ASUS TUF Z87 Gryphon Review
by Ian Cutress on February 3, 2014 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Asus
- Z87
- TUF
Gaming Benchmarks
Metro2033
Our first analysis is with the perennial reviewers’ favorite, Metro2033. It occurs in a lot of reviews for a couple of reasons – it has a very easy to use benchmark GUI that anyone can use, and it is often very GPU limited, at least in single GPU mode. Metro2033 is a strenuous DX11 benchmark that can challenge most systems that try to run it at any high-end settings. Developed by 4A Games and released in March 2010, we use the inbuilt DirectX 11 Frontline benchmark to test the hardware at 1440p with full graphical settings. Results are given as the average frame rate from a second batch of 4 runs, as Metro has a tendency to inflate the scores for the first batch by up to 5%.
| Metro 2033 | 1 GPU | 2 GPU |
| AMD | ||
| NVIDIA |
Dirt 3
Dirt 3 is a rallying video game and the third in the Dirt series of the Colin McRae Rally series, developed and published by Codemasters. Dirt 3 also falls under the list of ‘games with a handy benchmark mode’. In previous testing, Dirt 3 has always seemed to love cores, memory, GPUs, PCIe lane bandwidth, everything. The small issue with Dirt 3 is that depending on the benchmark mode tested, the benchmark launcher is not indicative of game play per se, citing numbers higher than actually observed. Despite this, the benchmark mode also includes an element of uncertainty, by actually driving a race, rather than a predetermined sequence of events such as Metro 2033. This in essence should make the benchmark more variable, but we take repeated in order to smooth this out. Using the benchmark mode, Dirt 3 is run at 1440p with Ultra graphical settings. Results are reported as the average frame rate across four runs.
| Dirt 3 | 1 GPU | 2 GPU |
| AMD | ||
| NVIDIA |
Civilization V
A game that has plagued my testing over the past twelve months is Civilization V. Being on the older 12.3 Catalyst drivers were somewhat of a nightmare, giving no scaling, and as a result I dropped it from my test suite after only a couple of reviews. With the later drivers used for this review, the situation has improved but only slightly, as you will see below. Civilization V seems to run into a scaling bottleneck very early on, and any additional GPU allocation only causes worse performance.
Our Civilization V testing uses Ryan’s GPU benchmark test all wrapped up in a neat batch file. We test at 1080p, and report the average frame rate of a 5 minute test.
| Civilization V | 1 GPU | 2 GPU |
| AMD | ||
| NVIDIA |
Sleeping Dogs
While not necessarily a game on everybody’s lips, Sleeping Dogs is a strenuous game with a pretty hardcore benchmark that scales well with additional GPU power due to its SSAA implementation. The team over at Adrenaline.com.br is supreme for making an easy to use benchmark GUI, allowing a numpty like me to charge ahead with a set of four 1440p runs with maximum graphical settings.
| Sleeping Dogs | 1 GPU | 2 GPU |
| AMD | ||
| NVIDIA |
Conclusions
Despite the deficit in the CPU department, the only manifestation that has in our gaming tests is using dual GPUs in Civilization V. All other tests are within statistical variation with other PCIe 3.0 x8/x8 based motherboards.
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HandsomeChow - Wednesday, February 12, 2014 - link
No, the outside ambient air will always be cooler than the air inside the case in this scenario. Since fresh cool air is being pulled into the case and heated up and exhausted out the back. When your computer shuts down, the components don't just suddenly cool down to the ambient. It takes time and gradually the heat energy from the components will be transferred to the air inside the case. But if there is no 'Fan Overtime' the hot air will stay inside the case come into contact with the cold case panel and condense into liquid. But with Fan Overtime, the hot air is exhausted out of the case even after shut down.In more humid climates, the air has a higher % of moisture and therefore would cause a even bigger problem since more condensation will occur inside the computer increasing the probability of a component failure.
HaryHr - Tuesday, February 4, 2014 - link
I bought this board for my brother and after initial windows installation problem it is now working in his system with no problems, stable and more than enough for his needs.The problemwe had was when we first tried to install Windows, installation was failing with "could not configure Windows on this computer’s hardware" error.
It was solved by turning off Fast Boot which is default option.
eanazag - Tuesday, February 4, 2014 - link
I really like the POST testing. I think if you video-ed pressing the power button to Windows prompt, then you could get very accurate and consistent measurements.Tig3RStylus - Wednesday, February 5, 2014 - link
I buy Rampage and Maximus boards, but a friend of mine has bought Sabretooth. One pattern that i noticed is the lack of updates available for Sabretooth line when compared to the plethora of updates for Rampage and Maximus. Not a problem in Year 1 or Year 2, but with the TUF lines focus on longevity of 5 years, i wonder if ASUS will step up their commitment and continue to release updates in year 3, 4 and 5. What updates? things like drivers for controllers are not available for Windows 8 on a Sabretooth board thats 2 years old. My friend is going to be upgrading to either Maximus or Rampage next time and ditching the Sabretooth entirely. I doubt he would go near Gryphon with a bargepole for the same reasons. 5 year warranty is useless for anybody who keeps their software and OS up to date if ASUS dont bother providing updates beyond the bare minimum.rigel84 - Thursday, February 6, 2014 - link
Download the drivers from the manufacturer (Intel, VIA, Realtek and so on). If they provide you with an updated BIOS, their job is done.GTVic - Wednesday, February 5, 2014 - link
I like the complete absence of all legacy ports, including PS/2.YukaKun - Thursday, February 6, 2014 - link
Great Mobo, but just an ALC892? For REAL? At least go for the ALC1150 or a SupremeFX or your own Sonar line for this great MoBo.You dropped the ball there, Asus.
Cheers!
HandsomeChow - Wednesday, February 12, 2014 - link
Just a quicktip, you know the OEM shielding on the SupremeFX is bollocks right? The fact that it is shielded doesn't mean it is not prone to sound interference, if you can see it physically, sound can get to it.DMCalloway - Friday, February 7, 2014 - link
Four days have gone by and still nothing new here........ReneGQ - Thursday, March 13, 2014 - link
I recently purchased an Asus Motherboard and the problems started from day 1. The drivers update never works, the same for AI Suite III (there´s a lot of updates for this model in Asus webpage). After 2 months I still can´t install BitDefender cause a clock watchdog error.Asus technical support is the worst, mails comes and goes with no solution.
I will not recommend this brand to anyone. The brand has a very good Marketing but the product and the service are very disappointment.