Z97 OverclockingMotherboards

2014 will be a great year for overclocking! Not only will Intel

focus more at the Enthusiast segment by introducing a

special Pentium K SKU but also they will also improve the

Haswell Refresh K CPU for overclocking performance.

A new era of REAL overclocking

Our 2013 Z87 Overclocking motherboards did what they

needed to do: break world records!

OC Records

The yellow color-scheme of MSI’s OC-Series was a great

inspiration for many power-users.

Cool Casemods

And on top of that we got many awards and positive

comments from the media worldwide.

Awards

Despite their success, our Z77 MPOWER was a Z77A-GD65 on

steroids and the Z87 MPOWER had too much of MSI’s

Gaming NDA. However, we believe MPOWER is capable of

much more.

With the feedback of overclockers at MOA 2013 we

managed to make real enthusiasts’ motherboards;

our Z97 OC motherboards.

Changing the game of overclocking

Z77 MPOWER Z87 MPOWER MAX Z87 XPOWER

A fresh lookThe new Z97 overclocking motherboards come

with an awesome “M“ and “X” signature on the heatsinks

and have a black finish completed with yellow highlights.

OC Power

The new OC motherboards come with a high

quality built in PWM water cooling solution which is copper

based to maximize performance.

Water Cooling

Water Cooling

Z97 XPOWER AC Yes

Z97 MPOWER MAX AC Yes

Z97 MPOWER -

The new and improved MSI

heatsinks create 1.5cm extra

space. The open corners

allow for bigger size coolers

compared to the MSI Z87 OC motherboards.

Bigger keep out zone

A perfect square rectangle CPU area and small form

factor Hi-C Caps allow LN2 Overclockers to easily insulate the motherboard, greatly reducing LN2 setup time.

Easy Insulation

DigitALL Power provides digital control and

feedback to the PWM, allowing Voltage

Offset Control to improve the stability andlower power consumption.

DigitAll POWER

Quality

These high quality components ensure higher reliability

and 100% stable performance.

Military Class 4

Hi-c CapSelf-healing low profile Tantalum

capacitors which offer 10x higher

lifetime.

SFC60 Amp Supper Ferrite Chokes

which give 20-50% more current.

Dark CAPPerfect stable under extreme (up

to 260°C) conditions.

DrMOS 4This 3-in-1 MOSTFET is not only very

power efficient but also powerful.

Providing essential protection against hardware

failure.

Guard-Pro

CIRCUIT

PROTECTIONECO

POWER

HYMIDITYPROTECTION

HIGHTEMPERATUREPROTECTION

ESD PROTECTION

EMIPROTECTION

Carefully selected materials used in our motherboards together with shielding prevent short circuiting.

ECO Power lets you disable unused chips and functions used on your motherboard. By cutting off the power your motherboard will run more efficient.

10% Reduction in moisture

absorption helps prevent

"Conductive Anodic Filament".

Untreated PCB's can have 10x

higher failure rate.

All MSI motherboards comply

with stringent American FCC

regulations and reduce the

impact of Electromagnetic

Interference.

Each and every I/O port is

protected against the hazards

of Electro Static Discharge.

All key components used in MSI

motherboards have all passed

military testing ensuring stable

operation in the harshest

environments.

USB 3.0 signal integrity suffers with longer cable length.

These special USB 3.0 Redrivers on your Internal USB 3.0

ports enable to use longer USB 3.0 cables, especially in

larger chassis.

USB3 Redrivers

Each I/O Port on MSI's OC motherboards are protected by

Dual ESD protective ICs. This prevents any possible ESD

damage from plugging/unplugging.

Double ESD Protection

The MSI overclocking motherboards are OC certified which

means that they are submitted to a 24 hour Prime95 burn-in

test with a highly overclocked CPU. This enables us to deliver

the most stable overclocking motherboards on the market.

OC Certified

If the motherboard detects a failure from hardware

such as the CPU it will shut down and prevent booting.

• Unique overcurrent protection prevents damage to other

hardware from short circuiting whenever a failure occurs

• A red LED near the 24 power connector let’s you know

that overcurrent protection is active

• Easier troubleshooting

CPU Overcurrent Protection

Overclocking Haswell is limited by Intel because

all the internal clocks are linked and cannot

be changed separately.

Our new OC Engine supports

more flexible BCLK adjustments

with large stepping (100 /

125 / 167 MHz) giving it

a higher range.

Additionally the OC engine

prevents VGA crashes while

overclocking a good

CPU core.

OC Engine

Slow Mode decreases CPU ratio to 8x*. When using

CPU vCore Adaptive Mode, Slow Mode will also drastically

decrease vCore to 0.8~0.9v. This single option helps to skip

Windows loading bottleneck making subzero overclocking

a bit easier.

Slow Mode

*CPU lowest ratio vary on different CPU model

Enable Slow Mode

8x

70x

CPU Loading

CPU Ratio

CPU vCore 0.8

2.0

Enable Slow Mode to pass through high

loading of Windows booting sequence.

Disable Slow Mode to restore CPU

overclocking setting after booting.

After removing your IHS the MSI Delid Die Guard

protects your CPU perfectly. This ensures the best fitting and

highest mounting pressure whether it’s for 24/7 use or

breaking world records.

Delid Die Guard

OC Fan StandWith the OC Fan Stand you can

easily guide the airflow to the

components which need the most

cooling. Never worry about

knocking this OC Fan Stand over.

Fan

optional

When you benchmark

in dual, triple or quad

setup use this setup for

maximal bandwidth

provided by the Gen3

PLX 8747 switch chip.

4-Way CrossFire / SLI

Single 2-Way 3-Way 4-Way

PCI_E1 - X16 X16 X16

PCI_E2 x16 - - -

PCI_E3 - - - X8

PCI_E5 - X16 X8 X8

PCI_E7 - - X8 X8

Easy disable VGA cards

when benchmarking

with CeaseFire without

having to remove the

card itself.

Z97 XPOWER AC comes

with an easy switch while

the Z97 MPOWER (MAX AC)

has a BIOS option.

CeaseFire

Model CeaseFire

Z97 XPOWER AC Switch

Z97 MPOWER MAX AC BIOS

Z97 MPOWER BIOS

The 2nd PCI-E x16 slot

gives the best

performance when

benchmarking with only

ONE graphics card. This

PCI-E slot is directly

connected to the CPU

and has no latency lag

because the traffic skips

the PLX chip.

Dedicated PCI Express x16

Full real-time control

The MSI OC motherboards allow for even better control with both multiplier and BCLK Ratio.

Direct OC

1 MHz Adj.

0.1 MHz Adj.

BCLK Ratio Up BCLK Ratio Down

Multiplier Up Multiplier Down

Under LN2 normal CLR CMOS buttons don’t work, this is

why many overclockers remove the battery to give it a

complete reset. No need anymore, the MSI Complete Discharge button gives your Z97 board a true factory reset.

Complete Discharge

Mode Performance

No OC Genie 100%

Gear 1 4.0 GHz

Gear 2 4.3 GHz – 4.5GHz*Switch to Gear 2

OC Genie 4 will be more aggressive on Haswell

Refresh CPUs. And with Gear 2 you will give even more

performance depending on how many cores your

application is using.

OC Genie 4

* Haswell Refresh

OC EssentialsThese small tools give everybody the edge when pushing

your system to the limits.

Easy button 3 V-Checkpoints 2

GO2BIOS

Debug LED

Multi BIOS 2

Clear CMOS

After MOA feedback we enhanced the V-Check

Points with 2 extra ground connectors. This way

overclockers can use 3 multi-meters at the same time.

V-Check Points 2

All the extras

The MSI OC motherboards come with Intel Gigabit LAN to

help reduce CPU overhead and ensure a stable and fast

responding internet and network connection.

Intel® Gigabit LAN

The ultimate audio

solution which acts

like a dedicated sound

card.

• Isolated Audio PCB

• EMI shielding

• Dual AMPs

• Japanese Audio Capacitors

• Golden Audio Connectors

Audio Boost

The MSI Z97 MPOWER AC

and Z97 XPOWER AC come

both with Intel 802.11AC

wireless and Bluetooth 4.0

with support for Intel WiDi.

AC Wireless & Bluetooth

M.2 is superfast storage based on a PCI-E Gen2 x2

interface and with speeds up to 10 Gb/s, much faster than

SATA 3.0 (6 Gb/s). M.2 SSDs are widely available and all

MSI Overclocking motherboards come with M.2 interface.

Superfast storage: M.2

SATA-Express is PCI-E Gen2 x2 storage with similar speeds

(10Gb/s) like M.2. Because the SATA-Express ECO system is

not ready MSI offers flexible M.2 to SATA-Express cards.

– SATA-E SSDs sampling in Q2, for sales in Q3, affordable in Q2 2015

– No Intel support for SATA-Express

– 3rd party host solutions delayed

Superfast Storage: SATA-Express

The best USB Charger is inside your PC, it even works

when your computer is switched off. MSI Super Charger

charges ANY USB powered device from the latest tablets to

portable gaming consoles.

Super Charger

Total control over all fans with 4-pin PWM connectors.

• Layout optimized and approved by enthusiasts

• Set your own fan profiles

• Use the automatic fan wizard

• Real-time Fan control (no reboots!)

• Control via Command Center

• Control via Click BIOS 4

• Fan speed logging

• Voltage logging

• Temperature logging

Total Fan Control

M-Shield

Back side of I/O panel

Force Absorbing Layer

EMI Shielding

Steel Shielding

Our new I/O shield

not only comes with

many improvements

but also in black to

match your chassis.

BIOS & Software

Z97 Motherboards can boot in 2 seconds. Stop punishing your keyboard and just press the GO2BIOS button.

GO2BIOS

For overclockers, a finely tuned BIOS is the key for success. This is

why we’ve doubled our resources of BIOS development on our

Z97 OC series to deliver a new standard of BIOS overclocking.

BIOS: Click BIOS 4

No longer struggle trying to overclock your memory.

Our engineers, together with top overclockers, have

included smart memory OC detection. Simply set CAS latency and memory frequency and let us do the rest.

BIOS: Memory Try It!

Save time looking for that stable RAM overclock.

With our new memory presets you can easily select the

optimized memory profile for your high speed memory to get maximum performance.

BIOS: Memory Presets

With Extreme OC Config (LN2 Normal/Extreme)

you prepare the motherboard for sub zero overclocking in

just one click. It disables functions (Audio, USB, etc.) and

temperature/voltage protections (CPU, VRM and more).

It optimizes switching frequencies and LLC at the same time.

BIOS: Extreme OC Setup

The list with settings for LN2 Extreme and LN2 Normal.

BIOS: Extreme OC Setup

>PCI Subsystem Settings DefaultLN2

ExtremeLN2

Normal>DigitALL Power Default

LN2 Extreme

LN2 Normal

PEG0 - Gen X Auto A VR 12VIN OCP Expander Auto MaxPEG1 - Gen X Auto A CPU Phase Control Auto DPEG2 - Gen X Auto A CPU Vdroop Offset Control Auto Max>Integrated Peripherals CPU Over Voltage Protection Auto MaxOnboard LAN Controller Enabled D CPU Under Voltage Protection Auto MaxLAN Option ROM Disabled D CPU Over Current Protection Auto DNetwork stack Disabled D CPU Switching Frequency Auto 1100KHz Auto

SATA Mode AHCI AHCICPU VRM Over Temperature Protection

Auto Max

External SATA 6GB/s Controller AHCI D CPU Power Duty Control Thermal Balance CurrentHD Audio Controller Enabled D DRAM Phase Control Auto DHPET Enabled DRAM Switching Frequency Auto Max>USB Configuration >CPU FeaturesUSB Controller Enabled E Execute Disable Bit Enabled D EXHCI Hand-off Enabled E Intel Virtualization Tech Enabled DEHCI Hand-off Enabled E CPU AES Instructions Enabled DLegacy USB Support Enabled E Intel Adaptive Thermal Monitor Enabled DOnboard USB 3.0 Controller Enabled D Intel C-State Enabled D E>Overclocking C1E Support Disabled D ECPU Ratio Mode Dynamic Fixed Package C State Limit Auto DEIST Enabled D Long Duration Power Limit(W) Auto MaxIntel Turbo Boost Enabled D E Long Duration Maintained(s) Auto MaxEnhanced Turbo Auto D Short Duration Power Limit(W) Auto MaxSVID Communication Auto D CPU Current Limit(A) Auto MaxInternal VR OVP OCP Protection Auto D >BootInternal VR Efficiency Management Auto D Full Screen Logo Display Enabled DCPU Memory Changed Detect Enabled E GO2BIOS Disabled D>Smart connect ConfigurationIntel (R) Smart connect Technology Enabled D

With easy access to XMP through a single button

in Click BIOS 4 you can make sure the right timings are set

for stability and performance.

BIOS: Quick XMP Button

Want quick access to important settings?

My favorite gives easy access to your favorite settings

through a “most used items” overview for your convenience.

Save up to 5 groups!

BIOS: My Favorites

Left click any item in

MSI Click BIOS then

select one of

Favorite #. Then you

can build your own

BIOS favorite group.

Forgot what settings you changed? Click BIOS

now supports Change Settings Info. You can check what

values you have adjusted in a simple overview before

exiting the BIOS.

BIOS: Change Settings Info

With Load Last Known Best Setting the system reverts to a

successful boot state, while showing you a failure analysis so

you can easily spot the setting causing unwanted behavior.

BIOS: Last Known Good Config

Use Simple mode to view only the important

settings for quick optimization. Use Advanced mode

when you want to get back to breaking world records.

BIOS: Simple/Advanced mode

Simple mode Advanced mode

BIOS: OC Profile Preview 2

Blue: Settings in

stored profile

Orange:

Current settings

Quickly preview, save and load your saved overclocking

profiles from BIOS, SSD, HDD or USB by simply pressing F8/F9.

In the blink of an eye, you can see the differences between

your current system settings and any of the stored profiles.

Through a tab on the right you can now preview the most important voltages real-time in one overview.

BIOS: Quick Preview System Status

Hardware monitor II take control of your system and

checks your primary system in an easy graphical interface.

You can set temperature targets up to 4 points for CPU/MB,

the fans will automatically adjust accordingly.

BIOS: Hardware Monitor II

CPU & System

temperature

Connected fans

and fan speeds

Minimum &

Maximum fan

speeds

Voltage readout Voltage Histogram

CPU CoreCPU I/OSystem (3.3V)System (5V)System (12V)GPU DRAM

Smart Fan Target

temperature

Graphical fan

curve

Many overclockers don’t prefer to install bloated

software which slows down their system while setting world

records. This new version includes an unique hotkey function

which makes it the perfect solution for die-hard overclockers.

Software: Command Center Lite

Remove all the hassle of keeping your system up-to-date.

Live Update 6 scans your PC and downloads the latest

Drivers, BIOS and Firmware files straight to your system.

Software: Live Update 6

ECO Power helps users to manage their power usage. The

software disables chips completely by cutting of their power.

This helps to prevent short circuiting with LN2 overclocking.

Software: ECO Power

USB

PCI-E x16

PCI-E x1

SATA

Device ON(W) OFF(W) Save (W)

USB HOST 28.8 27.3 1.5USB HUB 28.8 25.5 3.3

SATA 28.8 27.7 1.1PCIE HUB 28.8 27.3 1.5PCIE CLK_GEN Enable 28.8 28.4 0.4

WIFI 30.5 28.8 1.7

CPUFAN* 28.8 28.1 0.7

SYSFAN1* 29.5 28.8 0.7SYSFAN2* 29.5 28.8 0.7

SYSFAN3* 29.5 28.8 0.7

Total 28.8 20.4 8.4

*Tested on MPOWER MAX

The definitive overclocking tool from MSI and Intel. Besides

every OC setting thinkable, it also has a built-in benchmark

and submits results directly to the worlds largest OC

competition website: HWBOT.org.

Software: Intel XTU

MSI’s Command Center is THE tool to configure your system

on-the-fly. Whether you’re a Pro or a N00b, the intuitive

interface with simple slider control or precise keyboard value

entry makes it easy to change everything.

Software: Command Center

Software: Command Center vs. XTUCommand Center offers the most functions to tweak your PC.

Command Center XTU Command Center XTU Command Center XTU

System Information OC CPU OC IGPCPU V V Clock V V Ratio V VIGP V V Core Ratio V V Voltage V VMemory V V CPU Voltage Offset V V Voltage Offset V VMotherboard V V Core Voltage V V OC MemoryBIOS V V SVID Voltage V V Channel AB V -OS V V Ring Voltage V V Command Rate V -Audio V - Ring Ratio V V tCL V VLAN V - PCH 1.05 V - tRCD V VUtility Info V V PCH1.5 V - tRP V VFan Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology - V tRAS V VCPU Fan V - Intel Turbo Boost Technology - V tRFC V VSystem Fan V - Intel Turbo Boost Short Power Max - V tWR V VSmart Fan V - Intel Turbo Boost Power Max - V tWTR V VFan Tune V - Intel Turbo Boost Power Time Windows - V tRRD V VMonitoring MAX Non Turbo Boost Ratio - V tRTP V VCPU Utilization V V Processor Current Limit - V tFAW V VCPU Frequency V V History Record tWCL V -Ring Frequency - V VCore V - tCKE V -IGP Frequency V V 3.3V V - tRC - VActive Core Count V V 5V V - tREFI - VCPU TDP V V 12V V - tRDRD V -VCore V V CPU Temperature V - tRDRDDR V -Clock V V SystemTemperature V - tWRWR V -3.3V V - CPU Fan V - tWRWRDR V -5V V - System Fan V - tWRWRDD V -12V V - Warning tWRRD V -GT Voltage V - VCore V - twRRDDR V -DRAM Voltage V - 3.3V V - twRRDDD V -IGP Voltage V - 5V V - tRDWR V -CPU SA Voltage V - 12V V - tRDWRDR V -SVID Voltage V - CPU Temperature V - tRDWRDD V -CPU Ring Voltage V - SystemTemperature V - Clock V VPCH 1.05 Voltage V - CPU Fan V - Memory Mutiplier - VCPU Temperature V V System Fan V - Memory Clock Mutiplier - VSystem Temperature V - Alert Sound V - Voltage V VCPU Fan V - Other Save & LoadSystem Fan V - Stress Test - V Local V VMemory Utilization - V Benchmarking - V Cloud V -IACore TDP - V App- Profile Pairing - V Default V VIGP TDP - V OC Genie V -IGP Temperature - V RAMDisk V -CPU Throttling - V Sid Bar V -Power Limit Throttling - V Mobile Control V -

Easily configure a RAMDisk to give an enormous speedboost

to your system by storing your most used files in it. With the

mountable image files benchmarking will never be the same.

Software: Command Center RAMdisk

Conclusion

MSI OC SKU overviewZ97 XPOWER AC Z97 MPOWER MAX AC Z97 MPOWER

OC Certified Y Y Y

Military Class 4 & Guard Pro Y + DrMOS 4 Y Y

PCB size 8 layer E-ATX 8 layer ATX 6 layer ATX

PWM Phases 16 12 12

OC Engine Y Y Y

OC Essentials Y Y Y

Direct OC buttons 4 2 2

Complete discharge button Y Y

Slow Mode y Y Y

GO2BIOS Y Y Y

Water Cooling Y Y

OC Genie 4 Y Y Y

PCI Express x16 Gen3 slots 5 3 3

SLI / CrossFire Support 4-way (PLX) 2 / 3-way 2 / 3-way

PCI-E Ceasefire Hardware switch BIOS BIOS

SATA 6 10 8 8

M.2 Y Y Y

USB 3.0 with redrivers 12 12 8

Intel Gb LAN Y Y Y

Audio Boost Y Y Y

WIFI AC & Bluetooth Y Y

Delid Die Guard Y

OC Fan stand Y

Box content overview

Records…

Go break them