MSI Z97 MPOWER Review

👤by David Mitchelson Comments 📅24-09-14
Conclusion

Having already reviewed MSI’s flagship overclocking motherboard – XPOWER AC, we can certainly see an almost identical visual appearance and feature-set between the two offerings. In the MPOWER, MSI has trimmed down XPOWER with only a few features omitted and a standardised ATX form factor.

The feature-set along with attractive accessories bundle makes for a very resourceful motherboard. Enthusiasts and Overclockers will certainly be satisfied by the abundance of high-class components and advanced tools for modifying the system.

Although we might sound biased, the black and yellow theme is very pleasing to the eye. Care has quite obviously been taken to present an aesthetically pleasing piece of kit. The visual appearance of a motherboard is now a rather important factor for motherboard design. So much so that this era of styling has pushed brands to outdoing their rivals by creating the sleekest and individual designs as best they can – MSI has created an iconic design with their OC series, carving out their own identity.

Visuals aside, MPOWER performs consistently regardless of the benchmark. Throughout the testing our motherboard demonstrated excellent performance in a range of different scenarios and achieving a substantial overclock is easy thanks to the efficient UEFI BIOS.



MPOWER is furnished with just about every feature the avid enthusiast or overclocker could ever want and MSI has carefully placed specific features in easy to reach areas to also cater for users who plan to install the motherboard on a test bench.

The pricing is perhaps one of the most appealing aspects of MPOWER because this motherboard offers great “bang for buck”. MPOWER is available for a mere £125 GBP / $189 USD – which, for a motherboard of this calibre is great value for money.

Backed by MSI’s iconic OC series livery, the MPOWER not only looks the business but is packed with a strong lineup of high-end overclocking features. It’s rare to find such a capable motherboard at this cost and we urge anyone in the market for an Intel Z97 board to look no further.

Pros
+ Appealing to the eye
+ Plenty in the accessories pack
+ Consistently good performance
+ Advanced overclocking features
+ M.2 included
+ Up to 4-way SLI/CrossfireX
+ Military Class 4 components
+ Easy to use and attractive BIOS
+ Affordable

Cons
- None!



Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.


15 pages « < 12 13 14 15

Comments