The MSI Z97A Gaming 6 with USB 3.1C -- 10 gigabit USB! This is an LGA 1150 motherboard supporting the 5th generation Intel Core CPUs. It is a 4-slot DDR3 configuration that supports up to 3300mhz (OC).
The PCB has a nice matte black finish and feels quite stiff.
In the box you get the manual, driver CD, a cool quick install guide with links to how-to videos, some stickers to label your cables, a case badge, the back i/o plate, a door hanger, two SATA cables a two-card SLI bridge. Be sure to check out our how-to-build-a-PC videos for more info on how to build a PC!
Also included are these breakout headers which let you hook up your front panel ports individual wires then plug these plugs directly into the motherboard. These are always nice to have and can be a real time saver in hooking up your front panel ports.
The onboard audio implements an 8 channel Creative Soundblaster Cinema 2, and has optical SPDIF out. The motherboard does separate the audio componentry to minimize noise and provides a metal EMI shield around the onboard audio chip. It also has a direct audio power input so that you can supply external power to the onboard sound card via a molex connector if you so desire.
Finally it comes with an external audio power adapter to power the audio from an external power supply. This is so you can have "clean" power for the onboard audio.
At the bottom edge of the board is a front panel audio connector, audio power input header, an rs232 serial header, a tpm header, diagnostic LED read out, front panel headers and then two USB 2.0 headers. In the corner is a 4 pin fan header.
At the front edge of the board, we have one sata express connector, or 6 sata6 connectors, another 4 pin fan header and two front USB3 headers. Nice. Here's the ATX power connector and then solder points for diagnostic voltage pins/readouts.
At the top you find the JTurbo1 header, two 4 pin headers for the CPU fan and an 8 pin ATX12v power input.
At the back we have a PS/2 keyboard port, optimized for gaming of course, two 5v stable USB ports and then VGA, DVI and HDMI video outputs. In addition to that, the two red USB ports have a dedicated 5v power delivery system. This can be good if you have an external USB DAC that relies on flat-line 5v DC power delivery via USB.
It has an optical SPDIF port, the Killer E2200 NIC and 6 gold-plated audio ports. The big deal here is the USB 3.1 type C port right there; that's the same as the new iPhone and the new USB ports on the new Macbook. We are starting to see a lot of peripherals come with this USB port and USB 3.1 can hit 10 gigabits of bandwidth, which is exciting to see on this board.
The 10 gig usb 3.1 port is implemented with the Asmedia ASM1142.
These three USB3 ports combined with the 4 front USB ports give you a total of 7 USB3 ports, but your case will have to have 4 USB3 ports for you to take full advantage. The motherboard also has 4 more on-board USB2 ports if you have USB2 to use with them. Or an accessory like the NZXT H61 that can plug directly into those USB headers.
It supports a x16, x8 x8 or x8 x4 x4 graphics card config and has 4 x1 pcie slots. IT also has an m.2 slot that supports SATA or PCIe operational modes. The top x16 slot placement means you have extra clearance for the CPU cooler with respect to the graphics card. There is also a 5th 4 pin fan header just behind the m.2 slot.
In our next video, we'll be doing a build with the MSI GTX 960 and wheeling ourselves around the UEFI.
http://us.msi.com/product/mb/Z97A-GAMING-6.html#hero-overview
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://teksyndicate.com/videos/msi-z97a-gaming-6-usb31-c-10-gigabit
