MSI Announces the Z170A Krait Gaming 3X Motherboard

[btarunr]

On its 30th anniversary as a motherboard maker, MSI unveiled a new premium socket LGA1151 board, the Z170A Krait Gaming 3X. This board features the white and black color-scheme distinctive of the Krait family of motherboards by the company, with bright white on the heatsinks and ports, contrasting the black PCB, and hints of red, reminding you of the "Gaming" family origins. Those aside, the Z170A Krait Gaming 3X is a performance-segment offering, built in the ATX form-factor. The board draws power from 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, and uses a 7-phase VRM to condition it for the CPU. It uses high-capacity "Titanium" chokes.

The LGA1151 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel DDR4-3600 memory, and two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots. Other expansion slots include a third PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (electrical gen 3.0 x4), wired to the Z170 PCH, besides four other PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Storage connectivity includes a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, a 16 Gb/s SATA-Express port, and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The onboard AudioBoost 3 solution features dual headphones amplifiers, audio-grade capacitors, ground-layer isolation, Nahmic Audio Enhancer, and a 115 dBA SNR CODEC. Networking is care of an Intel I219-V GbE controller. Modern connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports (one each of type-A and type-C on the rear panel), and six USB 3.0 ports. MSI didn't reveal pricing.



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[Disparia]

Nice, like that slot arrangement. Also like how they separated out the SATA Express port and stuck in the corner (cuz you bad!).

 

[GhostRyder]

I like this update to the KRAIT gaming board. Would not mind getting a chance to play with one!

 

[cdawall]

I wish the usb 3.0 was on its side.

 

[Chaitanya]

Nice to see MSI finally getting rid of Viper imagery from Krait series of boards. Also they have nailed the colour scheme being based on kraits:
Wall's Sind Krait by Chaitanya Shukla, on Flickr

 

[AsRock]

Nice, like that slot arrangement. Also like how they separated out the SATA Express port and stuck in the corner (cuz you bad!).

But they all so shoved 2 sata ports over there too , i would not buy any of them due to those ports being over there including the esata.

 

[Skylinestar]

What's up with the missing screw holes on the right corners?

 

[Chaitanya]

What's up with the missing screw holes on the right corners?

Thats because the board is shorter than normal ATX sized boards.

 

[Skylinestar]

Thats because the board is shorter than normal ATX sized boards.

More and more manufacturers are doing this, which is lame. I'm sure every consumer will want a strong support at that 24pin-power connection.

 

[Chaitanya]

More and more manufacturers are doing this, which is lame. I'm sure every consumer will want a strong support at that 24pin-power connection.

The problem is not the shorter motherboard form factor(if you look at Gigabyte you will find there is mounting hole below DRAM slots) its that case manufacturers have dropped support for shorter ATX sizes. I still have CoolerMaster Ammo 533 in use and that case has support for all wierd sized ATX and M-ATX boards. I don't know why but this trend of smaller than ATX boards started with Intel 9 Series of chipset based boards but I am hoping either it dies out soon or case manufacturers start providing mounting holes for these smaller boards.

 

[Skylinestar]

The problem is not the shorter motherboard form factor(if you look at Gigabyte you will find there is mounting hole below DRAM slots) its that case manufacturers have dropped support for shorter ATX sizes. I still have CoolerMaster Ammo 533 in use and that case has support for all wierd sized ATX and M-ATX boards. I don't know why but this trend of smaller than ATX boards started with Intel 9 Series of chipset based boards but I am hoping either it dies out soon or case manufacturers start providing mounting holes for these smaller boards.

But the 24pin power connection is not located next to that screw mounting.
This trend is getting more popular among mid-range motherboards, which i really hate.