ASUS B150 PRO GAMING/AURA (LGA1151) Review

Introduction Since the official reveal of Intel's latest mainstream LGA1151 platform, we've analysed the performance numbers of various Z170 motherboards and even taken an analytical look at the non-overclocking H170 offerings. However, there's another chipset available to consumers even though it's primarily marketed towards business users. More specifically, the B150 chipset includes Intel's Small Business Advantage software package to manage a small network of PCs using fairly rudimentary desktop applications. As a result, it seems quite a bizarre choice to release a B150 motherboard which adopts a lavish visual design, although it might be suitable for business clients wanting to play games during their downtime. In a similar vein to the H170 chipset, there are some technical limitations when opting for the more budget friendly options. For example, B150 motherboards support a maximum of 18 HSIO lanes (in addition to 16 PCI-E from the CPU) compared to 26 on Z170. Additionally, overclocking is disabled even with an unlocked multiplier CPU, the PCI-E lanes are reduced from 20 to 8, and there's a small dip in USB 3.0 ports down from 14 to 12. Despite these cutbacks, there's still more than enough connectivity, and features to please a large quantity of consumers. The ASUS B150 PRO GAMING/AURA is a fascinating motherboard because it brings many of the high-end components from the Z170 range and comes with an excellent array of gaming focussed software. This means, it's possibly the most ostentatious and impressive B150 motherboard I've encountered thus far, and I expect to see some impressive performance numbers in our typical benchmark procedure. Specifications Packing and Accessories The motherboard is packaged in an attractive box which outlines the RGB sections and high-speed M.2 support. Additionally, there's a promotional 15-day code to access a premium account in the free-to-play title, War of Warships. On the rear, there's a basic overview of the board layout, a technical synopsis and details about the AURA RGB lighting system. Furthermore, ASUS also provides information on the Digi+ VRM, USB 3.1 connectivity, premium audio hardware and gaming software. In terms of accessories, the B150 PRO GAMING/AURA includes a user's guide, cable labels, zip ties to help with cable management and drivers disk. As you might expect, the motherboard comes with an I/O shield, SATA cables and M.2 fixing screws. A Closer Look Even though the B150 PRO GAMING/AURA is targeted towards affordability, it still manages to evoke a premium feel and adopts one of the best-looking designs I've seen in some time. The vivid red heatsink colour and black accents contrasts superbly and looks like the perfect combination. This is helped by the subtle PRO GAMING branding which showcases the motherboard's gaming theme without detracting too much from the chipset's business roots. Not only that, the PCB is awash with very unusual red lines and creates such an identifiable appearance which separates the motherboard from anything else out there on the market. Honestly, I strongly believe ASUS has created a visual masterpiece and deserves a lot of credit for this innovative design. Here we can see the conveniently placed 4-pin fan headers to easily connect a water cooling pump and set of fans with a PWM splitter. This reduces clutter and helps the end-user to build a cleaner and more professional looking system. The four DIMMs feature DRAM overcurrent protection which protects against short-circuit damage via onboard resettable fuses and extends the motherboard's longevity. From this image, it's clear how the PCB led lighting was implemented, and there's also the standard 24-pin power and front USB connector in its optimal position. The area surrounding the CPU socket is extremely clean which makes it so simple to attach large air coolers, or water cooling apparatus with a heavy mounting pressure. Also notice, the 10K capacitors, LAN Guard which eliminates EMI, and impressive power delivery. As with any PRO GAMING product from ASUS, the audio circuitry is top-notch and based on Realtek's ALC1150 chipset. This section contains an EMI cover to preserve the audio signal, and illumination shielding to eliminate analog interference and create a striking finish. ASUS opted for premium Nichicon audio capacitors which produce a crisp, warm sound and even integrated a 300 ohms headphone amplifier to properly drive high impedance audio equipment. On another note, the motherboard's expansion layout features two PCIe x16 slots, two PCIe x1 and two PCI slots to support hardware from a bygone era. Connectivity-wise, you can choose from six SATA3 6 Gb/s ports and a single M.2 socket 3 which opts for a PCIe x2 configuration. On the rear I/O, there is a PS/2 connector, two USB 2.0 ports, D-SUB, HDMI, four USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Type-A, USB 3.1 Type-C, RJ45, 5 audio jacks and an optical S/PDIF out. Testing & Methodology Before we delve into any testing we would like to take this opportunity to review our test system. All tests are conducted three times and the average taken to use in our charts. Hardware Motherboard varies by review CPU: Intel Core i7 6700k GPU: NVIDIA GTX 980Ti RAM: Crucial Elite 16GB (2x8GB) 2666MHz Cooling: Thermaltake Water 3.0 AIO with Gelid GC-Extreme Case: Lian Li T80 Test Bench Storage Drives: Main storage: Crucial MX200 250GB, Test Devices: SanDisk Extreme Pro 240GB SSD, Plextor 256GB M6e M.2 SSD and Patriot SuperSonic Magnum 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 850W Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit Networking: ASUS RT-AC68U router Software SiSoft Sandra Engineer - available here WPrime - available here Cinebench - available here 3DMark - available here Bioshock Infinite - available here Tomb Raider - available here AIDA 64 Engineer - available here Latencymon - available here Rightmark Audio Analyser - available here LAN Speed Test Lite - available here Passmark - available here Memory For our memory tests, we use the built-in memory benchmarks in AIDA64 Engineer and SiSoft Sandra. For more details on each of the benchmarks please see here and here respectively. Storage To test the storage performance in our motherboard reviews we use AIDA's Disk Benchmark utility built into their AIDA64 Engineer Edition software package and run linear read and write tests. We run each of the benchmark tests on a SATA III, USB 3.0 and M.2 device. For SATA III testing we use a SanDisk Extreme Pro 240GB, for USB 3.0 testing we use the Supersonic Magnum 256 GB USB 3.0 flash drive and for M.2 testing we use Plextor's 256GB M.2 M6e SSD. The drives are always formatted before use. Networking For our networking tests we connect the test system up to our Intel Gigabit-enabled ASUS Rampage IV Extreme X79 motherboard test system through the ASUS RT-AC68U router and run our tests. We opted for this over a direct point-to-point connection because we wanted to simulate real-world performance. For our WiFi tests we do the same except we connect the test system to the ASUS RT-AC68U router via WiFi at a distance of 2 metres from the router. The testing software we use for these are LAN Speed Test Lite and Passmark, available here and here respectively. Lan Speed Test LAN Speed Test was designed from the ground up to be a simple but powerful tool for measuring file transfer, hard drive, USB Drive, and Local Area Network (LAN) speeds (wired & wireless). It does this by building a file in memory, then transfers it both ways (without effects of windows file caching) while keeping track of the time. Download the free Lan Speed Test Lite utility from here. PassMark The PassMark Advanced Network Test (which is part of PerformanceTest) is designed to test the data transfer rate between two computers both of which must be running PerformanceTest. One of the computers must act as the server and will sit waiting for a connection. The other computer acts as a client. It connects to the server machine and sends data to it for the duration of the test. You can download a trial version of PerformanceTest from here. Power Usage To measure power consumption we, use a "killawatt" meter and measure the total system power draw at the wall. We run three different use-case scenarios for 5 minutes and take the average reading. RightMark Audio Analyser (RMAA) RMAA suite is designed for testing quality of analog and digital paths of any audio device. The results are obtained by playing and recording test signals passed through the tested audio path by means of frequency analysis algorithms. A more common mark is also provided for those unfamiliar with measured technical parameters. Available here. We run the RMAA test using a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable connecting the line out to the line in to test the quality of the motherboard audio codec not any external audio devices. We run the complete playback and recording test at default settings and then get RMAA to interpret the results giving the below outputs. We sync the playback and recording audio devices to the same setting as the test for accurate results. DPC DPC is a Windows tool that analyses the capabilities of a computer system to handle real-time data streams properly. It may help to find the cause for interruptions in real-time audio and video streams, also known as drop-outs. This software is available for download free here. wPrime wPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton's method for estimating functions. wPrime is a free utility that is available for download here. Cinebench R15 Cinebench is a widely respected benchmark for testing the performance of x86 CPUs. The program allows you to test single and multi-threaded performance as well as GPU performance by rendering with Open GL. Download here. 3D Mark The new 3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware. With three all new tests you can bench everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. Download here. Tomb Raider In Tomb Raider, the player is confronted with a much younger Lara Croft who is shipwrecked and finds herself stranded on a mysterious island rife with danger, both natural and human. Tomb Raider is a demanding game offering up ultra quality textures, full DirectX 11 support, SSAA, FXAA, MSAA and AMD TressFX technology. Bioshock BioShock Infinite is the third and last game in the BioShock series. It is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games. BioShock Infinite supports dynamic shadows, post-processing, light shafts, ambient occlusion, object level of detail, Diffusion Depth of Detail, FOV adjustment controls and other advanced DirectX 11 features. BIOS and Overclocking The B150 PRO GAMING/AURA's BIOS will be instantly familiar to anyone with experience using other ASUS motherboards. The company's UEFI BIOS user-interface is marvellous and provides all the features you need without appearing overly complex or making navigation an overwhelming task. On the front page, we can see information about the XMP profile, boot priority, CPU fan curve and a host of other important information. Having all of this clearly labelled on the first page is fantastic and makes fault checking much easier. The Q-Fan Control software is brilliant and allows you to set RPM values based on a pre-defined setting or let the BIOS optimize your system automatically by balancing load temperatures and operating noise. Here we can see the Boot Menu which is useful to quickly select a bootable drive without having to search for this particular setting within the main BIOS tabs. The Main tab displays information about the BIOS version, CPU specification, memory capacity and other key system attributes. On Z170 motherboards, the AI Tweaker provides the required options to adjust the CPU multiplier, DRAM timings, and voltage. Clearly, this isn't possible on Intel's B150 chipset, although you can still alter a few settings up to stock values. Towards the lower end section is a comprehensive range of voltage control tweaks to maximize a CPU's potential. Once again, this isn't really worth checking out due to the lack of overclocking ability and Skylake's low stock temperatures. It's even possible to set custom memory timings and find the perfect balance between speed and latency. The Advanced tab incorporates a huge array of features from PCH Configuration to HDD/SSD Smart Information. Despite this, the average user shouldn't have to spend too long looking through these and I recommend leaving everything on default values. On the Monitor page, you can observe key temperature information, fan speed numbers and essential voltage read outs. The Boot menu is fairly self-explanatory, and the only option I'd tweak here is Fast Boot. This helps to make the system boot faster but also means it's more difficult to enter the BIOS. In the Tool section, you can update the BIOS, load an Overclocking Profile, analyse the PCIe configuration and more! Updating the BIOS is a rudimentary task and can be done via the internet or a file you've manually downloaded from ASUS' official servers. It's staggering how many people sell their unwanted hard drives without properly erasing any personal data. This is incredibly dangerous and can be avoided with the right software. Deleting files in Windows doesn't actually remove the data, and the only secure form is to replace the binary information with blank 0s. Typically, a 3-pass erase should be more than enough and doesn't take too long on SSDs. While CCleaner provides a similar service, it's great to have this functionality directly in the BIOS. For the more technical users, the BIOS has a detailed run-down of memory DIMM specifications which ranges from JDEC ID all the way to XMP tRAS. One really unique inclusion is the GPU Post screen which provides a visual indication of the primary graphics card adapter position and an overview of the PCIe slots. Finally, the Exit tab allows you to Load Optimized Defaults and save or restore any changes made in the current session. Overclocking Due to the limitations of the B150 chipset, overclocking isn't possible and all results were attained using the CPU's stock frequency. Software Overview ASUS' software suite offers a wide array of useful utilities to determine system health, and fine tune performance from the desktop. The Auto-Diagnostic Help tool can create a system backup to protect your data, and connect you to ASUS' support line in case any stability problems occur. Additionally, it analyses integral aspects of your hardware to gauge if anything is malfunctioning. CPU-Z is one of the most important monitoring utilities out there to view CPU voltages, memory timings, and now even has an integrated stress test. Here we can see ASUS has applied a custom skin to make it a more suitable match with the motherboard's theme. The WebStorage application is used to access data on a wide range of devices including mobile, tablet, and PC. Exclusive to this particular motherboard is the AURA RGB illumination control which allows you to select from a number of visual effects and custom colours. The most intriguing feature is the ability to set RGB lighting based on CPU temperatures. The software contains a section to adjust the audio LED's behaviour to suit your personal preferences. ASUS' PC Diagnostics is designed to outline technical information about a user's system. This ranges from the motherboard's onboard networking chip to the current storage configuration. Another great addition is the RAMCache which offsets free memory to a master storage device and minimizes executing latency as well as data read-in time. The end result is greatly improved performance and a snappier feel when loading games. GameFirst III is a network prioritization utility which assigns top priority to game-data packets, allocating them more bandwidth to ensure the best online-gaming experience and clear, stutter-free online team-chat. ASUS Dual Intelligent Processors 5 combines TPU, EPU, DIGI+ Power Control, Fan Xpert 3, and Turbo App functions to push the system’s performance to its optimal potential. It automatically balances the system’s performance, power saving, and fan settings via the user-friendly AI Suite 3 utility. Even though the lack of overclocking inhibits your options here somewhat, there's still enough value in the live monitoring and fan control to make an install worthwhile. I have to commend ASUS for presenting the fan curves in such a slick and easy to use interface. This means it's so easy to understand the relationship between RPM values and system temperatures. If you still find this slightly overwhelming, the software can do all the hard work and display a detailed Tuning Report. This gauges the capacities of your cooling apparatus and finds the perfect balance between audible noise and temperatures. Here we can see the massive selection of tools embedded into the software suite. There's more than enough applications included to please even the most demanding of users. CPU & GPU Performance Cinebench The ASUS B150 PRO GAMING/AURA attained good scores in both multi and single CPU benchmark runs. Despite adopting the business-focused B150 chipset, it managed to outperform two H170 motherboards and a Z170 alternative in multi-core stress testing. WPrime In WPrime, the CPU compute time remained within a small margin of error compared to a large quantity of motherboards on the market and matched my initial expectations. SiSoft Sandra Sadly, the motherboard reported the worst Sandra scores we've seen so far although it's pretty close to the Supermicro C7H170-M and BIOSTAR GAMING H170T. Additionally, you have to remember that this is the first B150 motherboard we've tested which might skew the results somewhat. 3DMark Here we can see superb numbers from the graphics card which emphasizes the chipset's ability to utilize top-end gaming hardware without having a negative impact on performance. Tomb Raider A similar situation is showcased in Tomb Raider, which reported fantastic performance across various resolutions. Bioshock Infinite Every so often, Bioshock Infinite has the propensity to throw up some bizarre readings which might be an issue with the integrated benchmark tool. Nevertheless, the motherboard didn't encounter any problems and reported excellent results at 1080P and 1440P. Memory Performance AIDA64 Engineer As expected, the B150 chipset's maximum support for DDR4 2133MHz modules has a significant impact on the memory bandwidth benchmark. On the other hand, this shouldn't be a major concern for the average end-user given the negligible real world performance differences between 2133MHz and higher speeds. SiSoft Sandra Here we can see a fairly similar course of events although the motherboard manages to surpass the Gigabyte H170-HD3 this time. Combined Latency Test In terms of memory latency, performance could be improved although it's still within a respectable margin of error. Storage Performance Linear Read The motherboard's linear read statistics are impeccable across all of the storage devices tested. Linear Write Unfortunately, this doesn't transcend to the linear write figures especially in M.2 benchmarking. However, the SATA drive did achieve fairly good write rates and USB performance isn't too far away from the top results. Networking Performance LAN Speed Test Lite When it comes to network performance, the B150 PRO GAMING/AURA's Intel I219V attained very respectable read and write speeds. Passmark Performance Test 8 - Ethernet In Passmark, the network controller's TCP average speed was laudable, and UDP performance fell just short of the 800Mbps barrier. Passmark Performance Test 8 - CPU Work Load Here we can see the low CPU utilization under UDP which provides a very efficient network experience. The CPU load when using a TCP connection is also pretty decent and only 1% off a top-tier position. Audio Performance The motherboard's SupremeFX audio based on Realtek's ALC1150 chipset is capable of producing warm, crisp tones and retains a great tonal response across various bit rates. It's certainly not the best audio solution I've encountered and performance could be improved at 16 bit 44KHz. Despite this, when you take the asking price into consideration, the performance is worthy of praise. 16 Bit, 44KHz (DVD Quality) 16 Bit, 96KHz (Studio Quality) 24 Bit, 96KHz (Studio Quality) DPC Audio Latency Analyser On a similar note, the chipset's maximum latency is sub 90µs which rivals many premium motherboards on the market. Power Consumption Under extreme load, the system when equipped with this motherboard was very efficient and didn't exceed 350 watts. During idle conditions, the wattage could have been reduced but it's still well within an acceptable margin of error. Final Thoughts Pricing The ASUS B150 PRO GAMING/AURA is currently available in the UK from Dabs.com for £97.04 + £4.50 shipping which equates to a total of £101.54. US customers can purchase the motherboard from Newegg.com for $128.99 + $2.99 which comes to $131.98. While you do get a lot of features for the price point, it's important to note that the Z170 PRO GAMING only costs £20 more from eBuyer.com. This seems like a better purchase given the overclocking ability, high-speed DDR4 memory support and greater number of PCIe lanes. That's not to say the B150 PRO GAMING is overpriced, but it's perilously close to Z170 alternatives. Overview In terms of aesthetics, the ASUS B150 PRO GAMING/AURA is flawless and a marvel of engineering. The subtle yet stylish heatsink design and stunning RGB lighting allows you to choose a finish which suitably matches your system's theme. I also love the ability to monitor CPU temperatures using various colours as it provides an immediate way to quickly glance at system performance without squinting at small numbers in numerous software packages. One area which could be improved on is the default red heatsinks which struggle to contrast well with certain colours. This shouldn't really effect the overall look in an enclosed chassis, but it's something to take into consideration if you're using bright LED strips to accentuate the colours. While the motherboard is targeted towards lower-end users, ASUS hasn't made any major compromises and only integrated high-end components. Notable premium features include a thick PCB, ESD LAN guards, SupremeFX audio, Q-DIMM, Q-LED, DRAM Overcurrent Protection and more! As you can see, this is an impressive package which makes it one of the best B150 motherboards available today. Granted, there's not much competition for gaming motherboards using this chipset, as manufacturers tend to focus on Z170 and H170. Nevertheless, ASUS deserves credit for providing more options and catering to every possible aspect of the gaming market. The motherboard's layout is another highlight due to the USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C connectivity. There's also an ample supply of USB ports to connect numerous devices, and the M.2 connector is useful to acquire ultra fast read/write speeds using elite grade hardware. On another note, the fan header placement is great and makes it quite simple to set-up a closed-looped liquid cooling solution. Clearly, the chipset's restrictions on overclocking means this kind of cooling apparatus isn't required, but some users might still want to go down this route to create a cleaner looking build. The motherboard also incorporates two PCI slots to connect older add-in cards and improve the overall level of flexibility. As expected, the B150 PRO GAMING/AURA's BIOS is sublime and exemplifies why so many consumers have a strong brand loyalty with ASUS. Navigating between pages is such a wonderful experience, and the BIOS relays information about voltages, temperatures, memory timings and other vital statistics. It's presented in a slick, easy-to-use interface which caters to novices while offering enough functionality to please the hardcore demographic. This is a very difficult balance to achieve but it's the main reason I recommend ASUS motherboards to people without any computer experience. One interesting feature is a diagram which outlines the current PCIe configuration and allows users to discover the bandwidth speed. Performance-wise, it's quite difficult to judge the B150 PRO GAMING/AURA because it's the first motherboard we've tested using Intel's business chipset. Despite this, it provides a good benchmark for when we receive other B150 products in the near future. If we judge the performance compared to H170 and Z170 offerings, the motherboard manages to compete rather well especially in networking, audio and M.2 read performance. There's obviously some memory bandwidth limitations due to the maximum support speed of 2133MHz, but this shouldn't really be a cause for concern. To summarize, the motherboard reports good CPU results at stock settings, and emphasizes that you don't need Intel's Z170 chipset to attain huge framerates on demanding monitor resolutions. Pros Astonishingly beautiful design Decent software suite ESD Guards on LAN, Audio, KBMS and USB3.0/2.0 ports Fantastic BIOS Great Audio PCB LEDs create a vibrant, unique finish Premium power delivery and 10k capacitors USB 3.1 Type-A, USB 3.1 Type-C connectivity Cons Pricing in the UK is extremely close to the Z170 PRO GAMING Red heatsinks can look out-of-place with certain RGB colour palettes "The ASUS B150 PRO GAMING/AURA is one of the best-looking motherboards I've encountered and it's able to stand out from the crowd due to the customizable RGB LED lighting on the PCB. It's not style over substance either and contains a specification which befits the higher end Z170 options. " ASUS B150 PRO GAMING/AURA (LGA1151) Motherboard Review Thank you ASUS for providing us with this sample.