MSI Z97 MPower Max AC Review: Overclocking for $260
by Ian Cutress on May 20, 2014 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- MSI
- Z97
Many thanks to...
We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our test bed:
- Thank you to OCZ for providing us with PSUs and SSDs.
- Thank you to G.Skill and ADATA for providing us with memory kits.
- Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU, Corsair H80i CLC and DRAM.
- Thank you to ASUS for providing us with the AMD HD7970 GPUs and some IO Testing kit.
- Thank you to MSI for providing us with the NVIDIA GTX 770 Lightning GPUs.
- Thank you to Rosewill for providing us with PSUs and RK-9100 keyboards.
- Thank you to ASRock for providing us with some IO testing kit.
Test Setup
| Test Setup | |
| Processor |
Intel Core i7-4770K ES 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 3.5 GHz (3.9 GHz Turbo) |
| Motherboard | MSI Z97 MPower Max AC |
| Cooling |
Corsair H80i Thermalright TRUE Copper |
| Power Supply |
OCZ 1250W Gold ZX Series Corsair AX1200i Platinum PSU |
| Memory | G.Skill RipjawsZ 4x4 GB DDR3-1600 9-11-9 Kit |
| Memory Settings | 1600 9-11-9-27 1T tRFC 240 |
| Video Cards |
MSI GTX 770 Lightning 2GB (1150/1202 Boost) ASUS HD7970 3GB (Reference) |
| Video Drivers |
Catalyst 13.12 NVIDIA Drivers 335.23 |
| Hard Drive | OCZ Vertex 3 256GB |
| Optical Drive | LG GH22NS50 |
| Case | Open Test Bed |
| Operating System | Windows 7 64-bit SP1 |
| USB 2/3 Testing | OCZ Vertex 3 240GB with SATA->USB Adaptor |
Power Consumption
Power consumption was tested on the system as a whole with a wall meter connected to the OCZ 1250W power supply, while in a single MSI GTX 770 Lightning GPU configuration. This power supply is Gold rated, and as I am in the UK on a 230-240 V supply, leads to ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, which is suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.
While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our test bed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers. These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.
Idle power consumption was fairly reasonable, although the load power consumption was higher than the other Z97 motherboards we have tested, although not by much.
Windows 7 POST Time
Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized. A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized). As part of our testing, we are now going to look at the POST Boot Time - this is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows 7 starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows specific features.) These results are subject to human error, so please allow +/- 1 second in these results.
Normally I prefer a POST time of 12 seconds or less, so while the MSI motherboard almost achieved that (13.09s), when the extra features were disabled it did offer a sub 9-second POST time. This seems to be a common feature with Z97 motherboards.
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Haravikk - Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - link
I think the choices made here are pretty sensible; I mean, while I do hope that SATA Express does take off, it's not as if PCIe card type storage is going to just disappear, and this motherboard has plenty of room for one or two of those, so if you do want the best speeds it's not like you're forced to adopt SATAe.In fact, personally I prefer drives mounted in or near the PCIe slots now anyway, particularly for air-cooled systems, as it means more space for front fans blasting air back onto the PCIe cards, especially for cases with removable drive cages (and even on those that don't, an electric drill can soon make them removable too ;).
That said, I think they've still gone a bit too overboard on connectivity; anyone using more than four USB ports really should be considering what they're actually using them for and whether they need them, so four on the back plus headers for front ports is IMO plenty. Also, the addition of two external wireless aerials is ugly; anyone serious about performance shouldn't be using wireless networking to connect a system, not when ethernet is easy to setup, or you can use 500mbps PowerLine networking instead. And who actually uses a PS/2 port anymore? Personally I'd rather see systems cut down on the number of ports and use the saved space as extra room for rear airflow, maybe even orient the RAM to take advantage of that, though it might be a bit tight on a memory slot board, unless they gave up a PCIe slot. But then that said, who actually uses seven PCIe slots?
I think there's still a lot that performance motherboards could sacrifice in order to really focus on performance.
Ian Cutress - Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - link
I've actually received emails in the past week about a review where I didn't mention the *lack* of a PS/2 port. It offers some advantages for keyboard enthusiasts over USB, hence why a lot of mechanical keyboards come with PS/2 or USB options depending on what system it is for or who is using it.I think I'm using at least 7 USB ports on my system right now. A USB stick, two charging cables, a mouse, a keyboard that requires two (one for function, another for power) and a webcam. I've also had reasons to use multiple PCIe slots.
The reason why motherboard manufacturers include all of this is so the number of people who can use the product increases. If you limit the number of a certain feature, then you lose potential sales. It is a delicate balance between focus and inclusion. Focus may be fun, but without sales that line will die off pretty quickly.
Achaios - Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - link
Why isn't the ASUS Maximus VI Hero ROG motherboard included in the comparison? I am a membger at Overclock.net, and it seems that almost everyone who owns a 4770k pairs it with a Maximus VI Hero.alhopper - Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - link
It's great to see innovation is still alive and kicking with this motherboard. Why didn't they include the Z97 chipset in the water cooling loop? Does the z97 run cooler than previous Intel chipsets?magnusmundus - Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - link
Is there any way to remove the barbs so you could add your own water cooling fittings? Looking at the photos I don't see any wrench flats.C.C. - Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - link
Sadly, these are "fixed" barbs, meaning they are soldered in place to the most likely aluminum tubing that runs through the VRM heatsink. This is bad since I don't know anyone building custom loops that use tiny 3/8" barbs anymore (this isn't 2006). I personally use 7/16" Compression fittings myself..The other issue is that of mixed metals. I run an all copper block loop, and if MSI opted to cheapen out and use aluminum instead of copper for the water tubing (much like Asus and Gigabyte have done in the past) then there is a very real issue of corrosion issues cropping up. Ian, can you please get ahold of MSI and find out if they are using aluminum or copper?
AnnihilatorX - Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - link
Page 1: "The manual overclocking was very conservative, with OC Genie boosting the CPU to 4.0 GHz only. I would have preferred a 4.2 GHz minimum overclock here at least."I think you meant the automatic overclocking!
mkygod - Tuesday, May 27, 2014 - link
Anyone here looked at the motherboard box cover and automatically thought of the Metro: Last Light box cover?eanazag - Wednesday, May 28, 2014 - link
Being that is has an Intel WiFi card, would I be correct to assume it supports WiDi (wireless display)?