USB 3.0 and SATA 3
To see how well the SATA and USB 3.0 controllers performed I took the same SSD and benchmarked in when connected via USB 3.0 as well as SATA 3. To add a little spice to things I did a third benchmark using Asus’s USB 3.0 Boost to see if the performance using that feature is still as noticeable as with previous motherboards. As you can see below, when using SATA and USB 3.0 the Z97-A performed on par with the competition. But when you setup your USB 3.0 device using the included software and the USB 3.0 Boost you can see numbers that are nearly as fast as running over SATA3. Truthfully it is rare that I remember to set this up, but if you have a drive that is hooked up all of the time you could save yourself a lot of time with the additional speed it will get you.
SATA3 |
Read Speed |
MSI Z97 Gaming 5 |
459.2 |
Asus Z97-A |
460.6 |
USB 3 |
Read Speed |
MSI Z97 Gaming 5 |
279.0 |
Asus Z97-A |
277.4 |
Asus Z97-A w/USB3 Boost |
427.6 |