Review: msi mpower z97

For all of us who are up to date in the hardware world, you know that MSI hit the table with the launch of the Mpower line in the LGA1155 socket with Z77 chip, which just a year ago the current LGA 1150 platform with Z87 chipset was added. On this occasion, and with the new processor renewal, the MSI Mpower Z97 comes to our hands to analyze. A board designed for the most gamers and for overclocking competition. Next we will see one of the best analyzes on the planet on this magnificent motherboard.

We are grateful for the transfer of the product to colleagues at MSI Ibérica:

Main improvements of the Z97 chipset to its predecessor Z87

There are hardly any differences between the Z87 and Z97 chipset on paper. We have few such as the incorporation of the SATA Express block with 10 Gb / s of bandwidth (40% faster) compared to the 6Gb / s of the classic SATA 3. How is there so much improvement? It is because they have taken one or two of the PCI Express lanes, so be careful when doing dual configurations or with multiple graphics cards. One of the most important improvements is the incorporation of the M.2 connection with NGFF support natively, thus replacing the well-received mSATA ports. This technology is the future of computing, since it will allow us to connect large, fast storage devices without occupying places in our box. During this year and 2015 we will see the increase in sales of this connection. Finally, we see the possibility of overclocking RAM memories up to 3300 mh. Well, this reaches the limit of mhz that we can reach with DDR3 memories.

Frequently asked questions to consider

- My heatsink is compatible with socket 1155 and 1556. Is it compatible with socket 1150? Yes, we have tested different motherboards and they all have the same holes as in socket 1155 and 1156. - Is my power supply compatible with Intel Haswell or Intel Devil Canyon / Haswell Refresh ? There are no Haswell certified power supplies. Most of the manufacturers have already released the list of compatible sources: Antec, Corsair, Enermax, Nox, Aerocool / Tacens and Thermaltake. Giving 98% absolute compatibility.

Technical characteristics

MSI Mpower Z97

MSI presents its motherboard in a bulky cardboard box that highlights the yellow and black color. In it we can see an "M" that refers to its Mpower series.

Once we open the box we find two compartments. The bundle is made up of:

MSI Mpower Z97 Motherboard. Instruction manual. Quick guide and installation CD. SATA cables. IHS adapter. Back plate.

The MSI Mpower Z97 maintains its 30.5 x 24.4 cm ATX format. Its design is very aggressive and we like it a lot, since it uses the colors yellow and black. The great success in previous series, we saw that the market began to move with this set of colors. RAM, MSI Lightning series and even solid state drives.

It supports up to 32 GB DDR3 capable of overclocking up to 3200 mhz. It has a total of 4 DDR3 DIMMs.

The back of the motherboard. The only thing that stands out is the pair of stamps from its Military Class certifications and SLI and Crossfire systems.

The board comes very well accompanied with 12 feeding phases and a very good dissipation system. Its heatsinks are robust and when overclocked they hardly heat up. In this new version we will not have any kind of problem when installing heatsinks.

It also has two 8-pin + 2 EPS power outlets that allow us to better overclock.

Detail of the feeding phases. A real wonder for the price of this motherboard.

The MSI Mpower Z97 allows us to install up to 3 graphics cards with configurations:

1 GPU: 16x2 GPU: 8x - 8x3 GPU 8x - 8x - 4x

Both in Nvidia SLI and CrossFireX ATI configurations. To give an extra energy it has a 6-pin socket to support Multi-GPU systems.

MSI were among the first manufacturers to incorporate their own sound card system. We are already facing the Audio Boost 2 version with Realtek chip, accompanied by an EMI shield with LEDs, 7.1 analog output, Creative Sound Blaster Cine software, USB DAC, double amplifier with an impedance of up to 600 ohms. In short, one of the best integrated sound cards on the market.

Finally, we show you small high-end details: Debug LED, full of internal USB connections, control panel to turn on / off, reset and increase the equipment multiplier.

We find a total of 8 SATA ports at 6 Gb / s. Six of which are connected to the main chip, while the other two are connected to the ASM1061 controller. These are not marked nor does it differ in an aesthetic way, we must resort to the manul to see which ones they are. It also includes an M.2 slot. to connect a solid state hard drive to take advantage of the maximum possible space of our equipment.

UEFI BIOS

MSI offers us one of the best and simplest BIOS on the market. If we are looking to overclock with just 4 steps, MSI gives it to you. If you are looking for the control of the fans, it also offers it to you. Monitoring of all connected components, it also offers it to us. It is one of my favorite BIOS. Good job MSI!

WE RECOMMEND YOU MSI MEG Z390 ACE Review in Spanish (Complete Analysis)

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i7 4770k
Base plate:	MSI Mpower Z97
Memory:	G.Skills Trident X 2400mhz.
Heatsink	Noctua NH-D15
HDD	Samsumg EVO 250GB
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 780
Power supply	Antec HCP 850

To check the stability of the processor and the motherboard, we have made an extreme OC of up to 4900 mhz with Prime 95 Custom by liquid cooling. The graphic that we have used is an Nvidia GTX 780 We go to the results:

TESTS
3dMark Vantage:	P48029
3dMark11	P15741 PTS
Crysis 3	66 FPS
CineBench 11.5	14.3 fps.
Resident EVIL 6 Lost Planet Tomb Raider Metro	1350 PTS. 135 FPS. 68 FPS 65 FPS

Final words and conclusion

The MSI Mpower Z97 is an ATX format motherboard designed for gamers and especially for the most overclocked, as it has 12 digital power phases, Military Class technology and a wide range of possibilities when installing a MultiGPU system.

Personally, this range is the one I like the most, those that range between 150 to 170 €, since there is a lot of competition. In the cooling system it has two great allies: its heatsinks that are robust and very attractive. While in the SATA port configurations it has 8 and an M.2 connection. But… it does not have a Sata Express, here the company must improve on future motherboards.

In our test bench we have put our i7-4770k processor up to 4900 mhz! An excellent result considering that we were airborne with a Noctua NH-D15 and memories at 2400 mhz. Regarding the Gaming performance nothing to reproach him, it behaves like the Gaming range without problems.

I love it is its Audio Boost technology with 600 ohm headphone amplifier, EMI shielding and LED lighting. The sondio is very successful and we will not miss any dedicated sound card for the classic needs.

In short, if you are looking for a quality motherboard that is around € 175, you must take into account the Mpower Z97 for its component quality and great features.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ BOLD DESIGN WITH YELLOW COLOR.	- DOES NOT INCLUDE SATA EXPRESS.
+ MILITARY CLASS COMPONENTS.	- NO WIFI CONNECTION.
+ 12 FEEDING PHASES.
+ 8 SATA AND M.2 CONNECTIONS.
+ AUDIO BOOST SOUND CARD.
+ EXCELLENT RESULT IN OVERCLOCK AND TESTS.