Performance – Part 1
All tests were performed on the Biostar Z690A Valkyrie motherboard, Intel i9-12900K processor, ASUS Strix RTX3700 8GB graphics card, 16GB HyperX Predator DDR4-4600 CL19 memory kit, and Crucial P5 Plus 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, and Team Group Delta 1TB SATA SSD on which was installed Windows 11 Pro. Everything else will be mentioned during the tests.
Below are some photos of the test rig where you can also see RGB synchronization and additional effects.
Processor performance and mixed load tests
During the tests were no problems with stability or reaching processors declared frequency. I have to add that the motherboard was setting VCore up to 1.45V, which is within’ specified values but causes the CPU to heat up more, and if we don’t use a high-performance cooler, then the frequency will more often drop to 4.0-4.4GHz. The easy solution is to set a lower frequency manually as the CPU can work at 5.0-5.2GHz+ at 1.25-1.30V.
As you can see above, we had no problem setting 5.2GHz on our 12900K processor.
Below is our result in the PCMark 10. It’s a very good score and could be even better if we used M.2 NVMe SSD as an OS drive.
PCMark results are essential as they show how all components work together in a mixed load environment. It can be translated into regular daily work, so what we all do and expect good results.
PCMark 10
Memory performance
The motherboard has no problem handling memory up to DDR4-4600. Actually, our memory kit could run at this frequency at XMP settings what proves there is potential in the motherboard. On the other hand, the initial BIOS isn’t perfect, and we couldn’t set DDR4-3600 Gear 1. The latest BIOS is significantly better, and we could reach DDR4-4000 Gear 1, but it required some more work. Since it’s still a new product and most delays are only Intel’s fault, I assume that there will be a tuned BIOS that lets us use the full potential of the Z690A Valkyrie in a while.
Below is a quick test at DDR4-4600 and Gear 2 mode. The same settings were used in all our performance tests, and there were no problems with stability.
Storage performance
M.2 SSD performance has been tested using Crucial P5 Plus 1TB SSD. 6.7GB/s is about the best result we could achieve on this SSD.
The same, SATA SSD performance is high. Our results were made on the OS drive and still reached about the maximum possible bandwidth on the SATA interface.
Network performance
The Z690A Valkyrie, like most Z690 motherboards, is equipped with an Intel I225-V, 2.5Gbps LAN controller. The data server was connected via a 10G LAN controller and Netgear XS505M 10G switch, so there were no bandwidth limits. At the same time, other devices were connected to the network to simulate a typical daily workload. Hence, the maximum bandwidth is lower than the maximum of the 2.5G LAN controller. We could still achieve anything between 1400Mbps and 2500Mbps in our tests during longer work.
Let’s move to some 3D benchmarks and games.
