MSI Z97 GAMING 9 AC (Intel LGA 1150) Review 8

MSI Z97 GAMING 9 AC (Intel LGA 1150) Review

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Introduction



Sigh. It's just after Christmas, and I'm a bit upset. My vacation is about to end and school will soon starts up again, so my time is yet again going to be limited for several months until my winter semester ends. Being Christmas, I obviously got some new PC goodies to play with, and that means it is time for me to retire a system to build it up again. These choices are always hard for me, especially since I get some fantastic products and cannot find much reason to replace them other than, well, because I got new stuff!

But not all is disappointing! I've got the opportunity to show you guys some more great stuff, and this time, I get to go back to my favorite brand right now, MSI. That in and of itself is funny since I have had quite a few "official" people complain that I have lately favored ASUS, but I think they've been blinded by the light! For me as a gamer, MSI is where it is at, and there is no mistaking how MSI has carefully assembled complete product lines to meet the discriminate gamer's needs, whether they've got a few dollars to spend or a few thousand. Buy an MSI GAMING GPU and an MSI GAMING motherboard, slap them together, and you've got a killer system, no matter whether you favor NVIDIA or AMD or Intel. Just pick your socket, your grade of GPU, and you're set.

I'm not one of those gamers with just a few dollars; I do run triple GTX780 TI cards, so what board for Intel's Z97 chipset from MSI would I use? I've already covered some of the SKT1150 MSI GAMING products (and had this review written until an SSD's death obliterated it), but the one I'd choose has sorta been in use this entire time and is none other than the MSI Z97 GAMING 9 AC. Featuring built-in Wi-Fi (that is what the "AC" stands for) and a flashy red and black esthetic, you know that this board is made to take things to the limit while looking good. It's like those fancy shoes with those red bottoms all the girls drool over...



Specifications

Specifications
CPU SUPPORT:4th and 5th Gen Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Pentium/Celeron processor family for the LGA 1150 Socket
POWER DESIGN:CPU Power: 12 Phases
Memory Power: 2 Phases
CHIPSET:Intel Z97
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS:Dependant on installed CPU
MEMORY:4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB, DDR3 1333 to DDR3 3200+(OC)
BIOS:Dual AMI UEFI BIOS with dual 64 Mb Flash ROMs
SLOTS:3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot
3 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slot
HDD CONNECTVIITY:8 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s
1 x M.2Port
NETWORKING:1 x Killer E2205 Gigabit LAN
PORTS:12 x USB 3.0 ports (4 at front panel, 8 at rear panel)
6 x USB 2.0 ports (4 at front panel, 2 at rear panel)
1 x RJ45 LAN connectors
6 x OFC audio jacks
1 x Optical audio jack
1 x PS/2 port
1 x HDMI port
1 x DisplayPort
1 x Clear CMOS button
AUDIO:Realtek ALC1150 High Definition Audio CODEC
FAN HEADERS:5 x 4-pin PWM
FORM FACTOR:ATX Form Factor (305 mm x 244 mm)
EXCLUSIVE FEATURES:
  • Audio Boost
  • Military Class 4
  • Guard Pro
  • OC Genie 4
  • Click BIOS 4
  • Sound Blaster Cinema 2
  • Total Fan Control
  • Gaming Device Port
  • Smart Utilities
  • Command Center
  • ECO Center
  • Dragon Armor
  • STEAM OS support
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Nov 21st, 2024 22:53 EST change timezone

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