MSI Shows Off Z97 Motherboards Prototypes

A number of photo's appeared on several Intel Z97 based motherboards. See Intel is roughly a montha way from releasing a Haswell refresh processor lineup, and alongsider it will release the H97 and Z97 chipset. In this post you will see a first look at MSI’s upcoming Z97 motherboards prototypes. The photo's that you see below are from HardwareLuxx who attended an MSI briefing and entails the Z97 Gaming 7 and Z97 Gaming 3 that seem to come with an M.2 Interface, Audio Boost and KillerLAN.

The boards on display are all prototypes and engineering samples. They lack heatsinks which will be featured on the final retail models. Below you can see the Z97 Gaming 7 and Z97 Gaming 3. MSI will also offer Z97 motherboards under their XPower and Legacy brand.

The Z97 Gaming 7 comes with a 20 Phase DigitALL Power Design and the latest LGA1150 socket which will support the Haswell and Haswell Refresh processors. It has an  8-PIN power connector while the regular 24-PIN ATX connector is used to power the board itself.

There are four Dual Channel DDR3 DIMM slots which will support overclocked memory upto 2666 MHz+ (O.C) frequencies. Expansion slots include three PCI-E 3.0 x16, four PCI-E 3.0 x1 and the M.2 interface to support Intel’s NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor) 530 Series SSDs. Storage slots include 8 SATA 6 GB/s ports and a USB 3.0 header right next to them.

The Z97 chipset is hidden. For overclockers, MSI will add voltage check points and power On/Off, OC Genie and Reset switches. We can also spot MSI’s Audio Boost 2.0 and KillerLAN technologies on the board along with the addition of Military Class IV components.

The Z97 Gaming 3 motherboard has a 6 Phase DigitALL Power Design and the LGA1150 socket powered through the 8-PIN power connector.  It comes with four Dual Channel DDR3 DIMM slotssupporting upto 2666 MHz+ (O.C) frequencies. PCIe Slots then, PCI-E 3.0 x16, two PCI-E 3.0 x1, three PCI legacy slots and the M.2 interface to support Intel’s NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor) 530 Series SSDs.

Storage has three SATA 6 GB/s ports and the board comes without any OC essential features probably due to the target market its aimed at. It does have MSI’s Audio Boost 2.0 and KillerLAN.