The MSI Z370-A Pro is an inexpensive motherboard from MSI's 'Pro' series of boards. The Pro series boards are designed for content creators and professionals who can use the horsepower of the high-end Coffee-Lake CPUs and require reliability and performance. The Z370-A Pro, at $110, in this review strives to accomplish fitting in here with its complement of features, as well as supporting overclocking to get the most out of the installed processor.

MSI Z370-A Pro Overview

The Z370-A Pro comes from a family of 13 different motherboards in MSI's Z370 lineup. Within that lineup are boards from its various categories from Enthusiast Gaming, Performance Gaming, and Arsenal Gaming, and the Pro series, all designed to offer users different feature sets and aesthetics. The Z370-A Pro is the cheapest of the line up, and is not intended to be an RGB light show and meant to impress with flare and substance, but meant for business users who want or need high performance and use the latest Intel Coffee Lake processors like the i7-8700K and do not want to pay more than needed for features that may not be used. 

We inferred the board wouldn't win any beauty contests with its plain black/dark brown theme, but it isn't intended to either. Fancy heatsinks and RGB LEDs do add to the cost of the board which are features that are not likely to be on the top of the list for professional users. Typically they are looking for a reliable system which is able to get the job done and quickly, without breaking the budget. 

AnandTech Intel Z370 Motherboard and CPU Coverage

• The Anandtech Coffee Lake Review: Initial Numbers on the Core i7-8700K and Core i5-8400
• Analyzing Z370 for Intel's 8th Generation Coffee Lake: A Quick Look at 50+ Motherboards
• The Intel Core i7-8086K Review

In our performance testing, the MSI Z370-A Pro performed well overall with results being competitive. Highlights include the power consumption, which was on the lighter side for both idle and load testing, and the board hasa pretty quick boot time. Other results were on par with other datasets so there is nothing holding the board back for our testing. 

For overclocking, the $110 motherboard was able to reach 5.1 GHz. As is the case with overclocking this CPU, we are limited by the cooling and not the motherboard. The OC Genie 4 one-touch button raised both the all core CPU speed by 100 MHz, and the single core speed by 100 MHz as well, yielding 4.4 GHz and 4.8 GHz clocks. The voltage used was higher than needed for the clocks, but it did not surpass our cooling capabilities which we have seen in the past from almost all boards. 

On the storage side of things, the MSI Z370-A Pro gives users the full complement of six SATA ports and has one M.2 slot for high-speed storage. Network duties are handled by a single Realtek LAN controller - Wi-Fi is not available. For USB connectivity, there are a total of six ports on the back (four USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0) along with internal headers for a total of 14 possible USB ports (eight USB 3.0 and six USB 2.0). Missing is USB 3.1 support which if needed will have to come from an add-in card. 

The board includes a total of six PCIe slots, two full-length, and four x1 size slots. The first full-length slot is CPU connected while the second (and x1 slots) are fed from the PCH. The board is able to support Crossfire only with MSI saying in their literature the Pro series boards are optimized by phyiscal layout and power design for cryptocurrency mining including additional BIOS options said to ensure a stable system for long mining sessions. 

 

The rear IO consists of three video outputs (VGA, DVI-D, and a full size DisplayPort) a PS/2 mouse/keyboard combo port, four USB 3.0 ports, Two USB 2.0 ports, the LAN port, and 6-plug audio stack. 

MSI's Z370 Motherboard Lineup
	Amazon	Newegg
Z370 Godlike Gaming	-	-
Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon AC	$199	$210
Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon	-	$180
Z370 Gaming M5	$180	$170
Z370 Krait Gaming	$157	$157
Z370I Gaming Pro Carbon AC	$167	$170
Z370M Gaming Pro AC	$165	$165
Z370 PC Pro	$128	$136
Z370 Tomahawk	$138	$130
Z370 SLI Plus	$136	$130
Z370M Mortar	$134	$124
Z370-A Pro	$112	$118
Z370 Gaming Plus	$110	$130

^ - 3rd party seller

*It should be noted that from this point on in our Z370 motherboard reviews, we are using Windows 10 RS3 with the Spectre/Meltdown patches as well as other script adjustments.

Information on Intel's Coffee-Lake CPU Desktop Processors

One important piece of information to note: technically these processors use the LGA1151 socket, also used by 6th and 7th Generation processors using the Z170 and Z270 chipsets. But due to several (albeit minor) difference in the pin-layout of these two sets of processors, the 8th Generation Coffee Lake will only work in Z370 boards and are not cross-compatible. Back in October 2017, Ian Cutress reviewed a couple of processors (i7-8700K and i5-8400) in the Coffee Lake lineup - details on the rest of the product stack are listed below.

 

The MSI Z370-A Pro Review

In this review, we have the following pages:

1. Overview
2. Visual Inspection
3. BIOS and Software
4. Board Features
5. System Performance
6. CPU Performance
7. Gaming Performance
8. Overclocking Performance
9. Conclusions

Visual Inspection

MSI's Z370-A Pro hails from their Pro lineup of motherboards intended for business (as opposed to a gaming focused product). The Pro series is a way to offer users an enthusiast class motherboard but without all the bells and whistles found in the other segments. Right off the bat, users should easily see how MSI makes up the basics on a $110 motherboard: a single M.2 slot, and a power delivery system that should be suitable for all CPUs. But on the flip side, it is missing some modern connectivity in USB 3.1 ports. Styling also takes a back seat in the Pro lineup with a more basic black/brown PCB color to start instead of the typical black many are more familiar with.

While this may sound negative, the fact is the board isn't intended for users who want the bling. It is intended for professional use and will typically be housed in a case without a window or simply hidden away regardless. The positives in this are the lower cost of the board (~$110) compared with the enthusiast segment priced much higher. 

 

MSI still placed LEDs on the board, but as in the case of the Z270-A Pro, they are all white LEDs with several located by the audio section illuminating the separation line while there are others located on the corners of the board - all located on the back side of the board. The LED patterns are controlled through the MSI Mystic LIght application. Also worth noting here is MSI does not include a RGB header on the board for additional lighting. 

Moving on to fan headers, there are a total of six found in various locations on the board. Towards the upper right-hand corner by the CPU socket and DRAM slots is a 4-pin CPU fan (all headers are four-pin), as well as the pump fan and a system fan header. The bottom part of the board has two more system fan headers with the last one located above the M.2 slot. All headers support both PWM and DC modes for control. the documentation does not state if any of the headers are high powered. 

The power delivery system used on the Z370-A Pro has six total phases handled by the UPI Semiconductor uP9508 hybrid PWM. Judging by the appearance the six phases break down into a 4+2 combination (CPU and iGPU). While not the most robust solution we have seen, it handled the i7-8700K without issue, even while overclocked so it's going to be plenty for 'pro' users as well. 

Sliding over to the right side of the board we are able to see the four DRAM slots on the right able to support up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM with speeds to DDR4-4000. Going left to right we see the six SATA ports and two USB 3.0 headers. Next to them is the 24-pin ATX connector along with the four debug LEDs that cover Boot, VGA, DRAM, and CPU issues upon boot. Finally to the right of them are a system fan and pump headers. 

Zooming in a bit on the SATA ports we are able to see four of them placed horizontal (SATA 3-6) and two vertical (SATA 1-2). The board supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 through these ports. Worth noting here is SATA 1 port will be disabled when an M.2 SATA SSD module is installed in the M.2 slot. 

The bottom half of the board houses the audio, PCIe and chipset, as well as several IO headers across the bottom. Starting with audio, the Z370-A Pro uses a Realtek ALC892 codec which while not the latest and greatest, should still be able to provide 7.1 channel audio for the user. Surrounding the non-shielded chip are four Chemicon audio caps dedicated to the front output. 

The PCIe setup contains a total of six ports, two full-length intended for video cards, and four x1 slots for other peripherals (or for mining as MSI states this board is also optimized for cryptocurrency mining). The primary GPU slot is reinforced to help protect cards against bending and EMI interference and runs at x16 while the second full-length slot is not and uses x4 lanes from the chipset. This configuration allows for Crossfire multi-GPU setups, but not SLI due to its x8 slot requirement. 

MSI Z370-A Pro CPU PCIe Layout
	16-Lane Single	16-Lane Dual
PCIe 1	@x16	@x16
PCIe 4*	x4	@x4
SLI	-	No
Crossfire	-	'Yes'

* Not CPU connected but used in Crossfire
@ = Preferred slot(s)

Across the bottom of the board are several headers ranging from front panel audio on the left, two USB 2.0 ports in the middle, two system fan headers, as well as dual front panel headers. 

The back panel IO has a relatively full set of ports consisting of four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, VGA, DVI-D and Displayport outputs for video. The network is managed by a Realtek RTL8111H Gigabit LAN controller and also includes a 6-plug audio stack. About the only thing missing back here are USB 3.1 ports of any kind. 

• PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard
• 4 x USB 3.0 
• VGA
• DVI-D
• DisplayPort
• RJ-45 port (Realtek)
• 2 x USB 2.0
• 6-plug audio stack

In the Box

The accessory stack includes what is needed to get started from SATA cables to guides and disks. A complete list is below.

• Quick Installation Guide, User Guide, Support CD
• I/O Plate
• 2 x SATA cables

BIOS

The MSI Z370-A Pro Motherboard uses the same Click BIOS 5 we have seen in other MSI reviews as of late. The big difference here with this specific board is the color theme has changed from the more familiar 'gaming' livery we have seen on other models outside of the Pro lineup to a black and white theme here. Otherwise, the setup is the same with an EZ BIOS upon entry and an advanced BIOS as well. 

The familiar EZ Mode is informative displaying information in reference to the CPU, memory, motherboard, and other items including the BIOS version and buttons for one-touch overclocking and enabling XMP memory profiles. Users are also able to edit boot order as well as enable HD Audio, AHCI/RAID modes, and others. 

The advanced setup keeps the informative top 1/4 of the EZ Mode but then gives six options flanking an image in the middle. There is Settings, OC, M-Flash, OC Profile, Hardware Monitor, and Board Explorer to choose from each having a different set of options and functionality below it. 

The settings section includes five subheadings including System Status, Advanced, Boot, Security, and Save & Exit. System status is self-explanatory while the Advanced section has options for configuring PCI Subsystem settings, Integrated peripherals and graphics, USB configuration, as well as power management OS configuration and wake up event options. Most peripheral configurations are found here. 

 

The OC section is where those who would like to overclock will call home. Inside this section are options to edit voltage domains, BCLK, CPU Multiplier, and other options associated with overclocking. By default, the system loads to the normal mode which hides a few options. I find that the most users will not need to get into the expert mode for daily overclocks. Like its non-Pro family, the Z370-A Pro offers users a ton of memory timing options, more than 99% of people will touch, but it is there. MSI's Click BIOS 5 is one of the more ergonomic setups for overclocking with most functions all sitting on one screen. Only power and advanced CPU functions will be needed off this main screen, depending on the overclock. 

We skipped the M-Flash screen as that simple reboots and takes us to the M-Flash environment so on to the OC Profile. In this screen is where users are able to save their BIOS profiles. There are six slots and users are able to load from the BIOS chip onboard or from a USB. 

The Hardware Monitor section is where users are able to setup and control their fans and fan curves from within the BIOS. Users are able to select from full speed, or manually set up curves to their liking. 

Last up is the Board Explorer. This informational screen displays a top-down image of the motherboard with 'hot-spots' on the board users can hover over and will display the hardware attached to it. This includes the back IO panel, DRAM, PCIe, and M.2 slots, SATA and USB ports, and connectivity on the bottom portion of the board. 

Software

MSI, like all board partners, includes multiple pieces of drivers and software to get the system up and running in tip-top shape. This typically comes in the form of a driver disk with all the software as well as the support website to download the latest and greatest versions of said applications. 

The included driver disk did not want to play nice with my system. Initially, I thought this was bad luck, but seeing as how its the third time it has happened, I am starting to wonder if my optical drive is going bad. The tabs  include utilities such as Mystic Light software to the Command Center with several more available including a RAM disk, Latency tuner, and Live Update 6. 

The Live Update 6 software is an included utility that sits in the system tray and compares installed software versions with the latest available on the MSI website. The application will let the user choose to download and install the software. The software is useful for those who prefer to be on the latest and greatest drivers and software. 

MSI's App Manager is a centralized location for all MSI applications. Users are able to open the software from this screen as well as download and install any applications displayed. What is downloaded and installed is in color and lighter than those that are not. 

The MSI Command Center is their Windows-based monitoring and control application with functions to handle the CPU, DRAM, iGPU, and enable OC Genie 4 settings. When clicking on the advanced button, this brings up a menu in that space above with options to adjust multiple voltages, DRAM timings, Fan speeds, as well as monitor onboard temperatures in real-time. Overall it is a fairly complete and robust application for hardware control through windows. 

MSI's Mystic Light application controls the LED functions on the board. In the case of the Z370-A Pro, the LED light color (white) cannot be changed, however, it does offer several light effects including breathing, flashing, random, and double flashing. Not quite as many as we have seen with RGB LEDs, but again, its a 'Pro' board so this isn't typically expected from the target demographic. 

Last up is the Realtek audio software. The software inlcudes options to adjust sound as needed, as well as including a status of the connected devices. 

Board Features

The MSI Z370-A Pro is an inexpensive motherboard designed for 'Pro' use and does away with some of the extra bells and whistles many associate with the Z370 platform (such as the fact there are no USB 3.1 ports and only one M.2 slot). Outside of that, the board really does have the basics needed for an office environment and more. The board includes Gigabit Ethernet, Crossfire support, 7.1 channel audio, multiple choices for video output, and more. 

MSI Z370-A Pro
Warranty Period	1 Year
Product Page	LINK
Price	$110 (Amazon)
Size	ATX
CPU Interface	LGA1151
Chipset	Intel Z370
Memory Slots (DDR4)	Four DDR4 Dual Channel Supporting 64GB Up to DDR4 4000
Network Connectivity / Wi-Fi	1 x Realtek RTL8111H
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC892 7.1ch surround
Video Outputs	1 x VGA 1 x DVI-D 1 x DisplayPort (1.2)
PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU)	1 x PCIe 3.0 x16
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH)	1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 2 x PCIe 3.0 x1
Onboard SATA	6 x RAID 0/1/5/10
Onboard SATA Express	None
Onboard M.2	1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA
Onboard U.2	None
USB 3.1	N/A
USB 3.0	Chipset 8 x (4 back panel, 4 through headers)
USB 2.0	Chipset 6 x (2 back panel, 4 though headers)
Power Connectors	1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 8-pin CPU
Fan Headers	1 x 4-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin water pump  4 x 4-pin system
IO Panel	1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard port 1 x VGA 1 x LAN 2 x USB 2.0 1 x 6-plug audio stack 4 x USB 3.0 1 x DVI-D 1 x Displayport

Block Diagram

Below is an image of the block diagram from the manual. Worth noting here is the second full-length GPU slot is connected to the chipset with a maximum bandwidth of x4. This configuration removes the possibility for SLI. Also worth mentioning is the sharing of PCIe lanes with the SATA ports. When a SATA based M.2 device is used, SATA1 will become unavailable. 

Test Bed

As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC sub timings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend our testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.

Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency/monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.

Test Setup
Processor	Intel i7 8700K (6C/12T, 3.7G, 95W)
Motherboard	MSI Z370-A Pro (BIOS 2.5)
Cooling	Corsair H115i
Power Supply	Corsair HX750
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 4x8GB DDR4 2666 CL16 Corsair Vengeance 4x4GB DDR4 3200 CL16 (used in 2x 4/8GB capacity on dual Channel Platform
Memory Settings	DDR4 2666 CL16-18-18-35 2T
Video Cards	ASUS Strix GTX 980
Hard Drive	Crucial MX300 1TB
Optical Drive	TSST TS-H653G
Case	Open Test Bed
Operating System	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

Many thanks to...

We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our multiple test beds. Some of this hardware is not in this testbed specifically but is used in other testing.

Thank you to ASUS for providing us with GTX 980 Strix GPUs. At the time of release, the STRIX brand from ASUS was aimed at silent running, or to use the marketing term: '0dB Silent Gaming'. This enables the card to disable the fans when the GPU is dealing with low loads well within temperature specifications. These cards equip the GTX 980 silicon with ASUS' Direct CU II cooler and 10-phase digital VRMs, aimed at high-efficiency conversion. Along with the card, ASUS bundles GPU Tweak software for overclocking and streaming assistance.

The GTX 980 uses NVIDIA's GM204 silicon die, built upon their Maxwell architecture. This die is 5.2 billion transistors for a die size of 298 mm², built on TMSC's 28nm process. A GTX 980 uses the full GM204 core, with 2048 CUDA Cores and 64 ROPs with a 256-bit memory bus to GDDR5. The official power rating for the GTX 980 is 165W.

The ASUS GTX 980 Strix 4GB (or the full name of STRIX-GTX980-DC2OC-4GD5) runs a reasonable overclock over a reference GTX 980 card, with frequencies in the range of 1178-1279 MHz. The memory runs at stock, in this case, 7010 MHz. Video outputs include three DisplayPort connectors, one HDMI 2.0 connector, and a DVI-I.

Further Reading: AnandTech's NVIDIA GTX 980 Review

 

Thank you to Crucial for providing us with MX300 SSDs. Crucial stepped up to the plate as our benchmark list grows larger with newer benchmarks and titles, and the 1TB MX300 units are strong performers. Based on Marvell's 88SS1074 controller and using Micron's 384Gbit 32-layer 3D TLC NAND, these are 7mm high, 2.5-inch drives rated for 92K random read IOPS and 530/510 MB/s sequential read and write speeds.

The 1TB models we are using here support TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 (eDrive) encryption and have a 360TB rated endurance with a three-year warranty.

Further Reading: AnandTech's Crucial MX300 (750 GB) Review

 

Thank you to Corsair for providing us with Vengeance LPX DDR4 Memory, HX750 Power Supply, and H115i CPU Cooler. 

Corsair kindly sent a 4x8GB DDR4 2666 set of their Vengeance LPX low profile, high-performance memory for our stock testing. The heatsink is made of pure aluminum to help remove heat from the sticks and has an eight-layer PCB. The heatsink is a low profile design to help fit in spaces where there may not be room for a tall heat spreader; think a SFF case or using a large heatsink. Timings on this specific set come in at 16-18-18-35. The Vengeance LPX line supports XMP 2.0 profiles for easily setting the speed and timings. It also comes with a limited lifetime warranty. 

Powering the test system is Corsair's HX750 Power Supply. This HX750 is a dual mode unit able to switch from a single 12V rail (62.5A/750W) to a five rail CPU (40A max ea.) and is also fully modular. It has a typical selection of connectors, including dual EPS 4+4 pin four PCIe connectors and a whopping 16 SATA power leads, as well as four 4-pin Molex connectors.

The 135mm fluid dynamic bearing fan remains off until it is 40% loaded offering complete silence in light workloads. The HX750 comes with a ten-year warranty. 

In order to cool these high-TDP HEDT CPUs, Corsair sent over its latest and largest AIO in the H115i. This closed-loop system uses a 280mm radiator with 2x140mm SP140L PWM controlled fans. The pump/block combination mounts to all modern CPU sockets. Users are also able to integrate this cooler into the Corsair link software via USB for more control and options. 

System Performance

Not all motherboards are created equal. On the face of it, they should all perform the same and differ only in the functionality they provide - however, this is not the case. The obvious pointers are power consumption, but also the ability for the manufacturer to optimize USB speed, audio quality (based on audio codec), POST time and latency. This can come down to manufacturing process and prowess, so these are tested.

Power Consumption

Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single GPU configuration with a wall meter connected to the Corsair HX 750 power supply. This power supply is Platinum rated. As I am in the US on a 120 V supply, leads to ~87% efficiency > 75W, and 92%+ efficiency at 375W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.

While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our test bed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers. These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.

In our power consumption tests, the Z370-A Pro was on the top half of results across all testing phases. Idle results showed the board using 37W in long idle, 40W while idling in the OS, and 128W while running Prime 95 blend. The results, so far, have this board as using the least amount of power compred to all other Z370 based boards. Some B/H boards may beat it by a couple of watts, but for Z370, it seems to be the most efficient thus far. 

Non-UEFI POST Time

Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized. A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized). As part of our testing, we look at the POST Boot Time using a stopwatch. This is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows 10 starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows specific features.

In our POST test results, the Z370-A Pro started to load windows in a hair over 19 seconds at default and 17.8 seconds when functionality was stripped down (disabling extra SATA, LAN, and USB controllers, etc). The result was in the middle of the pack, so nothing anomalous here. 

DPC Latency

Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests such as audio will be further down the line. If the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled.

If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time. This can lead to an empty audio buffer and characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is taken processing DPCs from driver invocation. The lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds. 

The DPC latency results for the Z370-A Pro were solid at 150µs.

CPU Performance, Short Form

For our motherboard reviews, we use our short form testing method. These tests usually focus on if a motherboard is using MultiCore Turbo (the feature used to have maximum turbo on at all times, giving a frequency advantage), or if there are slight gains to be had from tweaking the firmware. We leave the BIOS settings at default and memory at JEDEC for the supported frequency of the processor for these tests, making it very easy to see which motherboards have MCT enabled by default.

Rendering - Blender 2.78: link

For a render that has been around for what seems like ages, Blender is still a highly popular tool. We managed to wrap up a standard workload into the February 5 nightly build of Blender and measure the time it takes to render the first frame of the scene. Being one of the bigger open source tools out there, it means both AMD and Intel work actively to help improve the codebase, for better or for worse on their own/each other's microarchitecture.

Our Blender results for the Z370-A Pro land in the middle of the pack. Between all boards, there is a 4% difference from worst to first with the lion's share of results falling within margin of error. Nothing out of line here. 

Rendering – POV-Ray 3.7: link

The Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer, or POV-Ray, is a freeware package for as the name suggests, ray tracing. It is a pure renderer, rather than modeling software, but the latest beta version contains a handy benchmark for stressing all processing threads on a platform. We have been using this test in motherboard reviews to test memory stability at various CPU speeds to good effect – if it passes the test, the IMC in the CPU is stable for a given CPU speed. As a CPU test, it runs for approximately 1-2 minutes on high-end platforms.

In our next rendering test, POV-Ray, the Z370-A Pro scored 3384 points per second. The POV-Ray results are as tight as the results above with a majority being only 1-2% apart (removing the bookends). 

Compression – WinRAR 5.4: link

Our WinRAR test from 2013 is updated to the latest version of WinRAR at the start of 2014. We compress a set of 2867 files across 320 folders totaling 1.52 GB in size – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are small 30-second 720p videos.

In our compression tests, the Z370-A Pro managed a result of 37.5 seconds. This result falls in line with all of our Spectre and Meltdown patched PCs which is around 3 seconds faster thant the non-patched systems. 

Synthetic – 7-Zip 9.2: link

As an open source compression tool, 7-Zip is a popular tool for making sets of files easier to handle and transfer. The software offers up its own benchmark, to which we report the result.

Moving on to 7-Zip, the board performed as expected here again with results in the fat part of the bell curve. 

Point Calculations – 3D Movement Algorithm Test: link

3DPM is a self-penned benchmark, taking basic 3D movement algorithms used in Brownian Motion simulations and testing them for speed. High floating point performance, MHz, and IPC win in the single thread version, whereas the multithread version has to handle the threads and loves more cores. For a brief explanation of the platform agnostic coding behind this benchmark, see my forum post here.

In 3DPM21, The Z370-A Pro 1801 Mop/s, placing it at the bottom of our results. That said, the scores of all Z370 and i7-8700K testing (minus the ASRock Z370 Gaming ITX/ac)  were within 70 points (around 3%) of each other. The CPUs all ran the same speeds in this test, so again we see run variance size differences here. 

Neuron Simulation - DigiCortex v1.20: link

The newest benchmark in our suite is DigiCortex, a simulation of biologically plausible neural network circuits, and simulates the activity of neurons and synapses. DigiCortex relies heavily on a mix of DRAM speed and computational throughput, indicating that systems which apply memory profiles properly should benefit and those that play fast and loose with overclocking settings might get some extra speed up. Results are taken during the steady state period in a 32k neuron simulation and represented as a function of the ability to simulate in real time (1.000x equals real-time).

The DigiCortex results have the i7-8700K coming in at 1.15x of real-time simulation possible. This result places the Z370-A Pro right in with the other patched boards and results.

Gaming Performance:

AoTS Escalation

Ashes of the Singularity is a Real Time Strategy game developed by Oxide Games and Stardock Entertainment. The original AoTS was released back in March of 2016 while the standalone expansion pack, Escalation, was released in November of 2016 adding more structures, maps, and units. We use this specific benchmark as it relies on both a good GPU as well as on the CPU in order to get the most frames per second. This balance is able to better display any system differences in gaming as opposed to a more GPU heavy title where the CPU and system don't matter quite as much. We use the default "Crazy" in-game settings using the DX11 rendering path in both 1080p and 4K UHD resolutions. The benchmark is run four times and the results averaged then plugged into the graph. 

Our AOTSe results here on the Z370 platform are just as close together as our results on the X299 platform. The results can tell us AOTSe can do all of its work with a 6c/12t processor without losing a step to the higher thread count CPUs. The Z370-A Pro pulled 45.3 FPS in 1080p and 33.5 FPS in 4K. The results here are on the faster side of things but well within run variance. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider is a third-person action-adventure game that features similar gameplay found in 2013's Tomb Raider. Players control Lara Croft through various environments, battling enemies, and completing puzzle platforming sections, while using improvised weapons and gadgets in order to progress through the story.

One of the unique aspects of this benchmark is that it’s actually the average of 3 sub-benchmarks that fly through different environments, which keeps the benchmark from being too weighted towards a GPU’s performance characteristics under any one scene.

The Z370-A Pro ran at 100.5FPS in 1080p and 40.7 in 4K UHD. The results are a bit higher than others by around 10%, seemingly due to the OS and BIOS patching. 

Overclocking

Experience with the MSI Z370-A Pro

Overclocking using the MSI Z370-A Pro went better than expected. Being a board designed for business (and is good for mining according to the webpage), overclocking prowess isn't generally in the cards, particularly at towards the limits. That said, the board and its power delivery system were unphased at the end of testing handling the 5.1 GHz overclock. 

MSI motherboards in the non-Pro series use their Gameboost functionality to 'one-touch' overclock. We have seen in the past, across all AIBs, that these one button overclocks tend to do very little and/or raise voltages to levels not needed. In this case, the Z370-A Pro raised clocks by 100 MHz all around. This yielded 4.4 GHz all cores and 4.8 GHz single core. The board set the voltage at 1.2V which was an acceptable value for the clocks (specifically the 4.8 GHz single core). Performance improvements from 100 MHz aren't typically tangible to most users, but the more the better regardless. 

With manual overclocking, the Z370-A Pro was able to match other more expensive boards in overclocking reaching 5.1 GHz. There was little to no vdroop while using auto so it was left at that setting. At 5.1 GHz I had to use a little more voltage (0.025V) than what the other boards average for stability in our testing, but, this could also be due to the not always precise software readings (the board does not have voltage read points). 

Overall overclocking on the Z370-A Pro was as easy as any other unlocked Intel processor. The BIOS had all the required options to successfully and safely push the i7-8700K past the 5 GHz threshold. The Command Center software proved functional for our uses in overclocking allowing a quicker turnaround than rebooting to the BIOS to change different settings. 

Overclocking Methodology

Our standard overclocking methodology is as follows. We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with POV-Ray and OCCT to simulate high-end workloads. These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.

For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from the previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed. The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed, and the process repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (90ºC+). Our test bed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air.

Overclocking Results

The MSI Z370-A Pro was able to take our i7-8700K to 5.1 GHz at 1.368V. This is a bit more than what was needed out of the other boards but nothing out of the ordinary or alarming. The board handled the faster 3200 MHz memory without issue using the XMP profile and also was able to overclock to 3600 MHz. Overall, the overclocking abilities are there and the board will not be a limiting factor in ambient overclocks. 

Conclusion

The MSI Z370-A Pro was designed to be a solid and reliable motherboard for business use. The board offers users the basics out of the platform such as a single M.2 slot, six SATA ports, Gigabit LAN, and even Crossfire support for dual-GPU AMD Radeon Gaming. Priced at ~$110, this places the board on the inexpensive side of Z370, but does include most anything business users may need, including the ability to overclock and should be applicable in single-GPU gaming. 

Overall the MSI Z370-A Pro is a base line for Z370: it includes six SATA ports, a single M.2 slot for high-speed storage, Realtek audio, and a single Realtek NIC. The 6-phase power delivery, while seemingly small compared to more expensive boards, handled the i7-8700K without issue at stock and during our overclock testing hitting 5.1 GHz along with most other boards tested. 

About the only gripes I have about the board is a lack of USB 3.1 ports on the board. If you need high-speed USB storage, that will have to come from a PCIe x1 riser card. Other than that, the brown PCB may not tickle many user's fancies, however, this is a board from the Pro line and aesthetics/being on display isn't its primary function so it is difficult to call that a fault. That said I would still like to have seen an RGB header on the board just in case. 

The performance results showed nothing out of the ordinary with the datasets landing, on average, in the fat part of the bell curve with most boards. We saw a few results that were above the line, but overall performance was in line with the other patched boards where it should be. 

Priced at $110, the motherboard has a fair amount of competition in that space with others such as the GIGABYTE Z370P D3 ($104), the ASRock Z370 Pro4 ($108), and the ASUS Intel Prime Z370-P ($120) lurking on shelves. The major differences between the boards come in the physical setup as well as components chosen. For example, the ASRock and ASUS boards have two M.2 slots to use with the latter offering four SATA ports instead of six. There are differences in the audio codecs used (such as Realtek ALC892 vs ALC887), as well as video outputs. So it depends on what is actually needed and apperance as to what board is best in this price bracket. 

The MSI Z370-A Pro has shown to perform well in our testing and keep up with overclocking. While the feature set may not be as long as much more expensive boards, it should still provide users with the features needed and is a solid platform to build a PC, be it for business or just a less expensive board for a 'regular' user.