Combining the overclocking and gaming world, this Intel Z170 motherboard features a plethora of exemplary tools and an extremely unique silver PCB for styling.
Product on Review Z170A XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM
Manufacturer & Sponsor: MSI
Street Price: £220 GBP / $300 USD
In the past MSI has divided its overclocking and gaming motherboard product lines and its obvious to see why such decisions have been made. Overclocking predominately focusses on the enthusiast who demands on-the-fly tools and features for monitoring/adjusting temperatures, while gamers typically require features which are associated with performance, speed and latency. Today we’re to take a look at a product which combines both groups together – blending a whole host of useful features from the two camps.
MSI’s Z170A XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM is primarily designed to push the limits of your hardware while offering an all-encompassing feature-set. Not only is this motherboard backed by a strong lineup of features but it also takes motherboard styling to a whole new level with a unique silver PCB.
About MSI
Micro-Star International Co., Ltd (MSI) was established in August 1986 in Jhonghe, Taipei by 5 founders, one of the world’s largest information technology manufacturers with more than 12,700 employees, including those in Taipei headquarters, Baoan Plant (Shenzhen), Kunshan Plant and sales staff around the world.
MSI started from the motherboard and graphics card industries and extended into consumer and commerical electronics including notebooks, All-in-One PCs, servers, workstations, industrial PCs, household appliances, car infotainment products, barebone systems, multimedia, communication devices, and others.
MSI started from the motherboard and graphics card industries and extended into consumer and commerical electronics including notebooks, All-in-One PCs, servers, workstations, industrial PCs, household appliances, car infotainment products, barebone systems, multimedia, communication devices, and others.
Technical Specifications
CPU
• Supports 6th Gen Intel® Core&trade i3/i5/i7 processors, and Intel® Pentium® and Celeron® processors for Socket LGA1151
Chipset
• Intel® Z170 Chipset
Main Memory
• 4 x DDR4 memory slots, support up to 64GB
– Supports DDR4 4000(OC)-2DIMM/3866(OC)-4DIMM/3600(OC)/ 3200(OC)/ 3000(OC)/ 2800(OC)/ 2600(OC)/ 2400/ 2133 MHz
• Dual channel memory architecture
• Supports non-ECC, un-buffered memory
• Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
Slots
• 4 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16/0/0/x4, x8/0/x8/x4 or x8/x4/x4/x4 modes)
• 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots
Onboard Graphics
• 2 x HDMI™ ports, support a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@24Hz, 2560×1600@60Hz
• 1 x DisplayPort, supports a maximum resolution of 4096×2304@24Hz, 2560×1600@60Hz, 3840×2160@60Hz, 1920×1200@60Hz
Multi-GPU
• Supports 4-Way AMD® CrossFire™ Technology
• Supports 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology
Storage
• Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
• 6x SATA 6Gb/s ports*(SATA1~6)
• 2x M.2 ports
– Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s standards, 4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length M.2 SSD cards
– Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo U.2 Host Card**
• 2x SATAe ports (PCIe 3.0 x2)***
• Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™ processors
• ASMedia® ASM1061 chipset
– 2 x SATA 6Gb/s ports (SATA7~8)
RAID
• Intel® Z170 Chipset
– Supports RAID 0, RAID1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 for SATA storage devices
– Supports RAID 0 and RAID1 for M.2 PCIe storage devices*
USB
• ASMedia® ASM1142 Chipset
– 2 x USB 3.1 Gen2 (SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps) ports on the back panel
• Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
– 7x USB 3.1 Gen1 (SuperSpeed USB) ports (4 ports on the back panel, 1 internal port, 2 ports available through the internal USB connector)
– 7x USB 2.0 (High-speed USB) ports (3 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB connectors)
Audio
• Realtek® ALC1150 Codec
– 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio
– Supports S/PDIF output
LAN
• 1 x Intel® I219-V Gigabit LAN controller
Internal I/O Connectors
– 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
– 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
– 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
– 1 x 6-pin ATX 12V power connector
– 8 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
– 2 x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports)
– 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 connector (supports additional 2 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports)
– 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 port
– 2 x 4-pin CPU fan connectors
– 3 x 4-pin system fan connectors
– 1 x Front panel audio connector
– 2 x Front panel connectors
– 1 x TPM module connector
– 1 x Chassis Intrusion connector
– 1 x OC DASHBOARD connector
– 1 x GAME BOOST button
– 1 x Power button
– 1 x Reset button
– 1 x BIOS FLASHBACK+ button
– 1 x HOTKEY switch
– 1 x PCIe CeaseFire switch
– 1 x Multi-BIOS switch
– 1 x 2-Digit Debug Code LED
Back Panel I/O Ports
– 1 x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse combo port
– 3 x USB 2.0 ports
* 1 x HOTKEY port
* 1 x BIOS FLASHBACK+ port
– 1 x Clear CMOS button
– 2 x HDMI™ ports
– 1 x DisplayPort
– 2 x USB 3.1 Gen2 ports
– 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports
– 1 x LAN (RJ45) port
– 1 x Optical S/PDIF OUT connector
– 5 x OFC audio jacks
BIOS
• The motherboard BIOS provides “Plug & Play” BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically.
• The motherboard provides a Desktop Management Interface(DMI) function which records your motherboard specifications.
Dimension
• 12 in. x 9.6 in. (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm)
• ATX Form Factor
Mounting
• 9 mounting holes
• Supports 6th Gen Intel® Core&trade i3/i5/i7 processors, and Intel® Pentium® and Celeron® processors for Socket LGA1151
Chipset
• Intel® Z170 Chipset
Main Memory
• 4 x DDR4 memory slots, support up to 64GB
– Supports DDR4 4000(OC)-2DIMM/3866(OC)-4DIMM/3600(OC)/ 3200(OC)/ 3000(OC)/ 2800(OC)/ 2600(OC)/ 2400/ 2133 MHz
• Dual channel memory architecture
• Supports non-ECC, un-buffered memory
• Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
Slots
• 4 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16/0/0/x4, x8/0/x8/x4 or x8/x4/x4/x4 modes)
• 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots
Onboard Graphics
• 2 x HDMI™ ports, support a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@24Hz, 2560×1600@60Hz
• 1 x DisplayPort, supports a maximum resolution of 4096×2304@24Hz, 2560×1600@60Hz, 3840×2160@60Hz, 1920×1200@60Hz
Multi-GPU
• Supports 4-Way AMD® CrossFire™ Technology
• Supports 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology
Storage
• Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
• 6x SATA 6Gb/s ports*(SATA1~6)
• 2x M.2 ports
– Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s standards, 4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length M.2 SSD cards
– Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo U.2 Host Card**
• 2x SATAe ports (PCIe 3.0 x2)***
• Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™ processors
• ASMedia® ASM1061 chipset
– 2 x SATA 6Gb/s ports (SATA7~8)
RAID
• Intel® Z170 Chipset
– Supports RAID 0, RAID1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 for SATA storage devices
– Supports RAID 0 and RAID1 for M.2 PCIe storage devices*
USB
• ASMedia® ASM1142 Chipset
– 2 x USB 3.1 Gen2 (SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps) ports on the back panel
• Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
– 7x USB 3.1 Gen1 (SuperSpeed USB) ports (4 ports on the back panel, 1 internal port, 2 ports available through the internal USB connector)
– 7x USB 2.0 (High-speed USB) ports (3 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB connectors)
Audio
• Realtek® ALC1150 Codec
– 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio
– Supports S/PDIF output
LAN
• 1 x Intel® I219-V Gigabit LAN controller
Internal I/O Connectors
– 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
– 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
– 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
– 1 x 6-pin ATX 12V power connector
– 8 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
– 2 x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports)
– 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 connector (supports additional 2 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports)
– 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 port
– 2 x 4-pin CPU fan connectors
– 3 x 4-pin system fan connectors
– 1 x Front panel audio connector
– 2 x Front panel connectors
– 1 x TPM module connector
– 1 x Chassis Intrusion connector
– 1 x OC DASHBOARD connector
– 1 x GAME BOOST button
– 1 x Power button
– 1 x Reset button
– 1 x BIOS FLASHBACK+ button
– 1 x HOTKEY switch
– 1 x PCIe CeaseFire switch
– 1 x Multi-BIOS switch
– 1 x 2-Digit Debug Code LED
Back Panel I/O Ports
– 1 x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse combo port
– 3 x USB 2.0 ports
* 1 x HOTKEY port
* 1 x BIOS FLASHBACK+ port
– 1 x Clear CMOS button
– 2 x HDMI™ ports
– 1 x DisplayPort
– 2 x USB 3.1 Gen2 ports
– 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports
– 1 x LAN (RJ45) port
– 1 x Optical S/PDIF OUT connector
– 5 x OFC audio jacks
BIOS
• The motherboard BIOS provides “Plug & Play” BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically.
• The motherboard provides a Desktop Management Interface(DMI) function which records your motherboard specifications.
Dimension
• 12 in. x 9.6 in. (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm)
• ATX Form Factor
Mounting
• 9 mounting holes
Unboxing & Closer Look
For this review we’ve produced a video which reveals the packaging, bundle and a close, detailed overview of the motherboard. Please check out the video below for a comprehensive look at the feature-set:
Intel Z170 Features
Intel’s initial release schedule for Skylake was planned well in advance, long before Microsoft officially announced the launch date of Windows 10. Most of August was set aside for conferences and seminars including the Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco, all with the aim of taking the wraps off and going deep into the technology within this new CPU architecture. Unfortunately bringing forward the release date of ‘K-series’ SKUs has meant that they’re unable to furnish detailed technical info to reviewers and members of the press, and won’t be releasing this information until IDF. The following is information which has been released thus far.
Developed under the codename Sunrise Point, Intel’s 100-series chipset is designed to operate hand-in-hand with an Intel ‘Skylake’ 6th Generation core processor. It utilises an LGA 1151 socket, underscoring the fact that neither CPU nor motherboard are backwards compatible with any of the previous generation hardware. As a result Sunrise Point is free to add additional features not present in x90-series and earlier chipsets.
Memory and Overclocking
Most notably from a consumer perspective Sunrise Point is the first Intel mainstream computing platform to be compatible with DDR4, and most Z170 and H170 designs are indeed likely to feature this memory technology rather than continue with DDR3L (a memory spec which Skylake CPUs can also handle). Default support is at DDR4-2133, however speeds above this are possible if a Z170 motherboard and K-Series CPU are used in tandem. One year on from the release of Haswell-E DDR4 pricing is quickly becoming more bearable, and so whilst it’s an additional expense to swallow compared with Haswell/Z97 it may not be quite the price premium you expect.
With Skylake Intel are, for the first time in many generations of Core architectures, once again re-enabling fine grade overclocking of memory at the Base Clock (BCLK) level. The PCI subsystem clock is now independent of BCLK, allowing for robust overclocking support which dispenses with coarse ratios in favour of a MHz by MHz stepping to far higher levels. Pre-launch testing by board partners have ascertained that stable BCLK’s of up to 400MHz are possible (with a stepping down of CPU multiplier), a far cry from even last year’s Haswell Refresh.
It should be noted that overclocking support has also been improved through greater control over individual CPU voltage inputs. Haswell made use of a Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator on the CPU itself; in essence, the motherboard supplied one input voltage and the FIVR divided this into individual on-board component inputs. With Skylake/Z170 the motherboard chipset controls each of these voltages individually, allowing direct adjustment for greater stability where necessary. This could theoretically be a great boon to enthusiast overclockers eager to get every last smidgen of performance out of a system.
Chipset and PCH Features
As we noted in our review of the two launched Skylake CPUs, up to 16 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes exist as a direct low-latency connection between CPU and 3rd party hardware such as graphics cards. These can operate in a 1×16 lane, 2×8 lane or 1×8 lane and 2×4 lane setup for multi-GPU configurations depending on the hardware implementation chosen by the board partners, but aren’t sufficient alone to support additional hardware options such as PCI-Express storage. The Platform Controller Hub therefore provides additional PCI-Express lanes to peripheral controllers.
In contrast to Intel’s 9-series motherboards Sunrise Point can supply up to an additional 20 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes, potentially resulting in double the bandwidth compared with the 20 PCIe 2.0 lanes of the previous generation. These new lanes augment the chipset storage options, most notably in respect to PCIe storage with many designs now featuring multiple next-generation storage options rather than a singular M.2 or SATA-Express port. Whilst not the low-latency connection you require for effective graphics processing, they will be more than suitable for new high-speed storage options including RAID for PCI-Express thanks to an upgraded DMI connection between PCH and CPU.
Further augmenting the platform’s storage capabilities is the adoption of new Intel Rapid Storage Technology protocols allowing PCI-Express storage to be used as caching drives for slower media. Potentially still a niche technology, the stark benefits of next-generation SSDs over mechanical drives as well as future SSDs could be just the breakthrough Intel RST needs to capture mainstream adoption.
In an additional change from the 9-series motherboards support has been added for up to 10 native USB 3.0 ports and 14 USB 2.0 ports, with a maximum of 16 ports in some combination thereof. It should be noted that so far as we can tell USB 3.1 isn’t actually native to the Sunrise Point chipset. Implementation is up to motherboard vendors through 3rd party controllers, and it’s to their credit that many have adopted the new high-speed standard without any fuss. For some both USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C connectors are available, with Type-C the most common otherwise.
Those who make use of on-board CPU graphics can now enjoy support for up to three digital display outputs, or make use of the Intel 530 Graphics capabilities in tandem with discrete graphics. Microsoft Windows 10 (via DirectX 12) includes new options which allow disparate graphics hardware to be used in tandem, making best use of processing power where possible. Even without this, the transcoding capabilities of Intel QuickSync make it a tempting proposition for fast and efficient h.265 encoding and decoding, even if your discrete graphics hardware is formidable.
With unchanged support for six conventional SATA III storage ports, Intel 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet, Intel Audio options and comprehensive UEFI BIOS options, Sunrise Point (and by extension all Z170 motherboards) are choc-full of features. That’s not to say that there aren’t some omissions – lack of native USB 3.1 support being the most obvious, whilst native U.2 connectors are a premium feature supplied by board partners – but as a whole the platform is a significant step forward overall.
XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM BIOS Video Tour
Below is a video tour showing the interface of the XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM BIOS and the options which are available. As you can see, movement is very smooth and the overall look is refined and professional. Advanced tweaking and customisation options are available from a variety of different menus:
Test Setup & Methodology
Test Setup
CPU Intel Core i7-6700K
Cooling Corsair H100i GTX
Motherboard MSI Z170A XPOWER GAMIKNG TITANIUM
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz
Graphics XFX R7970 Black Edition
Storage OCZ Vector 180
PSU Corsair HX1050 80 Plus Gold Certified PSU
Cooling Corsair H100i GTX
Motherboard MSI Z170A XPOWER GAMIKNG TITANIUM
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz
Graphics XFX R7970 Black Edition
Storage OCZ Vector 180
PSU Corsair HX1050 80 Plus Gold Certified PSU
Benchmarks
Cinebench R15 – CPU/OpenGL Score
x264 HD 4.0 – 1st and 2nd pass encoding
SiSoftware SANDRA 2014 – CPU & Memory benchmarks
AIDA64 – CPU benchmarks
PCMark 8 – Home Suite
3DMark FireStrike – DX11 3D Benchmark
Games – Tomb Raider, THIEF
x264 HD 4.0 – 1st and 2nd pass encoding
SiSoftware SANDRA 2014 – CPU & Memory benchmarks
AIDA64 – CPU benchmarks
PCMark 8 – Home Suite
3DMark FireStrike – DX11 3D Benchmark
Games – Tomb Raider, THIEF
Other Software
Temperature Analysis: Real Temp
Stress Testing Software: AIDA64 Stability Test
CPU Specification Monitoring: CPU-Z
Stress Testing Software: AIDA64 Stability Test
CPU Specification Monitoring: CPU-Z
Overclocking
Overclocking with Skylake is now fully flexible since we can adjust many variables including BCLK and ratio/multiplier.
Our current milestone is 4.7GHz with the Intel Core i7-6700K and we’re happy to report that we managed to surpass this achievement and nudge the frequency up to 4.8GHz – to accomplish this we used 100/48 and 1.35v.
Benchmarks: Power Consumption
It’s interesting to note the power consumption across all motherboards. Although they are using the Z170 chipset, energy results can fluctuate between manufacturers due to the features and specifications that are integrated. First of all, for the idle tests the system is cold booted into Windows and no additional applications are executed – the watts are noted on the external energy monitor we use and then the system is loaded with 3DMark FireStrike – watts are again monitored for the duration of the test and the highest rated wattage result is then noted down. Below are the results of this energy test.
Benchmarks: X264 HD
Simply put, this test measures how fast your machine can encode a short, DVD quality MPEG-2 video clip into a high-quality x264 video clip. What’s x264, you ask? It’s more or less the next-generation Xvid/DivX codec. I think it’s ideal for a benchmark because the application (x264.exe) reports fairly accurate compression results (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encoding process, and it uses multi-core processors very efficiently.
Benchmarks: AIDA64
AIDA64 Product PageThis simple integer benchmark focuses on the branch prediction capabilities and the misprediction penalties of the CPU. It finds the solutions for the classic “Queens problem” on a 10 by 10 sized chessboard. At the same clock speed theoretically the processor with the shorter pipeline and smaller misprediction penalties will attain higher benchmark scores. For example — with HyperThreading disabled — the Intel Northwood core processors get higher scores than the Intel Prescott core based ones due to the 20-step vs 31-step long pipeline. CPU Queen test uses integer MMX, SSE2 and SSSE3 optimizations.
Benchmarks: Cinebench R15
CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Iron Man 3, Oblivion, Life of Pi or Prometheus and many more.
Benchmarks: SiSoftware SANDRA
SANDRA isn’t always a benchmark that is included in hardware reviews but I believe it shouldn’t be ignored. SANDRA provides a vigorous package that tests your system in a rather large array of benchmarks. There are many aspects of benchmark that can be executed. We will be considering – CPU and memory tests.
Benchmarks: 3DMark
3DMark FireStrike Product PageFire Strike is our new showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today. Fire Strike will only be available in the Windows editions of 3DMark initially.
Benchmarks: PCMark 8
PCMark 8 combines performance benchmarking with battery life measurement and includes tests based on popular Adobe and Microsoft applications. Whether you are looking for long battery life, or maximum power, PCMark 8 will help you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance for your needs. It’s the complete PC performance benchmark for home and business.
Benchmarks: Tomb Raider & THIEF
It’s important for us to perform a number of game benchmarks as well as the synthetic tests because gamers will want to know if there are any significant benefits. So here we have two popular and recent gaming titles which feature a dedicated benchmark tool within them to display results.
Conclusion
In the last few years the external design of the motherboard has been an area to which a variety of manufacturers have placed key importance. Styling and aesthetics are for most end users an area of primary concern – we think back to the late 90s/early 00s and compare the visual appearance of motherboards to the solutions we have today and its clear to see vast improvements. While there are a wide-selection of impressive looking boards to choose from nowadays, it’s rare to see any vendor taking bold steps to bring something truly unique to the table but today’s product review touches on this very subject.
Without a doubt the biggest attraction to XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM is that silver livery. The styling on this motherboard steps away from the norm and supplies us with something stunning, unique and inventive.
This board combines features which are akin to both enthusiast and gaming sectors and so as a result there are useful tools and options to a large audience of users. The idea of adding in an interchangeable OC Dashboard is an innovative inclusion, if the user plans to have the board on a test bench and needs on-the-fly control this panel supplies the options which are needed. No matter where you cast your eye XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM seems to have everything covered – we really like the fact that MSI has included two M.2 slots; quite a few vendors lack this support but it provides the potential to RAID NVMe devices which are vast becoming the go-to product for storage.
Taking our attention to the performance we are again left in no doubt of this motherboards capabilities. XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM tackled all of our benchmarks in a consistent manner, achieving good overall results. Furthermore to this, we even managed to smash our existing overclock milestone, taking the Intel Core i7 6700K to 4.8GHz. Applying such a modification is really easy too thanks to the intuitive UEFI BIOS – the layout and options inside the interface are really helpful.
XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM can be picked up for £220 GBP / $300 – placing this motherboard at the upper-end of the market. Though for this money you are getting something rather unique which arrives with features to cater for all types of users.
MSI has taken a bold step forward with the introduction of XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM. This motherboard is a head turner for all the right reasons – the physical appearance is unique and the feature-set is all-encompassing!
VIDEO REVIEW – VORTEZ TV
Pros
+ Unique, attractive design
+ Innovative features
+ Military Class 5 components
+ Great performance
+ Overclocks well
+ Decent accessories bundle
Cons
– May not suit all tastes
+ Unique, attractive design
+ Innovative features
+ Military Class 5 components
+ Great performance
+ Overclocks well
+ Decent accessories bundle
Cons
– May not suit all tastes
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
