Nightblade is the name of the lastest ITX gaming solution from MSI. Due to its compact dimensions and the high-end components inside, the Nightblade is a mini system perfect for everybody who need a lot of power or wants to attend LAN events.
Today we will be reviewing a compact mini-ITX PC system made by MSI,
the MSI Nightblade. Despite its compact size of just 16 liters, the MSI
Nightblade houses high-end components. On the following pages we will check both
the performance of all internal components as well as temperatures and power consumption
of the entire system.
[pagebreak]
Preview
[pagebreak]
Specifications / Chassis
|
CPU |
Intel i5-4670K @ 3.8GHz / OC 4.0GHz |
|
Cooler |
Tower Cooler |
|
Motherboard |
MSI Z97I Gaming Nightblade |
|
Memory |
ADATA 2x8GB 2133MHz CL 11-12-12-30 |
|
Graphics card |
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G |
|
Hard drive |
Seagate Barracuda 2TB |
|
SSD |
2x Plextor PX-128M6M 128GB RAID0 |
| Power supply |
600W 80Plus Gold |
|
Connectors |
- 2 x e-SATA
- 2 x HDMI
- 1 x Display Port
- 1 x S/PDIF
- 1 x PS/2
- 1 x CMOS
- 1 x WiFi Antenna
- 6 x Audio jacks/li>
|
|
Dimensions |
345.8 x 277.3 x 175.7 mm |
|
Weight |
8 Kg |
|
Drivers |
NVIDIA ForceWare 344.75 |
|
OS |
Windows 8.1 x64 |
MSI Nightblade is a mini PC system based on an ITX form-factor,
and made to be carried easily during various events and LAN parties. At the moment,
the MSI Nightblade is available on the market in two versions, one based on the Intel Z97
chipset and other based on the Intel B85 chipset. Both systems are also available
as a barebone version, with only the power supply and motherboard while other
components can be chosen by the end user.
The case measures 345.8 x 277.3 x 175.7 mm with a total weight of 8 Kg, and is made of high quality steel with good thickness. As you can guess from the size,
the MSI Nightblade is a very compact case without any special openings or windows. Only the front
features a handle that will allow easier transport. The bottom features a generous dust filter that allows a high airflow
to the internal components like the graphics card. Regarding the connections,
you can find four USB 3.0 ports at the front panel, painted in red, two standard audio jacks and a cool OC button that pushes the CPU
up by additional 200 MHz. The cooling of the components is assigned to a 92 mm fan placed
at the rear of the case and which is able to reach 3600 RPM.
Regarding the hardware, our version of the MSI Nightblade is based on a Z97I Gaming Nightblade motherboard, which has all of the most common connections, including
both WiFi and Bluetooth. Combined with the small MSI Gaming motherboard, we have
Intel's Core i5-4670K 3.80 GHz CPU cooled by a heatsink tower CPU cooler. Despite the ITX form-factor,
MSI equipped this version with a powerful MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G graphics card powered by a not very clear
600W 80Plus Gold power supply . As for storage, on this model, we found two mSATA Plextor PX-128M6M 128GB SSDs in RAID0 and a
standard Seagate Barracuda 2TB HDD for storage. Often, on systems which are compact, you must give up the daily comforts such as DVD burner, but
with the MSI Nightblade, company found space for a thin slot-in reader, in other words MSI Nightblade has all the comforts that you can find on a normal PC gaming
system.
On the following pages we will check the performance with some benchmarks and games.
[pagebreak]
Test Setup Ocaholic Test System
|
Motherboard |
- ASUS Maximus VII Hero (BIOS 0224)
|
| CPU |
- Intel Core i7-4770K @ 4.0 GHz (Turbo On / HT On)
|
|
Memory |
- G.Skill Ares Dual Channel 2x8GB @ CL11-12-11-28-1T-Auto DDR3-1600 MHz
|
|
Graphics Cards |
- ASUS Strix OC Edition GeForce GTX
970
|
| Drivers |
- Windows 7 x64 (up to date)
- NVIDIA ForceWare 344.75
- AMD Catalyst 14.11.2 Beta
|
| Games |
|
|
Games and OS |
- Windows 7 x64
- All
games were up to date on the
|
|
System Drive |
|
|
PSU |
- Seasonic Platinum SS-1000XP / 1000 Watts
|
3DMark
| |
Score |
Graphic Score |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
9'862 |
11'579 |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
4'913 |
5'936 |
Fire Strike Physix
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic
Test System (4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
11'170 |
156.28 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
7'147 |
100.00 % |
[pagebreak]
UCBench
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
1005 |
109.47 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
918 |
100.00 % |
[pagebreak]
XTU (Intel Extreme Tuning Utility)
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
1'001 |
135.08 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
741 |
100.00 % |
[pagebreak]
Cinebench R15
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
789 |
146.38 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
539 |
100.00 % |
[pagebreak]
HWBot Prime
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
5'141 |
104.79 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
4'906 |
100.00 % |
[pagebreak]
Blackhole Benchmark Multithreaded
Single Thread
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
3'044 |
111.74 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
2'724 |
100.00 % |
4 Threads
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
3'896 |
110.43 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
3'528 |
100.00 % |
Multithreaded
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
7'536 |
196.04 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
3'844 |
100.00 % |
Overall
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
14'476 |
143.38 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
10'096 |
100.00 % |
[pagebreak]
WinRAR
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
10'036 |
193.53 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
4'669 |
100.00 % |
[pagebreak]
Frybench
| |
Points |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
1'691 |
159.52 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
1'060 |
100.00 % |
[pagebreak]
Games
Borderlands - The Pre-Sequel
|
Average FPS |
% |
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
207.4 |
116.25 % |
| MSI Nightblade
(4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
178.4 |
100.00 % |
| |
|
|
GRID Autosport
|
Average FPS |
|
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
115.5 |
100.69 % |
| MSI Nightblade
(4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
114.7 |
100.00 % |
| |
|
|
Metro Last Light
|
Average FPS |
|
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
47.8 |
105.75 % |
| MSI Nightblade
(4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
45.2 |
100.00 % |
| |
|
|
Thief
|
Average FPS |
|
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
74.0 |
106.78 % |
| MSI Nightblade
(4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
69.3 |
100.00 % |
| |
|
|
Tomb Raider
|
Average FPS |
|
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
47.8 |
108.14 % |
| MSI Nightblade
(4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
44.2 |
100.00 % |
| |
|
|
Watch Dogs
|
Average FPS |
|
| Ocaholic Test System
(4770K + ASUS GTX 970 Strix) |
53.8 |
108.68 % |
| MSI Nightblade
(4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
49.5 |
100.00 % |
| |
|
|
[pagebreak]
SSD
Crystal Disk Mark
Our tested version of the MSI Nightblade featured two Plextor PX-128M6M
128GB SSDs in RAID0 configuration. Both are based on an mSATA form-factor and they are placed
on a dedicated rack located at the top of the case.
For those that do not know, the RAID0 configuration does not provide any parity information or redundancy, this particular mode is generally used to increase system performance. As you can see from
the Crystal Disk Mark screenshot, these two SSDs reach very high transfer speeds touching the Gigabyte per second on sequential read. Only the 4K read is slightly subdued and we would
have liked to see a higher value from a configuration of this type.
[pagebreak]
Overclock
Cinebench R15
| |
Points |
% |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
539 |
100.00 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) OC |
598 |
110.94 % |
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme CPU Test
| |
Points |
% |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
7'147 |
100.00 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) OC |
8'080 |
113.05 % |
HWBOT Prime
| |
Points |
% |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
4'906 |
100.00 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) OC |
5'162 |
105.21 % |
UCBench
| |
Points |
% |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
918 |
100.00 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) OC |
1'019 |
111.00 % |
XTU (Intel Extreme Tuning Utility)
| |
Points |
% |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
741 |
100.00 % |
| MSI
Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G) OC |
939 |
123.72 % |
[pagebreak]
Power Consumption
| Power Consumption Load (Idle)* |
Watts |
| MSI Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970
Gaming 4G) |
42 |
| MSI Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX
970 Gaming 4G) OC |
58 |
| *Entire system |
Less is better |
| Power Consumption Load (FurMark)* |
Watts |
| MSI Nightblade (4670K + MSI
GTX 970 Gaming 4G) |
244 |
| MSI Nightblade (4670K + MSI GTX 970
Gaming 4G) OC |
263 |
| *Entire system |
Less is better |
[pagebreak]
Noise Level
The MSI Nightblade has multiple noise sources, which include the
fan on the CPU heatsink and the graphics card. During our 2D and 3D tests, the system was always rather quiet. We only found a slight noise
coming from the graphic card but only in the presence of very high loads like the stress test. Regarding the CPU
cooler, we do not have anything to report, even when the system was overclocked, the MSI Nightblade was very silent.
Temperatures
|
Temperature |
Idle |
Full |
|
Intel Core i5-4670K |
33 / 36 / 34 / 34 |
58 / 59 / 58 / 58 |
| MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G |
30 |
65 |
|
Less is better |
With an ambient temperature of 22 degrees, we have obtained these temperatures using two stress tests like Prime95 64bit and FurMark. In both scenarios we haven't
manually set the rotation speed of the fans. In our opinion the temperatures recorded are adequate to the type and size of the system; in overclock mode we have reached 70 degress only on Intel XTU benchmark.
[pagebreak]
Conclusion
If you are looking for a powerful small desktop system which can be easily used during
various events and LAN parties, the MSI Nightblade is definitely a very good choice. Despite the ITX form factor of the system, MSI managed to squeeze some powerful components inside.
In our tests, the small MSI Nightblade proved to be fast and efficient. We tested the computer in various fields and scenarios, comparing the result obtained with our platform using
Intel's Core i7-4770K CPU and the same graphics card. The results obtained in the 3D environments, where the graphics card is most important,
as well as in 2D environments, where mainly pushes the CPU, and storage
influenced tests, show that MSI Nightblade PC system is a great product. Naturally, there is a huge difference of scores in some benchmarks, since our comparison system uses
a Intel Core-i7 CPU with Hyper Threading and higher frequencies.
The temperatures measured in games and benchmarks are not superior to a normal case, however, they still remain at very good levels. During our game sessions with the fans set
at auto, we never detected any clock drop. As for storage, you get two Plextor PX-128M6M SSDs
in RAID0 configuration, which provide fast access to the applications and OS, while for games
and various other storage, you get a standard 2TB HDD. The perfomance of the
RAID0 configuration is very good, and only 4K read performance could be better.
MSI Nightblade features an automatic overclocking mode (OC GENIE) that pushes the CPU
up by additional 200 MHz, providing a boost of 115%. Our tests showed that the boost promised by MSI is real and sometimes even higher. The noise produced by MSI Nightblade is very low and on good level. We tested the system in many scenarios and with various settings,
and in almost all tests, the MSI Nightblade was always rather quiet.
Now, we come to the price, and
MSI Nighblade by Sglepboys is available
at AK Informatica for €1650. Unfortunately, it is not available in the same version
that we had a chance to test today but uses very similar components. We have tried to configure a PC system using the same components
combined with MSI Nightblade case at Geizhals.eu and the price difference between the two configurations is very low, and in our opinion, is more than justified.
Recommendation
The MSI Nightblade is an excellent compact gaming PC
with a design you need to like. If this is the case, then we can highly
recommend this little gaming machine and it's definitely worth the 1650 Euro AK
Informatica is asking for it!
The MSI Nightblade
receives very good
4.5 out of 5 stars.
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