mistaken . The BOM for this DAC is unusual for a motherboard accessory as it features similar components as found in $ 100 ~ $ 200 DACs and needless to say that it sounds every bit as good as you ’ d expect . You will find within a pair of TI LM4562 Op-amps , a Cirrus Logic CS5361 A / D converter for the line-in / mic input . A SABRE ESS ES9018K2M 32-bit DAC , Nichicon Audio capacitors and WIMA film capacitors amongst other components . Definitely a different class of audio equipment to anything else on offer on any motherboard by far . A pure stereo option which is a good match for a wide range of headphones , form the entry level right up to some high-end cans . The sound isn ’ t as warm as what you would get form say an old favourite like the Creative Labs Titanium Fatal1ty Pro , but does deliver a more precise audio experience , with tight mids and pronounced highs . It ’ ll depend on what you prefer as the end user . One only wishes that it was possible to have the DAC power your speakers as well in a convenient way , however this isn ’ t possible due to only having two external
outputs . You ’ d have to run an audio cable outside the case to achieve this . Doable but definitely not ideal .
As a complete package it ’ s not possible to find a better X99 offering from any vendor , regardless of what the claims may be . It ’ s just not possible to beat the Rampage V 10 Edition and that is right in line with what the previous Black Edition boards were offering , in particular the previous X79 model .
THE INTEL CORE I7 6950X EXPERIENCE
With the best board in the business covered , it is time to look at the best CPU in the business . It is only fitting given that the combination of these two components will offer the best performance money can buy within the desktop PC space . It ’ s as if these two were made for each other .
Unlike with the previous Extreme Edition CPUs from INTEL for the HEDT platform , this is the first 10-Core , 20 thread CPU to come from the company . That ’ s a whole lot of power and it is the second time in a row that INTEL has increased thread count for this segment . Initially when we moved from the 4960X to the 5960X , we gained four threads and this time we gain a further four . This is of course of no use to any gaming context , but for productivity and other threaded applications and tasks , this is the CPU to buy . For those working with 4K content or other high quality , high bit-rate content , short of going the Xeon route , this is the CPU to own , even with the head spinning price tag .
Often , glossed over with this 6950X is that , unlike the Haswell-E based 5960X it replaces , it is built on the Broadwell-EP family . So it has some obvious IPC advantages over the outgoing 5960X , in addition to the obvious changes such as the larger caches , cores and of course threads . It ’ s also built on a smaller node and subsequently has the same TDP as its predecessor even with a higher gate density . Essentially , it ’ s INTEL leveraging their manufacturing expertise to
Issue 39 | 2016 The OverClocker 31