Product Showcase

SATA ports -- MSI is equipping the board with a good eight SATA3 ports and one M.2 PCI-E SSD slot. MSI makes use of two controllers.

Intel Z97 Express Chipset

• 6x SATA 6Gb/s ports (SATA1~6)
• 1x M.2 port*
• M.2 port supports M.2 SATA 6Gb/s module
• M.2 port supports M.2 PCIe module up to 10Gb/s speed**
• M.2 port supports 4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length module
• Supports RAID 0, RAID1, RAID 5 and RAID 10***
• Supports Intel Smart Response Technology, Intel® Rapid Start Technology and Intel®Smart Connect Technology****

ASMedia ASM1061 Chipset

• 2 x SATA 6Gb/s ports (SATA7~8)

* The SATA5 and SATA6 ports will be unavailable when installing a module in the M.2 port.
** M.2 PCIe interface only supports UEFI option ROM, NOT support legacy option ROM.
*** M.2 PCIe interface does not support RAID 0, RAID1, RAID 5 and RAID 10.
**** Supports Intel Core processors on Windows 7 and Windows 8/ 8.1
 

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.
 

Installation of this unit is a near willy though. To be able to position it correctly the rear IO EMI Shield needs to be removed. Then we find it is hard to precisely position the unit and then once you have seated it properly, you need to turn around the motherboard and secure the unit with a screw. 802.11 ac/b/g/n is great though. With the right router you could achieve 867Mbps. 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. MSI really needs to redesign/overhaul the the installation procedure of this WIFI module as it is such a nag.

The Z97 has an improved 12 Phase DigitALL Power Design. The board comes with diagnostic LEDs and voltage measurement points. 

You will get four DIMM slots offer support for dual-channel DDR3 memory up to even 3200 MHz (OC). You can install a maximum of 32 GB in total. XMP is supported, we'll show you this petit setup running at 2133 MHz. Of course 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. The OC Genie increases your overall CPU and Memory performance (pressing it will result in a Core i7 4770K to OC to 4200 MHz). 

To the left 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.