MSI Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium Edition Review
Category : Z270
Published by Marc Büchel on 07.03.17
With the Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium Edition, MSI has a very well equipped motherboard in its portfolio, which comes with lots of features. There are for example three M.2 x4 Gen 3 slots. Apart from that this board comes with a great looking, unique design. Furthermore there is arguably one of the most high-end power designs on this motherboard.
As you might know already the Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium is MSI’s latest flagship model, based on Intel’s Z270 Express chipset. Apparently it comes with an armada of features, such as three M.2 slots for example. Compared to the predecessor, which went by the name Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium, they’ve kept the color scheme, but improved almost all the little details.
The MSI Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium is based on an the ATX form-factor and there are your usual four DIMM slots. Compared to the previous model we find a plastic cover running over both the audio solution as well as the back I/O ports. Apart from that "Mystic Light" RGB lighting is supported, which allows to change the illumination of the board from within Windows. There are also four full-sized PCIe slots with steel reinforcement and they’ve been wired using x16/x8/x8/x8 lanes.
Between each full-sized PCIe slot there is a M.2 slot and one of them is covered with the MSI M.2 Shield which should help preventing thermal throttling of M.2 SSDs. The slots can hold a whole variety of M.2 drives and the longest of them could measure 110mm, complying with the 22110 standard. In the case of SATA ports you’ll find eight of them, while they've all been angled by 90°.
Like the previous model the new Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium comes with all the bells and whistles you’d ask for in the event of overclocking. There are onboard buttons and a debug display, slow mode, LN2 mode, CMOS button and much more. Also relevant for overclocking and extreme overclocking is the power design. MSI is using 16 phases from International Rectifier, making for an excellent power design.
At a first glance this is certainly a good looking motherboard which could be perfect for high-end setups and extreme overclocking. We’ve always been a fan of the MSI Titanium series motherboards. With the individual design they are different yet great looking. From this point of view, the only thing we would change is the I/O cover. Instead of plastic we would love to see metal. At this point it's time to have a closer look at this board and see how it performs.
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel Z270 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR4, 4 x DIMM, Max. 64 GB DDR4, 4133 (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 |
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| Slots |
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| Audio | Realtek ALC1220
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| Storage | Intel Z270 chipset
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| Network |
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| Internal Connectors |
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| Extrenal Connectors |
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| 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. |
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MSI Steel Armor |
There are four full size PCIe slots on this particular board and all of them 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 breaks 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 three 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 Z270 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, three M.2 Gen 3 x4 slots, overclocking features and more.
MSI equipped the Z270 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard with a 10+4-phase digital power design
regarding CPU and iGPU. The PWM controller chips is an IR35201 from International Rectifier and it's working in 6+2-phase mode, while 5+2 phases are handed over to phase doublers. In a further step there are IR3555A power stages, which have been rated with 60A. Apart from that there are "Ti" branded inductors and a whole bunch of tantalum capacitors taking care of the output filtering stage. Overall this is a very high-end power design and certainly one of the most compelling we'll come across in the case of Z270.
This board has been equipped with a total of two DIMM-slots. Officially supported is everything up to DDR4 4133 (O.C.). There is engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders. Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 2.0.
The PCH as well as the current converters are being held at reasonable temperatures via passive heatsinks. On top of the current converters there are two aluminum heatsinks, which are connected with a nickel plated, copper 6mm heatpipe. The PCH heatsink - also milled from an aluminum block and it 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 Z270 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard with six angled SATA 6Gbps connectors, which have all been natively wired to the PCH. On top of that there are two straight SATA-III connectors. This means there are eight native SATA-III ports. Right next to those six SATA ports there is one U.2 connector. Between the full-sized PCIe slot there is a total of three M.2 x4 Gen 3 slots. With this motherboard you get four full-sized PCIe slots, whereas the first and the thrid receive metal reinforcements. This should help protecting the slots from breaking while transporting a full system with graphic card(s) 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 Z270 based motherboard, that does not feature a PLX chip. The placement of the PCIe connectors has been well thought. Apart from that there are two PCIe x1 Gen 3.0 slots. Something that is almost standard nowadays with premium motherboards, and especiall motherboards that are marketed for overclocking, 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.
There is a total of six fan headers on the MSI Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium Edition which is enough, to provide a high-end system with fresh air. The headers have been located close to the CPU as well as spread over the board. Other than that it's a good thing that all of them feature four pins, which allows for rpm regulation in BIOS as well as under Windows. Furthermore there is a plethora of additional headers you find listed below:
Lighting
- 1 x 4-pin RGB LED connector
Fan headers
- 1 x 4-pin CPU fan connector
- 4 x 4-pin system fan connectors
Watercooling connectors
- 1 x 4-pin water-pump-fan connector
Overclocking and debugging connectors
- 1 x 2-pin Slow mode connector
- 1 x 2-pin OC retry connector
Additional connectors
- 1 x USB 3.1 front panel connector
- 1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP)
- 1 x System panel(s) (Q-Connector)
- 1 x TPM connector(s)
- 1 x TPM module connector
- 1 x Front panel audio connector
- 2 x System panel connectors
- 1 x Chassis Intrusion connector
Looking at the external connectors placed directly at the I/O-panel, MSI equipped the new Z270 XPower Titanium Edition motherboard with a P/S2 connector, six USB 3.1 ports (5 x Type-A and 1 x Type-C), three USB 2.0 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, one HDMI and one 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 |
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| Motherboard |
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| 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 |
| OS | Windows 10 x64 |
Preview / Gallery
3DMark
3DMark 11
3D Mark Vantage
PC Mark 08
SiSoft Sandra 1
SiSoft Sandra 2
UC Bench
Super Pi 1M - 32M
wPrime 1024M Multicore
Cinebench R15
Tomb Raider
Metro Last Light
Sleeping Dogs
Power Consumption
Performance Rating
Price comparison
| Model |
Geizhals.eu |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme Assembly | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Impact | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | |
| ASUS Maximus IX Hero | |
| ASUS Maximus IX Code | |
| ASUS Maximus IX Formula | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe |
|
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming Aura | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | |
| ASUS Z170-A |
|
| ASUS ROG Strix Z270E Gaming | |
| ASUS ROG Strix Z270I Gaming | |
| EVGA Z170 Classified K | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Ultra Gaming | |
| Gigabyte X170-Extreme ECC | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | |
| MSI Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition | |
| MSI Z270 Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition | |
| MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC | |
| Supermicro C7Z170-OCE | |
| Supermicro C7Z170-SQ |
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| A closer look at the motherboard lineup from MSI reveals that the Z270 XPower Titanium Edition is their flagship model, regarding their gaming branded products. Of course it comes with some really neat features, like for example three M.2 x4 Gen 3, OC Dashboard, Game Boost and the new updated UEFI BIOS. The MSI Z270 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 |
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| Layout | + | - | |
| Overall, the MSI Z270 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 two PCIe Gen3 x1 slots onboard, and they can be found in between the full-sized PCIe Slots. Furthermore the XPower Gaming Titanium Edition has also been equipped with three 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 |
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| 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 11 - 3DMark Vantage - UC Bench |
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| 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 5.2 GHz was straight forward and there were no issues whatsoever. | - Sheer amount of
options - Design |
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| Recommendation | + | - | |
| The MSI Z270 XPower Titanium Edition is a very well equipped Z270 motherboard, which features solid perfomance. Currently this board costs 332 Euro, which is rather steep. Should you like the design and should you have the funds at your disposal, this is a great board. | -
Gaming - Enthusiast - Overclocking |
- Price | |
| System von MIFCOM | |||
| Should you be looking for an individually configurable system, which can be equipped with this motherboard, then we recommend you the Gaming Mini-PC Core i7-7700K from MIFCOM. | |||
| Rating | |||
| We give the MSI Z270 XPower Titanium Edition good 4 out of 5 stars. | |||
