Msi z270 gaming m5 review in Spanish (full analysis)

MSI Z270 Gaming M5 technical features

Unboxing and design

The MSI Z270 Gaming M5 It is presented in a box that predominates the color red. We see an image of the motherboard next to the name of the motherboard in very large letters.

On the back they indicate all the most important technical characteristics of the motherboard.

Once we open the box we find the following bundle:

MSI Z270 Gaming M5 motherboard. SATA cable set. Rear hood. SLI bridge. Instruction manual and quick guide. Software CD. Stickers to identify all the wiring.

As we can see, it is an ATX format board with dimensions of 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm for the LGA 1151 socket. The board has a very formal design since dark colors predominate and its PCB is matte black. It incorporates the latest Z270 chipset that is compatible with all Intel Skylake processors and the recent Intel Kaby Lake. Specifically, it supports both Intel Core i7, i5, i3, Pentium and the basic Celeron.

Photo of the rear area of the motherboard, for our most curious readers.

The MSI Z270 Gaming M5 features two zones with cooling: power phases and one for the Z270 chipset. All its components are armored with Military Class 5 technology. What improvement does it have compared to other motherboards? Mainly it incorporates high resistance capacitors, quality CHOKEs, power phases and premium regulators. In addition to the classic reinforcement in the socket.

And is that the motherboard has a total of 11 power phases that is perfect to get the most out of it via overclocking.

Another image that reflects the 8-pin EPS connection for auxiliary power.

The board incorporates a total of 4 64 GB compatible DDR4 RAM memory sockets with frequencies from 2133 MHz to 3800 MHz in Dual Channel and is compatible with the XMP 2.0 profile.

The MSI Z270 Gaming M5 presents a very interesting distribution of its PCI Express connections. It has three PCIe 3.0 to x16 slots and another three normal PCIe to x1. The PCI Express 3.0 to x16 incorporate an armature that better cushions the graphics that are so heavy that they exist on the market today, the same thing happens with the memories. It is curious to identify each slot with a number, for those users who are somewhat more absent-minded.

The motherboard offers compatibility with Nvidia and AMD graphics cards . In the case of Nvidia it allows us to connect two graphics cards in SLI, while with AMD in CrossFireX up to 3 graphics cards.

As expected, it incorporates an M.2 connection to install any SSD with type 2242/2260/2280/22110 format (42/60/80 and 110 mm). As we have already discussed, these devices are very fast and have a bandwidth speed of up to 32 GB / s.

One of the main improvements in this new line is the incorporation of the MSI Shield M.2 technology. What functionality does this new design offer us? It basically cools up to 40% more to M2 SATA and NVMe drives.

The design is quite simple, it is a piece of metal with a thermalpad that sticks on the M2 NVMe disk in question. Thanks to the box fans, the SSD can improve its performance and not lower the write / read power of these hot chips. We believe that even with a slightly thicker sheet metal these temperatures could be significantly improved.

The Realtek ALC1150 integrated sound card comes enhanced with Audio Boost 4 technology. What improvements does it offer us? Better sound quality through the use of premium quality audio components with 8 channels. Which will make us enjoy a more crystalline sound and with a high impedance headphone amplifier.

Regarding storage, it has six 6 GB / s SATA III connections with RAID 0.1, 5 and 10 support and a U.2 connection .

RGB lighting takes on more importance in this new generation of motherboards. MSI specifically relies on Mystic Light technology with 16.8 million colors. What areas does it light up? Both the area of the rear connections, the sound card and the heatsink of the motherboard chipset. The result is great!

Finally we detail the rear connections of the MSI Z270 Gaming PRO Carbon. They are made up of:

1 x PS2.5 x USB 3.0.1 x DVI. 1 X USB 3.1 Type C.1 x Gigabit LAN. 8 channel sound output.

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Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i7-7700k.
Base plate:	MSI Z270 Gaming M5
Memory:	Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4
Heatsink	Corsair H115
HDD	Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB.
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 1080.
Power supply	Corsair AX860i.

To check the stability of the i7-7700k processor at 4500 MHZ and the motherboard we have stressed with Prime 95 Custom and air cooling. The graphics we have used is an Nvidia GTX1080, without further delay, let's see the results obtained in our tests with a 1920 × 1080 monitor.

BIOS

The BIOS maintains the same format as in previous generations. The modification possibilities are easy to predict and its operation is very simple. As always, it comes very complete, since it allows us to customize the speed of the fans, monitor all the connected components and change any essential equipment option. We really like this new BIOS!

Final words and conclusion about MSI Z270 Gaming M5

The MSI Z270 Gaming M5 is an ATX format motherboard, with 4 DDR4 memory slots that we can mount a total of 64 GB, three PCI Express Nvidia SLI and AMD CrossFireX slots.

We liked its design a lot, since it is a minimalist design and that with its Military Class V technology offers great features to overclock and have a greater longevity of all its components.

We recommend reading the best motherboards on the market.

In our tests we have been able to put the i7-7700k up to 4700 MHz and that together with a GTX 1080 we have obtained really good results.

In the coming days it will arrive in Spain for a price of 219.90 euros. We believe that it can be positioned on one of the most sold motherboards in Spain.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ 11 FEEDING PHASES.
+ MORE SOBER DESIGN.
+ CONTROLLER ALLOWS ALL FANS VIA BIOS.
+ OFFERS A GREAT OVERCLOCK FOR ITS PRICE RANGE.
+ VERY STABLE BIOS.