MSI Z170A SLI Plus Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. MSI Z170A SLI Plus: Packaging and Bundle3. MSI Z170A SLI Plus: Board Layout and Features4. MSI Z170 UEFI5. MSI Z170 Software6. Testing Methodology7. Tests: System-related8. Tests: Gaming-related9. Overclocking: Frequencies10. Overclocking: Performance11. Tests: Motherboard-related12. Closing Thoughts13. View All Pages

Intel's Skylake processors are just the latest Intel CPU architecture to see many of the critical system operations handled by the processor. As such, benchmarking a motherboard becomes more of a test to certify that the part operates correctly and meets the anticipated performance levels.

We will be outlining the MSI Z170A SLI Plus motherboard's performance with the Core i7-6700K CPU at its stock frequency (4.2GHz due to forced turbo). Overclocked performance will be outlined later in the review.

The MSI Z170A SLI Plus motherboard allows users to apply multi-core turbo (MCT) and force the 6700K to a constant 4.2GHz when XMP is enabled. This will be displayed as the ‘stock’ setting.

With MCT enabled, the board delivered 1.240V to the CPU under full Prime95 load. This results in increased power consumption compared to Intel's defined turbo levels, but the thermal load is easily cooled with modest hardware.

CPU-Z also notes the 4000MHz CPU Cache frequency applied by the MSI board by default. This will result in a very small performance decrease in tests where the CPU Cache frequency proves beneficial.

Z170 Motherboard Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K (4.2GHz forced turbo).
• Memory: 16GB (4x4GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz 16-18-18-36 DDR4 @ 1.35V.
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 980 Ti.
• System Drive: 250GB Crucial BX100 SSD.
• Game Drive: 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD.
• CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14.
• Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum 760W.
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional with SP1 64-bit.

Compared Z170 Motherboards:

• ASRock Z170 Extreme4.
• ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+.
• Asus Maximus VIII Hero.
• Asus Maximus VIII Impact.
• Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1.
• Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI.
• Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7.
• MSI Z170A Gaming M7.
• MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition.

Software:

• MSI Z170A SLI Plus BIOS v1.10.
• GeForce 361.75 VGA drivers.

Note: We decided to stick with the v1.10 BIOS which was available before motherboard vendors started releasing microcode updates in their BIOS files. We use this older BIOS to avoid the microcode update and to ensure that both the motherboard and CPU maintain their capacity to be overclocked using the BCLK.

Tests:

• Cinebench R15 – All-core CPU benchmark (System)
• HandBrake 0.10.2 – Convert 1.23GB 1080P game recording using the High Profile setting and MP4 container (System)
• 7-Zip 15.05 beta – Manual video archival (System)
• 3DMark 1.5.915 – Fire Strike Ultra (Gaming)
• Grand Theft Auto V – 1920 x 1080, near-maximum quality (Gaming)
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor – 1920 x 1080, ultra quality (Gaming)
• ATTO – USB 3.0 transfer rates (Motherboard)
• RightMark Audio Analyzer – General audio performance test (Motherboard)

Become a Patron!