Introduction

Specifications

Specifications CPU SUPPORT: 6th Gen Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processors and Intel Pentium/Celeron Processors for Socket LGA-1151 POWER DESIGN: CPU Power: 14 Phase

Memory Power: 2 Phase CHIPSET: Intel Z170 Chipset INTEGRATED GRAPHICS: Dependent on Installed CPU MEMORY: 4 x DIMM, Max. 64 GB, up to DDR4-3600+(OC) BIOS: AMI UEFI BIOS with 64 Mb Flash ROM SLOTS: 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (x16, x8/x8, x8/x8/x4 or x8/x8/x2)

4 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots HDD CONNECTIVITY: 6 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (support RAID 0/1/5/10)

2 x SATAe ports (PCIe 3.0 x2)

2 x M.2 slots (PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gb/s) NETWORKING: 1 x Killer E2400 Gigabit LAN PORTS: 6 x USB 3.0 ports

7 x USB 2.0 ports

2 x USB 3.1 ports (1x Type-A, 1x Type-C)

1 x RJ45 LAN connectors

1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port

5 x Audio jacks

1 x DisplayPort

2 x HDMI port

1 x Optical S/PDIF OUT Port

1 x Clear CMOS Switch AUDIO: Realtek ALC1150 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio CODEC FAN HEADERS: 5 x 4-pin FORM FACTOR: ATX Form Factor (305 mm x 244 mm) EXCLUSIVE FEATURES: DDR4 Boost

XMP LED

Audio Boost 3

Nahimic

MSI GAMING LAN w/ LAN Protect

Gaming Hotkey

Game Boost

Impregnable Steel Armor

USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C & Type-A

Turbo M.2

OC Engine 2

BIOS Flashback+

Mouse Master

XSplit Gamecaster V2

Click BIOS 5

Hardware Monitor 2

MSI Command Center,

MSI RAMdisk

MSI Gaming APP w/ FPS Counter

MSI Live Update 6

MSI ECO Center

As many of us are aware, Intel's newest platform is going to hit store shelves soon. Those of us who have that "upgrade itch" are waiting in eager anticipation, ready to hear what the platform offers to determine whether the cost is worth the investment. Today is that day and MSI sent me the Z170A GAMING M7 for our first look. The MSI Z170A GAMING M7 is one of many products within MSI's GAMING line-up, a series of products designed with a gamer's needs in mind. MSI has had this product focus for a while now, and they do put together a decent product set at each price point, along with an all-enveloping red and black color scheme that carries on with their VGAs, laptops, prebuilt PCs, and more. There are different tiers to their product line-up now, with the MSI Z170A GAMING M7 falling into the "Enthusiast GAMING" category.I have had the MSI Z170A GAMING M7 on my test bench for a while now. Bringing together Intel's "SkyLake" CPUs and DDR4, the MSI Z170A GAMING M7 packs a ton of drive connectivity thanks to the Intel Z170 chipset. Intel's "Skylake" and Z170 are our first taste at dual-channel DDR4, and if you paid attention to new product releases, you might have heard that this results in much higher DDR4 speeds than with Intel's quad-channel X99 Express (G.Skill is touting kits up to 4 GHz). USB 3.1 Gen 2 is also present.With this being the first motherboard review we are posting with a new CPU, performance comparisons to past platforms are unavoidable. However, not just the platform changes interest me this time around. Excited by what MSI's Z170A GAMING M7 offers from the moment it arrived, I have eagerly been waiting for the opportunity to talk about it more. The MSI Z170A GAMING M7 is not just ready to push a stock-clocked gaming box; if you want to push your new CPU hard for those extra few FPS, you can do so. Windows 10 support? It's ready and waiting.