MSI Z97I GAMING AC Motherboard Review

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Results Continued

We tested with Futuremarks PCMark08 using all but the application benchmark. We intended to run the Adobe application tests but due to a fault with PCMark08, or at least we suspect it to be that, it gave no result. So, on with the rest of the tests and we see a similar performance all round, not much of a difference at all.

MSI Z97I GAMING AC PCMark08 | amCharts

Next, some Resident Evil 6 Benchmark tool and 3DMark Vantage. We ran Resident Evil 6 Benchmark tool non stop for 30 minutes and took the highest result from both systems. The Vantage test was best of three for both systems and using the performance pre-set.

MSI Z97I GAMING AC Vantage | amCharts

MSI Z97I GAMING AC Resident Evil 6 Benchmark | amCharts

For both generations of Chipset the results are too close to call, good if you own a Z87 Chipset motherboard!

MSI Z97I GAMING AC Motherboard Review

Package - 9
Performance - 9.5
Price - 9
Consumer Experience - 9

9.1

This motherboard is aimed at gamers and it has all the right features excluding SLi. During our game tests we did not feel the need for SLi, justifying the little motherboard in its own right. You can get a GTX970 or 770, as we did, into most modern mITX Chassis, combing with this motherboard to make an excellent high end gamer rig or Steam Box.