MSI Z170A GAMING M7 Motherboard Review

[section_title title=”Conclusion”]

Conclusion

What do we make of the MSI Z170A GAMING M7 at the end of the day? Well, as this is my first (Play3r’s second) Z170 based motherboard; I have to say that I am very impressed overall as it is a great performer and it does also look the part as well. MSI are doing everything they can to become the number one in the gaming scene by not only wanting people to purchase their products, but also through the quality that they are delivering to the consumer.

In the performance perspective of the motherboard, I was quite surprised to see that the motherboard actually fell behind a lot of the ASUS Z170A Pro Gaming results, even though MSI has their supposedly superior technology. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed by the results, but it can come down to a number of things, such as the length of the traces, which would affect the performance (mainly the latency, not the throughput (read/write)) in a negative way when they are longer. When we put the board through our GPU tests, it was fairly evenly matched, and in some instances, it was statistically too close to make any real difference.

Aesthetically speaking, the look of the GAMING M7 is very appealing, but I have to just wonder how many people actually want all of those LEDs in their system(s). I know it would look very, very different if it were installed in a case. I am lead to believe that if it were done in a system with proper configuration of the other components, it would look incredible. The red lines on the motherboard may not be to everyone’s taste, but MSI are trying to show off their new technology, so it only makes sense to draw masses of attention to that particular area of the motherboard. Finally, as I said in the beginning, the inclusion of the I/O cover is a great thing to see as it hides all of those ugly and bulky metal blocks that make up the ports. It brings a whole new level of cleanliness to the whole system, and that’s always welcome in anyone’s books.

Ease of use is key to a high quality component, and it’s really good to report that the MSI Z170A GAMING M7 is easy to use. The BIOS is nigh on flawless bar a few little niggles which I have thought about. They’re minor, but I just cannot wrap my head around the 13 different boot options which are all enabled by default. Who on earth would make use of that? I can’t think of anyone; can you? Other than that, everything is well laid out and as a former MSI user from other generations; it’s good to see that they’ve kept the same structure as it makes things far easier to navigate around.

To bring this review to an end, we need to assess the three main points we look at for a product, its price point, design and value for money. So without any further ado, here are my thoughts for the MSI Z170A GAMING M7. Starting with the value, this is currently one of the most expensive MSI Z170 product on the market. Now, while it does destroy some of the benchmarks, it does also fall behind a <£120 motherboard in a number of them too. Admittedly, some of these results are within a hairs distance of each other, but they are what they are. The design is something that shows off where MSI is looking to head in the future. They are looking to stand out from the crowd by showing off some great looking boards that are coupled with some well-placed LEDs that just add to the overall flare of the product. The red and black theme has always been a soft spot of mine, and it has always been popular with many system builders all around the world. It works, people love the look, so why not use it; right? Right!

With everything in mind, I’ve decided to award the MSI Z170A GAMING M7 a design award for the way it looks and its features, and I am also going to give it a Play3r silver award. It is missing the mark on a few points which holds me back from awarding it a higher tiered award. Had this motherboard come in at a cheaper price, perhaps around the £150 mark, it would have picked up a value award too, purely for the sheer amount of features available on the M7.