MSI X299 SLI Plus Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. Board Layout and Features4. UEFI5. Software6. Testing Methodology7. Tests: CPU Related8. Tests: Memory Related9. Tests: Gaming Related10. Tests: Motherboard Features Performance11. Overclocking & Power Consumption12. 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.

M2 performance was as expected and the cooling offered by the M2 Shield was enough to stop thermal throttling in our test scenario. That entailed running the ATTO benchmark three times (almost ten minutes) without a break and then recording the maximum temperature at the end.

In this case it was 73 degrees Celsius which was almost identical to the MSI Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon AC which uses the same M2 Shield but slightly worse than the MSI X299 Gaming M7 ACK which has a “meatier” M2 cooling solution.

USB Performance

We test USB 3.0 and 3.1 performance using a pair of Transcend SSD370S 512GB SSDs in RAID 0 connected to an Icy Box RD2253-U31 2-bay USB 3.1 enclosure powered by an ASMedia ASM1352R controller.

USB performance was right on the money for USB 3.0 and 3.1.

SATA 6Gbps Performance

For SATA 6Gbps testing we use an OCZ Trion 150 480GB SSD.

SATA performance brought no surprises.

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 is tested where available. If unavailable the closest alternative operating mode available is used and clearly marked.

Audio performance scored one “Good”  and seven “Excellent” ratings. The numbers produced were typical of a Realtek ALC1220-based audio solution which means there is high quality audio across the board and the inclusion of an operational amplifier will please headphone users.

Become a Patron!