MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition Review
Category : Z170
Published by Marc Büchel on 14.10.15
With the Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition, MSI has a very well equipped motherboard in its portfolio, which comes with lots of features. There are for example two M.2 x4 Gen 3 slots. Apart from that this board comes with a great looking, unique design.
With the Z170 XPower Titanium Edition MSI has a completely different looking motherboard in its portoflio, which comes with a number of interesting features. Based on a color scheme which is kept in black and silver, this is one good looking board.
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel Z170 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR4, 4 x DIMM, Max. 64 GB DDR4, 4000 (O.C.) / 3866 (O.C.) / 3600 (O.C.) / 3200 (O.C.) / 2800 (O.C.) / 2666 (O.C.) / 2400 (O.C.) / 2133 Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
| Multi-GPU |
|
| Slots |
|
| Audio | Realtek ALC1150
|
| Storage | Intel Z170 chipset
|
| Network |
|
| Internal Connectors |
|
| Extrenal Connectors |
|
| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | 1 x 64Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS |
Features
Military Class 5 Components |
Since years MSI has been using digital power designs. On this board we find the latest implementation of their Military Class Components, which is meanwhile in its fifth generation. This board comes equiped with Hi-c Caps, Titanium Chokes and Dark CAPs for high stability, durability and efficiency. |
 |
MSI Steel Armor |
There are two PCIe x16 slots on this particular board, which have been equipped with a steel frame. If you place a large and heavy gaming graphics card, while the board is mounted in a case, you will notice, that over time the slots starts to bend by a little bit. Furthermore, when transporting a system it can happen, that the PCIe slot break by the sheer force, when somebody is not dealing carefully with an assembled system. In both cases the steel armor should help increasing protection of the PCIe slots. |  |
DDR4 Boost + XMP LED |
MSI equipped this board with fully isolated traces from the CPU to the DDR4 memory. This should help increasing stability and it should also be possible to reach higher maximum DDR4 clock speeds. XMP LED shows when you're using an optimal XMP profile. |
 |
Audio Boost 3 |
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 enhance USB audio quality and stable 5V power and better signal transmission over USB. |  |
OC Dashboard |
OC Dashboard is an external panel which you connect to the motherboard. MSI has decided to move all the different overclocking buttons on an additional PCB, which means there is more space on the motherboard itself. Apart from that the OC buttons are easier to access and the don't freeze when you're cooling your CPU with liquid nitrogen. |  |
M.2 Support |
The Z170 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard from MSI features two M.2 slots which are placed between the PCIe slots. This motherboard can be equipped with SSDs in M.2 format. Both slots are connected via four PCIe x4 lanes, offering up to 32 Gbps bandwidth. These slots can also be equipped with NVMe adapters, which are optionally available. |  |
Layout
As we mentioned in the introduction the MSI Z170 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard comes with a great looking design. The PCB has a silverish/greyish finish and the heatsinks are silver and black. Apart from that there are black slots and sockets as well as the metal reinforcements on the PCIe slots. Overall this board looks very different from anything what you can buy these days. On the PCH you'll also find the great looking MSI dragon. The cooling blocks themselves have been shaped with a lot of attention to detail. The layout has been well thought and there are plenty of useful features, like for example a header to attach external USB 3.1 ports, SATA 6Gbps Ports, two M.2 Gen 3 x4 slots, overclocking features and more.
MSI equipped the Z170 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard with a 16-phase digital power design
and an ISL6388 chip from Intersil is taking care of the CPU VRM. As it's the case with all high-end
motherboards from MSI the solid capacitors are part
of MSI's Military Class 5 group of components so we are looking at an overall
higly capable power
design, as there are for instance titanium chokes on this motherboard.
A closer look at the power design related to the memory reveals a 2-phase digital power design here driven by
a PV3205 digital, dual-channel buck phase controller from powervation.
As far as the memory goes, you can find four DIMM-slots on the Z170 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard.
Officially supported are the DDR44000 (O.C.) / 3866 (O.C.) / 3600 (O.C.) / 3200 (O.C.) / 2800 (O.C.) / 2666 (O.C.) / 2400 (O.C.) / 2133MHz. 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 2.0.
The PCH as well as the current converters are being held at adequate
temperatures via passive heatsinks. On top of the current converters there are two aluminum heatsinks, which are connected with a flattened, nickel plated, copper 6mm heatpipe. The
PCH heatsink - also milled from an aluminum block - has not been been integrated into the heatpipe loop. The heatsinks have been very well made and they are perfetcly attached to the board to provide enough pressure on the components
ensuring an efficient heat transfer.
Connectors and I/O
In total, MSI equipped the Z170 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard with eight SATA 6Gbps connectors, which have all been natively wired to the PCH. This means thgere are eight native SATA-III ports, whereas four can be combined to two SATA Express connectors. Below the first PCIe x16 slot as well as below the third there is one M.2 x4 Gen 3 slot each. With this motherboard you get four full-sized PCIe slots and three PCIe x1 Gen 3.0, whereas the first and the thrid receive metal reinforcement. This should help protecting the slots from breaking while transporting a full system with graphic card installed. From top to bottom for the PCIe 16x slots have been wired using 16 lanes, 8 lanes, 8 lanes and 8 lanes. In reality the following configurations are possible: x16/0/0/x4, x8/0/x8/x4 or x8/x4/x4/x4. This means you can do 8x/8x SLI/CrossFire or 8x/8x/4x CrossFireX (3-way). Basically these are the standard options you get with any Intel's Z170 based motherboard, that does not feature a PLX chip. The placement of the PCIe connectors has been well thought. Something that is almost standard nowadays with premium motherboards are the practical onboard power and reset as well as clear CMOS button. Furtheremore there is also a debug LED. MSI equipped this board with two physical BIOS chips and an and their external OC Dashboard.
The MSI Z170 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard features a total of five fan headers, which is enough to provide a normal gaming rig with enough of fresh air. A closer look at the pictures below shows where they have been placed. All five fan headers feature 4 pins and support PWM functionality. Therefore it's possible to control fan speeds from within Windows as well as the BIOS.
Looking at the external connectors placed directly at the I/O-panel, MSI equipped the new Z170 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard with a P/S2 connector, six USB 3.1 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, two HDMI and a DisplayPort output, a CLR_CMOS button as well as an optical out and the analogue audio panel.
BIOS
The most recent version of MSI’s UEFI BIOS presents itself with an attractive design, and you can not only monitor system information, CPU and motherboard temperature, CPU voltage and DRAM status but you can also create your own fan profiles for the different PWM headers. Other than that MSI has been working on the overclocking options, meaning they've added memory profiles to this motherboard. This helps making memory overclocking quite a bit easier.
Test setup
Hardware |
|
| Motherboard |
|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4.0 GHz |
| Memory | 8 GB (2x4) G.Skill Ares DDR4-2133 CL15-15-15-2T 350 |
| Graphic card | ASUS GeForce GTX 980 |
| Driver | ForceWare 353.62 |
| Hard disk | Intel 335 Series SSD 120 GB |
| Power supply | Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520W |
Preview / Gallery
3D Mark
Ice Storm
| 3D Mark Ice Storm Score |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 196'281 | 101.42% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 195'178 | 100.85% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 195'737 | 101.14% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 195'491 | 101.02% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 195'151 | 100.32% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 195'107 | 100.82% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 193'524 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 187'768 | 97.03% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 186'491 | 96.37% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 185'448 | 95.83% | |
| more is better | |||
Ice Storm Physics
| 3D Mark Ice Storm Physics Score |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 68'073 | 104.08% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 67'026 | 102.48% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 66'616 | 101.16% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 66'332 | 101.42% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 65'716 | 100.48% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 65'681 | 100.42% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 65'404 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 63'524 | 97.13% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 62'866 | 96.12% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 62'072 | 94.91% | |
| more is better | |||
Fire Strike
| 3D Mark Fire Strike Score |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 12'089 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 12'085 | 99.97% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 12'085 | 99.97% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 12'081 | 99.93% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 12'081 | 99.93% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 12'071 | 99.85% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 12'068 | 99.83% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 12'061 | 99.80% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 12'061 | 99.80% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 12'059 | 99.75% | |
| more is better | |||
Fire Strike Physics
| 3D Mark Fire Strike Physics Score |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 13'050 | 100.48% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 13'043 | 100.33% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 13'000 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 12'993 | 99.95% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 12'987 | 99.90% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 12'977 | 99.82% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 12'972 | 99.78% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 12'966 | 99.74% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 12'938 | 99.52% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 12'925 | 99.42% | |
| more is better | |||
3D Mark 11
| 3D Mark 11 Total |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 16'425 | 100.25% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 16'423 | 100.24% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 16'416 | 100.20% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 16'406 | 100.13% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 16'397 | 100.08% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 16'389 | 100.03% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 16'384 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 16'366 | 99.89% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 16'377 | 99.96% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 16'357 | 99.83% | |
| more is better | |||
CPU
| 3D Mark 11 Physics |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 11'597 | 101.27% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 11'549 | 100.85% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 11'548 | 100.84% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 11'531 | 100.69% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 11'519 | 100.59% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 11'502 | 100.44% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 11'477 | 100.22% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 11'459 | 100.06% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 11'452 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 11'357 | 99.17% | |
| more is better | |||
3D Mark Vantage
| 3D Mark Vantage Total |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 46'246 | 100.68% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 46'135 | 100.44% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 46'052 | 100.26% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 45'932 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 45'900 | 99.93% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 45'891 | 99.91% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 45'881 | 99.89% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 45'793 | 99.70% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 45'725 | 99.55% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 45'717 | 99.53% | |
| more is better | |||
| 3D Mark Vantage CPU |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 32'869 | 100.68% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 32'860 | 100.66% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 32'852 | 100.63% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 32'850 | 100.62% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 32'801 | 100.47% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 32'646 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 32'590 | 99.83% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 32'461 | 99.43% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 32'380 | 99.19% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 32'304 | 98.95% | |
| more is better | |||
PC Mark 08
Total
| PC Mark 08 Total |
Review Rating |
Points | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 4'647 | 100.37% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 4'640 | 100.22% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 4'631 | 100.02% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 4'630 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 4'627 | 99.94% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 4'621 | 99.81% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 4'620 | 99.78% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 4'618 | 99.74% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 4'615 | 99.68% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 4'612 | 99.61% | |
| more is better | |||
| Web Browsing - JunglePin |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 0.28177 | 100.08% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 0.28182 | 100.06% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 0.28198 | 100.01% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 0.28200 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 0.28200 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 0.28209 | 99.97% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 0.28215 | 99.95% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 0.28219 | 99.93% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 0.28284 | 99.70% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 0.28300 | 99.65% | |
| more is better | |||
| Web Browsing - Amazonia |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 0.12176 | 100.12% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 0.12176 | 100.12% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 0.12182 | 100.07% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 0.12185 | 100.05% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 0.12186 | 100.04% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 0.12186 | 100.04% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 0.12191 | 100.00% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 0.12200 | 99.88% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 0.12200 | 99.93% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 0.12256 | 99.42% | |
| more is better | |||
| Writing |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 3.06777 | 101.05% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 3.06814 | 101.04% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 3.09132 | 100.28% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 3.09199 | 100.26% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 3.10012 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 3.10024 | 99.99% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 3.14001 | 98.73% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 3.11766 | 99.44% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 3.21000 | 96.58% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 3.21000 | 96.58% | |
| more is better | |||
| Casual Gaming |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 140.10 | 100.96% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 139.91 | 100.82% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 139.48 | 100.51% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 139.32 | 100.40% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 139.05 | 100.11% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 138.90 | 100.09% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 138.77 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 138.65 | 98.97% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 138.49 | 99.80% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 137.39 | 98.07% | |
| more is better | |||
| Video Chat Playback 1 |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| more is better | |||
| Video Chat encoding |
Review Rating |
ms | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 48.00 | 101.29% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 48.00 | 101.29% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 48.62 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 48.88 | 99.47% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 49.00 | 99.22% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 49.00 | 99.22% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 49.00 | 99.22% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 49.00 | 99.22% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 49.00 | 99.22% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 50.00 | 97.24% | |
| more is better | |||
| Advanced Photo Editing |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 0.30548 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 0.30810 | 99.15% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 0.31066 | 98.33% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 0.31100 | 98.23% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 0.31240 | 97.78% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 0.31300 | 97.60% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 0.31355 | 97.43% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 0.31357 | 97.42% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 0.31558 | 96.80% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 0.31645 | 96.53% | |
| more is better | |||
SiSoft Sandra 1
Arithmetic Benchmark
| SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Dhrystone |
Review Rating |
GIPS | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 155.67 | 102.75% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 155.23 | 102.46% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 155.20 | 102.44% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 155.10 |
102.38% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 155.00 | 102.31% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 155.00 | 102.31% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 152.17 | 102.44% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 154.92 | 102.26% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 152.00 | 100.33% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 151.50 | 100.00% | |
| more is better | |||
| SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Whetstone |
Review Rating |
GFLOPS | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 108.49 | 100.58% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 108.47 | 100.57% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 108.00 | 100.13% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 107.86 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 107.46 | 99.63% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 107.41 | 99.58% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 107.36 | 99.54% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 107.17 | 99.36% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 106.73 | 98.95% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 106.14 | 98.41% | |
| more is better | |||
Multimedia
| SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - Integer |
Review Rating |
MPixels/sec | Percent |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 512.34 | 101.54% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 506.53 | 100.39% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 504.69 | 100.03% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 504.56 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 502.20 | 99.53% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 501.55 | 99.40% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 501.00 | 99.29% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 499.82 | 99.06% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 499.12 | 97.42% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 498.84 | 97.37% | |
| more is better | |||
| SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - Floating Point |
Review Rating |
MPixels/sec | Percent |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 495.73 | 101.83% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 492.12 | 101.09% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 491.71 | 101.01% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 490.73 | 100.81% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 490.29 | 100.72% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 490.00 | 100.66% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 489.18 | 100.49% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 488.07 | 100.26% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 486.80 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 480.54 | 98.23% | |
| more is better | |||
Crytography
| SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - AES 256 |
Review Rating |
GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 7.80 | 101.17% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 7.80 | 101.17% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 7.78 | 100.91% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 7.77 | 100.78% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 7.77 | 100.78% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 7.73 | 100.26% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 7.71 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 7.71 | 100.00% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 7.68 | 99.61% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 7.66 | 99.35% | |
| more is better | |||
| SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - SHA 256 |
Review Rating |
GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 1.56 | 101.96% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 1.53 | 100.00% | |
| more is better | |||
SiSoft Sandra 2
Memory bandwidth
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth - Integer |
Review Rating |
GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 23.35 | 101.52% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 23.32 | 101.39% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 23.18 | 100.78% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 23.16 | 100.70% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 23.12 | 100.52% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 23.11 | 100.48% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 23.00 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 23.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 23.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 22.91 | 99.61% | |
| more is better | |||
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth - floating point |
Review Rating |
GB/sec | Percent |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 23.34 | 102.46% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 23.11 | 101.45% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 23.00 | 100.97% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 22.92 | 100.61% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 22.92 | 100.61% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 22.86 | 100.35% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 22.80 | 100.09% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 22.79 | 100.04% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 22.78 | 100.00% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 22.67 | 99.52% | |
| more is better | |||
Memory latency
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory latency |
Review Rating |
ns | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 22.8 | 101.32% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 22.9 | 100.87% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 22.9 | 100.87% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 22.9 | 100.87% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 23.0 | 100.43% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 23.1 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 23.1 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 23.1 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 23.1 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 23.2 | 99.57% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
Memory and cache access
| SiSoft Sandra - Cache |
Review Rating |
GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 207.35 | 100.41% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 207.24 | 100.35% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 207.20 | 100.33% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 207.18 | 100.32% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 206.87 | 100.17% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 206.65 | 100.07% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 206.51 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 206.40 | 99.95% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 206.00 | 99.75% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 205.49 | 99.51% | |
| more is better | |||
UC Bench
| UC Bench |
Review Rating |
PW/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 1'057.1 | 100.35% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 1'056.9 | 100.33% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 1'056.3 | 100.28% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 1'055.9 | 100.24% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 1'055.9 | 100.24% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 1'055.5 | 100.20% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 1'055.1 | 100.16% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 1'054.6 | 100.11% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 1'054.1 | 100.07% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 1'053.4 | 100.00% | |
| more is better | |||
Super Pi 1M - 32M
Super Pi 1M
| Super Pi 1.5 XS - 1M |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 9.057 | 100.70% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 9.068 | 100.57% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 9.079 | 100.45% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 9.094 | 100.29% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 9.095 | 100.27% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 9.095 | 100.27% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 9.110 | 100.11% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 9.111 | 100.10% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 9.111 | 100.10% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 9.120 | 100.00% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
Super Pi 32M
| Super Pi 1.5 XS - 32M |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 480.688 | 100.48% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 480.919 | 100.43% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 481.135 | 100.38% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 482.305 | 100.14% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 482.462 | 100.11% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 482.789 | 100.04% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 482.985 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 484.677 | 99.65% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 485.394 | 99.38% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 487.266 | 99.12% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
wPrime 1024M Multicore
| wPrime - 1024M Multi Core |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 158.356 | 100.75% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 158.470 | 100.67% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 158.752 | 100.49% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 158.816 | 100.45% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 159.026 | 100.32% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 159.042 | 100.31% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 159.262 | 100.17% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 159.401 | 100.08% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 159.459 | 100.05% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 159.536 | 100.00% | |
| more is better | more is better | ||
Cinebench R15
| Cinebench R11.5 - Multi Core |
Review Rating |
pts | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 887 | 100.68% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 886 | 100.57% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 884 | 100.34% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 882 | 100.11% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 881 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 881 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 879 | 99.77% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 878 | 99.66% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 877 | 99.55% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 874 | 99.21% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
Tomb Raider
Low resolution - 1024 x 768
| Tomb Raider (low resolution, low details) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 264.6 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 262.6 | 99.24% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 261.0 | 98.64% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 260.6 | 98.49% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 260.0 | 98.26% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 258.1 | 97.54% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 258.0 | 97.51% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 257.2 | 97.20% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 257.1 | 97.17% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 255.1 | 96.41% | |
| more is better | |||
High resolution - 1920 x 1080
| Tomb Raider (high resolution, high details) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 150.0 | 101.42% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 149.8 | 101.28% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 147.9 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 147.9 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 145.9 | 98.65% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 144.3 | 97.57% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 144.0 | 97.36% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 144.0 | 97.36% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 143.1 | 96.75% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 142.0 | 96.01% | |
| more is better | |||
Metro Last Light
Low resolution - 1024 x 768
| Metro Last Light (low details, low resolution) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 186.03 | 101.53% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 185.90 | 101.46% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 185.63 | 101.32% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 184.71 | 100.81% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 184.02 | 100.44% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 183.22 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 182.29 | 99.49% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 182.27 | 99.48% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 181.85 | 99.25% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 181.55 | 99.09% | |
| more is better | |||
High resolution - 1920 x 1080
| Metro Last Light (high details, high resolution) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 57.23 | 100.81% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 56.77 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 56.77 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 56.77 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 56.70 | 99.88% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 56.60 | 99.70% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 56.60 | 99.70% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 56.57 | 99.65% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 56.54 | 99.59% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 56.06 | 98.75% | |
| more is better | |||
Sleeping Dogs
Low resolution, low details
| Sleeping Dog (low details, low resolution) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 557.7 | 101.97% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 555.9 | 101.65% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 555.2 | 101.52% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 550.4 | 100.64% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 550.2 | 100.60% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 548.4 | 100.27% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 548.3 | 100.26% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 548.1 | 100.22% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 546.9 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 545.7 | 99.53% | |
| more is better | |||
High resolution, high details
| Sleeping Dogs (high details, high resolution) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 248.1 | 101.51% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 246.8 | 100.98% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 245.5 | 100.45% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 244.4 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 242.5 | 99.22% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 241.7 | 98.90% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 241.1 | 98.65% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 241.0 | 98.61% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 240.8 | 98.53% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 238.4 | 97.55% | |
| more is better | |||
Power Consumption
Idle
| Idle |
Review Rating |
Watt | Percent |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 48 | 127.08% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 49 | 124.49% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 55 | 110.91% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 55 | 110.91% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 55 | 100.91% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 56 | 108.93% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 59 | 103.39% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 61 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 61 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 62 | 98.39% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
Load
| Load |
Review Rating |
Watt | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 108 | 123.15% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 109 | 122.02% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 113 | 117.70% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 117 | 113.68% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 121 | 109.92% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 131 | 101.53% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 133 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 133 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 133 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 133 | 100.00% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
Performance Rating
| 3D and Gaming Benchmarks |
Review Rating |
Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ragner | 100.53% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 100.32% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 100.16% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 100.11% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 99.92% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 99.82% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 99.18% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 98.80% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 98.64% | |
| more is better | ||
| 2D Benchmarks |
Review Rating |
Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 100.52% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 100.51% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 100.32% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 100.32% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 99.94% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 99.82% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 99.82% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 99.61% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 99.41% | |
| more is better | ||
| Performance per Watt |
Review Rating |
Percent |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 79.57% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 84.57% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 89.37% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | 90.38% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 90.68% | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition | 94.43% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 98.91% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 99.50% | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | 99.86% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 100.00% | |
| less is better | ||
Price comparison
| Model |
Geizhals.eu |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe |
|
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | |
| ASUS Z170-A |
|
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | |
| MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium Edition |
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| A closer look at the motherboard lineup from MSI reveals that the Z170 XPower Titanium Edition is their flagship model, regarding their gaming branded products. Of course it comes with some really neat features, like for example dual M.2 x4 Gen 3, OC Dashboard, Game Boost and the new updated UEFI BIOS. The MSI Z170 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard is powered by a 16-phase CPU VRM which is enough for an overclocked system even if you wanted to do extreme benching using liquid nitrogen as coolant. MSI also equipped this board with features specific to gamers including a beefed-up audio solution. | -
Design - Layout - Features - 2 x M.2 x4 Gen 3.0 Slots |
||
| Layout | + | - | |
| Overall, the MSI Z170 XPower Titanium Edition'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 an internal USB3.1 header. We always love it when we find practical power- and reset-buttons alongside a clear CMOS button. Furthermore there is even a debug display. This one is always useful in case there is an issue with a component in your system or the board itself. It also features four full-sized PCI Express slots, which have been very well positioned. Apart from that there are three PCIe Gen3 x1 slots onboard, and they can be found in between the PCIe Slot. Furthermore the XPower Gaming Titanium Edition has also been equipped with two M.2 x4 Gen 3 slots. Furthermore you get six USB3.0, three USB2.0, eight SATA3 ports and one internal USB3.1 headers for two additional USB3.1 ports as well as two USB2 connectors for four more USB2.0 ports. | - Angled SATA connectors
- Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Space around the CPU socket - Audio Solution |
||
| Performance | + | - | |
| Calculating the average of all 3D benchmarks we ran, we see that this is the second fastest board regarding 3D performance. When taking the average of all 2D results this board scores 6th out of then places. In general this board performs very consistent regarding 3D performance. On another note, we had a look at power consumption and since this is a board with many features, energy efficiency is average, whereas idle power consumption is the highest we've measured so far. | - 3DMark - Metro Last Light - Sleeping Dogs |
- 3DMark Vantage - Idle Power Consuption |
|
| Overclocking / BIOS | + | - | |
| MSI has put a lot of time and effort into making their BIOS look nicer and more user friendly. Especially when we compare this version of MSI BIOS to the first UEFI BIOS from MSI, it simply cannot be compared, since the two are worlds apart. What's almost self-explanatory is that you get a lot of tuning and tweaking options in order to optimize the system towards your needs. We also like the entry screen which displays a lot of useful information. Apart from that overclocking our test CPU to 5.0 GHz was straight forward and there were no issues whatsoever. | - Sheer amount of
options - Design |
||
| Recommendation | + | - | |
| The MSI Z170 XPower Titanium Edition is a very well equipped Z170 motherboard, which features solid perfomance. Currently this board costs 283 Euro, which is rather steep. Should you like the design and should you have the funds at your disposal, this is a great board. | -
Price
-
Gaming - Enthusiast - Overclocking |
||
| Rating | |||
| We give the MSI Z170 XPower Titanium Edition good 4 out of 5 stars. | |||
