MSI X299 Gaming M7 ACK Motherboard Review

Testing & Methodology

Test Systems used for review and comparisons and in previous benchmarks:

AM4

• CPU – Ryzen R7 1800X
• Motherboard – Changes per review
• RAM – Crucial Ballistix 16GB (2x8GB) 2400MHz
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 980Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Z270

• Motherboard – Combination used to determine widespread performance
• RAM – Crucial Ballistix Elite 16GB (2x8GB) 2666MHz (16-17-17)
• CPU Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 with Gelid GC-Extreme
• Graphics Card – Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 980Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

X99

• Motherboard – ASUS ROG STRIX X99 GAMING
• RAM – 32GB Crucial Ballistix Sport (4x8GB) 2400MHz (16-16-16-39)
• CPU Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 with Gelid GC-Extreme
• Graphics Card – Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 980Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Z170

• Motherboard – ASRock Z170 Extreme7+
• RAM – Crucial Ballistix Elite 16GB (2x8GB) 2666MHz (16-17-17)
• CPU Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 with Gelid GC-Extreme
• Graphics Card – Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 980Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Z87

• Motherboard – ASUS Maximus VII Ranger
• RAM – 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport XT (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1866MHz (10-10-10-30)
• CPU Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 with Gelid GC-Extreme
• Graphics Card – Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 980Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Games Used

• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
• Rise of the Tomb Raider

Test Software

• Cinebench – available here
• WPrime – available here
• SiSoft Sandra Engineer – available here
• 3DMark – available here
• AIDA64 Engineer – available here
• Passmark – available here
• CPUID HWMonitor – available here
• CPU-Z – available here

Storage Testing

• Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB SATA
• Toshiba OCZ RD400 512GB NVMe M.2
• Patriot SuperSonic Magnum 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Test Procedure

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 X99 motherboard test system through the ASUS RT-AC68U router. 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 5 metres from the router. The testing is conducted using PassMark’s Advanced Network Test detailed below.

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 analogue 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. Complete playback and recording test at default settings and then get RMAA to interpret the results giving the below outputs. Finally, we sync the playback and recording audio devices to the same setting as the test for accurate results.

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.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

We run the games internal benchmark with the ultra preset applied, AA turned off, V-sync off, and at a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

We run the games internal benchmark with the very high preset applied, FXAA turned on, V-sync off, TrueHair off, and at a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

Thank you Noctua, Crucial, ASUS, Gigabyte, Lian-Li, be quiet!, OCZ, for providing the hardware that helps makes these tests possible!