Section IV Performance – Gaming
Gaming as a test of motherboard performance is sort of a joke these days. The big player in the gaming arena is the GPU. Everyone but a few hardcore PR teams know this. However, it is important to run at least a few (one from each current DX version) to see if there are any issues with the combination of components on a motherboard. These are items like Audio lag, memory lag and of course problems with the PCIe lanes and signal traces. If there are issues in design, drivers or BIOS then you can have odd gaming performance. So without much more preamble let’s dive into the three games we currently use; Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for DX9 FarCry 2 for DX10 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 for DX11.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 DX9 -
This is an excellent but short game that put you right into the action from the beginning and does not let up the pressure until the very end. The graphics are a little better; most notably the night and thermal imaging have been improved. The AI is still the typical COD “bar fight” style AI, with maybe a tad more finesse. All in all it is not a bad game to play and a decent one to use for testing. Our testing run starts at the bridge and ends after you clear the school in the first level of the game. Settings are shown below as are the performance numbers.

For Modern Warfare 2 the X58-USB3 is more than able to give you a great gaming experience as long as you have a GPU to back up the resolution you are playing at.

FarCry2 DX10 -
Although not one of my favorite games this tedious game does have some good graphics. The large sandbox style of the game lends to mission based play. The only problem is that the AI is rather low grade. Still the more CPU power the more the bad guys try to do. Over all the game was a little bit of a disappointment to play, but still not a bad DX10 representation. Our testing run starts right after you get your first mission to clean out the safe-house and ends after the hostage rescue. Settings and performance numbers are shown below.

Interestingly enough we find that the X58-USB3 does very well in FarCry2. In fact we found that it is over 30FPS higher than many of the other boards in the group. We have a feeling that a recent update is affecting the performance here, but as we plan to retire these three games shortly we are not going to dwell on it. Suffice it to say that the X58-USB3 would not have any issues playing FarCary2.

Battlefield Bad Company2 DX11 –
I have liked many of the Battlefield games. They usually tend to be fast paced and fun. With Battlefield Bad Company 2 you do get some of that, but there is something about the graphics and the movement that just does not sit right. The AI is a less sophisticated form of the bar fight AI, but it gets the job done. Still, the game is good for testing as it can put a strain on the components of the board. Out testing run is the entire first level, from beginning to end. Settings are shown below along with the raw numbers.

Impressive, the X58-USB3 does well with Battlefield Bad Company 2. We find that it is up at the top of the group just under the G1 Assassin (which is not a bad place to be).

Gaming wrap-up -
If you are looking at this board for gaming you will not be disappointed. As long as you chose well for your GPU you can get the same results. If you go cheap on your CPU and memory you might find the AI a little slow but really nothing that would stand out too terribly bad. On the audio side the HD audio is sufficient; it is not award winning, but it will do. If you are looking for high-end audio I would recommend spending a few extra dollars and get an add-in audio card.