MSI’s Z97 mini-ITX motherboard holds a good amount of features for something so compact. In this photo, the IO is almost completely hidden due to its shield, but we can still tell there are wireless antennas of some variety installed. There are also two stylish-looking shields over the Audio Boost and IO components, likely serving little purpose beyond branding. As with the previous models, it’s got voltage checkpoints, a 12-phase VRM, 8xSATA 6Gb/s ports, one angled USB 3.0 port,1xUSB 3.0 port, 7xPCIe slots (x16 / x8 / x8 / x1 / x1 / 1x / 1x), an M.2 expansion slot, a debug display, and power on, reset, and OC Genie buttons. Again, this is an ATX form factor motherboard using a black PCB and what appears to be placeholder heatsinks (often found on preview boards). MSI’s Gaming 9 appears to support SLI/CrossFire rigs through 1xPCIe x16 slot and 2xPCIe x8 slots. Rear IO labeling shows nothing different, although we can tell it doesn't have VGA out which likely means it has HDMI out. The Audio Boost chip has shifted a bit, but is still present. This ATX motherboard also comes equipped with voltage checkpoints, a beefy 12-phase VRM, 8xSATA 6Gb/s ports, 1xM.2 port, 1xUSB 3.0 port (angled), 7xPCIe slot (x16 / x8 / x8 / x1 / x1 / 1x / 1x), a debug display, and power on, reset, and OC Genie buttons. Similar to the previous motherboard, MSI’s Gaming 7 motherboard appears to support tri-GPU rigs through 1xPCIe x16 slot and 2xPCIe x8 slots. The same Audio Boost chip is present on this board.Īlthough the rear IO is concealed like the previous motherboard, this board has better labeling on the board, so luckily from this we can see some of what its rear IO includes: HDMI, audio out, a number of USB ports, ethernet, VGA out, and what looks to be a PS/2 port all are included in the rear IO. This ATX board appears to include an 8-phase VRM, voltage checkpoints (for those of you requiring perfect control over voltage), 6xSATA 6Gb/s ports, 1xM.2 port, 1xUSB 3.0 port (angled, which helpful seeing as USB 3.0 connectors are often troublesome), a debug readout (seven-segment display) at the bottom of the board, and 7xPCIe slots (x16 / x8 / x8 / x1 / x1 / 1x / 1x) which could be useful in multi-card SLI / CrossFire arrays. MSI Gaming 5 9-Series Motherboard SpecsĪs with MSI’s Gaming 3 board, the Gaming 5 9-series motherboard is quite revealing of its features with a top-down shot.
The rear IO is unfortunately not seen, but we can see that it includes what looks like a full DTS-enabled audio output, standard LAN, an on-board VGA out, HDMI out, at least 1xUSB3.0 port, and other items that we can’t identify with certainty from this angle. MSI’s “Audio Boost” chip can be seen installed in the top left if it’s anything like what’s found on existing MSI boards, it likely enables 8 channels (7.1) on-board. From this picture we can see what looks like a 6-phase VRM, 1xM.2 port, 6xSATA 6Gb/s ports, 1xUSB 3.0 port, 4xPCIe slot (x16 / x8 / x1 / x1), and 3xPCI slots. This photo reveals MSI’s Gaming 3 (might be Z97, we’re unsure) motherboard, a budget ATX motherboard that could hold solid value if at the correct price point. MSI Broadwell Motherboards MSI Gaming 3 9-Series Motherboard Specs