MSI X99A XPOWER AC Motherboard Review

[section_title title=”Test Setup”]

Testing Setup

• CPU: Intel Core i7-5960x @ 3.5GHz (OC – 4.2GHz)
• CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i (push/pull)
• GPU: NVIDIA GTX 980 4GB
• Motherboard: MSI X99A XPOWER
• RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2x4GB) Dual channel @ 2666MHz CL15
• PSU: Cooler Master V1200 1200w
• OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

Methodology:

All benchmarks are done on a fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit that is fully up-to-date with Windows Updates to ensure that the performance reflects a real-world scenario and not that of a tweaked benchmarking system. Every benchmark runs for a total of three times and then an average is taken of those results.

2D Benchmarks:

• AIDA64 – CPU Queen/CPU Photoworxx/CPU AES/Memory Read, Write, Copy & Latency
• Cinebench 11.5 – CPU & OpenGL
• Cinebench 15 – CPU & Open GL
• PCMark 7 – System Suite
• SiSandra – Processor Arithmetic/Processor Multi-Media/Processor Multi-Core Efficiency/Memory Bandwidth/Cache Bandwidth

3D Benchmarks:

• 3DMark 11 – Performance & Extreme presets
• 3DMark Fire Strike – Normal & Extreme presets

Gaming Benchmarks:

• Company of Heroes 2 – Maximum 1080p & 1440p
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor – Ultra 1080p & 1440p
• Thief – Very High 1080p & 1440p