MSI Announces Z97I Gaming ACK Motherboard

[btarunr]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

First thing I thought of:

ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!

 

[ensabrenoir]

First thing I thought of:

ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!

x10

 

[inferKNOX]

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]

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]

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

 

[Shou Miko]

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]

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

 

[Arjai]

Hmmm, looks very nice.

Anybody wanna get me one?

 

[inferKNOX]

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.