EVGA nForce 790i SLI FTW Digital PWM Motherboard

In our custom LAME MT MP3 encoding test, we convert a large WAV file to the MP3 format, which is a popular scenario that many end users work with on a day-to-day basis to provide portability and storage of their digital audio content. LAME is an open-source mid to high bit-rate and VBR (variable bit rate) MP3 audio encoder that is used widely around the world in a multitude of third party applications.

In this test, we created our own 223MB WAV file (a hallucinogenically-induced Grateful Dead jam) and converted it to the MP3 format using the multi-thread capable LAME MT application in single and multi-thread modes. Processing times are recorded below, listed in seconds. Shorter times equate to better performance

Considering how close our other CPU-based tests are, we weren't surprised to see virtually identical results here.

For this next batch of tests, we ran KribiBench v1.1, a 3D rendering benchmark produced by the folks at Adept Development.  KribiBench is an SSE aware software renderer where a 3D model is rendered and animated by the host CPU and the average frame rate is reported.  We used two of the included models with this benchmark: a "Sponge Explode" model consisting of over 19.2 million polygons and the test suite's "Ultra" model that is comprised of over 16 billion polys.

The Ultra model test was close like our other CPU-based tests, but for an unknown reason, the EVGA nForce 790i SLI FTW Digital PWM repeatedly outperformed the Intel X38 Express board by quite a wide margin in the Sponge Explode model test.