Choosing a motherboard is not as easy as it sounds. Most people rely on price, brand experience, perhaps specific features and online reviews to help decide what fits best. While the Intel 9-series (Z97) platform has had a rough ride, motherboard companies always see the need to refresh to new designs periodically. As a result we get devices such as this, the MSI Z97A Gaming 6, to review.

MSI Z97A Gaming 6 Overview

USB 3.1, while appreciated, came at an odd time in motherboard cycles. Onboard controllers that supported USB 3.1 became available in Q2 of 2015, significantly after Intel's Z97 launch and several months (assumed) before that of the 100-series motherboards. It ended up aligning at about the time of the launch on Intel's Broadwell CPUs to which Z97 was designed for, and although motherboard manufacturers prepared revision 2 products with USB 3.1 on for it, the CPU launch was muted with a lack of availability, a reduced product stack and only a few reasons to upgrade. We reviewed some aspects of the Broadwell CPU launch here for quick reference.

Despite this, USB 3.1 alone gave reasons for motherboard manufacturers to refresh their product lines. If Broadwell is a success, then sales will fly. Otherwise the new products still act as a base for new builds and for early USB 3.1 adopters. The Z97A Gaming 6 is one such motherboard and distinguishable through the Z97A part but also the Gaming 6 was never a model name for the base Z97 product line.

Semantics of the industry aside, the Gaming 6 is part of MSIs ever growing Gaming line. If there's one thing we can certainly offer kudos to MSI for, it's how to build a gaming brand quickly in a non-constant marketplace. For those in the gaming community, MSI's perception as a gaming brand is now rooted through the gaming PC components and gaming notebook segments. When comparing against the direct competition, ASUS' Republic of Gamers is also in a similar position.

Perhaps somewhat unfortunately this means that most new products form the gaming range aren't a big fanfare. They're designed to fill in price points and share functionality across the range - only the big products (such as the GT80 Titan notebook or X99A Godlike Gaming) get the focal points of marketing and discussion. This means it becomes more than vital to test the products that will actually sell, like the Gaming 6, to see if that herald of quality follows down the product line.

The Z97A Gaming 6 fits in a stack from the Gaming 3 to the Gaming 9, and as such the feature set adjusts accordingly for the $160 model we are reviewing today. Support for 3x CFX and 2x SLI (when bottom PCIe is not used) is combined with a M.2 SATA/10Gbps PCIe slot, a SATA Express port, six USB 3.0 ports, voltage check points and a single USB 3.1 Type-C port on the rear panel provided through and ASMedia ASM1142 controller. Audio comes via an enhanced Realtek ALC1150 layout (EMI shield, filter caps, PCB separation), and with the gaming theme the network comes through a Killer E2205 NIC. Aesthetically, the black and red MSI gaming theme comes through via the black PCB, heatsinks and the gaming motif above the chipset.

We've covered MSI's Z97 BIOS and software before, showing that while intuitive there are a few areas for improvement. The XMP button in the BIOS is always a plus, along with the fan speed adjustment tool and the Board Explorer for determining potential faults. The BIOS still lacks an easy mode though. Software is headed up by Live Update 6, currently the best update tool for a motherboard on the market, although the ability to easily overvolt the CPU to 2.1 volts in Command Center is an easy fix to reduce it down, but that doesn't seem to be done over a year after pointing it out.

Visual Inspection

The current fascination with red and black for gaming products is perhaps a lesson in PC builder psychology. Why is red and black the most popular? Some other companies have tried different combinations, and even speaking to MSI about their Krait line of products (which are white and black), it seems the overriding consensus is that a clean look sells more than the color - so why red and black? Regardless of the answer the Z97A Gaming 6, like MSI's other gaming motherboards, uses a black coating over most of the board as well as fewer components to enhance the look.

Motherboard enthusiasts will notice that the regular white pattern for Intel's socket specifications is not here, again to aid with the look. Around the socket area instead is an eight phase layout with red and black heatsinks as well as three easy to reach fan headers. The two 4-pin CPU headers are located on the top right of the board, one either side of the DRAM slots, with the third 4-pin underneath the power delivery heatsink on the left. The system has two other 4-pin fan headers, one of which is between the USB 3.0 header and the SATA ports on the right hand side and the other is in the bottom right of the motherboard.

Moving down the right hand side of the board we get a set of voltage read points allowing extreme overclockers to monitor various voltage rails directly rather than relying on software output values that might be erroneous. Under these and the 24-pin ATX power connector are two USB 3.0 headers, one sticking out of the board and one at right angles to cater for different scenarios. After this follows an aforementioned fan header and six SATA ports, two of which form part of the SATA Express connector.

Along the bottom of the board is our front audio header, a floppy power connector to provide additional audio power, a COM header, a TPM Header, a two-digit debug display, the front panel header and two USB 2.0 headers. Despite of where this system stands in the stack, it seems we do not get physical power/reset buttons here and have to rely on the front panel header for these functions.

The PCIe layout affords four separate PCIe 2.0 x1 slots from the chipset, although some of these will be disabled if the M.2 slot above them is populated with a PCIe SSD. The M.2 slot operates in either SATA mode or PCIe 2.0 x2 mode. For the Z97A Gaming 6, MSI has used a PCIe 3.0 tri-GPU layout, meaning x16, x8/x8 and x8/x4/x4 support without the use of a PCIe 2.0 x4 slot. When a company uses this layout, it allows for 3x CrossFire situations using all CPU lanes, but only dual SLI and only if the bottom slot is unpopulated because SLI has an x8 minimum lane requirement. This is NVIDIAs specifications, and the only counter to it is to support x8/x8 on the motherboard with an additional PCIe 2.0 x4 from the chipset, although this would reduce the bandwidth for three-way CFX and reduce chipset lane availability elsewhere on the motherboard. It is a hard one to balance.

On the bottom left of the motherboard is the audio solution, using the high-end Realtek ALC1150 audio codec under an EMI shield supported by additional audio filter caps and PCB separation to improve audio quality. In order to directly improve gain MSI has added an auxiliary power connector and a switch to enable it. The audio jacks on the rear panel, despite being colored red and black to be confusing, have a gold coating inside to help avoid corrosion over long-term use.

The rear panel contains a combination PS/2 port, two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a VGA port, DVI-D, HDMI, SPDIF output, networking via the Killer E2205 and the audio jacks from the ALC1150. The key point of the rear panel is the USB 3.1 port, in this case Type-C. While we are still waiting on USB 3.1 devices to enter the market, MSI has seen it prudent to somewhat futureproof the Gaming 6 with one. Although Type-C has its uses, I fear that the lack of a Type-A version might hinder some of the initial devices depending on which cables are bundled. Other Z97 refresh motherboards typically have two USB 3.1 ports, either both Type-A or a combination A/C, in order to facilitate the transition.

Board Features

MSI Z97A Gaming 6
Price	US
Size	ATX
CPU Interface	LGA1150
Chipset	Intel Z97
Memory Slots	Four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 32 GB Up to Dual Channel, 1066-3300 MHz
Video Outputs	HDMI DVI-D VGA
Network Connectivity	Killer E2205
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC1150
Expansion Slots	3 x PCIe 3.0 (x16, x8/x8, x8/x4/x4) 4 x PCIe 2.0 x1
Onboard Storage	6 x SATA 6 Gbps, RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 1 x SATA Express 1 x M.2 (SATA or PCIe 2.0 x2) *SATA Express, M.2 and 2x SATA are shared
USB 3.0 / USB 3.1	2 x USB 3.0 on back panel 4 x USB 3.0 in 2 headers 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C on back panel (ASMedia)
Onboard	6 x SATA 6 Gbps 1 x SATA Express 1 x M.2 5 x Fan Headers 1 x TPM Header 1 x Serial Header 2 x USB 3.0 Headers 2 x USB 2.0 Headers 1 x Front Audio Header 1 x Front Panel Header 1 x Clear CMOS Jumper 1 x Audio Switch
Power Connectors	1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 8-pin CPU
Fan Headers	2 x CPU (4-pin) 3 x SYS (4-pin)
IO Panel	Combination PS/2 Port 2 x USB 2.0 2 x USB 3.0 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C HDMI DVI-D VGA Killer E2205 Audio Jacks
Warranty Period	3 Years
Product Page	Link

BIOS and Software

Due to the way that BIOSes and software packages are updated, nothing new from our previous analysis of MSI’s Z97 BIOS or software comes into effect here compared to our previous reviews. The conclusions are still the same – MSI is making progress on the BIOS but the layout is sub-optimal for providing the most amount of information and Live Update 6 still remains the best motherboard driver and software update package from any motherboard manufacturer. As a result, take a look at our MSI Z97 Gaming 5 review or our MSI Z97 Guard Pro review for a more detailed analysis. 

MSI Z97A Gaming 6 In The Box

An unavoidable truth in most manufacturing is the quest to drive costs lower while maintaining the user experience. One aspect of this for the motherboard industry is what comes in the box. At a bare minimum we usually get a rear IO shield, a manual, a driver disk and a couple of SATA cables - anything above that puts pressure on the margins of the manufacturer. If the manufacturer is trying to drive a more expensive board into a lower price point, this is one of the places to start as some users care little about the box contents, and we've seen this to good effect in previous generations. When it comes to the user experience however, we see a direct correlation with more expensive (>$60) products and additional related peripherals. This usually extends first into more SATA cables, or a particular antenna design if WiFi is included, but MSI's gaming range tends to have a few others as well.

In the box for the MSI Z97A Gaming 6, we get the following:

Rear IO Shield
Driver Disk
Manuals
Four SATA Cables
Gaming Door Hanger
Adhesive Gaming Shield

I have said previously, both in general and in reviews, that the gaming market is split. Those under 25, by virtue of their early career or presence in education, tend to build systems under $600 and focus on eSports titles due to budget constraints or low-to-medium quality AAA titles. The over 25s have been in the workplace a little longer, perhaps had a promotion or a bonus, and can spend more ($1000-$2000) if they want a good gaming system to play the latest AAA titles at great settings. The marketing for these crowds, as well as the pricing and bundles, is very different. This provides an element of disjunct here for the Z97A Gaming 6 which comes in at $160 - I would classify a door hanger (and a poster similar to previous bundles) more desirable in the under 25 category, and yet the pricing of the package puts it into the over 25s range. The question then becomes, what do you bundle in a motherboard for the older crowd in order to generate brand interest and loyalty while also being useful? The adhesive shield to be applied to the chassis might be part of that solution, although as long as it doesn't effect those systems aiming for a cleaner look.

Many thanks to...

We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our test bed:

Thank you to AMD for providing us with the R9 290X 4GB GPUs.
Thank you to ASUS for providing us with GTX 980 Strix GPUs and the R7 240 DDR3 GPU.
Thank you to ASRock and ASUS for providing us with some IO testing kit.
Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with Nepton 140XL CLCs.
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU.
Thank you to Crucial for providing us with MX200 SSDs.
Thank you to G.Skill and Corsair for providing us with memory.
Thank you to MSI for providing us with the GTX 770 Lightning GPUs.
Thank you to OCZ for providing us with PSUs.
Thank you to Rosewill for providing us with PSUs and RK-9100 keyboards.

Test Setup

Test Setup
Processor	Intel Core i7-4770K ES 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 3.5 GHz (3.9 GHz Turbo)
Motherboards	MSI Z97A Gaming 6
Cooling	Cooler Master Nepton 140XL
Power Supply	OCZ 1250W Gold ZX Series Corsair AX1200i Platinum PSU
Memory	G.Skill RipjawsZ 2x4 GB DDR3-1600 9-11-9 Kit
Memory Settings	1600 9-11-9-27 1T tRFC 240
Video Cards	ASUS GTX 980 Strix 4GB MSI GTX 770 Lightning 2GB (1150/1202 Boost) ASUS R7 240 2GB
Hard Drive	Crucial MX200 1TB
Optical Drive	LG GH22NS50
Case	Open Test Bed
Operating System	Windows 7 64-bit SP1

System Performance

Power Consumption

Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single MSI GTX 770 Lightning GPU configuration with a wall meter connected to the OCZ 1250W power supply. This power supply is Gold rated, and as I am in the UK on a 230-240 V supply, leads to ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.

While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our test bed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers. These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.

Power consumption in the idle states is actually pretty good, although loading the board pushes it down the order.

Windows 7 POST Time

Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized. A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized). As part of our testing, we look at the POST Boot Time using a stopwatch. This is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows 7 starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows specific features.) 

Rightmark Audio Analyzer 6.2.5

Rightmark:AA indicates how well the sound system is built and isolated from electrical interference (either internally or externally). For this test we connect the Line Out to the Line In using a short six inch 3.5mm to 3.5mm high-quality jack, turn the OS speaker volume to 100%, and run the Rightmark default test suite at 192 kHz, 24-bit. The OS is tuned to 192 kHz/24-bit input and output, and the Line-In volume is adjusted until we have the best RMAA value in the mini-pretest. We look specifically at the Dynamic Range of the audio codec used on board, as well as the Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise.

Audio results are middle of the line for the ALC1150 solution.

USB Backup

For this benchmark, we transfer a set size of files from the SSD to the USB drive using DiskBench, which monitors the time taken to transfer. The files transferred are a 1.52 GB set of 2867 files across 320 folders – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are small 30 second HD videos. In an update to pre-Z87 testing, we also run MaxCPU to load up one of the threads during the test which improves general performance up to 15% by causing all the internal pathways to run at full speed.

Due to the introduction of USB 3.1, as of June 2015 we are adjusting our test to use a dual mSATA USB 3.1 Type-C device which should be capable of saturating both USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 connections. We still use the same data set as before, but now use the new device. Results are shown as seconds taken to complete the data transfer.

Unfortunately we were not able to source a Type-C to Type-C cable in time for this review for the USB 3.1 port, although the USB 3.0 ports for Z97 seem to outperform those of X99.

DPC Latency

Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests such as audio will be further down the line. If the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled.

If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time.  This can lead to an empty audio buffer and characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is taken processing DPCs from driver invocation. The lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds.

A good result for the Z97A Gaming 6, almost matching the Z97 Gaming 5 at just over 50 microseconds.

CPU Performance

Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives in essence an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, memory subtimings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.

Point Calculations – 3D Movement Algorithm Test: link

3DPM is a self-penned benchmark, taking basic 3D movement algorithms used in Brownian Motion simulations and testing them for speed. High floating point performance, MHz and IPC wins in the single thread version, whereas the multithread version has to handle the threads and loves more cores. For a brief explanation of the platform agnostic coding behind this benchmark, see my forum post here.

Compression – WinRAR 5.0.1: link

Our WinRAR test from 2013 is updated to the latest version of WinRAR at the start of 2014. We compress a set of 2867 files across 320 folders totaling 1.52 GB in size – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are small 30 second 720p videos.

Image Manipulation – FastStone Image Viewer 4.9: link

Similarly to WinRAR, the FastStone test us updated for 2014 to the latest version. FastStone is the program I use to perform quick or bulk actions on images, such as resizing, adjusting for color and cropping. In our test we take a series of 170 images in various sizes and formats and convert them all into 640x480 .gif files, maintaining the aspect ratio. FastStone does not use multithreading for this test, and thus single threaded performance is often the winner.

Video Conversion – Handbrake v0.9.9: link

Handbrake is a media conversion tool that was initially designed to help DVD ISOs and Video CDs into more common video formats. The principle today is still the same, primarily as an output for H.264 + AAC/MP3 audio within an MKV container. In our test we use the same videos as in the Xilisoft test, and results are given in frames per second.

Rendering – PovRay 3.7: link

The Persistence of Vision RayTracer, or PovRay, is a freeware package for as the name suggests, ray tracing. It is a pure renderer, rather than modeling software, but the latest beta version contains a handy benchmark for stressing all processing threads on a platform. We have been using this test in motherboard reviews to test memory stability at various CPU speeds to good effect – if it passes the test, the IMC in the CPU is stable for a given CPU speed. As a CPU test, it runs for approximately 2-3 minutes on high end platforms.

Synthetic – 7-Zip 9.2: link

As an open source compression tool, 7-Zip is a popular tool for making sets of files easier to handle and transfer. The software offers up its own benchmark, to which we report the result.

Gaming Performance 2015

Our 2015 gaming results are still relatively new, and thus along with the motherboards tested we are also including some other CPU results for completeness.

Alien: Isolation

If first person survival mixed with horror is your sort of thing, then Alien: Isolation, based off of the Alien franchise, should be an interesting title. Developed by The Creative Assembly and released in October 2014, Alien: Isolation has won numerous awards from Game Of The Year to several top 10s/25s and Best Horror titles, ratcheting up over a million sales by February 2015. Alien: Isolation uses a custom built engine which includes dynamic sound effects and should be fully multi-core enabled.

For low end graphics, we test at 720p with Ultra settings, whereas for mid and high range graphics we bump this up to 1080p, taking the average frame rate as our marker with a scripted version of the built-in benchmark.

Total War: Attila

The Total War franchise moves on to Attila, another The Creative Assembly development, and is a stand-alone strategy title set in 395AD where the main story line lets the gamer take control of the leader of the Huns in order to conquer parts of the world. Graphically the game can render hundreds/thousands of units on screen at once, all with their individual actions and can put some of the big cards to task.

For low end graphics, we test at 720p with performance settings, recording the average frame rate. With mid and high range graphics, we test at 1080p with the quality setting. In both circumstances, unlimited video memory is enabled and the in-game scripted benchmark is used.

Grand Theft Auto V

The highly anticipated iteration of the Grand Theft Auto franchise finally hit the shelves on April 14^th 2015, with both AMD and NVIDIA in tow to help optimize the title. GTA doesn’t provide graphical presets, but opens up the options to users and extends the boundaries by pushing even the hardest systems to the limit using Rockstar’s Advanced Game Engine. Whether the user is flying high in the mountains with long draw distances or dealing with assorted trash in the city, when cranked up to maximum it creates stunning visuals but hard work for both the CPU and the GPU.

For our test we have scripted a version of the in-game benchmark, relying only on the final part which combines a flight scene along with an in-city drive-by followed by a tanker explosion. For low end systems we test at 720p on the lowest settings, whereas mid and high end graphics play at 1080p with very high settings across the board. We record both the average frame rate and the percentage of frames under 60 FPS (16.6ms).

GRID: Autosport

No graphics tests are complete without some input from Codemasters and the EGO engine, which means for this round of testing we point towards GRID: Autosport, the next iteration in the GRID and racing genre. As with our previous racing testing, each update to the engine aims to add in effects, reflections, detail and realism, with Codemasters making ‘authenticity’ a main focal point for this version.

GRID’s benchmark mode is very flexible, and as a result we created a test race using a shortened version of the Red Bull Ring with twelve cars doing two laps. The car is focus starts last and is quite fast, but usually finishes second or third. For low end graphics we test at 1080p medium settings, whereas mid and high end graphics get the full 1080p maximum. Both the average and minimum frame rates are recorded.

Middle-Earth: Shadows of Mordor

The final title in our testing is another battle of system performance with the open world action-adventure title, Shadows of Mordor. Produced by Monolith using the LithTech Jupiter EX engine and numerous detail add-ons, SoM goes for detail and complexity to a large extent, despite having to be cut down from the original plans. The main story itself was written by the same writer as Red Dead Redemption, and it received Zero Punctuation’s Game of The Year in 2014.

For testing purposes, SoM gives a dynamic screen resolution setting, allowing us to render at high resolutions that are then scaled down to the monitor. As a result, we get several tests using the in-game benchmark. For low end graphics we examine at 720p with low settings, whereas mid and high end graphics get 1080p Ultra. The top graphics test is also redone at 3840x2160, also with Ultra settings, and we also test two cards at 4K where possible.

MSI Z97A Gaming 6 Conclusion

The motherboard market is in an odd place right now. USB 3.1 is facilitating second revisions of the Z97 product line at roughly the same time that socketed Broadwell is launched, although the interest in Broadwell has been rather muted due to a lack of stock, a lack of a top end CPU (Broadwell tops at 65W, Haswell at 88W) and the promise of a new Intel mainstream platform by the end of the year. Couple this to the lack of USB 3.1 devices in the market, and there are no significant drivers for motherboard sales right now. One can point to a large selection of system integrators that build gaming PCs as a good source of output, although one might argue that they are feeling the same effects, especially if their clients follow the industry in any particular way.

Despite these factors, perhaps not producing a second revision USB 3.1 equipped motherboard would certainly be a bad idea. It all comes back to Game Theory - if no-one has a product in the market with the new feature, no-one loses out. But the minute one person does so, the rest have to follow suit in order to act as potential avenues of sales or even the perception of presence in the market in order to be seen as a leading brand. As a result, everyone jumps on board and we get an array of motherboards focusing on USB 3.1 as the main selling point, rather than initial out-of-the-box Broadwell CPU support being the selling point.

The economics and foibles of the motherboard industry aside, the Z97A Gaming 6 attacks the market at $160, arguably quite cheap for a Gaming 6 model. If we consider where other motherboards were at the time of their release, this was the point of the Gaming 5 and the Gaming 7 would be nearer $200. To that end, the Gaming 6 here is the gaming version of the cheap overclocking motherboard - designed to present an inexpensive route into MSI's high end features.

Aside from the USB 3.1 mentioned before, the Z97A Gaming 6 comes with 3x Crossfire and 2x SLI support (2x SLI has conditions) for multi-GPU gaming, a combination SATA/PCIe 10Gbps M.2 port (PCIe 2.0 x2), a gaming-focused Killer E2205 network port, SATA Express, an upgraded ALC1150 audio codec, six SATA 6 Gbps ports and six USB 3.0 ports. As an interesting aside, we also get voltage check points for extreme overclockers to read voltages directly rather than relying on software readouts, perhaps showcasing an element to that cheaper overclocking route. A couple of the USB ports are also under MSI's USB Power, allowing for consistent 5V output to avoid poor SNR with USB DACs.

The BIOS and software packages both have good points and bad points, similar to other MSI Z97 motherboards. The use of an XMP button in the BIOS should help more users enable this feature easier, along with the interactive fan controls and the Board Explorer for easier problem diagnosis. The BIOS still lacks an easy mode however, which is perhaps a barrier to new users. The software side of the equation sits on Live Update 6, the best auto-update software system for a motherboard compared to any other manufacturers' solution. A downside is the voltage overclocking in Command Center which visibly offers 2.1 volts to be applied over the CPU, which is more extreme than any liquid nitrogen world record attempt. A lower value, say 1.3 volts, and an option to extend the range by agreeing to a popup explaining the risks, would be eminently superior.

For performance, the Z97A Gaming 6 gets the honor of being the first Z97 motherboard through our new gaming tests, which means as a result it comes first out of one. The CPU and system side of the testing is the same as before, showing that the Gaming 6 implements multi-core turbo on our CPU by default and performs in the top half of most of the CPU benchmarks. The idle power consumption of our system was a good note, coming in the lower end, but the peak power consumption flipped the perspective. DPC Latency hit at 55, which is essentially the target for the Z97 platform, and the ALC1150 audio codec results were also ballpark. POST times of around 13 seconds or 12 stripped were slightly higher than other motherboards we've tested.

At $160, the MSI Z97A Gaming 6 sits with the hardware at roughly where we would expect a $160 motherboard to be this far in the cycle. It comes with a good amount of options, while the gaming focused design, such as a black PCB coating and reducing the white lines, helps the aesthetic as a whole. SATA and USB 3.0 are as you would expect at this price point, and the PCIe layout allows multi-GPU combinations, focusing more on 3x CFX support more than 2xSLI + another PCIe x2 card. The M.2 slot supports SATA and PCIe, with PCIe 2.0 x2 being the norm at this price, rather than a full PCIe 3.0 x4 which would have other complications with the graphics.  The choice of going USB 3.1 Type-C only is perhaps a concern though, depending on how quickly devices come to market or if a user might upgrade the motherboard before devices become mainstream.

When buying PC components, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) ensures the customer knows what they are getting. MSI's Z97A Gaming 6 at $160 is a good example of this - you get what you expect and there are relatively few hidden surprises.