Motherboard Reviews
MSI B250M Mortar Motherboard Review: Bettering the Basics
« Bundled Software and UEFI Overview | System Benchmarks (CPU, Memory, Compression, Multimedia) »
Test System and Testing Procedures
| Item | Name |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-7700K (Retail) |
| CPU Cooler |
Noctua NH-D15S |
| Power Supply |
Corsair HX850W 80 Plus Gold PSU |
| Memory | Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 2x8GB @ 2400MHz CL15 |
| Storage | OCZ Vertex 4 256GB SSD (OS), ADATA SP550 SSD (Test), Vantec NexStar USB 3.0 (enclosure) |
| Graphics | Integrated CPU Graphics, Gigabyte GTx 960 Windforce 3x OC |
| Drivers | Intel 10.1.1.7 (Z170), Intel 10.0.2.1 (Z97), NVIDIA 353.62 WHQL (Discrete) |
| Router | Cisco E3200 stock firmware with 2x 6ft Cat5E cables for network testing |
| Motherboard(s) | MSI Z170A MPOWER Gaming Titanium (BIOS 1.10), Gigabyte Z170X-Designare (BIOS F2), Gigabyte Z170X-Ultra Gaming (BIOS F4), Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 (BIOS F4), EVGA Z170 FTW (BIOS v1.03), Gigabyte Z170-Gaming 7 (BIOS F2) |
| Operating System | Windows 10 |
Latest working BIOS, updates and drivers were used at the time of the review. Each test was conducted at least three times for accuracy with the exception of PCMark 8 which already does three sets per benchmark run. *All performance benchmarks in this review and all reviews going forward will be using the Windows 10 operating system.
System Benchmarks
- Aida64 Engineer 5.30
- SiSoft Sandra Lite 2015 SP2b
- CineBench R15
- PCMark 8 v2.4.304
- WinRAR 5.01
- x.264 FHD 1.0.1
- x.265 0.1.4
Subsystem Testing
- CrystalDiskMark 5.0.3 for Storage tests
- LatencyMon for DPC monitoring
- Rightmark Audio Analyzer 6.4.1
- Passmark Performance Test 8.0 – Network Speed Graph
Gaming Benchmarks
- 3DMark Firestrike (Default)
- Unigine Heaven 4.0 (Max Settings, 1920 x 1080)
- Bioshock Infinite (Lowest Settings @ 640 x 480, Max Settings @ 1920 x 1080)
Motherboard Specifications:
| Socket | 1151 |
| CPU (Max Support) | i7 |
| Chipset | Intel® B250 Chipset |
| DDR4 Memory | 2400/ 2133 MHz |
| Memory Channel | Dual |
| DIMM Slots | 4 |
| Max Memory (GB) | 64 |
| PCI-Ex16 | 2 |
| PCI-E Gen | Gen3 |
| PCI-Ex1 | 2 |
| SATAIII | 6 |
| M.2 Slot | 1 |
| TPM (header) | 1 |
| LAN | 10/100/1000*1 |
| USB 3.1 ports (Front) | 2(Gen1, Type A) |
| USB 3.1 ports (Rear) | 3(Gen1, Type A), 1(Gen1, Type C) |
| USB 2.0 ports (Front) | 4 |
| USB 2.0 ports (Rear) | 2 |
| Audio ports (Rear) | 6 |
| DisplayPort | 1 |
| DVI-D | 1 |
| HDMI | 1 |
| DirectX | 12 |
| Form Factor | Micro-ATX |
| CrossFire | Y |
