MSI Z170A XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM EDITION MOTHERBOARDS

MSI’s XPOWER series is geared towards overclockers, so it’s no surprise that the Z170A XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM EDITION comes with voltage check points, an integrated clock generator that adds flexibility to your BCLK strap, and MSI’s premium Military Class powerhandling components. We’ve come to expect these power user additions to MSI’s XPOWER lineup. MSI raises the ante with the TITANIUM EDITION, however, by making it easier to access and manage overclocks. MSI includes an external OC Dashboard panel that connects via its own cable, so you’ll enjoy the convenience of push-button control of the CPU ratio and BCLK without having to reach inside the case. The OC Dashboard also lets you reset the BIOS, clear the CMOS, and power down the PC. If you prefer to make adjustments in the OS, you can use MSI’s Gaming Hotkey feature that uses a dedicated hardware chip to let you assign OC profiles and program OC commands, such as increasing or decreasing the CPU ratio. The TITANIUM EDITION’s overclocking chops extend beyond the CPU, as it supports DDR4 clocked at up to 3,600MHz. MSI is able to reach such lofty speeds in part because of its DDR4 Boost technology that isolates the memory circuitry; the company reports that overclockers have achieved a 4,605MHz memory clock speed on the TITANIUM EDITION. Previous iterations of MSI’s XPOWER series featured a yellow and black color scheme, but the TITANIUM EDITION is a complete departure, with its stunning silver and black look highlighted by a metallic silver PCB. MSI further complements the silver PCB with its Steel Armor on two of the PCIe x16 slots, which MSI says helps to prevent damage to the slots. The board supports up 2-way SLI and 4-way CrossFire. Next-generation storage—both internal and external—is part of the package, too. There are two M.2 ports that both support a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 32Gbps, two SATA Express ports that operate at up to 16Gbps, and eight 6Gbps SATA ports. An U.2 host card is separately available, if you want to add support for NVMe storage devices. For external storage and peripherals, you’ll find two USB 3.1 ports (Type-A, rear), 7 USB 3.0 ports (4 rear, 2 internal, and 1 for OC Dashboard), and 7 USB 2.0 ports (3 rear, 4 internal). (Note that MSI refers to the USB 3.0 ports as “USB 3.1 Gen1” ports in the user manual, but the ports operate at the 5Gbps maximum of USB 3.0.) The onboard audio is worth noting, as well. Many of MSI’s Z170 motherboards come with Audio Boost 3, which is powered by Nahimic Sound Technology’s software. This software provides virtual 7.1 surround sound, mic noise reduction, intensified bass, and more. The TITANIUM EDITION performed like a champ in our benchmark tests. It posted top marks in most all of SiSoftware Sandra 2015’s Processor Arithmetic and Processor Multi-Media tests, as well as the best scores in Cinebench 15 (907 points) and POV-Ray 3.7 (1908.42 pixels per second). In our game tests, it posted the highest frames per second in Dying Light (72.3fps), so it’s clearly more than a one-trick pony. In CrystalDiskMark, the TITANIUM EDITION also registered the best transfer rates in the Sequential Read tests. If you’re serious about overclocking your Skylake processor and want to wring the best possible performance f rom it, the Z170A XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM EDITION should be at the top of your list. MSI gets the best out of your hardware and provides you with tools that simplify the overclocking process.