Final Words & Conclusion
Final Words & Conclusion
MSI designed a freakfest of luxurious things with the Z97 Xpower AC alright, the motherboard has been tucked full with the hippest features on the globe like ac compatible WIFI, WIDI, the ten 6 Gbps SATA ports and that all new M.2 interface. Multiple multi-GPU configurations are possible up-to four way and thanks to the additional PLX bridge chip these combined with four graphics cards still run x8 Gen 3.0. If you use the motherboard connectors and the rear IO connectors then over a dozen USB 3.0 ports become available and of course an improved and enhanced audio solution that is accompanied by the SoundBlaster Cinema 3 suite (albeit that really is a software layer sitting on top of the Realtek ALC 1150 codec). Judging from the reaction in our forums there is slowly some disgruntled towards KillerNIC E2205 as such we are happy to see that Intel's Gigabit Ethernet jack has been implemented. Combine all that with the sheer 16 phase power design and the options available to you and yeah, you have to admit that the MSI Z97 Xpower AC is looking mighty fine.
The Platform & The Motherboard
Now, the Intel Z97 chipset all by itself is not really interesting from an upgrade point of view if you bought a PC in say the last two years. It is a re-spin of the Z87 DNA. There are a couple of differences that the chipset however offers, and that's making PCI-E storage units compatible with standards like SATA Express and M.2 PCI-E SSDs. But if you purchased a Z87 motherboard and a Haswell processor last year already, by all means there is just no reason to upgrade whatsoever. Even coming from Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge processors and the Z77 platform will not change my mind about this recommendation. The big conundrum however is this, Z97 motherboards can be very interesting if you are in need of an upgrade. See the motherboard manufacturers simply went nuts with their motherboard designs and I believe that 2014 has to be the best year of them all if you look at what the motherboard manufacturers did and now are offering.
May I first complement the MSI BIOS team? The latest ittration of the MSI Click BIOS uEFI interface finally has become mature and I actually start to really like it. It's easy to navigate through with and without a mouse and a couple of new features like the monitoring pages just kick black booty. So pop a nice liquid cooling kit on the processor and you will get to the 4600 MHz range with a 4770K easily. But before we talk dirty tweakin' we must state that the overall baseline (non overclocked) performance is top notch as well. MSI applied a small tweak on the processors turbo's so you'll see them hovering at 3900/4000 MHz a bit faster then they are supposed to do. All manufacturers apply this tweak with their high-end SKUs though. But performance wise on all fronts, CPU, storage and memory this Z97 Xpower AC performs extremely well.
Storage
Combined with the ten SATA 6Gbps ports we can hardly argue anything. Six of them are provided by the Intel Z97 chipset and the rest is controlled by ASMedia ICs, and these have become pretty good really. So throughout the baord green lights. More interesting I find to be the all new M.2 interface, pop in a M.2 compatible PCI-E SSD and you'll see your SSD quickly perform in the 700/800 Mb/sec range. Overall your SATA and M.2 connectivity is plentiful and top notch when it comes to performance.
Aesthetics
Taste differ per person, but (and you probably guessed it already after reading oh... 20+ pages) I totally like the way the XPower looks. Pop a nice Lightning or Hawk graphics card in there and you can match the black yellow color schema really nicely. The board overall is intrigueing with that nice dark matte colored PCB, a clean PCB, all black connectors and components everywhere and then subtle yellows on the coolers. Combined with the LED lights (especially on the backside of the motherboard) this thing looks just awesome in a dark PC case. The white LEDs create an awesome HALO coming from underneath the motherboard, it makes the motherboard pop out of your system, well visually that is. The PCB is extremely dark as it has received a proper coated layer, including the dark connectors, dark capacitors, with the subtle heatsinks this rocks my boat. This is just a great looking solution for the enthusiast PC gamer.
Tweaking
We mentioned it in the first chapter of this conclusion already, overall non-overclocked performance as stated is above the baseline of the reference Z97 motherboards we tested, with an offset here and there of course. If you have two left hands in terms of overclocking then just press the OC Genie II button, power up and after a few seconds your motherboard will all of the sudden be mildly overclocked, a performance boost at very little extra power consumption as the CPU will now be throttled to 4200 MHz, admittedly a bit low.
The tweaking performance of this motherboard was on par with what we expected. We got the 4770K processor rocking stable at 4800 MHz with the memory (XMP enabled) at 2133 MHz very easily, and that's not bad at all.
One we added voltage and combined the Core i7 4770K processor with a H110 Liquid cooler from Corsair we could reach a stable 4900 MHz. But as mentioned so often, Haswell processors run hotter when overclocked opposed to Sandy Bridge, reaching 4600~4900 MHz might be easy to accomplish with the motherboard but you'll find yourself needing juice in the 1.325~1.400 Volts range of the processor and that requires massive cooling. So be prepared for processor heat, proper liquid cooling definitely deserves a recommendation here alright.
We can't wait for Intel to release Devil's Canyon based processors where the cooling should be much improved. We expect these processors to be released during the Computex 2014 time-frame though.
Nitpicking
We would have liked to seen a second NIC. The WIFI adapter that you need to install manually can be a bit of a drag as well as securing the M.2 SSD with a far too petite provided screw.
Final Words
Combine the sheer looks, the ten SATA 6 Gbps ports, the Intel ethernet interface and the 7.1 channel HD audio as delivered by the high-end Realtek ALC1150 codec and we already get a smile on our face. But really, it just starts there though. In conjunction with a TI OPA1652 amplifier you get support for quality headphones that have an impedance of up to 600 Ohms. The Realtek ALC1150 codec is covered by an EMI shield, and the part of the PCB where the audio hardware is located is isolated to prevent interference.
Sitting on top of that codec is a SoundBlaster Cinema 2 audio suite enhancing audio even further. The motherboard is multi-GPU up-to 4-way SLI/Crossfire ready with more then plenty Gen 3.0 PCI-E lanes available to feed four high-end graphics cards. Then add to all this features like on-board buttons, pre-overclock modes and diagnostic LEDs, VRM heatinks that you can liquid cool and you will realize that the Z97 Xpower AC is something very special. The list goes on though, as the board provides everything you need from an enthusiast class Haswell processor platform, in terms of features, multi-GPU support, USB 3.0, SATA3, PCI-E Gen 3.0, ease of tweaking and sure, the design and component selection.
Alright let me wrap things up. The MSI Z97 XPower motherboard is is successful continuation of the Z87 model. It is an enthusiast class and quality motherboard that will appeal to the enthusiast PC gamers that require overclocked performance and the option to run at least two graphics cards in tandem.
All this awesomeness does come with one caveat though, the price for motherboard hovers at a 325 EUR. In my opinion it is money well spent if you are the kind of guy that builds a rig to be proud of, so please do see this as an investment. The motherboard has been developed with the DNA of the Z87 and further evolved (improved) on that with Z97. Aside from some very small stuff, everything is done right and this would be a motherboard to feast on. The Z97 XPowwer AC comes with extra's like the motherboard fan (and mount) AC WIFI and two antenna's, the delid bracket and the a 8GB thumb drive as small extra's. Nice job, top notch product and as such we grant it our Top Pick award.
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