Also MSI has meanwhile a gaming motherboard in their portfolio, that features mATX form factor. Therefore there is an interesting mix of features mainly targeting gamers but also addressing overclockers to a certain extent. Overall we are really curious to find out what MSI came up with in case of this board and here we will have a look at features as well as layout.
On the next few pages we will be checking out one of the MSI latest Intel
Z97 Express based motherboards which is also a part of the company's Gaming
series, the Z97M Gaming motherboard.
[pagebreak]
Specs and Delivery
Chipset |
Intel Z97 |
Memory |
Dual Channel DDR3, 4 x DIMM, Max. 32
GB DDR3, non-ECC, un-buffered memory
DDR3
3300 / 3200 / 3100 / 3000 / 2800 / 2666 / 2600 / 2400 / 2200 / 2133 / 2000
/ 1866 / 1600/1333/1066 MHz |
Multi-GPU |
- Supports NVIDIA SLI Technology (2-Way)
- Supports AMD CrossFireX Technology (2-Way, 3-Way)
Supports Lucid Virtu MVP 2.0
|
Slots |
- 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16, x8/x8)
- 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1
|
Audio |
Realtek ALC1150
7.1-Channel High Definition Audio
Supports S/PDIF input/output
|
Storage |
Intel Z97 chipset
- 6 x SATA3 6Gb/s (SATA3 1~6)
- IDE / AHCI / RAID 0/1/5/10
- 1 x M.2 port
ASMedia ASM1061
- 2 x eSATA3 6Gb/s (back panel)
|
Network |
- Killer E2205 LAN controller (10/100/1000 Fast Ethernet)
|
Internal Connectors |
- ATX 24-Pin power connector
- 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
- 4 x 4-pin CPU/System fan connectors
- 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
- 1 x M.2 port
- 2 x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports)
- 1 x USB 3.0 connectors (supports additional 2 USB 3.0 ports)
- 1 x Front Panel Audio connector
- 2 x System panel connectors
- 1 x Chassis Intrusion connector
- 1 x Power button
- 1 x OC Genie button
- 1 x Reset button
- 1 x Clear CMOS jumper
- 1 x Power button
- 1 x Audio power switch
- 1 x OC Genie mode switch
- 1 x 2-Digit Debug Code LED
- 1 x Direct audio power connector
|
Extrenal Connectors |
- 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port
- 1 x Clear CMOS button
- 1 x Optical S/PDIF-out port
- 2 x USB 2.0 ports
- 6 x USB 3.0 ports
- 1 x RJ45 LAN jack
- 1 x 6 in 1 OFC audio jack
- 1 x DisplayPort with max. resolution up to 4096x2160@24Hz,
24bpp/ 3840x1600@60Hz, 24bpp
- 2 x HDMI ports with max. resolution up to 4096x2160@24Hz,
24bpp/2560x1600@60Hz, 24bpp/ 1920x1080@60Hz, 36bpp
|
Forfactor |
micro-ATX (24.4cm x 24.4cm) |
BIOS |
2 x 64Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI
BIOS |
- Drivers & Utilities Disc
- Motherboard User Guide
- I/O Shield
- 4x SATA Cable
- Warranty brochure
- Software & Application User Guide
- M-Connectors
- SLI Cable
- Interface panel Plug
- power Cable Direct audio
- Door Hanger
[pagebreak]
Features
Military Class 4 Components |
MSI's fancy name for high quality components, the
Military Class 4 Components certified motherboards, are equiped with Hi-CCAP, Super Ferrite Choke and Dark CAPs for better stability, durability,
efficiency and current as well as DrMOS 4, which is the name of the new MOSFETs which
should deliver more than 600+ Watts for extreme
overclocking. |
|
|
Super stable with Guard-Pro
|
On their latest motherboads MSI has added a couple
of new
features, named Guard-Pro, which are divided in six different categories
and are basicaly the circuit protection where MSI selected the best materials, Eco
Power which
physically cuts the power to unsed chips in order to save more than 29% power
usage, Humidity Protection wich is very good for humid places and has
10% higher failure rate on PCB, High Temperature protection where MSI
tested components in the hardest environments to insure stable operation,
ESD Protection used for the new black I/O shield protect the board
against electro-static discharge, and EMI Protection, which is made to reduce the
impact of electromagnetic interference. |
|
|
Gaming Device Port
|
Looking at the I/O shield we find two red USB ports which
MSI calls Gaming Device Ports and which are optimized to deliver the best
connectivity for gaming mice while helping gamers to have faster mouse
response where needed. |
|
|
OC Genie 4 / Click Bios 4 |
These days, all the motherboard companies care about
overclocking and MSI was one of the first companies which helped normal users to
overclock their system. The OC Genie 4 is a button for Overclocking CPU,
Memory and the iGPU, and allows you to get up to 20 percent more
performance with a simple press of a button. |
|
|
|
Audio Boost 2
|
MSI equips its latest and greatest motherboard with an improved audio
solution which includes the Realtek ALC1150 chip, Dual headphone amplifier. At the I/O shield we find golden audio
jacks which is to improve the audio signals as well as high quality capacitors
from nichicon and the PCB
separation, As well as USB audio power to inhance USB audio quality and
stable 5V power and better signal transmission over USB. |
|
|
|
Killer Ethernet
|
It is rather obvious that MSI is not only
optimizing this board for overclocking but also for gaming as well. Next to
the beefed up audio solution there is the Killer Ethernet chip, which
gives gamers additional control over a variety of network settings,
which in the end can help reduce latency. |
|
|
|
|
M.2 Support
|
The
new Z97M Gaming motherboard from MSI features an M.2 slot which is placed between the
two PCIe slots. This motherboard can be equipped with an SSD in M.2 format
and it is wired directly to the Z97 PCH via two PCI Express lanes,
therefore offering x2 bandwidth. In other words up to 10 Gbps can be pushed over the bus through this slot, almost doubling
the performance compared to the SATA-III port.
|
|
[pagebreak]
Layout
Like we mentioned in the introduction the MSI Z97M Gaming motherboard
comes with a Twin Frozr IV based design. Therefore, the PCB has a matte black
finish with a few red touches on the heatsinks. The heatsinks themselves have
been shaped with a lot of attention to detail and come with a matte black colour
scheme. Combined, it makes the design unique and good looking. The layout itself
has been well thought and there are plenty of useful features, like six USB 3.0
ports on the back, SATA 6Gbps ports, overclocking features and
more.
MSI equipped the Z97M Gaming motherboard with an 8-phase digital power design with
the uP1649Q from UPI taking care of the CPU VRM. The Z97M Gaming power design has one DRMOS for two
phases rather than one DRMOS for one phase. All those solid capacitors are part
of MSI's Military Class IV group of components so we are looking at one pretty strong power
design.
The memory got a 2-phase digital power design here driven by the UPI uP01109,
which is also one more phase than usual.
As far as the memory goes, you can find four DIMM-slots on the Z97M
Gaming motherboard.
Officially supported are the DDR3 3300 /3200 / 3100 / 3000 / 2800 / 2666 / 2600 / 2400 / 2200 / 2133
/ 2000 / 1866 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz (O.C.). There is enough space between the
DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you will not run into any issues
with large coolers, even if you choose to install memory with big heatspreaders.
Also supported are the Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 1.3. Overclocking
the memory on this board with old ICs (PCS,BBSE), which are what all overlcockers
are still using, is not really nice because of the BIOS issue. On the other
hand, overclocking
with the new Samsung ICs or the Hynix CFR,BFR,MFR is not bad for gaming and daily use PCs,
but not for getting any serious high memory frequency results.
The PCH as well as the current converters are being held at adequate
temperatures via passive heatsinks. The heatsink for current converters is made from
a single aluminium block that uses one 8mm nickel-plated copper heatpipe. The
PCH heatsink as not been been integrated into the heatpipe loop and is quite
simple and flat. The cooling blocks have been very well made and also they are very well attached to the board to provide enough pressure on the components
they have to cool down. They are entirely black colored with red stripes in
order to go well with the rest of the MSI Gaming series components.
[pagebreak]
Connectors and I/O
In total, MSI equipped the Z97M Gaming with six SATA 6Gbps connectors. This
means you get six native SATA-III ports from the PCH and there are even two
additional eSATA ports at the I/O panel from
another chip which is in this case the ASM1061 from ASMedia. With this motherboard you get
two PCIe 16x Gen 3.0 and and two PCIe 1x Gen
2.0 slot and all of them have been coloured black. From top to bottom for the
PCIe 16x slots you get, 16 and 8 lanes. This means you can do 8x/8x SLI/CrossFire. Basically, that are the standard
options you get with any Intel's Z97 Express based motherboard, that does not
come with a
PLX chip. The placement of the PCIe slots has been well thought. There are
for example two slots inbetween the two main PCIe 16x in order to provide a
multi-GPU configuration with enough fresh air.
Something that is almost standard nowadays with premium motherboards are the
practical onboard power- and reset-buttons as well as a debug LED. Furthermore there is an OC Genie button
and an audio switch.
The BIOS can be cleared by removing the battery or simply by pushing the
clr_CMOS button located on the back panel.
The MSI Z97M Gaming motherboard features a total of four fan headers, which
is enough to provide an overclocking rig or even a high-end gaming machine with
plenty of fresh air. A closer look at the pictures below shows where they have
been placed. All four fan headers are PWM (4-pin).
Looking at the external connectors placed directly at the I/O-panel, MSI
equipped the new Z97M Gaming motherboard with a P/S2 connector, six USB 3.0
ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, one HDMI and a DisplayPort output, two USB
2.0 ports, the CLR_CMOS button as well as an optical out and the analogue audio
panel.
[pagebreak]
Conclusion
Allgemein |
|
+ |
- |
A closer look at the motherboard lineup
from MSI reveals that the Z97M Gaming is the only micro-ATX form factor
motherboard. It comes with some really neat features, like for
example a Guard-Pro, OC Genie 4 and the new UEFI Click Bios 4. Despite
its smaller size and micro-ATX form-factor, the MSI Z97M
Gaming motherboard is powered by an 8-phase CPU
VRM which is good enough for a small overclocked system. MSI also equipped
this board with some neat features for gamers including a beefed-up audio solution as well as the newest Killer E2205 Ethernet
chip. Apart from the
features for gamers, the bundle is not that rich but there are enough cables and
everything to install an easy gaming PC. |
|
- Design
- Features |
- SATA Express Connector |
|
|
|
|
Layout |
|
+ |
- |
Overall, the MSI Z97M Gaming's layout
has been well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA
connectors that you can find on almost all motherboards nowadays. Other
than that there is also a USB3 connector. There are also
practical power- and reset-buttons along with the clr_CMOS which is
located on the I/O panel. Furthermore there is even a debug display which
is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your
system or the board itself. It also features two PCI Express Gen3 x16
slots, which have been very well positioned. Between the two main PCIe
x16 you will find two slot space to provide good airflow for a dual
graphics card setup. You have two PCIe Gen2 x1 connectors onboard, and one
of them is between the two PCI Express x16, as well as the M.2 slot,
while the rest of the ports and slots is pretty much standard (six USB3,
six SATA3 ports and one internal
USB3 connector for two USB3 ports.)
As this is an MSI overclocking motherboard you also get the OC
Genie button. |
|
-Angled SATA and USB3 connectors
- Power/Reset-Button onboard
- Debug display / CLR_CMOS
- 6x USB 3.0
- M.2 Support |
|
Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch Luca Rocchi l.rocchi@ocaholic.ch