MSI Z87I Gaming AC Mobo & GTX 760 GAMING ITX Review - Introduction

MSI Intel 8 Series Platform - MSI Z87I Gaming AC motherboard & GTX 760 GAMING ITX Review

We review, test and benchmark the MSI Z87I Gaming AC motherboard and GTX 760 GAMING ITX. Oh you will need a magnifying glass alright as as this is the smallest fully fetched Z87 motherboard you will ever see. The Z87I Gaming AC is made on a Mini-ITX form factor, that means you can seat a processor as powerful as the Core i7 4770K onto a motherboard that is 17x17 CM. Amazing really, especially when you will learn it still has a fully fetched PCIe x16 slot, KillerNIC Gigabit Ethernet, WIFI, USB 3.0 and heck even four SATA 6 Gbps ports. To make things even tastier we pair it with a GeForce GTX 760 GAMING ITX graphics card, and the combo... well it's just awesome.

So 17x17 CM gets all this:

• Suports 4th Gen Intel Core/Pentium/Celeron processors for LGA 1150 socket
• Supports DDR3-3000(OC) Memory
• USB 3.0 + SATA 6Gb/s
• Military Class 4: Top Quality & Stability
• Military Class Essentials: Total Protection for Military Class Motherboards
• OC Genie 4: Overclock in 1 Second
• Click BIOS 4: Easily Fine-tune Your System
• 4K UHD Support: Ultra-high Definition Visual Experience
• 3 Digital Display Outputs: DisplayPort/HDMI/DVI Support
• PCI Express Gen 3: World's 1st PCI Express Gen 3 Motherboard Brand
• USB Audio Power: A Break Through in USB Audio Quality
• Command Center: Control & Customize Your PC Settings
• Fast Boot: Quickly Boot Up & Enter OS in A Few Seconds
• Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0, Intel Wireless Display

The Z87I Gaming AC edition also comes with Killer LAN, 802.11ac and Audio Boost. The GTX 760 GAMING ITX graphics card that we'll have a peek at as well features MSI's new RADAX fan which is a true Hybrid design fan that boosts lower noise and up to 30 °C lower temperatures compared to any other card in its class. Both motherboard and graphics card offer excellent chassis and component compatibility and are the optimal combination for your living room PC or LAN Party gaming rig. Intel Wi-Fi AC solution provides a maximum transfer speed of 867Mbps, and supports Intel's exclusive wireless video transmission Wi-Di technology. The MSI Z87I has a 4-phase VRM with cooling, one full PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, 24-pin and 4-pin power connectors, two full-size DDR3 DIMM memory slots, 8-channel audio, 802.11 ac/b/g/n WiDI, WiFi, and Bluetooth 4.0. Another advantage is that the Z87I has CPU overclocking support. As for video connectivity, MSI settled for DVI-I, DisplayPort and HDMI as well as 8-channel audio coming from a Realtek ALC 892 codec. This Haswell-ready mainboard has four USB 3.0 ports and a couple of USB 2.0 connectors. Have a peek at this spectacular looking and feature rich motherboard.

Yeah There's Moar...

MSI also released the perfect graphics card for this setup, a ITX form factor (17cm) based GeForce GTX 760, AKA the GTX760 Gaming ITX. The GTX 760 GAMING ITX features MSI's new RADAX fan which is a Hybrid design fan that boosts lower noise and up to 30 °C lower temperatures compared to any other card in its class. Well as small as this stuff is, we have plenty to look at, join me in a full review of this shweeeet combo.