Test System And Methodology
When reviewing Intel Z87 motherboards we use the following pre-defined test system – only the motherboard varies between reviews. We only compare results where consistent components have been used however the CPU will also vary between motherboard comparisons of different sockets as well as the motherboard.
Z87 Motherboard Test System
- Motherboard – Varies by review
- Processor – Intel Core i7 4770K at Stock With Turbo Disabled
- RAM – 16GB (2 X 8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 1866MHz at 9-10-9-27
- Graphics Card – XFX HD 7970 (Stock Clocks)
- CPU Cooler – Corsair H100i with Quiet Fan Profile and Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Paste
- Power Supply – Corsair HX1050W
- Main Storage Drive – Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD over SATA III interface
- Additional Storage Drive – Patriot Wildfire 120GB SSD over SATA III interface
- Chassis – Lian Li T60 Test Bench
- Display – Dell U2711 Ultra Sharp @ 1080p
- Operating System – Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
We would like to thank Asus, Intel, AMD, Corsair, Kingston, Lian Li, Dell, Noctua and all our other partners who supplied us with test equipment and hardware. Their generosity makes our testing possible and without them we wouldn’t be able to produce the reviews we do, so thank you!
For the testing procedures we use a variety of professional software and free to use programs which you can see below. The full details of each test will be available preceding the graphs if you are interested in the details for purposes of result replication or further enquiry.
Software used:
- 3DMark 11
- AIDA64
- Cinebench R11.5
- CPU-Z
- PCMark 7
- Super PI
- 3DMark 2013
- Rightmark Audio Analyser
Everybody (well almost everybody) would rather have top of the range mobo’s, smartphones, GFX cards etc. but products like these are the volume sellers. Without products like this, companies wouldn’t exist. If I had to pay for my computer stuff, this would be the kind of board I’d buy. There’s nothing wrong with it.
So true, I’m actually seriously considering this. The run-of-the-mill boards are what makes a manufacturer’s success. Sure we’d all love to get all the shenanigans, but money is not growing on trees yet, so we make do.
“Built around MSI’s tried-and-tested Military Class 4 components” What a joke this is, there is no ML STD anymore and there sure isn’t any “class 4” The electronics manufacturing world follows IPC standards. Military falls under class 3 requirements. “Whereas Class 3 products demand continued high performance or performance-on-demand is critical and equipment downtime cannot be tolerated, the end use environment may be uncommonly harsh, and the equipment must function when required, such as life support or other critical systems” I am a certified IPC specialist, and can tell you that it does likely meet the class 3 military spec, BUT so does almost every other manufacturer. I wish guys doing reviews would start to take note of this “class 4” BS. It’s false and should be noted.
I appreciate your feedback. I’d be interested to read more and question our MSI representatives on it. Could you provide the relative links to the IPC standard descriptions?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPC_(electronics) best I can do, I cant find any free link that details the standards. basically class 1 is it just has to work, class 2 is where continued performance and extended life are required and for which uninterrupted service is desired, but not critical. I already posted class 3. Here you can see the IPC cert on MSI’s web page. http://www.msi.com/html/product/ipc/DMS/index.html Click manufacture tab and bottom of page.
you don’t know what you’re taking about
expert, can you provide us with the criteria and source for a military class 4 designation ? It seems made up 🙂