SATA and eSATA Performance

Website: HD Tach 3.0

We tested the SATA and eSATA performance with an Intel X25-M SSD to maximise the use of the SATA connections to show up any core differences in raw performance.


CPU performance is directly linked to SATA throughput to some degree, and when we test the raw performance, usually the system is generally in an idle state so the CPU clocks down. We test the boards with the most recent, retail BIOS, but "out the box" with the manufacturer's choice of settings.

Unlike the Asus board though, the MSI clearly does not compromise its SATA performance in the same way, and from the evidence above, we would say it is likely engineered to be at a higher clock for longer. However, we didn't notice this specifically and as we've seen on the previous page, this clearly does not affect the power consumption either.

MSI seems to have solved its previous, continual JMicron performance issues and yield a half decent result of approximately 162MB/sec. Its core SATA performance is close to the 220MB/sec the Intel X25-M maxes out at too, so all in all the core, raw disk performance for MSI is very good.

USB 2.0 Performance

Website: HD Tach 3.0

We tested the USB performance with an Intel X25-M SSD and a SATA to USB adapter to saturate the USB bus in order to look for any performance drops.


While the MSI USB performance is slower than the Asus board by a couple of MB/sec, it's actually the Asus that's faster than we'd expect. Normally USB 2.0 tops out at 34.8-9MB/s so the MSI is typical for an Intel board.