MSI Z77IA-E53 Mini-ITX Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. MSI Z77IA-E53: Design and Layout3. MSI Z77IA-E53: BIOS and Overclocking4. Testing Methodology5. Synthetic: 3DMark 116. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage7. Synthetic: PCMark 78. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven9. Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra 201210. Synthetic: Cinebench R11.511. Synthetic: Super Pi12. Synthetic: CrystalDiskMark13. Real World: Media Encoding14. Real World: MKV Playback15. Gaming: DiRT 316. Gaming: Grand Theft Auto 4 EFLC17. Technical: Power Consumption18. Closing Thoughts19. View All Pages

Our sample of the MSI Z77IA-E53 came directly from the factory and wasn't supplied in retail packaging, but we have a library image of what you can expect to receive if you purchase the motherboard.

MSI have chosen to use a black and blue colour scheme for the motherboard which consists of a black PCB with a combination of blue and black fittings.  This looks very attractive indeed and should compliment most component choices aesthetically.

The Z77IA-E53 is built to the mini-ITX form factor which means all of the components are packed tightly together on the PCB.  We're happy to see that MSI have found room for a small heatsink to help cool the power regulation circuitry surrounding the CPU socket.

This suggests that the motherboard has been designed with light overclocking in mind.  We find the 8-pin CPU power connector located close by which isn't ideal from a cable-routing point of view.  However, most mini-ITX motherboards we've experienced also suffer from this issue.

Due to the size limitations of the motherboard, the CPU socket is located within very close proximity of the PCI Express x16 connector.  This means that large CPU coolers may obstruct this lane, preventing you from installing a graphics card.

Most of the internal connectors and headers are located along the top edge of the motherboard, above the CPU socket and chipset.

We find pretty much all the internal connectivity we could reasonably ask for on a mini-ITX motherboard.  We find a USB2.0 header, a USB3.0 header, the front panel connector, and a 4-pin fan header here.  All of the storage connectors are located here too.  There are two SATA-600 and two SATA-300 connectors here which are all connected to the Z77 chipset, meaning they support RAID  0, 1, 5, 10 and Intel Rapid Storage Technology.

There is also an mSATA / Mini-PCIe connector along the top edge of the motherboard which is perfect for users who want to use Intel Smart Response technology with a small SSD.

The two DDR3 RAM slots are located along the right hand edge of the motherboard.  These support up to 16 GB of non-ECC unbuffered memory with speeds of 1066/1333/1600/1866/2000/2133/2200/2400/2600/2667/2800 MHz.

Along the bottom edge of the motherboard there is a single PCI Express x16 lane which most users will populate with a graphics card.  As there is only room for one PCI Express slot on the motherboard, dual graphics configurations aren't an option.

Normally, there isn't much to talk about at the rear of a motherboard but in this case, there is.  We tried installing a number of CPU coolers on this motherboard including the Cooler Master TPC 800 and found that the backplates fouled some of the components on the rear of the motherboard.  This could cause significant damage to the motherboard and could also prevent the CPU cooler from being mounted properly.

The rear I/O panel supports:

• 1 x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse port

• 4 x USB 2.0 ports

• 2 x USB 3.0 ports

• 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack

• 1 x 6 in 1 audio jack

• 1 x HDMI port

• 1 x VGA port

• 1 x Clear CMOS button

• 1 x Optical S/PDIF-out port

• 1 x Wi-Fi antenna connector

• 1 x eSATA port

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