ASRock N7AD-SLI Motherboard Review

Testing Results

The results that we got in our testing of the ASRock N7AD-SLI did surprise us just a bit. With the issues we had with setting DDR timings, we expected the board to grossly underperform compared to the other test boards. But, it did not!

In our Sandra testing, the ASRock board won 4 out of 5 of the tests. In our Everest testing, the N7AD-SLI did come in WAY under the scores of the other two boards in the read test, but did just as well as the other boards in the write test.

The N7AD-SLI was only one second off of the ASUS Striker board in the POV Ray Beta testing, and about 1 fps slower on the POV Real-Time testing. Cinebench results put the ASRock board four seconds behind the leading board. Those are pretty good results for a board running 5-5-5-18 timings!

HDTach results showed that the average transfer rate for the N7AD-SLI matched that of the Striker board. Burst speeds were not as fast, coming in last of the three boards.

Another surprise was the results that we got in our 3dMark 06 testing. The ASRock board outscored both of the other boards! Lightsmark was also very good to the ASRock board. It also scored the best out of the three boards in both resolutions tested.

The N7AD-SLI also did much better than expected in our gaming tests. It scored the highest in F.E.A.R. and in Company of Heroes 1920×1200 testing. It also scored the best in one if the Call of Duty resolutions. It came in a solid second place in PCMark Vantage testing.

The board actually did really good for running the DDR timings it did!