Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI review

Is it worth using a simple motherboard for high-end processors?

Reviews
By
published
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI
A budget X58 motherboard (as much as X58 can be budget)

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

CPU Rendering performance

Cinebench R10: Seconds – quicker is better
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 53
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 54

Cinebench R11 Index
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 4.82
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 4.77

Video encoding

X264 v3 (frames per second)

Pass1 (avr 4 runs)
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 68.40
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 66.252

Pass2 (avr 4 runs)
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 26.37
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 25.91

X264 v2 (fps)

Pass1 (avr 4 runs)
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 75.180
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 72.495

Pass2 (avr 4 runs)
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 27.000
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 26.507

Graphics (HD5830 single and Crossfire)

Far Cry 2 (small ranch map, 4xFSAA, Ultra settings, avr fps)

Single card:
1680 x 1050: 64.99
1920 x 1200: 41.99

CrossFire:
1680 x 1050: 89.41
1920 x 1200: 76.22

DiRT2 (4xFSAA, Ultra settings)

Single card:
1680 x 1050: 64.30
1920 x 1200: 56.58

CrossFire:
1680 x 1050: 113.93
1920 x 1200: 99.83

Just Cause 2 (Dark Tower benchmark, 4xFSAA, 8xAscF)

Single card:
1680 x 1050: 46.74
1920 x 1200: 40.12

Crossfire:
1680 x 1050: 59.30
1920 x 1200: 50.68

Overclocking – Intel 920 overclocked to 3.6GHz

CPU Rendering performance

Cinebench R10: Seconds – quicker is better
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 42
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 42

Cinebench R11 Index
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 6.07
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 6.08

Video Encoding

X264 v3 (fps)

Pass1 (avr 4 runs)
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 85.47
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 84.17

Pass2 (avr 4 runs)
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 33.05
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 32.89

X264 v2 (fps)

Pass1 (avr 4 runs)
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 93.872
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 92.790

Pass2 (avr 4 runs)
Foxconn FlamingBlade GTI: 31.027
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R: 30.160

Lab report

The FlamingBlade GTI's BIOS made it very easy to overclock, with as many tweaks and adjustments to various bits of motherboard hardware as you'd find on a board costing twice as much.

The fact that we could only get the Intel 920 we used to run at 3.6GHz is more the fickle nature of that particular chip rather than a limitation of the board.

TOPICS
TechRadar

The TechRadar hive mind. The Megazord. The Voltron. When our powers combine, we become 'TECHRADAR STAFF'. You'll usually see this author name when the entire team has collaborated on a project or an article, whether that's a run-down ranking of our favorite Marvel films, or a round-up of all the coolest things we've collectively seen at annual tech shows like CES and MWC. We are one.