Testing methodology
Comparison Motherboard Configurations |
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Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI |
MSI Z170A Tomahawk |
Asus Z170-K |
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| MSRP | |||||||||||
| BIOS | F5a |
1.20 |
0323 |
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| Chipset Revision | Intel Z170 (Intel 10.1.1.1019 driver) |
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| CPU | Intel Core i7-6700K |
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| Memory | G.Skill TridentX 3,600 8GB DDR4 (2 x 4GB) |
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| Memory Timings | 15-15-15-36-2T @ 2,133MHz |
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| Discrete Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 (353.62) |
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| System Drive | SK hynix Canvas SC300 (512GB) |
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| Chassis | Corsair Graphite 600T |
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| Power Supply | Corsair AX760i |
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| Operating System | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
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CPU and Memory Benchmarks |
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| HEXUS PiFast | Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places | ||||||||||
| Cinebench R15 | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses all cores | ||||||||||
| Handbrake 0.9.9.1 | Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores (64-bit) | ||||||||||
Gaming Benchmarks |
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| Grand Theft Auto V | DX11, 1,920x1,080, very high quality | ||||||||||
| Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor | DX11, 1,920x1,080, ultra quality | ||||||||||
| Total War: Rome II | DX11, 1,920x1,080, ultra quality | ||||||||||
Miscellaneous Benchmarks |
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| Overclocking and Power | Maximum CPU and memory frequencies, plus power consumption when gaming | ||||||||||
Notes
We've historically had a large number of benchmarks detailing performance between chipsets. Due to the levels of integration in the processor practically all modern motherboards benchmark at the same levels, give or take a per cent or two, so 15 graphs showing near-identical performance isn't what you (or we) want to see.
We're running nine benchmarks - three CPU, three gaming, three storage - to see if the boards perform at the expected levels. This is more of a sanity check than anything else. Of rather more importance is how well the board(s) are able to overclock the CPU and DDR4 memory.
The line-up includes a couple of boards also targetting the crucial £100 segment. Let's see how MSI does.