Conclusion

Allgemein		+	-
A closer look at the motherboard lineup from MSI reveals that the Z97M Gaming is the only micro-ATX form factor motherboard. It comes with some really neat features, like for example a Guard-Pro, OC Genie 4 and the new UEFI Click Bios 4. Despite its smaller size and micro-ATX form-factor, the MSI Z97M Gaming motherboard is powered by an 8-phase CPU VRM which is good enough for a small overclocked system. MSI also equipped this board with some neat features for gamers including a beefed-up audio solution as well as the newest Killer E2205 Ethernet chip. Apart from the features for gamers, the bundle is not that rich but there are enough cables and everything to install an easy gaming PC.		- Design - Features	- SATA Express Connector
Layout		+	-
Overall, the MSI Z97M Gaming'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 also a USB3 connector. There are also practical power- and reset-buttons along with the clr_CMOS which is located on the I/O panel. Furthermore there is even a debug display which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. It also features two PCI Express Gen3 x16 slots, which have been very well positioned. Between the two main PCIe x16 you will find two slot space to provide good airflow for a dual graphics card setup. You have two PCIe Gen2 x1 connectors onboard, and one of them is between the two PCI Express x16, as well as the M.2 slot, while the rest of the ports and slots is pretty much standard (six USB3, six SATA3 ports and one internal USB3 connector for two USB3 ports.) As this is an MSI overclocking motherboard you also get the OC Genie button.		-Angled SATA and USB3 connectors - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display / CLR_CMOS - 6x USB 3.0 - M.2 Support

Page 1 - Introduction	Page 4 - Layout
Page 2 - Specs and Delivery	Page 5 - Connectors and I/O
Page 3 - Features	Page 6 - Conclusion

Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch Luca Rocchi l.rocchi@ocaholic.ch