MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk Motherboard Review
Peter Donnell / 5 years ago
How We Test
Here at eTeknix, we endeavour to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of motherboard, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there’s always a margin for error when using any software. Therefore, your experience may vary.
Testing Your Own System
We typically focus on commonly available benchmarks so that you too can run the same benchmarks on your own system. We hope this makes it easy for our readers to gauge the performance improvement available to them when they upgrade their own systems.
Gaming Tests
All games are run at their specified resolutions using the “high” settings or equivalent. We avoid using the Ultra settings as these often offer diminishing returns for performance vs visuals.
Test Benches
Comet Lake S
Processor | All Intel 10th Generation |
Motherboard | MSI MEG Z490 GODLIKE |
Memory | 2 x 8GB TEAMGroup NightHawk RGB DDR4-3000 |
Graphics | NVIDIA RTX 2080 SUPER FE |
Storage | Seagate Firecuda 510 1TB |
Power Supply | Phanteks Revolt Pro 850W |
Software | Windows 10 Professional 1909 |
Drivers | NVDIA GeForce 445.87 WHQL |
Coffee Lake
Processor | All Intel 8th & 9th Generation |
Motherboard | ASUS Maximus XI Hero (WiFi) |
Memory | 2 x 8GB TEAMGroup NightHawk RGB DDR4-3000 |
Graphics | NVIDIA RTX 2080 SUPER FE |
Storage | Seagate Firecuda 510 1TB |
Power Supply | Phanteks Revolt Pro 850W |
Software | Windows 10 Professional 1909 |
Drivers | NVDIA GeForce 445.87 WHQL |
Kaby Lake
Processor | All Intel 7th Generation |
Motherboard | Gigabyte Z270X-Gaming 9 |
Memory | 2 x 8GB TEAMGroup NightHawk RGB DDR4-3000 |
Graphics | NVIDIA RTX 2080 SUPER FE |
Storage | Seagate Firecuda 510 1TB |
Power Supply | Phanteks Revolt Pro 850W |
Software | Windows 10 Professional 1909 |
Drivers | NVDIA GeForce 445.87 WHQL |
LGA 2066
Processor | All Intel 8th, 9th & 10th Generation |
Motherboard | Gigabyte Z270X-Gaming 9 |
Memory | 2 x 8GB TEAMGroup NightHawk RGB DDR4-3000 |
Graphics | NVIDIA RTX 2080 SUPER FE |
Storage | Seagate Firecuda 510 1TB |
Power Supply | Phanteks Revolt Pro 850W |
Software | Windows 10 Professional 1909 |
Drivers | NVDIA GeForce 445.87 WHQL |
Zen 2
Processor | All AMD Ryzen 3000 Series |
Motherboard | ASUS Crosshair VIII Hero |
Memory | 2 x 8GB TEAMGroup NightHawk RGB DDR4-3000 |
Graphics | NVIDIA RTX 2080 SUPER FE |
Storage | Seagate Firecuda 510 1TB |
Power Supply | Phanteks Revolt Pro 850W |
Software | Windows 10 Professional 1909 |
Drivers | NVDIA GeForce 445.87 WHQL |
Zen
Processor | All AMD Ryzen 2000 & 1000 Series |
Motherboard | ASUS B450-F Gaming |
Memory | 2 x 8GB TEAMGroup NightHawk RGB DDR4-3000 |
Graphics | NVIDIA RTX 2080 SUPER FE |
Storage | Seagate Firecuda 510 1TB |
Power Supply | Phanteks Revolt Pro 850W |
Software | Windows 10 Professional 1909 |
Drivers | NVDIA GeForce 445.87 WHQL |