Introduction
Within the Big Bang product line MSI has launched yet another Z77 motherboard, this time with a twist though, it's the all new Mpower series.
At Computex MSI already was showing their new MPower Motherboards. The MPower series will be available on the long term for both socket LGA1155 and socket LGA2011 (X79 MPower).
Today we test the Z77 MPower version, which as you'll notice is a pleasant upgrade from their Z77A-GD65 motherboard -- yet with an improved CPU VRM, more friendly warranties and a new black+yellow color-scheme which merges the Lightning series graphics cards and these motherboards a little closer together.
The Z77 MPower packs an improved 16-phase CPU VRM with optimized PCB for tweaking, the motherboard can actually draw power from a 6-pin PCIe power connector close by the regular 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS just to boost available ampage on your graphics cards. The board comes with diagnostic LEDs and voltage measurement points. Familiar will be the three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x8/x4/x4-capable slots and four PCI-Express 2.0 x1).
New is the inclusion of WIFI 802.11 b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth. The Z77 based Mpower is obviously based on Z77 chipset, it is of course the predominantly released for Ivy Bridge based processors. These motherboards will have a slightly altered feature set and thus support the Ivy Bridge CPUs from Intel. Good to know however is that Z77 also supports Sandy Bridge Socket 1155 based processors, that's right your favorite Core i5 2500K and Core i7 2600K will be perfect for these motherboards as well.
The changes for Z77 can primarily be found in the native USB 3.0 support as well as an upgrade towards PCie gen 3 PCIe x16 slots. The MSI Z77 Mpower is a pure bred platform intended for Intel's 22nm Ivy Bridge processors on Socket LGA1155. Of course MSI applied their Military Class III components on the motherboard and you'll spot OC Genie II which increases your overall CPU, Memory performance.
Have a peek at what was just released, this is the MSI Big Bang Z77 MPower motherboard. You just have to be impressed by the overall looks ... check that out.
