MSIs sexy new Z170A SLI Plus ditches the black & red theme

[Master Disaster]

Gaming motherboards have a typical look: red, with specs pasted onto anything resembling an open surface. So it’s nice to see MSI’s latest board, which is almost entirely black and relatively free of clutter.

But this board isn’t just about looks: the Z170A SLI Plus is a Skylake motherboard that supports multiple GPUs and offers an array of other features.

The motherboard supports NVIDIA’s SLI and AMD’s CrossFire, meaning you can connect two compatible graphics card and crank up the framerate. Turbo M.2 means data transfer speeds up to 32Gbps for internal hard drives, and when that’s not fast enough the built-in RAMDisk utility caches files you use a lot right in the memory.

On the back of your box you’ll find HDMI, of course, as well as ports for legacy VGA and DVI devices.

There are four USB 3.1 in the rear, for transfer speeds up to 10Gbps, alongside a couple of USB 2.0 ports for input devices that don’t benefit from that sort of speed.

Some of MSI’s most interesting recent features are related to the firmware, and power-hungry users will be happy to see one-button overclocking thanks to OC Genie 4. That’s right: to overclock your processor, all you need to do is hit a physical button.

The new Click BIOS 5 means you’ve got an attractive high resolution interface to customize everything about your setup. There’s the EZ mode, which limits your options to avoid confusion, and advanced mode for people who really like to dig down and configure everything.

If you’ve ever been frustrated during a build by not being sure why the machine won’t turn on, there’s one feature you might love: LEDs that make troubleshooting easier. These indicate whether the problem is with the RAM, CPU, or VGA – which could save you all sorts of time during setup and later on.

Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/mi-7170a-gaming-motherboard/#ixzz3qTDQ9Z9B

That looks gorgeous, makes me jealous that I'm stuck with the Gaming M7.

[Raudi_]

This isn't new at all, this is their none gaming line of boards.....

[Master Disaster]

This isn't new at all, this is their none gaming line of boards.....

Nope, this is a brand new product they launched recently and it is a gaming board.

[TrigrH]

Nope, this is a brand new product they launched recently and it is a gaming board.

MSI has the krait which is white the titanium which is silver, the main line which is red, Xpower which is yellow, and the PRO line which is black? they have a new mobo being black under the PRO not gaming series. news?

 

Why they chose black? "The PRO Series motherboards fit in any PC."

 

Same design: http://www.msi.com/product/motherboard/Z170A-G43-PLUS.html

Pro series: http://www.msi.com/product/motherboard/#?tag=PRO%20Series%20Intel

 

Btw guys remember how the titanium had that red line? i was at pax on sunday and it looks like they removed it.

[NumLock21]

I wonder how much the price would be if they use right angle SATA ports instead of those facing up ones.

[Exotath]

I bought a new pack of colored pens today. #HeadlineNews

[PlayStation 2]

I now sexually identify as a motherboard

[Fetzie]

Keeping with the colour scheme (if you can call it that) of the X99 SLI range, I see

[Troyanac]

This is what i call an ridiculously awsome motherboard!

[Raudi_]

Nope, this is a brand new product they launched recently and it is a gaming board.

That's like calling all mobo's gaming.....Its a low end board for Z170 its not from their "gaming" line of boards its just a normal board from them....

[The Cool n00B]

The fact that you can't see the traces on the PCB is sexy.

[Enderman]

which is almost entirely black and relatively free of clutter.

"free of clutter" also means "reduced features"

 

this is what a motherboard with dozens of features and functionality looks like

as you can see, the space is actually USED for stuff

[danoedel97]

Anyone else see what appears to be reinforced PCIE slots? Honestly that is the coolest little amenity. Keeps from that ever obnoxious GPU sag. I'll be expecting it from the next line of ROG boards.

[Guest]

Anyone else see what appears to be reinforced PCIE slots? Honestly that is the coolest little amenity. Keeps from that ever obnoxious GPU sag. I'll be expecting it from the next line of ROG boards.

Have you been living under a rock?

[Curufinwe_wins]

Anyone else see what appears to be reinforced PCIE slots? Honestly that is the coolest little amenity. Keeps from that ever obnoxious GPU sag. I'll be expecting it from the next line of ROG boards.

Unfortunately pcie slots DO NOT prevent gpu sag. They don't even help. The sag occurs in the far corner away from the slot.

 

That said... The sli plus line was a smash hit in haswell, and was one of the better boards regardless of price (and BY far the best budget board) for haswell-e. I look forward to seeing some reviews to see if that trend continues.

 

The SLI PLUS line certainly doesn't go crazy, but it also hasn't made any stupid compromises thus far.

 

 

"free of clutter" also means "reduced features"

 

this is what a motherboard with dozens of features and functionality looks like

 

as you can see, the space is actually USED for stuff

And yet this motherboard has greater features and functionality than that one by a long shot and has less clutter (not that it is a fair competition). Sometimes clutter truly is clutter, lets be honest with ourselves here...

 

 

Oh, I'm sorry... It's DESIGN and STYYLE... (AND yes MSI is guilty of this as well, but the sli plus line literally goes the extra mile to hide as much as it can on purpose.)

[Enderman]

 

And yet this motherboard has greater features and functionality than that one by a long shot and has less clutter (not that it is a fair competition). Sometimes clutter truly is clutter, lets be honest with ourselves here...

 

Have you looked at the specs list?

Obviously not.

http://ca.msi.com/product/mb/X99A-SLI-PLUS.html#hero-specification

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Motherboards/Z170-A/specifications/

 

and the fact that it is x99 instead of z170 and has 8 ram slots instead of 4 doesn't count as a "feature"

[Curufinwe_wins]

Have you looked at the specs list?

Obviously not.

http://ca.msi.com/product/mb/X99A-SLI-PLUS.html#hero-specification

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Motherboards/Z170-A/specifications/

 

and the fact that it is x99 instead of z170 and has 8 ram slots instead of 4 doesn't count as a "feature"

You mean the more sata ports, external usb, and pcie support (including 3-way sli)? Same number of fans, internal usb headers, the EXACT same audio codec, same m.2 support. 

 

Just because ASUS literally makes up pages of shit to say doesn't mean they actually have more functionality. (and note, I am using an ASUS board who's "spec" list is 10 pages long as well.)

[Redicat]

Colors dont grab my attention neither the lighting or it has GAMING on it... 

 

Look to the features/dollar for Overclocking/needs, done 

 

This motherboard is probably overpriced again (Lucky not as much as Maximus ROG series from Asus...)

[Enderman]

You mean the more sata ports, external usb, and pcie support (including 3-way sli)? Same number of fans, internal usb headers, the EXACT same audio codec, same m.2 support. 

 

Just because ASUS literally makes up pages of shit to say doesn't mean they actually have more functionality. (and note, I am using an ASUS board who's "spec" list is 10 pages long as well.)

its an x99 motherboard, of course it's going to have more ports and stuff like that

by "features" i mean stuff that's proprietary and you dont get by buying one brand over another

you can always get more PCIe lanes or SATA ports by buying a more expensive x99 motherboard, that's not what I'm comparing

 

you're comparing a x99 motherboard to a consumer 1151 board, so you're being biased by claiming "more internal usb headers bla bla bla"

 

THIS is what "features" are

 

Realtek® ALC892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC featuring Crystal Sound 3

 Absolute Pitch 192kHz/ 24-bit True BD Lossless Sound

- DTS Connect

- DTS Studio Sound

- Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel

- LED-lit Audio Shielding: Ensures precision analog/digital separation and greatly reduced multi-lateral interference, with a gorgeous illuminated trace path

- Dedicated audio PCB layers: Separate layers for left and right channels to guard the quality of the sensitive audio signals

- Audio amplifier: Provides the highest-quality sound for headphone and speakers

- Premium Japanese-made audio capacitors: Provide warm, natural and immersive sound with exceptional clarity and fidelity

- Unique de-pop circuit: Reduces start-up popping noise to audio outputs

- EMI protection cover to prevent electrical noise to affect the amplifier quality

- Absolute Pitch 192khz/24bit true BD lossless sound

- Power pre-regulator: Reduces power input noise to ensure consistent performance

Separate layer for left and right track, ensuring both sound deliver equal quality

 

- Full BCLK range for extreme overclocking performance

 

- ASUS DIGI+ VRM - 8 Phase digital power design

- ASUS Enhanced DRAM Overcurrent Protection - Short circuit damage prevention 

- ASUS ESD Guards - Enhanced ESD protection 

- ASUS High-Quality 5K-Hour Solid Capacitors - 2.5x long lifespan with excellent durability 

 

- Auto Tuning

- GPU Boost 

- TPU switch

 

- Remote GO!

- USB BIOS Flashback

- AI Suite 3

- Anti-Surge

- ASUS UEFI BIOS EZ Mode featuring friendly graphics user interface 

- USB 3.1 Boost

- Disk Unlocker

- Turbo LAN

- Crystal Sound 3

- EZ XMP ASUS Exclusive Features

 

- ASUS O.C. Tuner

- ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 

- ASUS EZ Flash 3 

- ASUS UEFI BIOS EZ Mode

- Push Notice

 

- ASUS Q-Shield

- ASUS Q-LED (CPU, DRAM, VGA, Boot Device LED)

- ASUS Q-Slot

- ASUS Q-DIMM 

- ASUS Q-Connector

 

Intel® I219V, 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller(s), Dual interconnect between the Integrated Media Access Controller (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY)

Gigabit Intel® LAN Connection- 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) appliance

ASUS Turbo LAN Utility

ASUS LAN Guard

 

this is just a few of the actually important things...

but hey, you probably dont know or care about these anyway

[Lays]

I think we have different ideas of what sexy hardware is

[Curufinwe_wins]

snip

Literally NONE of what you posted there is unique to ASUS except for software (and even then all of it has direct equivalents.)

 

(or relevant.)

 

The majority of it literally isn't even anything other than industry standard implementation of the AL892 Codex and I219V Lan.

 

Oh... It has LED LIGHTING! I wonder why a BLACKOUT board would avoid LED lighting...

 

Would you actually like me to go through each and every one?

[AlphaBravo]

That is a great looking board.  When I do a Z170, I will be all over that one.

[Enderman]

Literally NONE of what you posted there is unique to ASUS except for software (and even then all of it has direct equivalents.)

 

(or relevant.)

 

The majority of it literally isn't even anything other than industry standard implementation of the AL892 Codex and I219V Lan.

 

Oh... It has LED LIGHTING! I wonder why a BLACKOUT board would avoid LED lighting...

 

Would you actually like me to go through each and every one?

yeah, exactly as I though, you dont understand what any of that is

 

show me a non-asus board with AI suite 3, or q fan control, or ez flash 3, or anti surge on every port, or a depop circuit, etc....

you dont even understand what half the stuff is, and probably dont even know how to use it

but for power users who actually know what features their board comes with, this is amazing value for $150, and I can tell you right now that a lot of those features have been very useful over the past 6 years for me

[Curufinwe_wins]

yeah, exactly as I though, you dont understand what any of that is

 

show me a non-asus board with AI suite 3, or q fan control, or ez flash 3, or anti surge on every port, or a depop circuit, etc....

you dont even understand what half the stuff is, and probably dont even know how to use it

but for power users who actually know what features their board comes with, this is amazing value for $150, and I can tell you right now that a lot of those features have been very useful over the past 6 years for me

 

Yes... Show me an AMD gpu with Nvidia control panel. Really? Is that honestly the argument you just tried to pull?

 

BTW, I USE LITERALLY ALL OF IT ON MY COMPUTER (because it is there, and contrary to what you say I am very much a power user).

 

I have 9 fans hooked up directly to my motherboard (because the one redeeming feature of the x99 sabertooth is the insane fan support), 8 of which are tuned using AI SUITE (which is an utter piece of SHIT btw, but it was easier than using the BIOS as it lets me label my fans instead of trying to remember if assist fan 5 is a top front fan or a inner rad back...) Hell 5 of them are running based on a thermistor included with the sabertooth that I stuck on-top the core under the backplate.

 

THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY OF IT SPECIAL.

 

Honestly after using this "unique depop circuitry" for 4 months, I can't tell the slightest difference. The same hardware that audibly pops on my other computers pop on this one at the same volume... (Perhaps that is why they only can claim vaguely that it can reduce pop on start up.)

 

 

 

I AM NOT AND WILL NOT SAY no one should buy ASUS boards. I am not and will not say the z170-a is a bad board, or a bad value (at 140-150 USD it is extremely competitive with equivalent boards from other manufacturers), and it offers Asus's well recognized white style, something that is indeed unique.

 

Hell. I won't even say the z170a sli plus is an equal board to the z170-a. IT ISNT. IT ISN'T supposed to be. It's a bare-bones board that has all of the features you need on z170, has some of the ones you would want (with the capability of working around basically all the deficits), but its most important aspect is the look, the clean blackout look that matches everything and is what so many people love about the board (after all, without the pure black it is literally the exact same board as the Krait).

 

If you remember back to what I said, I literally said... "sometimes clutter truly is clutter". I even mentioned the x99a sli plus wasn't even a fair competition. Of course it isnt, the x99 platform has way more functionality, furthermore the x99a sli plus is almost 50% more expensive than the z170a. I only mentioned it because "sometimes clutter truly is clutter". I could have used the Gaming 7 as an example of not being super cluttered as well, and that you will have no trouble finding pages of bullshit non-features for (ironically the feature set of the Gaming 7 and x99a sli plus are actually nigh on identical, not that MSI promotes that fact)... 

[Curufinwe_wins]

I think we have different ideas of what sexy hardware is

Minimalist blackout? I could make a gorgeous build with that idea in mind.

 

Mind you, if you try you can make great looking systems with (most) any modern motherboard out there.

 

From a pure aesthetic perspective, my most intriguing z170 boards are the Asrock OC formula, and the XPower Titanium (I know, it sounds tacky, but I feel certain I could actually make it work.)

 

Alas, I don't know anyone who needs an upgrade right now, so I don't get a chance to flex and build.