# MSI Z97 GAMING 5 (Intel LGA 1150)



## cadaveca (Apr 25, 2014)

Fresh on the market in just the past few days is Intel's Z97, and I get to take my first look at MSI's new Z97 GAMING 5, built from the ground up for gamers looking for great features at a great price. Featuring a new esthetic design as well as a host of new features.

*Show full review*


----------



## Footman (May 9, 2014)

Hi Dave interesting review. I was looking through the 3D performance results and was comparing the Firestrike results to the Metro last Light results. The MSI Z97 board was top at 9019 and the EVGA Z87 Stinger was bottom at 7970 and yet in the Metro test the EVGA board was a whole 50fps faster! I just don't get this difference. Any thoughts on the inconsistent 3D performance of this board?
Cheers,
Footman.


----------



## souleet (May 9, 2014)

Is SATA express useless since there's no device until next year?

Great review by the way!


----------



## cadaveca (May 9, 2014)

souleet said:


> Is SATA express useless since there's no device until next year?
> 
> SATA Express could be useful, for sure. The drives are blazing fast. This board does not have it built-in, but there WILL be adapters that slot into the M.2 port. I don't think many $150 boards will have built-in support for this interface, but some will.
> 
> Great review by the way!



With this board in particular, it's not here because the drives will be expensive. There are other MSI motherboards to cater to users that want all the latest goodies.


Footman said:


> Hi Dave interesting review. I was looking through the 3D performance results and was comparing the Firestrike results to the Metro last Light results. The MSI Z97 board was top at 9019 and the EVGA Z87 Stinger was bottom at 7970 and yet in the Metro test the EVGA board was a whole 50fps faster! I just don't get this difference. Any thoughts on the inconsistent 3D performance of this board?
> Cheers,
> Footman.




The issues at this point when it comes to performance are all related to how cache and CPU multis scale. You can change all of that manually, quite easily. Different boards designed for different users get different profiling for how the multis scale, and this lets some boards excel at workloads others do not, and vice versa.

Makes motherboards testing a headache, let me tell you.


----------



## Footman (May 9, 2014)

Thanks Dave, looking forward to some more Z97 reviews.


----------



## cadaveca (May 9, 2014)

I have 5 other boards sitting here, and am expecting quite a few more. Should have at least one a week for the next month or so.


----------



## TheHunter (May 9, 2014)

I was wondering what does this LakeTiny feature do?
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/Z97_GAMING_5/images/bios_35.jpg


----------



## souleet (May 9, 2014)

From what I've known,, the Lake tiny is a "technology" consisting of SSD performance & power optimizations; basically power states settings for SSDs.
It’s supported with Intel RST (rapid storage technology) 12.0 and above.



TheHunter said:


> I was wondering what does this LakeTiny feature do?
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/Z97_GAMING_5/images/bios_35.jpg


----------



## TheHunter (May 10, 2014)

Ah so its basically like Dynamic Storage Accelerator @ Asus mobos, gotcha.


----------



## Stickmansam (May 10, 2014)

It seems like the motherboards get better and better every generation. The Gaming 5 seems like a replacement for the G45 and it's better all around with more features.
Audio is better, POST code is nice addition, LAN is a bit better and M.2 is better than mSATA

Only things I don't like are the heatsinks and badge.


----------



## LeonVolcove (May 10, 2014)

"Color scheme may not appeal to all" hahahahaha
i always laugh when reading this sentence


----------



## smoke22 (May 10, 2014)

Does Audio Boost with molex reduction bringing more loudness with normal 32ohm headphones?


----------



## cadaveca (May 10, 2014)

smoke22 said:


> Does Audio Boost with molex reduction bringing more loudness with normal 32ohm headphones?


I have some 70 ohm Sony MDR-XD200's that it helped a bit, and I also tested 150 ohm Sennheiser PC 350 SE and Monster iSport Immersion.

Differences were not noticed at lower volumes, honestly, but higher volumes did have a bit more clarity(dunno if this is the right term to use).


----------



## dj-electric (May 10, 2014)

Alright.

I'm gonna go and (as usual) disagree with Dave on this score.

A 9.6 Z97 board is a board that offers great value,
A 9.6 Z97 board is a board that offers new and advanced connectivity
A 9.6 Z97 board is a board that offers great overclocking abilities.

The Z97 Gaming 5 has non. It's a slightly over-priced, slightly-worse overclocker that lacks outputs, lacks SATA Express and defo not a 9.6 out of 10.
I'll it it as a 9.  *6/10*

For pete's sake, ASRock's Z97 Extreme6 cost 10$ more and for that, it will blow the GAMING 5 out of the water.


----------



## cadaveca (May 10, 2014)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> Alright.
> 
> I'm gonna go and (as usual) disagree with Dave on this score.
> 
> ...




We never agree on scoring often. Sometimes you can sway me in one direction, sometimes not.


I think the lack of outputs and SATA Express is a good thing. I don't want crap on a board I'm not going to use. The ASRock Z97 Extreme4 is the board that this one "competes" with, not the Extreme6, BTW.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157503


Extreme6 is competition for GAMING 7.

I see where you are coming from, though. I'll tell ya, ASRock sent me Z97 Killer, and that'll probably be the only ASRock Z97 board I review. How does that make you feel?  (no really, you know I value your opinion a lot).

You'll also find that the type of boards that I review here for Z97 will be much different than I did with Z87. Much different focus for me with this platform.


----------



## GhostRyder (May 11, 2014)

Msi makes some very attractive gaming boards.  I love the color scheme and feature set equipped with these boards.

Still personally prefer my asus boards, but I'm waiting to see the msi x99 Big Bang board.


----------



## souleet (May 11, 2014)

How much did asrock pay you to post this? 



Dj-ElectriC said:


> Alright.
> 
> I'm gonna go and (as usual) disagree with Dave on this score.
> 
> ...


----------



## 15th Warlock (May 11, 2014)

Thanks for the review Dave, I have a question about the Z97 platform in general.

Is this new chipset the one that will drive Broadwell once it's released? Are there many differences between Z97 and Z87 besides the inclusion of M.2 support?

I just don't like the stagnation the PC platform has experienced in the last few years, I mean, after P67 it seems like pretty much every new chipset generation only includes minor upgrades and no real revolutionary changes like a new memory interface (like Haswell-E) or even more PCIe lanes for mainstream parts (not that they are needed in probably 90% of all cases anyways, Haswell-E will serve that purpose as well...)

Any point in upgrading from Z87 to Z97, or should people just wait longer to make a meaningful upgrade?


----------



## smoke22 (May 11, 2014)

cadaveca said:


> I have some 70 ohm Sony MDR-XD200's that it helped a bit, and I also tested 150 ohm Sennheiser PC 350 SE and Monster iSport Immersion.
> 
> Differences were not noticed at lower volumes, honestly, but higher volumes did have a bit more clarity(dunno if this is the right term to use).



But the maximum volume level remain the same with or without molex plug?


----------



## dj-electric (May 11, 2014)

souleet said:


> How much did asrock pay you to post this?



Let me tell you a secret, MSI's a good friend of mine, giving me samples and sponsorships with products worth a lot of money.

There's a thing call honesty and unbiased opinion, look it up.
I look at things from a practical point of view, and the GAMING 5 offers the bare minimum over the previous gen to be called a new gen of motherboard.

Yes, it is a great motherboard, no doubt about that. But it isnt extraordinary


----------



## Footman (May 11, 2014)

The motherboards are exciting for a number of reasons, the cpu's unfortunately are not. TDP is increased over Ivybridge and heat is going to be an issue when overclocking. I may reconsider when full details and reviews of Devils Canyon chips hit the market. For now....Meh....


----------



## cadaveca (May 11, 2014)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> Let me tell you a secret, MSI's a good friend of mine, giving me samples and sponsorships with products worth a lot of money.
> 
> There's a thing call honesty and unbiased opinion, look it up.
> I look at things from a practical point of view, and the GAMING 5 offers the bare minimum over the previous gen to be called a new gen of motherboard.
> ...



A big part of my opinion is thinking of the target audience for this board, and what that sort of user wants. You do, of course, always have valid info, and have changed my scores in the past.



souleet said:


> How much did asrock pay you to post this?



Never question Dj-ElectriC. He is very much an impartial source of info that I trust implicitly. If the situation was different, and we swapped MIS and ASRock here, he'd still say the same thing.



15th Warlock said:


> Thanks for the review Dave, I have a question about the Z97 platform in general.
> 
> Is this new chipset the one that will drive Broadwell once it's released? Are there many differences between Z97 and Z87 besides the inclusion of M.2 support?
> 
> ...



Moving from Z87 will give M.2, better overall drive performance, as well as the added support for 5th Gen Intel Socket 1150 CPUs, which are not available now.  The other improvements are in design of the boards themselves, the board's BIOS, and refinement of the features offered. If you do not need these things, then no, I wouldn't upgrade from Z87. If you have and earlier system, or buying completely new, Z97 is the chipset to get, for sure.



smoke22 said:


> But the maximum volume level remain the same with or without molex plug?



not in perceived TOTAL volume with the headphones I tested. It's more for high-impedance headphones, that may require more power to be pushed properly?

I did find the front panel to give better audio that the rear panel.


----------



## SteveUp3D (May 12, 2014)

Dave, in the past, during the various reviews of the Z87 platform, much was made about all digital VRM's for the CPU and RAM.  Previewing some of the Z97 boards, I see a decrease in the number of manufacturer and boards choices that are utilizing digital VRM's.  It seems like they are de-emphasizing this issue now as not as important.  Maybe the digital VRM's are too expensive and board profit margins are too low to use them.  What is your take on this?  This board, I believe is a good example of not including all digital Voltage Regulation Module(s)?  Is this technology still very important like many manufacturers and reviewers made it out to be?  Does it make a big difference in performance, power efficiency, and board/chip longevity?


----------



## cadaveca (May 12, 2014)

SteveUp3D said:


> Dave, in the past, during the various reviews of the Z87 platform, much was made about all digital VRM's for the CPU and RAM.  Previewing some of the Z97 boards, I see a decrease in the number of manufacturer and boards choices that are utilizing digital VRM's.  It seems like they are de-emphasizing this issue now as not as important.  Maybe the digital VRM's are too expensive and board profit margins are too low to use them.  What is your take on this?  This board, I believe is a good example of not including all digital Voltage Regulation Module(s)?  Is this technology still very important like many manufacturers and reviewers made it out to be?  Does it make a big difference in performance, power efficiency, and board/chip longevity?


For me, it's still too early to be able to answer any questions about board longevity on this platform in regards to VRM design. Obviously many different parts are available out there, and many boards use different parts, but the actual life--time of the board and it's warranty should cover any such concerns in the first place. I don't really put any value myself in having a product out-live it's warranty period, as much as that might suck, as it keeps stuff in production. In regards to overall efficiency, generally digital VRM designs out-class "analogue" designs, but there are cases when each can out-class the other.

As to performance being affected by power quality, I can't say that that is the case.. performance is largely set by BIOS profiling, or by Intel's default values. I suppose in the extreme worst case performance might be impacted, but if that's the case, you need a new motherboard.

At the same time, I do feel chips themselves need to last longer, and sustain higher frequencies, yet at the same time I punish my own chip fairly hard, even with just the multiple installs into many different motherboards, that is still on-going ,and I've yet to see my chip degrade in any way. However, with Z97, there might be a relation to power designs again, but I haven't had enough time to fully delve into everything the platform itself offers in that regard. I do know that there is an option to use an external PLL source for some chips, and perhaps there's more to power delivery in general with this platform that has yet to reveal itself. I'm too dumb to know the difference. 


I still have quite a few Z87 boards to review here, and will continue to do so while pushing out Z97 reviews, so this is something I plan to look at perhaps, since one has to wonder why some future CPUs might not work with Z87, but do with Z97, and I need more boards in my hands and time with them, or some documentation that explains why this idea exists, before I know why that is. The most obvious change would be in power regulation...


----------



## VulkanBros (May 12, 2014)

Test System says: Memory:16 GB DDR3 (4x 4 GB) Avexir Blitz 1.1 TechPowerUp! Edition  ???
Picture says G.Skill TridentX.........


----------



## cadaveca (May 12, 2014)

VulkanBros said:


> Test System says: Memory:16 GB DDR3 (4x 4 GB) Avexir Blitz 1.1 TechPowerUp! Edition  ???
> Picture says G.Skill TridentX.........


Yep. What does the CPU-Z say? 

What exactly are you on about?


----------



## VulkanBros (May 12, 2014)

CPU-Z says Avexir. ..so it is All about the looks I presume


----------



## cadaveca (May 12, 2014)

VulkanBros said:


> CPU-Z says Avexir. ..so it is All about the looks I presume




Yeah, that was just for pictures I had the G.Skill in. I do tend to test every board with multiple memory kits, and whatever kit is there when I snap pics, which is usually G.Skill, get in the review.  Itest both 2-stick and 4-stick configurations with most common IC types, looking for issues that might be present so I can report those to the OEM so they can tune the BIOS if needed.

The Avexir sticks actually suit the board a bit better esthetically, I think, but I wasn't going to go out of my way to take more pics, edit them, upload, etc, when I paid out of pocket for that memory kit. They'll make it into the review of the Z97I GAMING that is on my test bench right now!


----------



## GhostRyder (May 12, 2014)

cadaveca said:


> Yeah, that was just for pictures I had the G.Skill in. I do tend to test every board with multiple memory kits, and whatever kit is there when I snap pics, which is usually G.Skill, get in the review.  Itest both 2-stick and 4-stick configurations with most common IC types, looking for issues that might be present so I can report those to the OEM so they can tune the BIOS if needed.
> 
> The Avexir sticks actually suit the board a bit better esthetically, I think, but I wasn't going to go out of my way to take more pics, edit them, upload, etc, when I paid out of pocket for that memory kit. They'll make it into the review of the Z97I GAMING that is on my test bench right now!


Never used that brand before, how are they? (Avexir)

I love red and black color schemes on motherboards, GPU's, and Ram.  Hence why I currently have a Crosshair-V board, Gskill Trident X, and some EK waterblocks that are black for my 290X cards.


----------



## cadaveca (May 12, 2014)

GhostRyder said:


> Never used that brand before, how are they? (Avexir)
> 
> I love red and black color schemes on motherboards, GPU's, and Ram.  Hence why I currently have a Crosshair-V board, Gskill Trident X, and some EK waterblocks that are black for my 290X cards.



Even my socks are black and red. There's pics of them here somewhere. 

Avexir is good, a bit pricey, but I got exactly what I expected with these kits I ordered recently, and I don't mind paying a bit more to get exactly what I want.


----------



## GhostRyder (May 12, 2014)

cadaveca said:


> Even my socks are black and red. There's pics of them here somewhere.
> 
> Avexir is good, a bit pricey, but I got exactly what I expected with these kits I ordered recently, and I don't mind paying a bit more to get exactly what I want.


Well heres a pic of my system so you can take a guess what my favorite colors are 
  
I call it Alucard

But those MSI dragon symbols on the south bridge and the beautiful build quality and color scheme have been making me so compelled to go MSI this year with my next motherboard and processor.  I am waiting to see how the MSI Big Bang 3 X99 board is because the previous one even though it was straight up black had a minigun on the VRM.  Nuff said.
Im liking these Z97 boards alot because they all have some real nice looks for the enthusiast gamer compared to the bland past.  MSI especially has stepped up to the plate!


----------



## DwightEnglish0318 (May 13, 2014)

Stickmansam said:


> It seems like the motherboards get better and better every generation. The Gaming 5 seems like a replacement for the G45 and it's better all around with more features.
> Audio is better, POST code is nice addition, LAN is a bit better and M.2 is better than mSATA
> 
> Only things I don't like are the heatsinks and badge.



Nice review Dave!!!

well, agree it, MSi doing better and better on the MB, not only the quailty, also the design and the color
for the heatsink, I think claw is look better than the big red dragon head
but it kinda funny, they still put a silver-colored dragon on the side of heatsink


----------



## SmokingCrop (Jun 8, 2014)

cadaveca said:


> I have 5 other boards sitting here, and am expecting quite a few more. Should have at least one a week for the next month or so.



You should include the quality of the actual hardware components like capacitors, inductors and what not.
Take a look at http://sinhardware.com/images/vrmlist.png
-  http://sinhardware.com/index.php/vrm-list
- http://sinhardware.com/index.php/vrm-articles/82-vrm-guide

I think this could really get your already awesome reviews to the next level.


----------



## cadaveca (Jun 8, 2014)

Actually, I read Sin's stuff myself. He does have an account here as well. He does provide excellent information, for sure, and has been doing so for many years.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll see what I can do about that.


----------



## harleyguy (Jun 22, 2014)

I purchased a X97 Gaming 5 mb from Newegg. The first board I received would not boot if I put memory in slots 2, 3, or 4. 

Also the bios could not be upgraded. It would read the new bios file, reboot, say it was loading and stall at 100% (the MSI tech support guy said it should have rebooted). After waiting 5 or 10 minutes, I reset the system but the old bios was still installed.

Returned the board to Newegg and got a new board. Works fine except I still can't update the bios (same symptoms as above).

Did anyone else try to update the bios successfully?


----------



## cadaveca (Jun 22, 2014)

Hrm, I didn't have any issues, but I had mine before the launch (obviously).

Did you use the flashing method included with download, or did you use Live Update?


----------



## harleyguy (Jun 22, 2014)

cadaveca said:


> Hrm, I didn't have any issues, but I had mine before the launch (obviously).
> 
> Did you use the flashing method included with download, or did you use Live Update?



I was in the BIOS and used the M-Flash method: Select one file to update bios and mb. Tried several time and once with the MSI tech support guy on the phone. (BTW the tech support people were very helpful.)


----------



## cadaveca (Jun 22, 2014)

I used Live Update from within Windows8 without problems. You may want to give that a try if you haven't already.


----------



## harleyguy (Jun 22, 2014)

cadaveca said:


> I used Live Update from within Windows8 without problems. You may want to give that a try if you haven't already.



Can't do that cause I'm running Linux (Mint) on it but good to know. BTW: Don't recommend Linux for this MB for other reasons too, the network adapter and on board sound don't have linux drivers yet. Had to add some cards.


----------



## cadaveca (Jun 23, 2014)

oh. Well then. I guess that's +1 to Windows.


----------

