SATA, M.2 and USB Performance
To test the storage performance in our motherboard reviews we use AIDA’s Disk Benchmark utility built into their AIDA64 Engineer Edition software package and run read and write tests. We run each of the benchmark tests on a SATA III, USB 3.0 and M.2 device. For SATA III testing we use a Sandisk Extreme Pro 240GB SATA III SSD, for USB 3.0 testing we use the Patriot Supersonic Magnum USB 3.0 flash drive and for M.2 testing we use Plextor’s 256GB M.2 M6e SSD. The drives are always formatted before use.
Linear Read
Linear Write
SATA and USB performance is within margin of error of all other X99 motherboards, as I’ve come to expect. M.2 performance, on the other hand, seems to be lagging behind that of what ASUS and MSI offer. I expect this is due to the fact ASUS and MSI use PCIe 4X Gen 3.0 ports (32 Gbps maximum throughput) compared to the standard 10 Gbps M.2 ports that Gigabyte use. As M.2 SSDs become faster over time this difference will become more apparent but right now our Plextor M6E 256GB M.2 SSD barely pushes the boundaries of first-gen M.2 ports so it isn’t a major issue.
