MSI Z97I Gaming AC Mini-ITX Motherboard Review
MSI Z97I Gaming AC mITX Motherboard Layout
The MSI Z97I Gaming AC mITX motherboard has a black PCB with Red highlights on a few locations. Being a mITX motherboard, space is at a premium and to fit everything onto the board, the CPU socket is pretty close to the PCI-E and memory slots. Be aware of the space limitations when choosing a large air cooler; liquid coolers won’t have much of an issue though.
The lower half of the motherboard, we find some very common features. Along the bottom edge is two DDR3 slots, with native support for 1600Mhz memory, and Overclock support up to 3300Mhz. With these two slots, the Z97I Gaming AC supports up to 16GB of memory. Along the right side of the board we find the 24-pin motherboard power connector, and a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 internal header. Next to the 24-pin power connector is four SATA III ports. Right below the heatsink with the Gaming G Series logo, is the CPU fan header. Along the left edge of the motherboard is the single PCI-E x16 Gen 3 slot that connects directly to the CPU.
Taking a look at the upper half of the motherboard we find another fan header between the PCI-E slot and the WiFi module connector. To the right of the black/red heatsink is an 8-pin Aux motherboard power connector. Then we find the front panel connectors, and a USB 2.0 header. Next to the Audio Boost chip is the front panel audio connections.
The back I/O panel is a little different, the audio connectors are first, placing them right next to the Audio Boost chip. Next to the audio connectors are two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports, and two eSATA. Then a PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse, and two USB 2.0 ports. Followed by two more USB 2.0 and an HDMI. An optical SPDiF port sits on top of the second HDMI and the DisplayPort. The Killer e2200 Gigabit ethernet port sits above two more SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports. Finally, there is an open space for the Intel WiFi module, which we will add before installing the motherboard.
The Northbridge heatsink has a different design to it, the red highlights make it look like claws, and on the side of the heatsink is the MSI dragon emblem. Nothing major, just a cool looking heatsink.
The Intel WiFi module is connected to the motherboard with a single screw on the bottom side. Nothing terribly fancy with the Z97I Gaming AC motherboard, but the black and red heatsink does give it a nice look. It has nearly everything you need for a complete system, however for a Z97 board, it is missing one fairly new connector, a M.2. Would be difficult to include that though.