
245.5 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
245.3 |
99.92 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
245.1 |
99.84 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
244.9 |
99.76 |
|
more is better |
High resolution - 1920 x 1080
| Tomb Raider (high resolution, high details) |
fps |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
131.6 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
131.2 |
99.70 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
131.0 |
99.54 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
130.7 |
99.32 |
|
more is better |
[pagebreak]
Metro Last Light
Low resolution - 1024 x 768
| Metro Last Light (low
details, low resolution) |
fps |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
165.8 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
165.7 |
99.94 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
165.6 |
99.88 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
165.5 |
99.82 |
|
more is better |
High resolution - 1920 x 1080
| Metro Last Light (high
details, high resolution) |
fps |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
52.4 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
52.4 |
100.00 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
52.4 |
100.00 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
52.3 |
99.81 |
|
more is better |
[pagebreak]
Sleeping Dogs
Low resolution, low details
| Sleeping Dog (low
details, low resolution) |
fps |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
429.8 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
429.4 |
99.91 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
428.9 |
99.79 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
428.8 |
99.77 |
|
more is better |
High resolution, high details
| Sleeping Dogs (high
details, high resolution) |
fps |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
228.6 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
228.3 |
99.87 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
228.2 |
99.83 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
228.0 |
99.77 |
|
more is better |
[pagebreak]
Power Consumption
Idle
| Idle |
Watt |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
70.1 |
100.00 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
68.6 |
97.86 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
66.4 |
94.72 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
64.2 |
91.58 |
|
less is better |
less is better |
Load
| Load |
Watt |
Percent |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
416.8 |
100.53 |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
414.6 |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
412.9 |
99.59 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
409.5 |
98.77 |
|
less is better |
less is better |
[pagebreak]
Performance Rating
| 3D
and Gaming Benchmarks |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
99.91 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
99.71 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
99.59 |
|
more is better |
| 2D Benchmarks |
Percent |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
100.00 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
99.80 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
99.53 |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
99.48 |
|
more is better |
| Performance
per Watt |
Percent |
| ASUS M5A99X Evo |
104.58 |
| ASUS 970 Pro Gaming / Aura |
102.78 |
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 |
100.43 |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z |
100.00 |
|
less is
better |
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Price comparison
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Conclusion
| General |
|
+ |
- |
| At a first glance the 970 Pro Gaming/Aura leaves a good impression. You get a reasonable feature mix and it won't take long until you realize that ASUS created a product, which is to be available at a reasonable price. There is a decent power design and the absence of overclocking features, makes it clear that this board will end up with a decent price tag. In terms of storage connectivity there are six angled SATA connectors, an M.2 slot and USB 3.1, which makes this board compatible with a vast variety of storage devices. In case of the color scheme we find a red and black, which is very common these days. |
|
-
Design
- Layout
- Features
- M.2 x2 Slot |
|
| |
|
|
|
| Layout |
|
+ |
- |
| Generally the ASUS's Layout is well thought. Once more very practical are the angled SATA connectors, of which there are six. Unfortunately there are no power and reset buttons and there is also no CLR-CMOS button, which in the end is reasonable, since ASUS is not targeting overclockers, enthusiasts or gamers with this motherboard. We want to underline that this board features great storage versatility, since there is SATA as well as M.2 support. Furthermore the placement of the PCI-Express x16 slots is well thought an therefore nothing needs to be criticized at this point. There are for example two slots between the first and the second PCI-Express x16 slot. Should you decide to build an SLI/CrossFire setup, then the first card will still be able to get plenty of fresh air. Another thing that is good with this board is the fact, that there as plenty of space between the CPU socket and the heatsinks on the power design as well as between the CPU socket and the DIMM slots.
With this particular board ASUS also offers their so called AURA backlighting feature, which indirectly illuminated the southbridge. Using the AURA software in Windows you can change the color from within Windows to anything you'd like. We really like this feature, but unfortunately there are other LEDs on the board as well, where the color cannot be changed. We would like if it was possible to change the color of these LEDs as well. |
|
- Space around the CPU
socket
- AURA |
- No power/reset-button onboard
- No Debug LED |
| |
|
|
|
| Performance |
|
+ |
- |
| Calculating the average of all 2D benchmarks we ran, we see that this board ranks 2nd. When taking the average of all 3D results this board manages to score again the same 2nd place. Overall performance is competitive. Having a look at power consumption we see that this board is also perfectly in line. |
|
- Power consumption |
- Power Consumption
- 3D Performance |
|
|
|
|
| Overclocking / BIOS |
|
+ |
- |
| ASUS
has put a lot of time and effort into making their BIOS look nicer and
more user friendly. Especially when we compare this version of ASUS BIOS
to the first UEFI BIOS from ASUS, it simply cannot be
compared, since the two are worlds apart. What's almost self-explanatory
is that you get a lot of tuning and tweaking options in order to optimize
the system towards your needs. We also like the entry screen which
displays a lot of useful information. Apart from that overclocking our test CPU to 5.0 GHz was straight forward and there were no issues whatsoever. |
|
- Sheer amount of
options
- Design |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Recommendation |
|
+ |
- |
| The ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura is a reasonably equipped AMD motherboard, based on AMD's 970 chipset. Apart from that the price is very competitively chosen at only 86 Euro. Nevertheless we would like to see the onboard lighting feature improved. |
|
-
Price
-
Gaming
- Overclocking
- Enthusiasts |
|
| |
|
|
|
| Rating |
| We give the ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura good 4 out of 5 stars. |
