MSI Announces Z97I Gaming ACK Motherboard

btarunr · Dec 22, 2014

MSI, world leading in motherboard technology, announces the true mini-ITX gaming solution, featuring ACK powered by Killer DoubleShot Pro, M.2 connectivity and a whole new gaming oriented PCB design. Gamers around the world looking for a powerful small-sized gaming machine with all the necessary bells & whistles can now get excited.

ACK powered by Killer DoubleShot Pro delivers 3.5x times lower latency and 2.9x times faster data throughput compared to traditional Wireless-N solutions. Killer Smart Teaming allows the use of LAN and WI-FI at the same time with speeds up to 1.867 Gbps and the ability to process gaming activity through LAN and other internet activity through Wi-Fi for the best lag-free gaming experience. Advanced Stream Detect automatically classifies and prioritizes the latency-sensitive applications for online games. Together with smart applications which allow you to control your bandwidth, MSI ACK is the one and only true wireless GAMING solution.

Push your SSD to the limit with M.2
Enjoy a blazing fast system boot up and insanely fast loading of applications and games with MSI GAMING motherboards. We offer the next generation of high speed storage support through M.2. M.2 transfers data through a PCI Express 2.0 x2 interface up to 10 Gb/s, making it 67% faster than SATA 3.0 solutions. Innovative engineering on the Z97I GAMING ACK allows for a M.2 slot located at the bottom of the motherboard. M.2 is packed in a small form factor and is compatible with 2 different sizes on the Z97I GAMING ACK motherboard, to fit most storage solutions.

Optimized keep-out zone for more compatibility of cooler
Choosing a cooler for the mini-ITX build has never been an easy thing without having to give up either silence or cooling performance. Traditionally, ITX motherboards are not always compatible with the biggest and best cooling solutions. MSI reaches out to those who don't want to compromise on performance and silence by re-designing the entire PCB and re-locating the 1150 CPU socket on the Z97I GAMING ACK motherboard. This new design allows for easy installment of large enthusiast CPU air cooling solutions or water cooling kits. Never worry about CPU temperatures during long gaming sessions and enjoy a more silent ITX gaming system with the all new MSI Z97I GAMING ACK motherboard.

Specifications:

CPU Support: 4th and 5th Gen Intel Core / Pentium / Celeron processors
Chipset: Intel Z97 Express Chipset
Network: Killer E2205 Gigabit Ethernet, Killer 1525 802.11 ac, BT 4.1
Storage: 1x M.2 10Gb/s, 4x SATA 6Gb/s
Display interface: 1x DisplayPort, 2x HDMI
Connectivity: 1x PCI-e 3.0 x16, 6x USB 3.0, 6x USB 2.0, 8-channel Audio Boost

For more information, visit the product page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Chaitanya · Dec 22, 2014

Looks interesting, compared to Z97i gaming, this version seems to have better layout of headers in general(USB header is still near the back I/O.
Edit: Choice of the Wifi card is a little odd, since most of the other manufacturers are using Intel Wifi cards.

Sinzia · Dec 22, 2014

M.2 on the bottom? I dunno how I feel about that, its something you don't always need access to, but when you do you'd have to take the motherboard out. I've built several mITX boxes, none had access to the bottom easily.

btarunr · Dec 22, 2014

Sinzia said:
M.2 on the bottom? I dunno how I feel about that, its something you don't always need access to, but when you do you'd have to take the motherboard out. I've built several mITX boxes, none had access to the bottom easily.

It's better than not having an M.2 slot due to space limitations on the front side. Those Plextor M.2 PCIe drives are really fast.

Sinzia · Dec 22, 2014

btarunr said:
It's better than not having an M.2 slot due to space limitations on the front side. Those Plextor M.2 PCIe drives are really fast.

I like the vertical mount that some of the Asus boards use.
You're right tho, better than none.

Shou Miko · Dec 22, 2014

Now i am thinking how long M.2. SSD's can you mount behind this board? i see 2 screws not 3 like all ATX boards....

*EDIT had some trouble accessing MSI's page now it worked and finally could see the answer...

- M.2 port supports 4.2cm/ 6cm length module

Random Murderer · Dec 22, 2014

First thing I thought of:

ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!

ensabrenoir · Dec 22, 2014

Random Murderer said:
First thing I thought of:

ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!

x10

inferKNOX · Dec 22, 2014

Is M.2 worth it though?
When I read reviews about the MSI z97i Gaming AC before I bought it, they complained about the lack of M.2 on the board, but I couldn't find any benefit in getting a an M.2 drive, over an equivalent 2.5" drive. I'm happy with my "gaming ac" build, all things considered.

cadaveca · Dec 22, 2014

inferKNOX said:
Is M.2 worth it though?
When I read reviews about the MSI z97i Gaming AC before I bought it, they complained about the lack of M.2 on the board, but I couldn't find any benefit in getting a an M.2 drive, over an equivalent 2.5" drive. I'm happy with my "gaming ac" build, all things considered.

M.2 @ 10 Gb/s is really fast, faster than 2.5" SSD. for mITX gaming rig, with added mechanical for large storage, and a normal SSD for game installs, this could be the basis of a killer high-end gaming rig. All that needs to be added after drives is 4790K, 16 GB 2133 MHz ram and mITX GTX 970. Even 4690K would do.

Winston_008 · Dec 23, 2014

Well I'm glad they realized that the cpu socket placement on their previous itx gaming motherboard was terrible.

Shou Miko · Dec 23, 2014

cadaveca said:
M.2 @ 10 Gb/s is really fast, faster than 2.5" SSD. for mITX gaming rig, with added mechanical for large storage, and a normal SSD for game installs, this could be the basis of a killer high-end gaming rig. All that needs to be added after drives is 4790K, 16 GB 2133 MHz ram and mITX GTX 970. Even 4690K would do.

what worries me Dave is the max length of the M.2. card supported on this board 60mm many of the large storage M.2. SSD's are 80mm of what i can read, something i noticed the past 1 and a half or a little longer ago that 120/128gigs just ain't enough for me for Windows 7/8.1 i have too much junk i don't move around so atleast 240/250gigs and i am happy even considering for M.2. was 512gigs and divide it into 2 drives one for OS and one for games bcs loading in games would get the blast out of the 10gb/s i hope, maybe not online games that require a online server but single player games should ^^

Ruru · Dec 27, 2014

Nah, wifi is IMO kinda stupid on a "gaming" motherboard, I would rather prefer an Intel 1Gbps wired LAN.

Arjai · Dec 27, 2014

Hmmm, looks very nice.

Anybody wanna get me one?

inferKNOX · Jan 6, 2015

cadaveca said:
M.2 @ 10 Gb/s is really fast, faster than 2.5" SSD. for mITX gaming rig, with added mechanical for large storage, and a normal SSD for game installs, this could be the basis of a killer high-end gaming rig. All that needs to be added after drives is 4790K, 16 GB 2133 MHz ram and mITX GTX 970. Even 4690K would do.

I see. I didn't come across M.2's with such high speed. I was looking at the M.2 counterparts to SSD's like the one you see in my specs. My rig is lightning quick ATM, I can only imagine how fast it'd be with a 10Gb/s SSD. I expect a faster CPU than I have would only give a performance difference in intensive tasks, as my laughs at what games ask of it ATM.

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	FragBox
Processor	Intel Core i7 2600K @ 5.0GHz/1.45 volts
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77 WS
Cooling	Custom CPU loop
Memory	Kingston 12GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	Galaxy GTX 680/Zotac GTX 680 in SLi/EVGA GTX 650Ti
Storage	2 Vertex 3 120's, raid 0, 2 Seagate Momentus XT 500GB's in raid 0, 1 Hitatchi 2TB for backup
Display(s)	3 Acer S232HLX2 in nvidia surround
Case	Corsair C70 White
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Software	Win 7 x64 Pro

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	FragBox
Processor	Intel Core i7 2600K @ 5.0GHz/1.45 volts
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77 WS
Cooling	Custom CPU loop
Memory	Kingston 12GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	Galaxy GTX 680/Zotac GTX 680 in SLi/EVGA GTX 650Ti
Storage	2 Vertex 3 120's, raid 0, 2 Seagate Momentus XT 500GB's in raid 0, 1 Hitatchi 2TB for backup
Display(s)	3 Acer S232HLX2 in nvidia surround
Case	Corsair C70 White
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Software	Win 7 x64 Pro

System Name	Lynni PS \ Lenowo TwinkPad L14 G2
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Raphael (Waiting on 9800X3D) \ i5-1135G7 Tiger Lake-U
Motherboard	ASRock B650M PG Riptide Bios v. 3.10 AMD AGESA 1.2.0.2a \ Lenowo BDPLANAR Bios 1.68
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 Chromax.Black (Only middle fan) \ Lenowo C-267C-2
Memory	G.Skill Flare X5 2x16GB DDR5 6000MHZ CL36-36-36-96 AMD EXPO \ Willk Elektronik 2x16GB 2666MHZ CL17
Video Card(s)	Asus GeForce RTX™ 4070 Dual OC (Waiting on RX 8800 XT) \| Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
Storage	Gigabyte M30 1TB\|Sabrent Rocket 2TB\| HDD: 10TB\|1TB \ WD RED SN700 1TB
Display(s)	KTC M27T20S 1440p@165Hz \| LG 48CX OLED 4K HDR \| Innolux 14" 1080p
Case	Asus Prime AP201 White Mesh \| Lenowo L14 G2 chassis
Audio Device(s)	Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless
Power Supply	Be Quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W Goldie \| 65W
Mouse	Logitech G305 Lightspeedy Wireless \| Lenowo TouchPad & Logitech G305
Keyboard	Ducky One 3 Daybreak Fullsize \| L14 G2 UK Lumi
Software	Win11 IoT Enterprise 24H2 UK \| Win11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 24H2 UK / Arch (Fan)
Benchmark Scores	3DMARK: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/89434432? GPU-Z: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/v3zbr

MSI Announces Z97I Gaming ACK Motherboard

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

Chaitanya

Sinzia

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

Sinzia

Shou Miko

Random Murderer

The Anti-Midas

ensabrenoir

inferKNOX

cadaveca

My name is Dave

Winston_008

Shou Miko

Ruru

S.T.A.R.S.

Arjai

inferKNOX

System Name	TOO MUCH RADIATOR! \| The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor	Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz \| Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard	Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme \| Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling	Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators \| Corsair H80i
Memory	4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 \| 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s)	Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 \| PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage	Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others \| 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s)	Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS \| Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case	Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) \| Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s)	RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 \| HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply	LEPA G1600-MA 1600W \| Corsair CX750M 750W
Software	Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores	over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"

System Name	iJayo
Processor	i7 14700k
Motherboard	Asus ROG STRIX z790-E wifi
Cooling	Pearless Assasi
Memory	32 gigs Corsair Vengence
Video Card(s)	Nvidia RTX 2070 Super
Storage	1tb 840 evo, Itb samsung M.2 ssd 1 & 3 tb seagate hdd, 120 gig Hyper X ssd
Display(s)	42" Nec retail display monitor/ 34" Dell curved 165hz monitor
Case	O11 mini
Audio Device(s)	M-Audio monitors
Power Supply	LIan li 750 mini
Mouse	corsair Dark Saber
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121
Software	Window 11 pro
Benchmark Scores	meh... feel me on the battle field!

System Name	inferKNIGHT
Processor	Intel Core i5-4590
Motherboard	MSI Z97i Gaming AC
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	2 x 4GB DDR3-1866 Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer (R/G)
Video Card(s)	ASUS GTX 970 STRIX 3.5GB (+0.5GB? o.O)
Storage	1 x 256GB Cricial M550, 1 x 2TB Samsung 7200.12
Display(s)	Samsung SyncMaster T260
Case	Corsair Obsidian 250D
Power Supply	Corsair RM750
Software	Windows 8.1.1 pro x64

System Name	A black box
Processor	AMD fx 8350
Motherboard	Gigabyte 990fxa ud3
Cooling	Stock
Memory	8GB Kingston hyperx 1600mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus directcu top HD5850
Storage	random 250gb
Display(s)	Philips 190b3
Case	antec 200 v2
Audio Device(s)	Integrated
Power Supply	Silverstone 600w strider essentials plus
Software	Windows 7 ultimate 64bit
Benchmark Scores	I once tagged my school desk.

System Name	4K-gaming
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X @ PBO +200 -20CO
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair VII Hero
Cooling	Arctic Freezer 50, EKWB Vector TUF
Memory	32GB Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4-3466
Video Card(s)	Asus GeForce RTX 3080 TUF OC 10GB
Storage	3.3TB of SSDs + 3TB USB3.0 HDDs
Display(s)	27" 4K120 IPS + 32" 4K60 IPS + 24" 1080p60
Case	Corsair 4000D Airflow White
Audio Device(s)	Asus TUF H3 Wireless / Corsair HS35
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse	Logitech MX518 + Asus ROG Strix Edge Nordic
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	It runs Crysis

System Name	Bay2- Lowerbay/ HP 3770/T3500-2+T3500-3+T3500-4/ Opti-Con/Orange/White/Grey
Processor	i3 2120's/ i7 3770/ x5670's/ i5 2400/Ryzen 2700/Ryzen 2700/R7 3700x
Motherboard	HP UltraSlim's/ HP mid size/ Dell T3500 workstation's/ Dell 390/B450 AorusM/B450 AorusM/B550 AorusM
Cooling	All stock coolers/Grey has an H-60
Memory	2GB/ 4GB/ 12 GB 3 chan/ 4GB sammy/T-Force 16GB 3200/XPG 16GB 3000/Ballistic 3600 16GB
Video Card(s)	HD2000's/ HD 2000/ 1 MSI GT710,2x MSI R7 240's/ HD4000/ Red Dragon 580/Sapphire 580/Sapphire 580
Storage	?HDD's/ 500 GB-er's/ 500 GB/2.5 Samsung 500GB HDD+WD Black 1TB/ WD Black 500GB M.2/Corsair MP600 M.2
Display(s)	1920x1080/ ViewSonic VX24568 between the rest/1080p TV-Grey
Case	HP 8200 UltraSlim's/ HP 8200 mid tower/Dell T3500's/ Dell 390/SilverStone Kublai KL06/NZXT H510 W x2
Audio Device(s)	Sonic Master/ onboard's/ Beeper's!
Power Supply	19.5 volt bricks/ Dell PSU/ 525W sumptin/ same/Seasonic 750 80+Gold/EVGA 500 80+/Antec 650 80+Gold
Mouse	cheap GigaWire930, CMStorm Havoc + Logitech M510 wireless/iGear usb x2/MX 900 wireless kit 4 Grey
Keyboard	Dynex, 2 no name, SYX and a Logitech. All full sized and USB. MX900 kit for Grey
Software	Mint 18 Sylvia/ Opti-Con Mint KDE/ T3500's on Kubuntu/HP 3770 is Win 10/Win 10 Pro/Win 10 Pro/Win10
Benchmark Scores	World Community Grid is my benchmark!!