MSI Z270 Gaming M5 Preview
Category : Z270
Published by Luca Rocchi on 03.01.17
With the Gaming M5, MSI has a well equipped motherboard in its portfolio, which comes with a bunch of interesting features. There are for example two M.2 Gen 3 x4 slots and a single U.2 port. Apart from that MSI refined the design of their Gaming series motherbards, which should make this a pretty interesting model.
Already at launch MSI has a complete portfolio of Z270 motherboards ready. Compared to the previous generation of Z170 motherboards, the new MSI Z270 Gaming M5 use a new color scheme in combination with a RGB backlight. On the following pages we're going to have a close look at the Z270 Gaming M5, which is an upper mid-range Z270 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 Z270 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR4, 4 x DIMM, Max. 64 GB DDR4, 3800 OC, Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
| Multi-GPU |
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| Slots |
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| Audio | Realtek ALC1220
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| Storage | Intel Z270 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 full-sized PCIe 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 carrying or shipping a system it can happen, that the PCIe slot breaks 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. |  |
Mystic Light Sync |
With Mystic Light Sync you can create your own color scheme using the full RGB palette of colors as well as different lighting effects. With this feature you can control and also syncronize RGB LEDs from other components such as CPU coolers, graphics cards or even case lighting. Manging this feature happens from within Windows thanks to the MSI Gaming App. |  |
Audio Boost 4 |
MSI equips this motherboard with an improved audio solution which includes a Realtek ALC1220 audio codec and dual headphone amplifier. At the I/O shield we find gold-plated audio jacks which help in improving the signal quality. Furthermore there are high quality capacitors from nichicon and audio implementation has been separated from the rest of the PCB. Last but not least there is even a special USB port, to which best to connect a DAC, thanks to cleaner and more stable voltage supply. |  |
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 if your internet connection should even be under full load. |  |
M.2 Support |
The Z270 Gaming M5 motherboard from MSI features two M.2 slots which are placed between the PCIe slots. This motherboard can be equipped with one 2280 M.2 and one 22110 M.2 SSDs, where the figures behind the "22" stand for the actual length of the M.2 SSD in millimeter. Both slots are connected via four PCIe x4 lanes, offering up to 32 Gbps bandwidth. The bottom slot features a MSI M.2 Shield which also acts as a heatsink in order to prevent any throttling issues. |  |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Layout
As we've already mentioned in the introduction the MSI Z270 Gaming M5 motherboard comes with a great looking design. The PCB has a matte black finish and the heatsinks feature dark grey covers. On the PCH you'll also find the neat looking MSI dragon. The heatsinks have been shaped with a lot of attention to detail. The layout in general has been well thought and there are plenty of useful features, like two headers to attach an external USB 3.0 port, SATA 6Gbps ports, a U.2 port, two M.2 Gen 3 x4 slots, overclocking features and more.
The MSI Z270 Gaming M5 comes with a digital 8+2+1 phase power design. The CPU is backed up by eight phases, the iGPU can rely on two phases and the memory receives stable current supply from one phase. In general the power design on this board is adequate for the job at hand. It's even good for aircooled overclocking every now and then, but we would not recommend this board for extreme overclocking. For that purpose MSI has more suitable boards in its portfolio.
This board has been equipped with a total of four DIMM-slots. Officially supported is everything up to DDR4 3866 (O.C.). There is engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders. Also supported are 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 two aluminium blocks which are not linked with additional heatpipe. The PCH heatsink 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 gray 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 Z270 Gaming M5 motherboard with six SATA 6Gbps connectors, which have all been natively wired to the PCH. Above the first PCIe x16 slot there is the first M.2 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 full-sized PCIe Gen 3.0 and three PCIe x1 Gen 3.0 slots and all of them have been painted black. The first two full-sized PCIe x16 slots received metal reinforcement. From top to bottom for the full-sized PCIe slots have been wired using 16 lanes, 8 lanes and 8 lanes. This means you can do 16x/8x SLI/CrossFire and 8x/8x/4x CrossFireX (3-way). Basically these are the standard options you get with any Intel's Z270 based motherboard, that does not feature a PLX chip. The placement of the PCIe slots has been well thought. Unfortunately there are no practical onboard power- and reset-buttons but at least there is a debug LED.
The MSI Z270 Gaming M5 motherboard features a total of six 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 six fan headers feature 4-pin 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 Z270 Gaming M5 motherboard with two USB 3.1 gen1 ports, two USB 3.1 gen2 ports (Type-C and Type-A), two USB 2.0 ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, one HDMI and a DisplayPort connector as well as the analogue audio panel with an optical out.
| 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 Z270 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 Game Boost and the new updated UEFI BIOS. The MSI Z270 Gaming M5 motherboard is powered by an 8-phase CPU VRM, which is usually enough for an overclocked system even if you wanted to do extreme benching using liquid nitrogen as coolant, neverthelss we would choose another model from the MSI Z270 portfolio for that purpose. Continuing on the feature list we find a beefed-up audio solution as well as the latest Killer E2500 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 Z270 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 are internal USB 3.0 headers. Unfortunately there are no practical power- and reset-buttons. 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 full-sized PCI Express Gen3 slots (two of them with Steel Armor), which have been very well positioned. You also get 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 slot. Furthermore the Gaming M5 has also been equipped with two M.2 x4 Gen 3 slots. | - 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 |