Introduction

It is not all that often I get to play with gear that is not out in the public space. New hardware is released yearly, but the motherboards and memory kits I review have more often than not already seen a retail release, although I do get some samples a bit sooner than others when Intel launches a new platform. As many of you know, new stuff from Intel is coming soon, and I have been fortunate enough to again secure a few early hardware samples. Like the launch back in June of last year, I have a single MSI motherboard sitting here that aptly showcases what is coming to store shelves shortly.

Due to it being pre-release, I have only been allowed to post certain details, all of which pertain to new features and the esthetic design. On the coming pages, you will come across many pictures and highlights of what MSI's next-gen boards carry, but some of those pictures have been edited to remove some stuff I am not allowed to show, which is a new thing to me, and out of respect for those companies that do not want those details released, I have to abide by the guidelines I was given. I can show you the physical design, but performance numbers and actually running the system are both taboos, so I will have to save that stuff for another day. With that out of the way, let us take a look.

What I have here is MSI's new GAMING 5 motherboard, a product out of their relatively new product portfolio that focuses on gamers and those that stream their gameplay. As such, features that cater to those users were chosen, and the same goes for the software. I cannot show you the software, but what I can do is tell you a little bit about it. While I have chosen not to talk about it much more aside from what I have already mentioned, we will look at the GAMING 5's physical design today. Let us begin.

Specifications