MSI Z87 MPower LGA 1150 Motherboard Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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MSI Z87 MPower LGA 1150 Motherboard Review - The "M" series motherboards from MSI have gained a lot of recognition recently being an upper quality not-so-high-priced motherboard for the computer hardware enthusiast. However while MSI brings us some of the best hardware you’ll find on the current market seemingly goes a bit off course with firmware and software.
 
The stability of the MPower showed to be very good over a couple of days of stability testing. Our first 24 hour stress test at 4.5GHz/1866MHz was perfect with simple single fan cooling across the motherboard. The PWMs on the motherboard stayed under 100F and the surface of the rather large heatsinks stayed in the low 90F range. So Dan’s previous thoughts on this MPower running a bit hot seemed unfounded to me. Removing air flow from the motherboard and continuing stress testing for another day netted me PWM temperatures of 128F at the highest, and surface temperatures on the heatsinks of less than 100F. I was extremely impressed with the MSI Z97 MPower cooling configuration.
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Fixed - Thanks! - Kyle

Good review as always.
 
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Looks like a board to consider for a new build.

As always, a very well done review and very helpful.....choices, choices.:D
 
Interesting that you guys didn't spend much time on the mSATA port, it's kind of a defining feature of the board.
That said, I'm not sure what the value of such a port is. I suppose it makes inboard wifi more interesting on modded cases etc. But considering the costs of mSATA SSDs, I don't think the user of a sub-$200 mobo is real interested in that.
 
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Modred189 said:
Interesting that you guys didn't spend much time on the mSATA port, it's kind of a defining feature of the board.
That said, I'm not sure what the value of such a port is. I suppose it makes inboard wifi more interesting on modded cases etc. But considering the costs of mSATA SSDs, I don't think the user of a sub-$200 mobo is real interested in that.
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I think you just answered your own query. :)
 
I bought an z87 mpower max and ive loved it since launch 100%
Scared to buy from ASUS anymore so I gave them a shot.
Great review but I don't agree with the software gripes.
I get my drivers from MSI website and keep them in a folder for drivers on one of my storage drives...people actually use the cd?
Have the stuff the ASUS discs would install is junk anyway.

As far as mobo software goes... Honestly they all have bugs/quirks from all 3 companies mentioned.
I never install any of that junk...
 
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Modred189 said:
Interesting that you guys didn't spend much time on the mSATA port, it's kind of a defining feature of the board.
That said, I'm not sure what the value of such a port is. I suppose it makes inboard wifi more interesting on modded cases etc. But considering the costs of mSATA SSDs, I don't think the user of a sub-$200 mobo is real interested in that.
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Given the amount of stuff that's now on the CPU choosing a product is more about feature set and looks than raw performance. So tossing in the kitchen sink isn't always a bad idea, it might just be that feature that sells your board.

For what it's worth all the hard drive bays in my main systems are taken up by SAS/SATA mechanical drives. So I use PCI-E SSDs for most OS installs. I'd be interested in a product where I can slap in some more SSD based storage without having to use a bay. mSATA might not come cheap, but it's much cheaper than PCIE based storage. The cheapest way you're going to get quality PCIE storage is essentially mSATA based blades (ones I get come with two slots) which also drives up the price. But as the C606 chipset doesn't come with an mSATA slot it's the only option.

That's not the intended purpose though, the intended purpose is as a caching drive.
 
acerbic said:
Given the amount of stuff that's now on the CPU choosing a product is more about feature set and looks than raw performance. So tossing in the kitchen sink isn't always a bad idea, it might just be that feature that sells your board.

For what it's worth all the hard drive bays in my main systems are taken up by SAS/SATA mechanical drives. So I use PCI-E SSDs for most OS installs. I'd be interested in a product where I can slap in some more SSD based storage without having to use a bay. mSATA might not come cheap, but it's much cheaper than PCIE based storage. The cheapest way you're going to get quality PCIE storage is essentially mSATA based blades (ones I get come with two slots) which also drives up the price. But as the C606 chipset doesn't come with an mSATA slot it's the only option.

That's not the intended purpose though, the intended purpose is as a caching drive.
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The bad thing about the mSATA slot is that if you have a drive hooked in it, then it disables one of the other sata ports.

I recently returned a MSI Z87-G45 lemon. I was just going to get it replaced but changed my mind and now going with a GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-D3H. The Intel NIC is more attractive than KILLER to me.
Can't wait to be on a new platform after sticking with my Phenom II for so long.
 
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Tbird87 said:
The bad thing about the mSATA slot is that if you have a drive hooked in it, then it disables one of the other sata ports.

I recently returned a MSI Z87-G45 lemon. I was just going to get it replaced but changed my mind and now going with a GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-D3H. The Intel NIC is more attractive than KILLER to me.
Can't wait to be on a new platform after sticking with my Phenom II for so long.
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I use LSI RAID cards for most of my storage. For the most part onboard RAID is as much of a joke as onboard video to the people who actually need it. Even if you're the sort of non-power-user that uses onboard you still have more ports than most cases have drive bays.

I haven't seen a mobo maker (outside of supermicro) who sells in the consumer space that uses the better intel nics either. It's like they are just pulling the cheapest dogshit out there that doesn't even work with proper OS or perform up to par because it has "intel" stamped on it to sell it to suckers.

If you're using onboard networking, this again is as funny as using onboard video... circa the onboard video in the pentium 4 era.
 
One thing I've read (I don't have the mobo, so I cannot confirm) is that there is no Linux support for the NIC. Any chance this can be confirmed by someone?
 
Hit in the Head said:
One thing I've read (I don't have the mobo, so I cannot confirm) is that there is no Linux support for the NIC. Any chance this can be confirmed by someone?
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Officially at least this is true. Only Windows drivers can be found on the Killer Gaming site.
 
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