Motherboard Reviews

MSI Z170A MPOWER Gaming Titanium Review: Heavy Metal Magnificence

Ron Perillo
« UEFI Overview and Overclocking | System Benchmarks (CPU, Memory, Compression, Multimedia) »

Test System and Testing Procedures

Item Name
Processor Intel Core i7-6700K (ES)
CPU Cooler
 Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240
Power Supply
 Corsair HX850W 80 Plus Gold PSU
Memory Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 2x8GB @ 2666MHz 15-17-17-35 2T (XMP)
Storage Silicon Power S80 240GB SSD (OS), OCZ Vertex 4 256GB SSD (Test)
Graphics Integrated CPU Graphics, Gigabyte GTx 960 Windforce 3x OC
Drivers Intel 10.1.1.7 (Z170), Intel 10.0.2.1 (Z97), NVIDIA 353.62 WHQL (Discrete)
Router Cisco E3200 stock firmware with 2x 6ft Cat5E cables for network testing
Motherboard(s) MSI Z170A MPOWER Gaming Titanium (BIOS 1.10), Gigabyte Z170X-Designare (BIOS F2), Gigabyte Z170X-Ultra Gaming (BIOS F4), Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 (BIOS F4), EVGA Z170 FTW (BIOS v1.03), Gigabyte Z170-Gaming 7 (BIOS F2)
Operating System Windows 10 Enterprise*

Latest working BIOS, updates and drivers were used at the time of the review. Each test was conducted at least three times for accuracy with the exception of PCMark 8 which already does three sets per benchmark run. *All performance benchmarks in this review and all reviews going forward will be using the Windows 10 operating system.

System Benchmarks

  1. Aida64 Engineer 5.30
  2. SiSoft Sandra Lite 2015 SP2b
  3. CineBench R15
  4. PCMark 8 v2.4.304
  5. WinRAR 5.01
  6. x.264 FHD 1.0.1
  7. x.265 0.1.4

Subsystem Testing

  1. CrystalDiskMark 5.0.3 for Storage tests
  2. LatencyMon for DPC monitoring
  3. Rightmark Audio Analyzer 6.4.1
  4. Passmark Performance Test 8.0 – Network Speed Graph

Gaming Benchmarks

  1. 3DMark Firestrike (Default)
  2. Unigine Heaven 4.0 (Max Settings, 1920 x 1080)
  3. Bioshock Infinite (Lowest Settings @ 640 x 480, Max Settings @ 1920 x 1080)

Motherboard Specifications:

CPU
  1. Support for Intel® Core™ i7 processors/Intel® Core™ i5 processors/Intel® Core™ i3 processors/Intel® Pentium® processors/Intel® Celeron® processors in the LGA1151 package
  2. L3 cache varies with CPU

(Please refer “CPU Support List” for more information.)
Chipset
  1. Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
Memory
  1. 4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 64 GB of system memory
    * Due to a Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than the size of the physical memory installed.
  2. Dual channel memory architecture
  3. Support for DDR4 3600(O.C.) / 3466(O.C.) / 3400(O.C.) / 3333(O.C.) / 3300(O.C.) / 3200(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2133 MHz memory modules
  4. Support for ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8 memory modules (operate in non-ECC mode)
  5. Support for non-ECC Un-buffered 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16 memory modules
  6. Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

(Please refer “Memory Support List” for more information.)
Onboard Graphics Integrated Graphics Processor-Intel® HD Graphics support:

Related Articles
  1. 1 x HDMI port
  2. 1 x DVI-D
Audio
  1. Realtek® ALC1150 codec
  2. High Definition Audio
  3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
  4. Support for S/PDIF Out
LAN
  1. 1 x Intel® i219 Gigabit LAN
Expansion Slots
  1. 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots*
  2. 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots*

* PCI_E6 slot and PCIe x1 slots share the same bandwidth. Please refer to page 30 for PCIe slots bandwidth table.
Multi-Graphics Technology
  1. Support for NVIDIA® 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ technologies
  2. Support for AMD 3-way CrossFireX™ and 2-Way AMD CrossFire™ technologies
Storage Interface Intel® Z170 Chipset

6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports*

  1. Support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10

2 x M.2 slots (Key M)*

  1. Supports up to PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s
  2. Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280/ 22110 storage devices**
  3. Supports RAID 0 and RAID 1 for M.2 PCIe Storage devices***

1 x U.2 port*

  1. Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe storage
  2. Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology****

* M.2 SATAs and SATA1, 2, 5 and 6 share the same bandwidth. M2_2 slot and U.2 port share the same bandwidth. Please refer to page 36 for M.2/ U.2 & SATA combination table.
** Only M2_1 slot supports type 22110 storage device.
*** M.2 PCIe RAID volume can be created with UEFI BIOS.
****This function will be supported depend on the CPU.
USB ASMedia® ASM1142 Chipset

  1. 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 (SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps) port on the back panel
  2. 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 (Super Speed USB 10Gbps) Type-C port on the back panel

Intel® Z170 Chipset

  1. 6 x USB 3.1 Gen1 (SuperSpeed USB) ports (2 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB connectors)
  2. 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 (SuperSpeed USB) Type-C port on the board
  3. 6 x USB 2.0 (High-speed USB) ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB connector)
Internal I/O Connectors
  1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
  2. 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
  3. 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
  4. 2 x M.2 Socket 3 connector
  5. 1 x U.2 connector
  6. 2 x 4-pin CPU fan connectors
  7. 3 x 4-pin system fan connectors
  8. 1 x USB 2.0 connector (supports additional 2 USB 2.0 ports)
  9. 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports)
  10. 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C port
  11. 1 x front panel audio header
  12. 2 x front panel connectors
  13. 1 x RGB LED Connector
  14. 1 x Slow mode booting jumper
  15. 1 x Clear CMOS jumper
  16. 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
Back Panel IO Ports
  1. 1 x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse combo port
  2. 4 x USB 2.0 ports
  3. 1 x DVI-D port
  4. 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 port
  5. 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port
  6. 1 x HDMI port
  7. 1 x LAN (RJ45) port
  8. 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports
  9. 1 x Optical S/PDIF OUT connector
  10. 5 x OFC audio jacks
BIOS
  1. 2 x 128 Mbit flash
  2. Use of licensed AMI UEFI BIOS
  3. Support for DualBIOS™
  4. PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0
Form Factor
  1. ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm
*For official specifications and promotional information, visit: https://ca.msi.com/Motherboard/Z170A-MPOWER-GAMING-TITANIUM.html#hero-specification

Previous page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Next page
Ron Perillo
Show More
Please Support Us, Every Purchase Helps Keep the Site Going Please Support Us, Every Purchase Helps Keep the Site Going
Modders-Inc is all about PC case modding, PC hardware reviews, technology news, and PC-related articles. Modders Inc is supported by its audience and we thank you. We may earn an affiliate commission by clicking banner ads and links within the website to any retailers or publishers. As a Amazon Associates we earn from qualifying purchases. Full details of how we use and store information can be found in our Privacy Page. This site is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The contents are the views and opinions of the authors and site owner and/or his associates. All products and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Reproduction in whole or in part, in any form or medium, without express written permission of MI Group LLC. is prohibited. All content and graphical elements are Copyright by Modders Inc © 2006-2024 | Modders-Inc.com is part of the MI Group LLC. All rights reserved. Site Map #VoidYourWarranty #moddersinc #casemods #pcbuilds #pchardware
Back to top button