Cinebench
We used the ‘CPU’ test built into Cinebench R15 .
WinRAR
WinRAR’s built in benchmark and hardware test can help us outline the performance differentials between each motherboard. We record the amount of data processed after a 30-second run.
Handbrake Conversion
We measured the average frame rate achieved for a task of converting a 4.36GB 720P H.264 movie (in the MKV container) to one in the MP4 container.
Cinebench performs unfavourably on the MSI Z97A Gaming 6, rewarding it with a points score that is slightly below the average. WinRAR places MSI's board in equal-first place.
A strong conversion results is shown by the Z97A Gaming 6 in our testing. The board leads the competing pack with a margin of one FPS or greater.