We can’t very well launch a completely new CPU with a new chipset without a motherboard right? Well MSI sent over their new Z170A Gaming M5 motherboard for us to test out Skylake and also to see what MSI has to offer in their new Z170 boards. Today I will be taking a look at their mid ranged gaming motherboard. We have already seen how Skylake performs with our i7-6700K review, now I’m going to dig into the Z170A Gaming M5 and see what sets it apart from the competition. Enjoy!
Product Name: MSI Z170A Gaming M5
Review Sample Provided by: MSI
Written by: Wes
Pictures by: Wes
Amazon Link: HERE
Specifications | |
CPU support | Supports 6th Gen Intel® Core™ / Pentium® / Celeron® Processors |
CPU socket | LGA 1151 |
Chipset | Intel® Z170 Chipset |
Graphics interface |
3 * PCI-E 3.0 x16, Steel Armor PCI-E slots, 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI®, 3-Way AMD CrossFire™ support |
Display Interface | 1 * HDMI, 1 * DVI Port – Requires Processor Graphics |
Memory support | 4 DIMMs, Dual Channel DDR4-3600+(OC) |
Expansion slots | 4 * PCI-E x1 slots |
M.2 / SATA |
2 * M.2 32 Gb/s, 6 * SATA 6 Gb/s (4 ports reserved for SATA Express) |
SATA RAID | RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 – Available on SATA1 to SATA6 |
USB |
1 * USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C, 1 * USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A, 6* USB 3.1 Gen1, 6 * USB 2.0 |
LAN | 1 * Killer™ E2400 Gigabit LAN |
Audio | 8-channel Audio Boost 3 with Nahimic |