JUN 2022MAXIMU MPC 71
CREATING AN all-MSI build using its latest
components was a fun and relatively trouble-
free experience that resulted in a satisfyingly
uniform look. The stealth black look on the
major components helped the lighting on
the fans, GPU, and heatsink block really pop,
and I was particularly enamored with the
relatively small footprint of the case itself.
Our benchmarks demonstrated a few
interesting results as we opted to compare
it to a couple of other recent Intel 12th
generation builds. In both our April 2022 Intel
12th gen build and May 2022 Intel NUC build,
we used the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3050
Gaming OC card, which outperformed MSI’s
card by up to 20 percent in a couple of our
tests, thanks to its higher core clock speed of
1822MHz compared to MSI’s 1552MHz. At just
$20 more, keep an eye out for Gigabyte’s card
if you’re in the market for an RTX 3050.
On the positive side, MSI’s Spatium drive
lived up to its promised speeds, massively
outperforming the PCIe 3.0 Samsung 980
drive in comparisons, and even outperforming
the PCIe 4.0 WD_BLACK SN850 drive from
last month’s Intel NUC build, particularly on
sequential write speeds. MSI’s drive even
keeps up with the best drives from our SSD
group test in the previous issue, featuring the
likes of XPG, Seagate, and Samsung.
The Cinebench score disparity was also
eye-opening between the top-end i9-12900K
in this build and the mid-range Intel Core i5-
- The faster DDR5 RAM in this system
may also have something to do with this, but
given other benchmark tests, we suspect it’s
negligible. If you’re doing a lot of CPU-heavy
operations, it may be worth going for the
more expensive i9 chip, or at least something
in between. If you’re a gamer though, it’s
clear that Intel’s 12th gen Core i5 chip is more
than enough when paired with the RTX 3050.
What are the benefits of going all-MSI
on this build? Aside from a Windows 11
installation issue that required us to change
USB flash drives, it was a simple build, but
we’d expect that even if we had used different
manufacturer’s components. What we
enjoyed most, though, was being able to useMSI’s Dragon Center software in Windows to
control every element of the system.
MSI also supplied us with a GK50 Low-
Profile TKL Keyboard (reviewed in our March
issue), a Clutch GM41 wireless mouse, MPG
Artymis 273CQRX-QD monitor, and GV60
microphone—all of which could be managed
from one single piece of software. On my
personal PC, I run a Gigabyte motherboard,
Logitech peripherals, and a Razer headset,
and have so many different apps that I never
bother changing the settings. It made me
think about going single-manufacturer in my
next personal build. See you next time!THE CONCLUSION
1
MSI’s CPU cooler comes with a
2.4-inch IPS display that can be
configured to display information on
the temperature, weather, images or
video, and more.(^2)
We hope you’re fans of the
MSI dragon logo, as there are
no less than four visible through the
window of the case. We do like the
uniformity though.
3
We like the restrained amount
of RGB in the case, which just
adds a splash of colour to an
otherwise stealthy look.
4
This case comes with a
removable 2.5-inch caddy
below the motherboard, but we took
it out to complete the clean aesthetic.
1
2
3
4
BENCHMARKS COMPARISON
ZERO-
POINT
3DMark: Fire Strike (Index) 14,995 14,757 (-1.6%)
CineBench R15
Multi-Thread (Index) 1,778 3,890 (118.8%)
CrystalDisk Q32T1
Sequential Read (MB/s) 3,557 7,106 (99.8%)
CrystalDisk Q32T1
Sequential Write (MB/s) 2,779 6,814 (145.2%)
Total War: Warhammer II (fps) 72 65 (-19.7%)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (fps) 113 107.55 (-4.8%)
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon:
Wildlands (fps)^57 49.62 (-13%)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Our zero point is April 2022’s Intel 12th Gen Cover Build, which featured an MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk DDR4, Intel
Core i5-12400, Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3050 Gaming OC 8GB, Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4-3200, and Samsung
980 1TB SSD. All game tests are performed at 1080p at the highest graphical profile.