MSI X99S XPower AC Motherboard Review - Product Showcase

X99 will bring a whopping 10-port SATA 6 Gb/s storage controller supporting RAID RST and SRT and SSD TRIM on RAID 0 configurations. SATA Express is supported. Interesting to see is the M.2. PCI Express slot, this received an upgrade from 1x PCI Express lane towards x4, giving the port not 10 GB/sec but 32 GB/sec performance! Mind you that it is a shared slot, so if you use M.2. then SATA port 5 and 6 will render themselves inactive as M.2. uses these.

 To the left side of the motherboard you will find another two angled upwards SATA3 ports. Next to is a BIOS switch (this motehrboard has dual-BIOS). And to the right of it that upards facing USB port is intersting. This is a Direct USB port. Direct USB allows for typical USB usage, flashing the BIOS and installing drivers & software when overclocking on an open test bed. The Direct USB connector also allows for easy pre-testing of your hardware prior to installing it in a PC case.
 

You will receive a WIFI module in this kit. This unit will offer you support of 802.11 ac/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and even Intel WiDi (Wireless Display) and by using a WiDi receiver (not included) you can watch movies on your TV without the need for any cables. You pop on the module and screw it secure. 802.11 ac/b/g/n is great though. With the right router you could achieve 867 Mbps. That's more theoretical though, still you'll have plenty of bandwidth available if you got your WIFI network up and running properly with the right gear. 

Intel X99 Express Chipset

• 4 x USB 3.0 ports available through the internal USB connectors*

2 x ASMedia ASM1074 Chipset

• 8x USB 3.0 ports on the back panel

ASMedia ASM1042 Chipset

• 2x USB 3.0 ports on the back panel

Make note of all the USB lovin' you will receive. There are 10x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 2.0 ports available though IO panel alone. 

MSI will deliver power and reset buttons on-board. There are voltage monitoring points as well so that you can monitor critical control points with a Digital multimeter. The OC genie button will allow for a small default overclock.

A set of + and – buttons allows you to adjust your Base Clock in real time, even during benchmarking. The Direct OC software allows you to select 1 MHz or 0.1 MHz increments. The X99S XPOWER AC allows for even better control because it is equipped with a switch on the motherboard which allowed you to make the 1MHZ or 0.1Mhz increments. On top of that it also comes with 2 extra Direct OC buttons to increase the multiplier ratio.

Just below the main buttons you can see Voltage check points. These are V-Check Points with 2 extra ground connectors. This way overclockers can use 3 multi-meters at the same time. Here is what you can monitor:

1. VCCIN: CPU Input Voltage
2. DDR01: Memory Voltage - Channel A/B
3. DDR23: Memory Voltage - Channel C/D
4. VPP01: Memory VPP Voltage - Channel A/B
5. VPP02: Memory VPP Voltage - Channel C/D
6. Core: CPU Core Voltage
7. GND: Ground
8. GND: Ground
9. GND: Ground

The board comes with diagnostic LEDs and voltage measurement points. You will get eight DIMM slots offer support for quad-channel DDR4 memory up to even 3300 MHz (OC). You can install a maximum of 128 GB in total. XMP 2.0 must be supported, we'll show you this petit setup running at 2133 and even 2667 MHz.

MSI applied their Military Class IV components on the motherboard with updated DrMOS MosFETs and aluminum colored dark caps that are not only going to increase the motherboards lifespan, they look magnificent on this motherboard as well.  Also have a peek at that dark design with the new heatsinks.

To the right you can see a Diagnostic post LED, it will display the status/post code. Once you have booted into Windows it will display the package temperature of your processor.