MSI Z170A Gaming M5 Preview
Category : Z170
Published by Marc Büchel on 26.08.15
With the Gaming M5, MSI has a well equipped motherboard in its portfolio, which comes with lots of features. There are for example two M.2 x4 Gen 3 slots and apart from that MSI further refined the Design of their Gaming series motherbards.
Already at launch MSI has a complete portfolio of Z170 motherboards. On the following pages we're going to have a close look at the Z170A Gaming M5, which is a high-end Z170 motherboard. Already at a first glance you can see that there is a great looking design in place and the PCB is definitely not short on features.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel Z170 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR4, 4 x DIMM, Max. 64 GB DDR4, 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 ALC1150
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| Storage | Intel Z97 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 |
- 1 x MSI SLI bridge
- 1 x Quick Installation Guide
- 1 x Support CD
- 1 x I/O shield
- 4 x SATA data cables
- 1 x Cabling aid package
- 1 x MSI case badge
- 1 x Sheet of SATA cable labels
- 1 x MSI GAMING door hanger
- 1 x Thank You card
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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 two PCIe x16 slots on this particular board, which 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 break 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. |
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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. |  |
Killer Ethernet |
It is rather obvious that MSI is not only optimizing this board for overclocking but for gaming as well. Next to the beefed up audio solution there is the Killer Ethernet chip, which gives gamers additional control over a variety of network settings, which in the end can help reduce latency when your internet connection is under full load. |  |
M.2 Support |
The Z170A Gaming M5 motherboard from MSI features two 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. |  |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Layout
Like we mentioned in the introduction the MSI Z170A Gaming M5 motherboard comes with a great looking design. The PCB has a matte black finish and the heatsinks feature red covers. On the PCH you'll also find the great looking MSI dragon. The heatsinks have been shaped with a lot of attention to detail. The layout has been well thought and there are plenty of useful features, like one header to attach external USB 3.0 ports, SATA 6Gbps Ports, two M.2 Gen 3 x4 slots, overclocking features and more.
MSI equipped the Z170A Gaming M5 motherboard with a 12-phase digital power design and an ISL6388 chip from Intersil is taking care of the CPU VRM. As it's the case with all high-end motherboards from MSI the solid capacitors are part of MSI's Military Class 5 group of components so we are looking at an overall higly capable power design, as there are for instance titanium chokes on this motherboard.
A closer look at the power design related to the memory reveals a 2-phase digital power design here driven by a PV3205 digital, dual-channel buck phase controller from powervation.
As far as the memory goes, you can find four DIMM-slots on the Z170A Gaming M5 motherboard. Officially supported are the DDR4 3600 (O.C.) / 3200 (O.C.) / 2800 (O.C.) / 2666 (O.C.) / 2400 (O.C.) / 2133MHz. There is enough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you will not run into any issues with large coolers, even if you choose to install memory with big heatspreaders. Also supported are the Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 2.0.
The PCH as well as the current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via passive heatsinks. The heatsink for current converters is made from a single aluminium block that uses one 6mm nickel-plated copper heatpipe. The PCH heatsink has not been been integrated into the heatpipe loop and is quite simple and flat. The cooling blocks have been very well made and also they are perfetcly attached to the board to provide enough pressure on the components they have to cool. The aluminium blocks are entirely black with red sheet metal covers, overall resembling a completly new design.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Connectors and I/O
In total, MSI equipped the Z170A Gaming M5 motherboard with six SATA 6Gbps connectors, which have all been natively wired to the PCH. This means you get six native SATA-III ports, whereas four can be combined to two SATA Express connectors. Above the first PCIe x16 slot there is the first M.2 x4 Gen 3 slot and on top of the third full size PCIe slot, there is the second M.2 x4 Gen 3 slot. With this motherboard you get three PCIe x16 Gen 3.0 and four PCIe x1 Gen 3.0 slots and all of them have been painted black. The First two PCIe x16 slots receive metal reinforcement. From top to bottom for the PCIe 16x slots have been wired using 16 lanes, 8 lanes and 8 lanes. This means you can do 8x/8x SLI/CrossFire and 8x/8x/4x CrossFireX (3-way). Basically these are the standard options you get with any Intel's Z170 based motherboard, that does not feature a PLX chip. The placement of the PCIe connectors has been well thought. Unfortunately there are no practical onboard power- and reset-buttons but at least there is a debug LED.
The MSI Z170A Gaming M5 motherboard features a total of five fan headers, which is enough to provide a normal gaming rig with enough of fresh air. A closer look at the pictures below shows where they have been placed. All five fan headers feature 4 pins and support PWM functionality. Therefore it's possible to control fan speeds from within Windows as well as the BIOS.
Looking at the external connectors placed directly at the I/O-panel, MSI equipped the new Z170A Gaming M5 motherboard with a P/S2 connector, six USB 3.1 ports (1 Type-C connector), two USB 3.0 ports (one Hotkey + BIOS Flashback port) one Gigabit Ethernet port, one HDMI and a DVI port and the analogue audio panel.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Conclusion
| Overall | + | - | |
| A closer look at the motherboard lineup from MSI reveals that the Z170A Gaming M5 is an upper mid-range model, regarding their gaming branded products. Of course it comes with some really neat features, like for example a Game Boost and the new updated UEFI BIOS. The MSI Z170A Gaming M5 motherboard is powered by an 12-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 as well as the latest Killer E2400 Ethernet chip. The Killer LAN chip always comes bundled with a good software, which for example allows traffic shaping. Apart from that there is an adequate bundle, containing everything necessary to start building a new rig. | -
Design |
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| Layout | + | - | |
| Overall, the MSI Z170A Gaming M5'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 header. Unfortunately there are no practical power- and reset-buttons and there also isn't a CLR_CMOS button. Nevertheless MSI decided to equip this board with a debug display. This one is always highly useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Apart from that there are three PCI Express Gen3 x16 slots, which have been very well positioned. You have four PCIe Gen3 x1 connectors onboard, and they can be found in between the PCIe Slot as well as on top of the first full-sized PCIe x16. Furthermore the Gaming M5 has also been equipped with two M.2 x4 Gen 3 slots. Apart from that you get six USB3.0, two USB2.0 and six SATA3 ports, which is a good connectivity mix. | - Angled SATA connectors
- Debug display - Space around the CPU socket - Audio Solution |
- No power/reset-button onboard |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |