MSI Z270 Gaming M3 Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. MSI Z270 Gaming M3: Packaging and Bundle3. MSI Z270 Gaming M3: Board Layout and Features4. MSI Z270 UEFI5. MSI Z270 Software6. Testing Methodology7. Tests: CPU Related8. Tests: Memory & System Related9. Tests: Gaming Related10. Overclocking & Power Consumption11. Tests: Motherboard Features Performance12. Closing Thoughts13. View All Pages

ATTO Disk Benchmark

The ATTO disk benchmark is a Windows-based utility for testing storage performance of any storage drive or controller. We use the default benchmark setup.

M.2 PCIe Performance

For M.2 testing we use a Toshiba OCZ RD400 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.

Both M.2 slots delivered full performance to our Toshiba OCZ RD400 M.2 PCIe SSD. We did not observe thermal throttling, despite the lack of M.2 slot cooling.

USB 3.1 Performance

We test USB 3.1 performance using a pair of Corsair Force LE 120GB SSDs in RAID 0 connected to an Icy Box RD2253-U31 2-bay USB 3.1 enclosure powered by an ASMedia ASM1352R controller.

Performance from the ASM2142-powered USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports was excellent.

SATA 6Gbps Performance

For SATA 6Gbps testing we use a SK Hynix SE3010 960GB SSD.

No concerns with SATA 6Gbps transfer rates.

Audio

Rightmark Audio Analyser is a freeware benchmarking utility designed to objectively test the performance characteristics of audio solutions. We setup a line-in line-out loop and execute the record/playback test before generating the results report you see below. A sampling mode of 24-bit, 192 kHz was tested.

RMAA rated the MSI Z270 Gaming M3 motherboard's audio solution as ‘Very Good‘. With that said, its performance was not quite as positive as the numbers displayed by some of the higher-priced competitors shown in our charts.

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