Introduction and Technical Specifications

A review of the Z77 MPower from MSI’s Big Bang series of motherboards.

Introduction

Courtesy of MSI

The MSI Z77 MPower board pairs sleek looks with the promise of stellar performance, as expected from MSI's Big Bang board series. We decided to validate these claims, putting the board through our normal suite of benchmark and functionality tests to see how well it lived up to its reputation. The MSI Z77 MPower is a bargain at its $209.99 base price with the performance potential packed into the board.

Courtesy of MSI

WAY back in August we sat down with MSI's Alex Chang to talk about the Z77 MPower motherboard – take a look at that video below!

While the MSI Z77 MPower board may not have all the add-ons of the more expensive boards, it more than makes up for it in power and overclocking potential. According to MSI's documentation, each Z77 MPower board is factory tested to meet a base overclocking level prior to final packaging. That's an added layer of security ensuring that your new board will perform to those specs. MSI designed the following features into the Z77 MPower: SATA 2 and SATA 3, ports, support for 3 different networking types featuring a Realtek GigE NIC, an Atheros 802.11n adapter, and an Atheros Bluetooth adapter, and plenty of USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports for all your USB-based devices

Courtesy of MSI

Technical Specifications (taken from the MSI website)

CPU

• Supports 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7 / Core™ i5 / Core™ i3 / Pentium® / Celeron® processors for LGA 1155 socket
Please refer to CPU Support for compatible CPU; the above description is for reference only.

Chipset

• Intel® Z77 Chipset

Main Memory

Support four DDR3 DIMMs 1066/1333/1600/1866*/2000*/2133*(OC), 2200*/2400*/2600*/2667*/2800*/3000*(OC, 22nm CPU required)DRAM (32GB Max)
– Supports Dual-Channel mode

Slots

• 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots
• 4 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots

On-Board SATA

SATAIII controller integrated in Intel® Z77 chipset
– Up to 6Gb/s transfer speed.
– Supports two SATA ports (SATA1~2) by Z77

SATAII controller integrated in Intel® Z77 chipset
– Up to 3Gb/s transfer speed.
– Supports four SATA ports (SATA3~6)

RAID
– SATA1~6 ports support Intel Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (AHCI / RAID 0/1/5/10) by Intel Z77

USB

• 6 USB 3.0 rear I/O ports (2 ports by Intel® Z77, 4 ports by Renesas® uDP72020)
• 1 USB 3.0 onboard connector by Intel® Z77

Audio

• Chipset integrated by Realtek® ALC898
– Flexible 8-channel audio with jack sensing
– Compliant with Azalia 1.0 Spec

LAN

LAN
• Supports one PCI Express LAN 10/100/1000 Fast Ethernet by Realtek® 8111E

WiFi
• Supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth
• Supports Bluetooth 3.0+HS

Multi-GPU

• Supports ATI® CrossFire™ Technology
• Supports NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology
• Supports Lucid® Virtu Universal MVP

Internal I/O Connectors

– 3 x USB 2.0 connectors
– 1 x USB 3.0 connector
– 1 x Multi BIOS Switch
– 1 x TPM Module connector
– 1 x Front Panel connector
– 1 x Front Panel Audio connector
– 1 x Chassis Intrusion connector
– 1 x Voice Genie connector (optional)
– 1 x MultiConnect Panel connector (optional)
– 1x Debug LED panel
– 1 x V-Check Points Set
– 1 x Power button
– 1 x OC Genie button
– 1 x Reset button
– 1 x Clear CMOS jumper
– 1 x GO2BIOS button
– CPU x 1 / System x 4 FAN connectors
– ATX 24-pin Power Connector
– ATX 8-pin Power Connector
– ATX 6-pin Power Connector

Back Panel I/O Ports

– 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
– 1 x Clear CMOS button
– 1 x Optical S/PDIF-out port
– 2 x USB 2.0 ports
– 6 x USB 3.0 ports
– 1 x RJ45 LAN jack
– 1 x 6 in 1 audio jack
– 1 x HDMI® port with max. resolution up to 1920×1200 @60Hz
– 1 x DisplayPort port with max. resolution up to 2560×1600 @60Hz
MSI Reminds You…
• This platform supports dual-display function (HDMI+DisplayPort).

BIOS

• The mainboard BIOS provides "Plug & Play" BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically.
• The mainboard provides a Desktop Management Interface(DMI) function which records your mainboard specifications.

Dimension

• 30.5cm(L) x 24.5cm(W) ATX Form Factor

Mounting

• 9 mounting holes.

 

« PreviousNext »