Packaging
Z87I Gaming AC
Other than it taking me a second to understand what the AC stood for in the name of the motherboard, there wasn’t anything that was a surprise on the packaging of the Z87I Gaming AC. Being part of MSIs gaming product line the Z87I has a silver dragon on the cover of the packaging as well as the black and red theme. On the flip side of the box you will find more information about the motherboard including a specification list and even a diagram of the rear I/O panel. MSI has also broken down the Audio Boost, Killer, NIC, and OC Genie features a little more to show off part of what makes the Z87I Gaming AC stand out.
Inside, along with the motherboard itself you will get a nice pile of documentation and a few accessories as well. For documentation you get a user guide, a quick start guide, and software and driver discs. The two discs are labeled with Intel motherboard drivers and utilities and the second has LAN/Wif-Fi/Bluetooth Drivers and Utilities. It’s a little odd seeing two discs like this though. You also get a door hanger to hand on the door when you are gaming and a metal case badge as well. For accessories you have two SATA cables, your rear I/O panel, and the two wireless antennas for the Wireless AC adapter included on the board. I love that the rear I/O panel is blacked out other than the coloring around each connection, it’s a nice touch that will look good on most of today’s black cases.
GTX 760 Mini-ITX Gaming
As expected, the GTX 760 Mini-ITX is no different than the Z87I Gaming AC when it came to packaging. You have the same red and black them that you find on all of MSIs gaming product line and the silver dragon across the cover. The only difference between the packaging this time around from what we normally see is the box is smaller than the other MSI video cards I have tested. This of course is because of the small size of the Mini-ITX Gaming version of the GTX 760. On the flip side of the box MSI has broken down a few of the cards features and even included an actual picture of the card itself. There is also a feature list with a very small specification list as well.
Inside the box you will find the card wrapped up in a static protective bag and then sitting in a cutout in a layer of foam to keep the card safe. For accessories you get a DVI to VGA adapter, a mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter, and a black and red six pin to 8 pin adapter cable. I love that MSI did make a point to color match the cable to their black and red theme although personally I wouldn’t want to run a 6 pin to 8 pin adapter like this, if they feel the card needs an 8 pin connection, I would prefer to not run that additional power through a 6 pin cable. But if you need something to hold you off until you get a new power supply, it’s great that it is included.
