MSI X99S Gaming 7 Preview
Category : X99
Published by Hiwa Pouri on 20.10.14
With the X99S Gaming 7, MSI has a motherboard in its portfolio, which mainly addresses gamers. There is for example a well thought audio solution as well as a very nice looking design. On another note MSI is offering this board with a reasonable price.
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The X99S Gaming 7 from MSI is a well equipped motherboard, which is based on Intels latest X99 chipset. Therefore this is apparently a high-end model suitable for Intels Haswell-E HEDT processors.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel X99 |
| Memory | Quad Channel DDR4, 8 x DIMM, Max. 64 GB DDR3, 3330 (O.C.) / 3100 (O.C.) / 3000 (O.C.) / 2800 (O.C.) / 2666 (O.C.) / 2400 (O.C.) / 2133 (O.C.) Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
| Multi-GPU |
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| Slots |
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| Sound | Realtek ALC1150
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| Storage |
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| Network |
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| Internal Connectors |
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| Extrenal Connectors |
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| Forfactor | ATX (30.4cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (128 Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS) |
- User manual
- 2 x Quick set-up guide
- 1 x I/O shield
- 10 x SATA 6 Gb/s cables
- 1 x SATA cable label sets
- 2 x SLI bridges
- 1 x Audio power plug
- 1 x Front panel Quick Connect kit
- 1 x MSI GAMING case badge
- 1 x MSI door hanger
- 1 x Driver disc
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Features
Digital Power Design |
Since quite some time MSI has been equipping its boards with digital power designs. On the X99S Gaming 7 there are only high-end components when it comes to the power design. There are for example PWM controllers from PowIRstage as well as ICs from International Rectifier. Other than that there are "Black Solid Caps", which offer 10'000 operating hours, which is up to three times as much than what you get from standard caps. |
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Audio Boost |
Audio Boost is MSIs interpretation of good onboard audio. In this case there is a Realtek ALC1150 chip, which has been equipped with an EMI shield and apart from that, there are high quality capacitors. |  |
M.2 Support |
The new MSI X99S Gaming 7 motherboard from MSI features an M.2 slot which is placed between two PCIe slots. This motherboard can be equipped with an SSD in M.2 format and it is wired directly to the X99 PCH via four PCI Express lanes, therefore offering x4 bandwidth. In other words up to 20 Gbps can be pushed over the bus through this slot, almost more than tripling the performance compared to the SATA-III port. |  |
SATA Express |
SATA Express is a new port for storage devices that basically combines two SATA connectors and bundles them. Each SATA Express port has been wired using two PCI Express Gen2 lanes offering a total of 10 Gbps bandwidth. Compared to SATA-III with 6 Gbps bandwidth this is quite an improvement. |  |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Layout
At a first glance the MSI X99S Gaming 7 is good looking. The manufacturer decided to go for a combination of black and red. In fact the PCB is kept in matte black entirely and the coolers received some red stripes. The layout is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install large coolers without running into compatibility issues. The fact that there are angled SATA connectors allow for easy installation of oversized graphics cards. |
  
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The MSI X99S Gaming 7 comes with a digital 8+4 phase power design. The CPU gets eight phases and the memory can rely on four phases for stable current delivery. Overall the power design on this motherboard is more than sufficient for a high-end gaming grade board. It can even handle decent overclocking without breaking a sweat.
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Totally you'll find eight DIMM-slots on the X99S Gaming 7. Officially supported are DDR4 3330 (O.C.) / 3100 (O.C.) / 3000 (O.C.) / 2800 (O.C.) / 2666 (O.C.) / 2400 (O.C.) / 2133 (O.C.) MHz. There is engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you won't run into issues with large coolers even if you choose to install memory with big heatspreaders.
PCH as well as the current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via passive heatsinks and the two blocks have not been connected via a heatpipe. On another note it is nice feeling, that this board is actually heavier than average, which is always a good indicator on how serious a manufacturer is about a certain product.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Connectors and I/O
Totally MSI equipped the X99S Gaming 7 with eight angled SATA ports. All of them have been natively wired to the PCH. Additionally you find a SATA-Express port as well as an M.2 x4 slot. Any office setup, gaming system or multimedia computer can therefore be provided with plenty of drives. What almost standard with a high-end gaming motherboard is that the manufacturer equips it with onboard power and reset buttons and there is also a debug LED. Apart from that there is also an OC Genie button which enables automatic overclocking.
Totally there are five fan headers on the X99S Gaming 7, which is enough to provide a well equipped gaming system or high-end setup with fresh air. The fan headers are located around the CPU socket as well as spread over the motherboard. Furthermore there are only 4-pin headers. If you're using fans with 4-pin connectors, you can adjust fan speeds via MSIs software in Windows.
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel MSI equipped the X99S Gaming 7 with a combined P/S2 mouse/keyboard connector, eight USB 3.0/2.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, one gigabit ethernet port as well as an optical out and an analogue audio panel.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Conclusion
| Overall | + | - | |
| The MSI X99S Gaming 7 is available for 231 Euro and therefore comes with an attractive price tag. This board offers a reasonable feature mix in combination with an attractive design as well as good build quality. In general the X99S Gaming 7 is a well equipped gaming motherboard, which is definitely a suitable match for Intels new high-end desktop processors. |
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Design
- Features |
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| Layout | + | - | |
| Basically the MSI X99S Gaming 7's Layout has been well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors and apart from those there is even a SATA-Express port as well as a M.2 x4 slot. The latter two greatly add to the storage flexibility of this board. There are also power and reset buttons as well as a debug LED. In total there are four full-size PCI-Express slots on this board, but since the last two slots are right next to eachother you can "only" install up to three graphics cards. Apart from the full-size PCIe slot, there are two PCIe x1 slots, which have been located inbetween the first and second as well as inbetween the second and third PCIe x16 slot. | -
Angled SATA
connectors
- Space around the CPU socket |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |