Something new I've not seen before is the option to add some extra power available to devices such as USB DAC's via the supplied 4 pin Molex adaptor. Sound has also been given some extra attention on the board with its own isolated section of the board for the audio circuitry which is separated by a red LED path which lights up when the board is powered.ĭual headphone amps supporting up to 600Ω headphones and Nichicon capacitors specially designed for audio plus gold audio connectors with a dedicated amplifier output highlighted in red on the back io panel. I would loved to have tested online download speeds etc but due to my location DL speeds can go from ok to shite pretty quick so any consistency is impossible.
#Msi z97 gaming 7 vs msi z97 mate install
Bundled software works well if you choose to install it giving you the ability to prioritize bandwidth for important tasks like gaming etc. Gaming performance was smooth and problem free. I've tested a couple of boards now running the Killer nic and I'm pretty impressed checking network performance over my home network i was able to achieve some decent speeds of 92/100MB/s to and from my NAS same speeds i get with my 24/7 rig with on-board Intel nic. Picture below left shows on-board sound and near the heat sink you see a chip with a K on it that's your Killer Nic. You've probably already guessed who these boards are aimed as the name gives it away so its no surprise MSI have put a lot of focus into tailoring the Z97m for gamers giving them quality sound and network solutions with The Killer E2200 network chip and for sound the Realtek ALC1150 Codec Supporting S/PDIF output and 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio.