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MSI Z77 MPower

T

TheGoat Eater

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 26, 2005
Messages
1,428
MSI Z77 MPOWER
testing by TGE

I have been testing this board a few days and I am definitely impressed with it. At $220 USD I think it its a absolutely a great bargain for the features and quality that it exhibits during my tests.

I will be testing this board throughout the next couple of weeks so I will be updating this often. Be sure to check back as I plan to test with some different CPUs and memory sets as well as push it even more with some tweaking on the tests as well ;)

So Stay tune and check back often


About the MSI Z77 MPOWER
​

Galleries for your ease of viewing ;)​

Motherboard​


BIOS​



Up to date Results​


The Board​




































































The BIOS​

















Testing Results
(to be updated with best scores over the next few weeks)

Super Pi 32m @ 4.99GHz
394379_orig.jpg


wPrime 32m and 1024m @ 5GHz
1082122_orig.jpg



Hexus PiFast @ 5GHz
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Hyper Pi 32m @ 4.9GHz
2529947_orig.jpg
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​
 
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Lucky you, I want my hands on one too.

I know this is going to be released on the 28th officially.

Do you know when the X79 Mpower is going to be released?
 
I don't have any other information on additional parts at this time.

I will be testing this week :)

For now a nice gallery can be seen Here - I hope you like it a bit better than the standard 30 feet of forum scrolling lol ;)
 
I really the color scheme, pulled right off the lightnings.

What is the clear plastic thing on the I/O ports between the USB2.0 and 3.0 ports?
 
I normally don't care about color scheme but I don't like the yellow mixed with the rest of the dark subdued black colors.


Looks bad ass.


How many Intel SATA inputs does it have? Only 6?
 
I will be able to release more information tomorrow after NDA lifts ;) - hope you are excited lol, this is a awesome board with a friggin great feature set.
 
with NDA lifted I still am getting some stuff put together, but I want to leave you with a nice sub 5 super pi 32m screen shot. I will be making this write up and review in segments so I can take time to focus on different things as I have only had a limited time with the board (though I love it)

*image moved to first post
 
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SonDa5 said:
I normally don't care about color scheme but I don't like the yellow mixed with the rest of the dark subdued black colors.


Looks bad ass.


How many Intel SATA inputs does it have? Only 6?
Click to expand...


I found out that it has 2xSATA 3 and 4xSATA 2.

That is the only weakness I can see for this MB. Z77 and Z68 GD65 models both have 4xSATA 3 and 4xSATA 2. I'm using 7 SATA ports on my Z68 GD65. Too bad the Mpower cut the number of SATA ports down on the Z77.
 
^

Im betting they had to do this to decrease the windows 8 boot times to become certified for windows 8.
 
Avexir has made matching memory sticks for this board.

I kinda wish they stuck with their old GTX 580 color scheme (Blue/White) and this would've been an instant buy from me. I'm sort of sad since this is the price I pay for not waiting as long as I should have since these new Z77 boards are looking so good. (See also Gigabyte's 32-phase Z77-UP7)
 
Cool Vibrations said:
Avexir has made matching memory sticks for this board.

I kinda wish they stuck with their old GTX 580 color scheme (Blue/White) and this would've been an instant buy from me. I'm sort of sad since this is the price I pay for not waiting as long as I should have since these new Z77 boards are looking so good. (See also Gigabyte's 32-phase Z77-UP7)
Click to expand...



The yellow colored plates on the heat sinks might come off with a little prying. Probably work better without that metal bling on them.
 
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It is definitely a strong board, I was running Hyper Pi a few times @ 4.9 +GHz with more than enough voltage... I am a believer in this board as that was with a $30 cooler (on air), this board is tough enough for even me (now excited to get it under LN2 and DICE)
 
TheGoat Eater said:
It is definitely a strong board, I was running Hyper Pi a few times @ 4.9 +GHz with more than enough voltage... I am a believer in this board as that was with a $30 cooler (on air), this board is tough enough for even me (now excited to get it under LN2 and DICE)
Click to expand...

Looking forward to a review on that. Some screen shots. CPU voltage... ect.
 
SonDa5 said:
Looking forward to a review on that. Some screen shots. CPU voltage... ect.
Click to expand...

I posted the screenshot of that above and also imported the pictures into the post. I did run OCCT for almost 13 hours when my likely sub par cooling and settings got in the way - I definitely over-volted more than needed... I am impressed though how well it behaved during those 13 hours of torture though LOL I am getting the graphs uploaded a while later today
 
TheGoat Eater said:
I posted the screenshot of that above and also imported the pictures into the post. I did run OCCT for almost 13 hours when my likely sub par cooling and settings got in the way - I definitely over-volted more than needed... I am impressed though how well it behaved during those 13 hours of torture though LOL I am getting the graphs uploaded a while later today
Click to expand...



Thanks. I like it.


What is that?


15img5539.jpg
 
TheGoat Eater said:
the Wifi dongle - female antenna adapter
Click to expand...


Aahhh. I was hoping it was an amplified audio output for headphones.


My MSI Z68 GD65 G3 headphone audio output is kind of weak. I like how some of the new Asus mother boards have built in amplified audio out puts for headphones.
 
I definitely would love some amplified audio in the future as well... Though lately I have been wanting more and more better sound quality over anything else (in my home theater and Hifi as well). I do think the on-board audio is definitely better than other on-board solutions in the past. I do generally prefer to listen without any added audio enhancements in stereo.
 
TheGoat Eater said:
I definitely would love some amplified audio in the future as well... Though lately I have been wanting more and more better sound quality over anything else (in my home theater and Hifi as well). I do think the on-board audio is definitely better than other on-board solutions in the past. I do generally prefer to listen without any added audio enhancements in stereo.
Click to expand...

Do you think the Realtek ALC898 + external headphone amp will work well for high quality head phones or would an external headphone DAC/AMP device be the better choice?
 
SonDa5 said:
Do you think the Realtek ALC898 + external headphone amp will work well for high quality head phones or would an external headphone DAC/AMP device be the better choice?
Click to expand...

ALC898 + an external headphone amp would actually be better. Built-in headphone amps in sound cards is only a benefit to those who basically already don't have amps to amplify the audio frequencies. I've personally tried it like that and you should be good to go.
 
Illyria89 said:
ALC898 + an external headphone amp would actually be better. Built-in headphone amps in sound cards is only a benefit to those who basically already don't have amps to amplify the audio frequencies. I've personally tried it like that and you should be good to go.
Click to expand...

I too was going to say that I would go for just the external headphone amp. It sounds good, but as with many on-board audio solutions as you have pointed out it is under powered in some cases
 
Does anyone know when this board will be in stock at newegg and the like? I'm looking at picking it up to replace my 1366 gaming machine with a more efficient Ivy setup. I see it on amazon but shipping in 2 to 3 weeks. I already have the 680 lightning and I'm a sucker for matching parts.
 
stock is getting to all the e-tailers, there is a lag thought between them getting it and it going up on their site
 
nice - I would think in a tall black Corsair windowed full tower the lightning, the mpower Avexir mem, and this MPower would look great. :)
 
TheGoat Eater said:
nice - I would think in a tall black Corsair windowed full tower the lightning, the mpower Avexir mem, and this MPower would look great. :)
Click to expand...

I'm actually going for a reverse ATX or possibly one of the 90* silverstone cases when more of my stuff sells, so I can see the heatsink side of the 680. I think it will be pretty cool to have a matching system like that.
 
SonDa5 said:
Newegg still doesn't have photos up but they are giving away a similar GSkill 8GB kit of ram with the MB right now. Free shipping would make the deal kind of hot.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130660
Click to expand...

Hot it may be, but not matching. :D That is a good deal though, my board and RAM should be here in about an hour (I love living 45 minutes from a newegg distro). I'll post pics of what it all looks like when it gets here.
 
LigTasm said:
Hot it may be, but not matching. :D That is a good deal though, my board and RAM should be here in about an hour (I love living 45 minutes from a newegg distro). I'll post pics of what it all looks like when it gets here.
Click to expand...

Sweet.

I got in on the $209.99 with RAM deal. :) I also live about 45 minutes away from their distro. :D
 
SonDa5 said:
Sweet.

I got in on the $209.99 with RAM deal. :) I also live about 45 minutes away from their distro. :D
Click to expand...

City of industry distro?

Here they are, the RAm color is a little off from the MSI yellow but my camera doesn't pick it up (it thinks its twilight in a well lit room, I think its dying on me). I got Fry's to match the microcenter 3570k at $189 too.

DSC02449.jpg
 
Now they just need to put out a twin frozr cpu cooler and you'd be able to match your earrings to your shoes.
 
baldrik said:
Now they just need to put out a twin frozr cpu cooler and you'd be able to match your earrings to your shoes.
Click to expand...



DT Sniper Water block with yellow connectors and yellow tubing would match.


I don't like the yellow accents.


LigTasm yeah... I live just north a ways of City of Industry.

I'm hoping to get mine tomorrow. IF not I should get it by Monday for certain.


LigTasm do the metal plates on top of the heat sinks feel like they could easily come off?

I think I'm going to take the plates off or paint the yellow accents black.
 
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