Review: Mesh Nightblade 3 HEX (MSI Nightblade)

by Parm Mann on 7 August 2014, 14:00

Tags: MSI, MESH Computers

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qachif

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Test Methodology

Comparison Systems

System Name Gigabyte Brix Gaming Gigabyte Brix Pro Mesh Nightblade 3 HEX PC Specialist Magma A10 PC Specialist Vanquish Mini 130 Scan 3XS Z87 Hadron Hydro Scan 3XS Z97 Vengeance 780
Overclocked No No No No No Yes Yes
CPU Intel Core i5-4200H @ up to 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-4770R @ up to 3.9GHz Intel Core i7-4790K @ up to 4.4GHz AMD A10-7850K @ up to 4.0GHz Intel Core i3-4130 @ 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-4770K @ 4.2GHz Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4.7GHz
CPU Cores / Threads 2 / 4 4 / 8 4 / 8 4 / 4 2 / 4 4 / 8 4 / 8
CPU TDP 47W 65W 88W 95W 54W 84W 88W
CPU Cooler Gigabyte Brix Gaming reference Gigabyte Brix Pro reference Asetek 550LC liquid cooler AMD reference Intel reference Custom EVGA liquid cooler Corsair Hydro Series H80 liquid cooler
Motherboard Gigabyte M4HM8AP Gigabyte M4HM87P MSI Z97I Gaming AC Asus A88XM-Plus Asus H81I-Plus EVGA Z87 Stinger Asus Z97-K
Memory G.Skill 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) (added) G.Skill 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) (added) AMD Radeon R9 Gamer Series (2x8GB) Kingston Hyper-X Beast 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) Kingston Hyper-X Genesis 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB DDR3 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB)
Memory Speed 11-11-11-28-1T @ 1,600MHz 11-11-11-28-1T @ 1,600MHz 11-12-12-31-2T @ 2,400MHz 11-1211-30-1T @ 2,133MHz 11-11-11-28-1T @ 1,600MHz 11-11-11-27-2T @ 2,133MHz 11-11-11-27-2T @ 2,133MHz
Integrated Graphics - Intel Iris Pro 5200 - AMD Radeon R7 - - -
Discrete Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 6GB - MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti Gaming 3GB - Palit GeForce GTX 660 2GB EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Superclocked ACX 3GB EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked ACX 3GB
Sound Card Onboard audio Onboard audio Onboard audio Onboard audio Onboard audio Onboard audio Creative Sound Blaster Audigy FX 5.1
Primary Storage 180GB Intel mSATA SSD (added) 180GB Intel mSATA SSD (added) 2x 128GB Plextor M6M mSATA SSDs 1TB Seagate ST1000DX001 SSHD 1TB Toshiba HDD 500GB Samsung Evo SSD 256GB SanDisk X110 SSD
Secondary Storage - - 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD - - - 2TB WD Green HDD
Optical Drive - - Lite-On Slim Slot-loading DVD Writer Samsung DVD Writer Lite-On DVD Writer Slot-loading DVD Writer Samsung DVD Writer
PSU Delta Electronics (180W, external) Gigabyte (135W, external) SilverStone Strider Essential Gold (600W, internal) Corsair VS350 (350W, internal) Corsair VS450 (450W, internal) EVGA 1U PSU (500W, internal) Corsair RM550 (550W, internal)
Chassis Gigabyte Brix Gaming Gigabyte Brix Pro MSI Nightblade Aerocool DS Cube Red Edition Cooler Master Elite 130 EVGA Hadron Hydro Fractal Design Arc Midi R2
Operating System Windows 8.1 (64-bit, added) Windows 8.1 (64-bit, added) Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
Standard Warranty Two years Two years Standard Warranty - (1 Year Parts, Lifetime Labour,1 Month Collect & Return) Three years (one-year collect-and-return, one-year parts, three-year labour) Three years (one-year collect-and-return, one-year parts, three-year labour) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only)
Approx. System Cost £800 £750 £1,499 £469 £550 £1,949 £1,423

CPU Benchmarks

HEXUS PiFast Our number-crunching PiFast test is used to benchmark the computational power of each system's CPU.
Cinebench Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible.
HandBrake Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores.

Memory and Storage Benchmarks

AIDA64 Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency.
CrystalDiskMark Popular free-to-use storage benchmark, used to gauge sequential performance and aggregated 4K QD32 speeds.

System and Gaming Benchmarks

PCMark 8 System-wide examination that uses the Home preset, run with OpenCL acceleration.
3DMark DX11, run at the Firestrike default test.
Aliens vs. Predator 1,920x1,080 resolution, 2xAA, 4xAF, medium quality.

Miscellaneous Benchmarks

Power Consumption Noted for system idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator.
Temperature Noted for CPU idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and for GPU playing Aliens vs. Predator.