MSI B85M ECO Review: Aiming Green at $73
by Ian Cutress on November 26, 2014 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- MSI
- B85
- ECO
Gaming Benchmarks
F1 2013
First up is F1 2013 by Codemasters. I am a big Formula 1 fan in my spare time, and nothing makes me happier than carving up the field in a Caterham, waving to the Red Bulls as I drive by (because I play on easy and take shortcuts). F1 2013 uses the EGO Engine, and like other Codemasters games ends up being very playable on old hardware quite easily. In order to beef up the benchmark a bit, we devised the following scenario for the benchmark mode: one lap of Spa-Francorchamps in the heavy wet, the benchmark follows Jenson Button in the McLaren who starts on the grid in 22nd place, with the field made up of 11 Williams cars, 5 Marussia and 5 Caterham in that order. This puts emphasis on the CPU to handle the AI in the wet, and allows for a good amount of overtaking during the automated benchmark. We test at 1920x1080 on Ultra graphical settings.
Bioshock Infinite
Bioshock Infinite was Zero Punctuation’s Game of the Year for 2013, uses the Unreal Engine 3, and is designed to scale with both cores and graphical prowess. We test the benchmark using the Adrenaline benchmark tool and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
Tomb Raider
The next benchmark in our test is Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider is an AMD optimized game, lauded for its use of TressFX creating dynamic hair to increase the immersion in game. Tomb Raider uses a modified version of the Crystal Engine, and enjoys raw horsepower. We test the benchmark using the Adrenaline benchmark tool and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs is a benchmarking wet dream – a highly complex benchmark that can bring the toughest setup and high resolutions down into single figures. Having an extreme SSAO setting can do that, but at the right settings Sleeping Dogs is highly playable and enjoyable. We run the basic benchmark program laid out in the Adrenaline benchmark tool, and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
Battlefield 4
The EA/DICE series that has taken countless hours of my life away is back for another iteration, using the Frostbite 3 engine. AMD is also piling its resources into BF4 with the new Mantle API for developers, designed to cut the time required for the CPU to dispatch commands to the graphical sub-system. For our test we use the in-game benchmarking tools and record the frame time for the first ~70 seconds of the Tashgar single player mission, which is an on-rails generation of and rendering of objects and textures. We test at 1920x1080 at Ultra settings.
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DanNeely - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
"We used MSI’s base numbers (which in the world of marketing usually show the product in the best light possible), and calculated that in comparison to a standard range motherboard the MSI ECO can make financial sense to users with a 4-5 year upgrade cycle. Any shorter and it won’t make sense, though arguably our own numbers showed that the more the system is used in terms of loading, the better the financial outcome. If businesses are sticking to a 3 year upgrade cycle, this might not be enough of a saving to make sense."It's worth keeping in mind for breakeven considerations that a price that's marginal at average electric prices will be a big winner in areas that have prices well above average. Hawaii pays almost 3x the national average, New York (and much of new england) are roughly one and a half times the average.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/10/27/14176634...
xenol - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
While the target market and idea is noble, I'm thinking... unless MSI can get an OEM to use these boards, I just don't see any business bulk ordering them from Newegg and assembling those thousands of custom rigs.Flunk - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
OEMs don't generally use retail boards, they contract out for their own variant. I can't see them doing that with this design right now because of the tight margins involved in PC sales and the difficulty in marketing a computer that's 10% more energy-efficient.For $73 this would be right at home in a SMB or home server, HTPC (although with all the little android boxes out there this is a rapidly dying segment) or just your average little desktop. Even without the ECO claims the board isn't overpriced.
just4U - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
I'd have been more interested in a eco friendly variant that has long life claims similar to Asus Tuff series.mike_m_ekim - Friday, December 12, 2014 - link
Agreed; on the other hand, corporations that order thousands of computers do care about power consumption, so there is a chance of OEM adoption.yudha haryo saputro - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
i alerdy confuse about this spesification is Four DDR4 DIMM slots supporting up to 32 GBUp to Dual Channel, 1600 MHz, but the test setup is G.Skill RipjawsZ 2x4 GB DDR3-1600 9-11-9 Kit,
DDR3 , what the real spesification?
Mikemk - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
LGA 1150 would be DDR3Ian Cutress - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
It's DDR3, a copy/paste error from my table generation. Fixed!yudha haryo saputro - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
okey, Thanks for improvementsimonpschmitt - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
I live in Germany witch seems to be a target market going by the "TÜV-Saarland" certification and a medium size buisness I do the IT for has electrical costs of ~0.26€ / kWh = 0.32$ / kWh. Using your workyear assumptions this gives us savings of 7.73$ per year. With a more realistical 5 year product cycle you would save nearly 38$.