GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Tachyon Review: Built for SPEED
by Gavin Bonshor on May 10, 2021 9:30 AM ESTSystem Performance
Not all motherboards are created equal. On the face of it, they should all perform the same and differ only in the functionality they provide - however, this is not the case. The obvious pointers are power consumption, POST time and latency. This can come down to the manufacturing process and prowess, so these are tested.
For Z590 we are running using Windows 10 64-bit with the 20H2 update.
Power Consumption
Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single MSI GTX 1080 Gaming configuration with a wall meter connected to the power supply. Our power supply has ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real-world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.
While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our testbed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers. These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.
Non-UEFI POST Time
Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized. A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized). As part of our testing, we look at the POST Boot Time using a stopwatch. This is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows-specific features.)
DPC Latency
Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests such as audio will be further down the line. If the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled.
If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time. This can lead to an empty audio buffer and characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is taken processing DPCs from driver invocation. The lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds.
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Linustechtips12#6900xt - Monday, May 10, 2021 - link
I do hope in the pursuit of faster memory, the consumer boards still have 4 ram slots, I had 16GB and I just upgraded to 32Gb with the 2 slots I had free, it creates less e-waste too imo.MenhirMike - Monday, May 10, 2021 - link
I don't see a reason for regular consumer boards to move away from 2 DIMMs per Channel/4 DIMMs on a Desktop board. This board is for extreme overclocking, where only having 2 DIMMs makes a lot of sense (shorter trace lengths mean that the likelyhood for a successful overclock increase).Silver5urfer - Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - link
e-waste ? lol. That is over at the BGA garbage use and throw laptops where the battery cannot be purchased and the Heatsink will deteriorate due to poor cooling and ultimately the laptop will be rendered useless garbage.Or the li-ion phones that are announced every year, Apple says they sell double digit millions every quarter so what happened to the millions for the past year or such, same for Android li-ion sealed phones.
Or those new wireless earbuds which do not have any option to replace the battery in them and every year people purchase new esp Anker and the low end market is literally flooded by these use and throw garbage products.
Desktop DRAM DIMM slots do not have any relationship with e-waste in contrast with the other consumer products which are made for planned obsolescence plus a Desktop will live as long as the components are in working state, people even run Core 2Quad machines today, and Xeon market still exists since Nehalem uarch machines.
Linustechtips12#6900xt - Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - link
I meant that it creates e wast of dimms not much but it does when you have to throw away a 2*4gb kit because you dont have enough dimm slots and want to upgrade to 16gbmeacupla - Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - link
???consumer boards are unlikely to move away from 4 slots
You do realize that this mobo is specifically designed with very short traces between cpu and ram, right?
Linustechtips12#6900xt - Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - link
i do understand that yes. but its. cost saving thing aswell and it might catch on into consumerdotes12 - Monday, May 10, 2021 - link
I've always wondered why every picture of direct LN2 cooling I've seen is done in wide open air as towels and conformal coatings are used in an attempt to prevent electrical shorts. Why don't we see them putting their board in a glass or plexiglass box (like a fish tank) with a loosely fitting easily removable lid on it? Most compressed (or liquid) gasses are incredibly dry and have extremely low moisture content, so once it turns to gas and displaces the room air from the box it'll naturally be such a low humidity that you shouldn't have to worry about condensation. Furthermore, they could purge the box with another cheap heavy dry gas like CO2 first, or continually pump it in there to keep the moist room air out.gavbon - Monday, May 10, 2021 - link
One of the reasons why an enclosed space would be a negative is that even small amounts of air that would be present can still have moisture. This would condensate on the board and create shorts. Unless you were able to remove ALL traces of the air, it just would cause problems. Also as an ex-extreme overclocker myself, having direct and unrestricted access to the board/pots for heating up the LN2 pot with a blowtorch when hitting a cold bug would be hard to do otherwise.dotes12 - Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - link
That makes sense, thank you for taking the time to write me a reply!just_passin_by_2 - Tuesday, May 24, 2022 - link
A large ventilation to the outside would also be beneficial to prevent a lack of breathable oxygen in the room if using CO2 or liquid nitrogen. Glass could also break especially if under stress from temperature differences. With that said, safety could be dependent on different factors and too much safety could be bad as well. Wearing gloves around liquid nitrogen could potentially allow the liquid nitrogen to become trapped inside the glove to going gloveless may be better but I do not really know. Anyway, this does sound fun and I wish you all the best if anyone here overclocks.