MSI Z97I Gaming ACK Review

Performance Analysis

We were a little disappointed to see the Z97I Gaming ACK stuck at the bottom of many of the stock speed graphs but the CPU rarely boosted above 3.7GHz (the maximum boost for the Core i7-4770K is 3.9GHz), so that's probably the reason why. Enabling MSI's Enhanced Turbo mode will fix this (the image editing test result saw it jump a couple of places with a score of 2.079 with Enhanced Turbo enabled) but ultimately we make our stock speed runs at default settings except for the memory, which we manually set to the correct speed and timings. If you're overclocking or even just decide to input the CPU settings manually and/or enable Enhanced Turbo, then this problem won't be an issue.


To prove this point, the Z97I Gaming ACK posted some of the fastest overclocked results we've seen from a Z97 board, topping the chart in the multi-tasking test for example and being a long way from the bottom of the pile in the overall score and in the game tests too.


The RightMark Audio Analyser's assessment of the onboard audio showed it to be fairly good - certainly better than run-of-the-mill Realtek offerings and only substantially more expensive boards offer anything significantly better. As we mentioned earlier in the review, we were unable to test the M.2 port as our 80mm drive was too large for the limited 60mm slot on the underside of the PCB. However the SATA 6Gbps ports proved to be equally as fast as any other board we've tested.

Conclusion

Firstly we have to give MSI a pat on the back for improving the layout of its flagship mini-ITX motherboard. It's vastly improved and on-par with the best here now. Apart from the mediocre stock speed results, it's a cracking mini-ITX motherboard in its own right too. It competes well on price with and has a better EFI than Gigabyte's GA-Z97N-Gaming 5 although the latter has it beat when it comes to onboard audio.

The other obvious contender is the Asus Z97i-Plus. The latter is cheaper, is equally adept at overclocking and offers an EFI that's just as good, if not better with additional features too. Its M.2 port supports a wider range of modules thanks to the fact it can accommodate 80mm SSDs as well. However, the MSI board is a little stronger in the audio department plus it includes a dedicated 5V USB port for USB DACs and is perhaps better-looking. In short, while the Z97I Gaming ACK hasn't come top of this trio, if you're in the market for Z97 mini-ITX motherboard, your decision just got a lot tougher to make.