USB 3.0 and SATA 3
With Intel bundling more and more USB 3.0 and SATA 3 connections on the Z97 chipset benchmarking them is a little less important than previous chipsets because rarely do any of the manufactures need to use add on controllers for them. That said with the Impact we do get another chance to see just how cool Asus’s USB3.0 Boost is. Basically when you are using Asus’s software, assuming your device supports it, you can turn boost on. When running USB 3.0 boost I saw read speeds nearly as fast as the SATA read speeds. When running normal USB 3.0 you still see good numbers but they look a lot less impressive when sitting next to the USB 3.0 Boost numbers. As for SATA 3 performance, the Impact performed perfectly, well above a few of the full sized ATX boards even.
SATA3 |
Read Speed |
MSI Z97 Gaming 5 |
459.2 |
Asus Z97-A |
460.6 |
MSI Z97I Gaming AC |
466.7 |
MSI B85M Gaming |
466.5 |
MSI Z97M Gaming |
433.5 |
MSI Z97 Gaming 9 AC |
442.1 |
Asus Maximus VII Impact |
461.3 |
USB 3 |
Read Speed |
MSI Z97 Gaming 5 |
279.0 |
Asus Z97-A |
277.4 |
Asus Z97-A w/USB3 Boost |
427.6 |
MSI Z97I Gaming AC |
273.6 |
MSI B85M Gaming |
273.9 |
MSI Z97M Gaming |
275.4 |
MSI Z97 Gaming 9 AC |
276.2 |
Asus Maximus VII Impact |
276.1 |
Asus Impact w/USB3 Boost |
428.3 |