MSI Z97 XPOWER AC Motherboard Review

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Product Showcase

 

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Here you can see the five PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots; two PCI-Express x1 slots as previously discussed. Just drop them graphics cards in there for a weird sexy combo, the lowest it'll drop to is a x8 gen3 lane configuration, meaning you will have excellent bus bandwith for current generation graphics cards. 

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Here we can also get a better look at the heatsinks the board uses. Very subtle, very nice and working really good. When powered up it lights up. The XPower makes use of an E-ATX form factor, that means its slightly bigger then your usual ATX size, the motherboard is sized 30.5 cm x 26.4 cm (12 x 10.4 inches). Make sure it matches your chassis space.

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In-between and above the PCIe slots (close to the PCH) you'll however spot a cute small connector, this in fact is a M.2 PCIE SSD port. Mind you that if you use it you will lose the SATA5 port as the motherboard can only handle ten storage units as maximum. This new connector offer 10 Gbps storage functionality. We'll have a look at performance in this review as well.

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Small but subtle detail, you can find LEDs underneath the motherboard. So once you have it installed in your PC, there's this HALO of light emanating from the motherboard. Very nice. On the top side the once powered on an MSI logo lights up as there is a LED behind it. The separate audio circuitry lights up as well. 

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