Subsystem Testing
Memory Bandwidth
Note that DDR5 comparisons are included in the graphs mainly for a reference between DDR4 vs DDR5, they do not reflect upon the merits of the motherboard being reviewed. In the memory bandwidth test, the Z690 DDR4 board performs very well for DDR4. It is true that DDR5 is much faster, but that is to be expected. Regardless, we saw virtually identical results between MSI’s default settings and Intel’s default settings. Again, not surprising given what changes between the two profiles.
AIDA64 – Memory Read
Again, DDR5 is only included here as a comparison between DDR4 vs DDR5. It’s much the same story with AIDA64 that we saw with Sandra’s memory bandwidth test. Changing the motherboard settings between Intel’s defaults and MSI’s has no discernable impact on performance, but we are getting great DDR4 performance reads at 57GB/s of bandwidth.
AIDA64 – Memory Write
The pattern is virtually the same as with the previous test. The results between the Intel stock values and the MSI ones are within an acceptable margin of error for the test and the DDR5 boards are still much quicker. Although, the APEX is a little faster than the Extreme version of the board in each case.
AIDA64 – Memory Copy
Once again, what we are seeing parallels the earlier tests in AIDA64 and in SiSoft Sandra. The gap closes slightly in this test.
DPC Latency
In the DPC latency test, all of our test systems are well within an acceptable range for DPC latency which would prevent any issues with A/V playback. Regardless, the MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 has the lowest DPC latency of any of the test systems, which is the best result.
M.2 Performance
In these tests, we can see the Corsair MP600 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD is performing just like it should be based on its specifications.