Conclusion

Allgemein		+	-
A closer look at the motherboard lineup from MSI reveals that the Z97 XPower is the best equipped model. Therefore, it comes with some really neat features, like for example a highly powerful power design regarding CPU(+600W) and memory. The included 32-phase design is going to be more than enough for any overclocker, no matter what record wants to be broken. MSI also equipped this board with some features for extreme overclocking and gamers. The lineup includes the OC PCB and OC buttons for extreme overclocking as well as the OC Pen Drive, OC fan stand, a beefed-up audio solution, integrated WiFi and Bluetooth and the M.2 support. Apart from the features for gamers, the bundle is rich and there is more than you will ever need with this motherboard.		- Design - 4 x PCI-Express 3.0 Slots - Features - Bundle	- No SATA Express Connector
Layout		+	-
Overall, the MSI Z97 XPower layout has been well thought. It features a clear CPU socket zone which should appeal to the extreme overclockers and make it compatible with most, if not all, CPU coolers. It has enough space for multi graphics card setups and features angled SATA connectors that you can find on almost any motherboard these days. Other than that, there are few USB 3.0 connectors, practical power- and reset-buttons, OC Genie and Bclk and multiplier plus and minus buttons, CLR_CMOS button, which is located at 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. In total, you get five PCI Express Gen3 x16 slots (thanks to the PLX8748 chip), which have been well positioned. Otherwise you have two PCIe Gen2 x1 slots, and MSI has also included an unpluggable PCIe Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module. The rest also complies with the very high standard: eight USB 3.0, ten SATA-III connectos and one internal USB3 header (for two USB3 ports). In case you are looking for more overclocking friendly features, MSI has equipped the motherboard with voltage reading points and two physical BIOS with a DIP switch to select the one you want.		- Angled SATA  connectors - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display / CLR_CMOS - 6x USB 3.0 - Bluetooth/Wi-Fi - 2x BIOS - Clean CPU Socket Area

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