Test System

Initial Setup

I had no issues at all getting the ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Champion up and running. I installed my CPU memory, coolers and VGA, and the board instantly was at the BIOS screen, with Fatal1ty smirking back at me. The reference G.Skill DIMMs I've been using for X79 products booted up at 1600 MHz without any intervention on my part. I thought something was weird with the screenshot above, but just couldn't place my finger on what it was. Let's take a look at the results and see if they don't help us see what it is.

PWM Power Consumption

One of our first tasks was to truly verify system stability, then we measure CPU power consumption. We isolate the power coming through the 8-pin ATX connector using an in-line meter that provides voltage and current readings, as well as total wattage passed through it. While this may not prove to isolate the CPU power draw in all instances, it does serve as a good indicator of board efficiency and effective VRM design.


When it comes to power consumption, the ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Champion proved it can be a Champion, for sure. At idle, it pulled just 5 Watts, while at load it pulled 142 Watts, more in line with what I expect out of my first 3960X CPU. I'll be updating all my test numbers here in the near future as I just received another sample CPU to test with, so the ASRock Fatal1ty Champion may do even better yet, as it seems my reference CPU has suffered some degradation over time.