MSI X99A XPOWER AC Motherboard Review

When it comes to performance processors for the consumer market, Intel's Haswell-E chips are the fastest around. With such great performance potential are enthusiasts who want to squeeze every last bit of juice out of their system in order to break world records. That's where MSI's X99A XPOWER AC motherboard comes in. Designed for the extreme overclocking crowd, does MSI's OC series flagship offer enough performance to please strict enthusiasts? At the core of the MSI X99A XPOWER AC is its new-and-updated CPU socket. As other motherboard vendors have done, MSI has added extra pins to the board's CPU socket in order to open up greater flexibility for voltage and clock speed tweaking. While that may not net you many more megahertz on the CPU's core clock, the enhanced CPU cache/ring frequency possibility is perhaps the biggest selling point. Understanding that it takes more than a fast CPU to break world records, MSI outfits the X99A XPOWER AC with support for 4-card SLI and CrossFire, as well as compatibility with 3333MHz memory kits. Onboard buttons are equipped in order to help overclockers push their frequencies as swiftly as possible and there's also a compete discharge button for that really awkward POST after a failed overclock (we all know the ones I'm talking about). Adding features like Intel 802.11ac WiFi, Realtek ALC 1150-based audio, and 32Gbps Turbo M.2 into the equation, how does MSI's X99A XPOWER AC stack up? Features: Supports New Intel® Core™ i7 processors Extreme Edition in LGA 2011-3 socket Supports Quad Channel DDR4-3333(OC) Memory USB 3.1: Delivering speeds up to 10Gb/s, USB 3.1 offers performance twice as fast as a regular USB 3.0 connection Turbo M.2: Delivering next generation M.2 Gen3 x4 performance with transfer speeds up to 32 Gb/s SATA Express + USB 3.1 + SATA 6Gb/s 4-way Multi-GPU: 4-way NVIDIA SLI & AMD CrossFire Support OC Engine: For More Flexible BCLK Adjustments OC Certified: Military Class Burn-in Test Passed Enhanced Thermal Design V-Check Points 2: 3 multi-meters at the same time CeaseFire: Easily Disable PCI Express Slots Using An Onboard Switch Guard-Pro: Improved Protection and Power Efficiency Military Class 4: Top Quality & Stability OC Essentials: Convenient Set Of Overclocking Tools While Breaking World Records OC Genie 4: Overclock in 1 Second Click BIOS 4: Easily Fine-tune Your System Wi-Fi 802.11AC with speeds up to 867Mbps, Bluetooth 4.0 The MSI X99A XPOWER AC ships in typical packaging for MSI OC series motherboards. A yellowy-gold 'X' is found on the front side, while features and specifications are outlined on the rear. Given the weight of the board and its accessories, MSI conveniently adds a handle to the box. Additional overclocking features are outlined on the inside of the box flap. Opening the flap gives a glimpse at the board itself. Ten SATA cables, the rear IO shield, two M-connectors, an eSATA to SATA cable, a dual eSATA and molex breakout shield, and a molex to dual SATA power adapter form the core accessory bundle. There's also the inclusion of two long and two short black flexible SLI ribbons. Ribbons are deemed preferable for the extreme overclocking crowd to whom a rigid bridge may interfere with their power-modded video card or LN2 VGA cooling pot. The dual-band WiFi adapter is powered by Intel's Wireless-AC 7260 chipset. It supports 2T2R transfer rates of up to 867Mbps and runs on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands. Bluetooth 4.0 is also supported by the adapter. MSI includes two sizable WiFi aerials that have a magnetic base but only 90° of rotation. I would have liked to see more flexibility with antenna orientation. A metal IO cover adds a pleasant aesthetic touch while concealing the board's silver rear IO ports. The overclocking accessories include; mounts for sizable cooling pots, a separate backplate for bolt-through LN2 cooling pots, V-check point cables, a mount for a 120mm fan, and a USB 3.0 stick with drivers and software installed. That's a healthy bundle and one which will solve the many problems that extreme overclockers can run into. The separate CPU backplate for bolt-through coolers is especially useful to overclockers who use a heavy pot. I am particularly fond of the fan mounting bracket. LN2 overclockers will always mount a fan near the CPU socket in order to quickly remove LN2 vapours which may condense on the motherboard. MSI's bracket gives them a convenient way of mounting that critical fan. A sizable set of paperwork is supplied in addition to a sticker and driver CD. Part of that paperwork is a hefty user guide and an overclocking guide. There are also cable labels, a motherboard poster, and a door hanger included. An annotated image of the motherboard is displayed on the poster. This could actually be useful for users who are trying to troubleshoot when overclocking or even those who are trying to understand the function of certain buttons. MSI outfits the X99A XPOWER AC in a bold yellow and black colour scheme that is typical of the company’s OC series motherboards. Splashes of yellow on the heatsinks provide eye-catching contrast to the dark black PCB. Up to 128GB of DDR4 memory can be installed in the eight single-latch DIMM slots. MSI states support for memory frequencies of up to 3333MHz in a quad channel configuration. Spacing around the CPU socket should keep LN2-enthused overclockers happy. The surrounding area is devoid of any high-rise capacitors or notable interference points making it relatively straightforward to insulate for use with sub-zero cooling. MSI also strips away a large proportion of the CPU socket bracket in order to further reduce interference for sub-zero users. Only the basic cooler mounting holes remain, although they can be switched out for MSI’s included bolt-through CPU cooler bracket. MSI makes use of added pins in the CPU socket (like Asus pioneered with its OC Socket design) in order to unlock greater flexibility for voltages and operating frequencies. Cache frequencies and voltages are the main area where the added pins show greatest benefit. MSI uses a twelve-phase power delivery system to feed the hungry LGA 2011-3 CPUs, although the configuration is not a true twelve-phase design. Intersil’s ISL6388 PWM controller is a six-phase design that requires teaming with six of Intersil’s ISL6617 phase doublers to drive the twelve physical phases. The doublers are mounted on the board’s rear side, without a cooling strip. Twelve Fairchild FDMF5823DC (marked DF05AB 5823DC) smart power stage modules are used for the MOSFET-style solution. The modules integrate a driver IC, Schottky diode, high- and low-side MOSFETs, and thermal monitor into a single package that is rated to handle a 55A current. When being used in an extreme overclocking environment, an integrated power module solution may have the benefits of lower path lengths between the electronics components. Twelve Super Ferrite Chokes (SFC) assist the MOSFET modules and are likely to be rated for a 55A or 60A output given the MOSFETs’ current handling capabilities. Nestled above the MOSFET heatsink are 8-pin and 4-pin CPU power connectors. The use of both connectors is probably wise on an overclocking-geared X99 motherboard due the Haswell-E CPUs’ high current draw capabilities. The power delivery system for memory seems to be identical to that on MSI’s X99S MPower motherboard. Aluminium-core ‘Dark’ and low-profile ‘Hi-c’ capacitors also form part of MSI’s Military Class 4 power delivery system. A total of three Powervation PV3203 controllers manage memory, system, and chipset power operations. The memory’s physical power delivery system seems to consist of a total of two (plus one supplementary) Fairchild MOSFETs marked ‘DE45AE 22CF 070D’ (possibly related to the FDMS3660S dual N-channel MOSFETs) per DIMM bank (two sets, four MOSFETs in total for DRAM). This is in addition to two 470 microFarad, as well as two R22 and one ‘tR47’ choke(s) per DIMM bank. MSI places the board’s overclocking buttons, LED debug display, and motherboard switches in the bard-s top-right area, near the DIMM slots. While this location has its drawbacks when sub-zero memory pots are being used (the buttons are likely to freeze or get blocked), it does seem to be favoured by many overclocking enthusiasts. The Slow Mode switch is a particularly convenient tool for users who are trying to break world records (the system slows down in order to maintain stability while the benchmark is not running). I can also see the use of MSI’s ‘lightning bolt’ complete discharge button for when a truly buggy overclock is causing misfiring POST attempts. All ten (two are along the bottom edge) of the SATA 6Gbps ports are provided by the X99 chipset. Two of the ports combine to form the 10Gbps SATA-Express connector. A right-angled USB 3.0 header is great for cable management cleanliness although it does require extra chassis width. That extra width is fine when using an ATX board, although it does become a difficulty even with large cases due to the X99A XPOWER AC board’s EATX form factor. An outwards-facing header may have actually been preferable in this situation. MSI provides the Turbo M.2 connector with up to 32Gbps of bandwidth by means of four PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU. This is excellent for providing support to some of the market’s fastest M.2 devices, such as Samsung’s SM951. The M.2 slot also supports SATA operation and PCIe 2.0 x2 using two lanes from the X99 chipset (stealing them from the SATA-Express connector). MSI’s X99A XPOWER AC provides support for 4-card SLI and CrossFire. With a 40-lane CPU, up to four cards can run in 4-way SLI or CrossFire with a trio of x8 connections and one x16 link. Using the four-lane M.2 connection steals lanes from the graphics card slots, although we imagine that 4-way SLI users (extreme benchmarkers) are unlikely to be interested by faster storage when their tests are CPU- and GPU-intensive. A 28-lane CPU drops SLI support to 3-card, although 4-way CrossFire is still usable thanks to its functionality with four PCIe lanes. Three cards can be used alongside a PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 device, providing a high-end graphics subsystem that can be used in tandem with high-speed storage. Slot spacing is excellent. This is an extreme overclocking board so it is likely to spend most of its time with a number of graphics cards installed. But for times when only the CPU is being pushed, or perhaps the board is being used for gaming downtime, spacing of the PCIe expansion slots provides plenty of cooling capacity. The standard affair of front panel connectors is found along the motherboard’s bottom edge. MSI installs two SATA 6Gbps connectors in an outwards-facing orientation on the bottom edge. This may have the purposes of easier access for overclockers who have the ETAX motherboard mounted on their test bench. There’s also a second USB 3.0 header, an outwards-facing USB port that is convenient when using the board on a test bench, the dual BIOS switch, and a molex connector to provide extra power to heavy GPU configurations. MSI’s Audio Boost system is based around the Realtek ALC 1150 audio codec. Accompanying the widely-used codec is a pair of Texas Instruments OPA1652 op-amps and Nichicon capacitors. A segregated PCB path with yellow LED and EMI shielding for the codec are used to minimise signal interference. The all-important clear CMOS button features a blue LED to make it easier to find in the dark or around the back of a chassis. Two USB 3.1 Type-A ports are provided by the ASMedia ASM1142 PCIe 2.0 x2 chipset. MSI could do a better job of distinguishing these ports by colouring them a different shade of blue, as Asus and ASRock have done. A stack of USB 3.0 ports are provided by expanding a pair of single USB 3.0 connections from the X99 chipset and expanding them into four ports each. Antenna connections for the Intel Wireless-AC 7260 802.11ac WiFi card stick out on the rear IO section. MSI also includes dual Intel Gigabit NICs (I218V and I210AT) although I’m not quite sure of the relevance of these on an extreme overclocking motherboard. Positioning of the X99A XPOWER AC’s seven fan headers is excellent. Six headers are within reach of the CPU socket, with the final serving general purposes along the motherboard’s bottom edge. This configuration is smart for an overclocking motherboard because the bottom-edge fan headers may be used to power a GPU-cooling fan, while the rest of the headers cluster around the motherboard’s business area. Monitoring and control functionalities are handled by the Nuvoton NCT6792D+ chipset. Aesthetic touches are provided in the form of a yellow LED placed beneath the XPOWER heatsink that illuminates the text. There is also the rear IO cover. The bare 8-layer PCB shows plenty of potential for use with a full-cover waterblock. There is plenty of space around the chipset area to mount a large waterblock compartment and a clear run is set from the MOSFETs down to the chipset. That is not to say that a water block manufacturer will release a block, however. Removing the heatsinks is a simple task, which is good news for cooling aficionados. The sizeable MOSFET heatsink is connected via heatpipe to a block of metal that increases the cooler’s effective surface area. Firstly, we are pleased to report that our NZXT Avatar S mouse worked to its usual standard in the MSI X99 Click BIOS 4 UEFI. We’ve found our NZXT Avatar S to be the most troubling mouse with UEFI support, so when it functions correctly in the interface, that is usually a good sign for overall mouse support. MSI equips its X99 motherboards with a UEFI implementation that is consistent across the range. Evidently some of the board-specific settings differ between the two interfaces, but the general layout is identical. As such, our analysis is very similar to that provided for other MSI X99 boards featuring Click BIOS 4. MSI’s UEFI is formed of six key sections, all of which are listed on the frame’s left and right sides. Basic system information is constantly displayed at the top of the screen. Boot device priority can be quickly adjusted by dragging the relevant drive into its start-up position. The same easy application is true for OC Genie and XMP modes – simply click the relevant buttons in the frame’s top-left corner. It's quickly noticeable that MSI's interface is heavily reliant upon the function of a mouse, even more so than the systems used by competing vendors. As such, mouse compatibility becomes particularly important. We've found our NZXT Avatar S to be the most troubling mouse with UEFI support, so when it functions correctly in the interface, that is usually a good sign for overall mouse support. This is however something that may annoy 'keyboard-only' overclockers of old. In the Advanced mode, MSI provides plenty of adjustable voltage, frequency, and power settings which give users a good degree of control over their system. The layout could benefit from a clean-up. A number of readouts are still mixed together with input parameters which makes the interface seem more disordered than it actually is. That said, MSI's interface grows more likeable each time I work with it. Once the initial practice period has been completed, the interface is swift to use. A pair of LN2 overclocking modes automatically adjust a number of power settings in order to enhance the overclocking capacity. Particularly relevant for the overclocking-geared HEDT platform are the UEFI's power and voltage options. We are happy with the voltage adjustment options that MSI provides - they are going to be sufficient for pushing a chip when using 'normal' 24/7 cooling, and provide enhanced options for use with extreme cooling. The same can be said for the board's power options. The only thing we miss is a clear load-line calibration parameter. Timings can be manually tweaked to a user's preference and the memory kit's XMP support can be displayed. The XMP information is particularly useful because many modern kits are shipping with multiple profiles. In addition to adjustable system voltage and power parameters are dedicated memory sections. Memory Try It! allows users to apply tweaked overclocking settings to their Hynix-, Samsung-, or Micron-based memory kits. A number of pre-tuned overclocking profiles for certain memory kits are also included. Up to six OC profiles can be saved and named. This is a good number to provide as it gives users flexibility when testing out different overclocking configurations. Profiles can also be imported and exported through a USB drive for backup and sharing purposes. One of the actions that MSI has taken to tidy its UEFI is adding an Info section on the right side. The section is used to display basic information relating to voltages, irrelevant of the parameters that are being tweaked. Had MSI used this ‘add-on’ section approach throughout its BIOS, displaying information relevant to the parameter that is currently being tweaked, the interface would have a much tidier feel to it. Some frequency readings would be welcomed too. MSI employs a graphical interface that permits for tweaking of fan speeds inside the X99 UEFI. Four points on a speed against temperature curve can be adjusted to change the fan’s operation. For CPU fans, the minimum point can be set as low as 12.5% speed with a 40°C lower threshold. The same flexibility is provided to system fans, although the minimum speed level is increased to 50%. For users who prefer a static fan speed level, un-checking the Smart Fan Mode box allows a continuous fan speed percentage to be set. One of the most useful features in MSI’s UEFI is Board Explorer. The tool displays an image of the board which highlights the components that are installed. Hovering over the certain sections displays information regarding the connected components or devices. The tool has great potential as a troubleshooting measure. For example, a faulty memory stick can be easily identified if its function isn’t highlighted in the board explorer tool. The PCI Subsystem Settings section is going to be particularly useful to users who install multiple graphics cards alongside an M.2 SSD. MSI’s M-Flash BIOS updating tool continues to refuse to enter folders in a USB flash drive. This is a negative point because users are forced to mess up their flash drive’s organisation by putting the BIOS file in the root folder. Competing motherboard vendors have tools that are able to navigate storage drives and USB memory sticks with ease. MSI is lagging behind in this respect. Users are free to add some of their commonly accessed parameters to the Favourites profile. The default home page can also be changed. UEFI Summary: MSI’s Click BIOS 4 interface has a strong underlying ease-of-use aspect. Practising overclockers are given additional information and assistance as they learn about specific settings, but there are also plenty of options for more advanced frequency tuning. The LN2 modes are useful for stripping away unneeded features while pushing for maximum clock speed. The Board Explorer tool and comprehensive, user-friendly fan control system are particular highlights of the interface. The UEFI still has its issues though, and further updates are required if MSI is to compete more closely with the excellent implementation used by ASUS. Some of the layout options still result in a messy appearance. While many of the issues are small, arguably negligible points, they can add up quickly and have the potential to dampen the experience of using MSI’s Click BIOS 4 interface. The software MSI supplies with the OC series motherboards is very similar to that provided with the Gaming series motherboards (both Z97 and X99), feature dependent. MSI's Command Center opens the CPU page during launch. The current multiplier and base clock levels can be viewed with ease in an eye-catching manner. MSI's Command Center software is a comprehensive tool that can be used for a surprisingly diverse range of tasks. General overclocking and frequency-related duties can be handled via the software suite, and a RAM disk can also be created. Even though the IGP section is left over from the software's Z97 past, there are no settings inside the section. Additional sections at the bottom of each main page allow users to launch specific subsections. Some of the main subsections include windows for adjusting system voltages and fan speeds, as well as a segment dedicated to configuring one's computer as a media streamer. We would strongly recommend using MSI's Command Center software for voltage readings. We have certified its recorded levels with a multimeter connected to a board's voltage reading points and found the software tool's accuracy to be excellent. Third party software (such as CPU-Z) can sometimes display incorrect real time readings on MSI's and other vendors' motherboards. Extra information for other components is provided on the software for MSI's OC series board. The Command Center Lite Memory tool displays information about memory timings. Direct OC seems to alter the base clock adjustment between 1MHz and 0.1MHz, although it requires Windows 8 to function. Eco Center allows users to switch off specific components to cut power usage. Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility gives a more in-depth set of voltage and power parameters than MSI's Command Center suite. We will be outlining the MSI X99A XPOWER AC motherboard's performance with the Core i7 5960X CPU at its stock frequency (3.5GHz due to forced turbo). Overclocked performance will be outlined later in the review. By default, the MSI X99A XPOWER AC motherboard applies multi-core turbo (MCT) and forces the 5960X to a constant 3.5GHz when XMP is enabled. Although an A15 BIOS version was available for us to testing, we were very reluctant to gather results from a beta BIOS which could be a long time away from public release. As such, our testing was conducted with the latest public BIOS available - A10 - in order to provide the results that users can expect to achieve today. MSI applies 1.07V to the CPU VCore when MCT is enabled. Our typical testing procedure involves opening the motherboard vendor monitoring software and then running the benchmarks. Doing this with MSI's Control Center software on the X99A XPOWER AC resulted in lower-than-usual performance. The Control Center software seems to have some form of bug which reduces system performance when the monitoring tool is running. As such we stopped opening the tool while gathering performance numbers and only used it to record system operating data. X99 Motherboard Test System: Processor: Intel Core i7 5960X ES (3.5GHz forced turbo). Memory: 16GB (4x 4GB) G.Skill Ripjaws4 2666MHz CL15 DDR4 @ 1.20V. Graphics Card: Asus R9 280X Matrix Platinum 3GB. System Drive: 500GB Samsung 840. CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i. Case: NZXT Phantom 630. Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum 1000W. Operating System: Windows 7 Professional with SP1 64-bit. Compared X99 Motherboards: ASRock X99E-ITX/ac (BIOS v1.20) – with 16GB (2x8GB) G.Skill Ripjaws4 2400MHz CL15 DDR4 @ 1.20V. ASRock X99 OC Formula (BIOS v1.16) – with 16GB (4x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 2800MHz @ 2666MHz 16-18-18-44 DDR4 1.25V ASRock X99 Extreme11 (BIOS v1.00) – with 16GB (4x4GB) G.Skill Ripjaws4 2666MHz 15-15-15-35 DDR4 1.25V. ASRock Fatal1ty X99 Professional (BIOS v1.50) – with 16GB (4x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 2800MHz @ 2666MHz 16-18-18-44 DDR4 1.25V Asus TUF Sabertooth X99 (BIOS v0216) – with 16GB (4x 4GB) G.Skill Ripjaws4 2666MHz CL15 DDR4 @ 1.20V. Asus X99 Deluxe (BIOS 0801) – with 16GB (4x4GB) G.Skill Ripjaws4 3000MHz 15-15-15-35 DDR4 1.35V. Gigabyte X99-Gaming 5P (BIOS F2c beta) - with 16GB (4x 4GB) G.Skill Ripjaws4 2666MHz CL15 DDR4 @ 1.20V. MSI X99S Gaming 7 (BIOS V17.3B1) – with 3.56GHz CPU and 16GB (4x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 2800MHz CL16 DDR4 @ 2800MHz 1.20V. Software: MSI X99A XPOWER AC BIOS A10 (latest public BIOS). Catalyst 14.9 VGA drivers. Tests: 3DMark 1.3.708 - Fire Strike (System) SiSoft Sandra 2014 SP2 - Processor arithmetic, memory bandwidth (System) Cinebench R15 - All-core CPU benchmark (CPU) WinRAR 5.10 - Built-in benchmark (CPU) HandBrake 0.9.9 - Convert 4.36GB 720P MKV to MP4 (CPU) ATTO - SATA 6Gbps, USB 3.0, M.2 transfer rates (Motherboard) RightMark Audio Analyzer - General audio performance test (Motherboard) Totusoft LAN Speed Test - WiFi speed test, 100MB file transfer to wired 'server' computer (Motherboard) Bioshock Infinite - 1920 x 1080, ultra quality (Gaming) Metro: Last Light - 1920 x 1080, high quality (Gaming) Tomb Raider - 1920 x 1080, ultimate quality (Gaming) 3DMark We used 3DMark‘s ‘Fire Strike’ benchmark which is designed to be used on gaming PCs. We opted for the Normal setting, NOT the Extreme mode. Sandra Processor Arithmetic Sandra Memory Bandwidth MSI's X99A XPOWER AC starts off with a solid set of performance results in 3DMark and Sandra benchmarks. While this motherboard's target audience is highly unlikely to care about stock-clocked performance numbers, it is a good sign to see that MSI's board is competitive with other X99 solutions. Cinebench We used the ‘CPU’ test built into Cinebench R15 . WinRAR WinRAR’s built in benchmark and hardware test can help us outline the performance differentials between each motherboard. We record the amount of data processed after a 30-second run. Handbrake Conversion We measured the average frame rate achieved for a task of converting a 4.36GB 720P H.264 movie (in the MKV container) to one in the MP4 container. The MSI X99A XPOWER AC shows strong results in the CPU-heavy set of benchmarks. No glaring performance deficiencies are a positive sign for strong results when overclocked. Bioshock Infinite We used the Bioshock Infinite demanding ‘Ultra’ setting and a 1920x1080 resolution to push today’s gaming hardware. Our data was recorded using a section of the game, not the built-in benchmark. Metro: Last Light We used a 1920x1080 resolution and the Metro: Last Light built-in benchmark set to ‘High’ quality to offer an intense challenge for the gaming hardware while also making playable frame rates a possibility. Tomb Raider We used a 1920x1080 resolution and the Tomb Raider built-in benchmark set to ‘Ultimate’ quality. The XPOWER AC proves itself as a perfectly valid gaming motherboard. Frame rates are competitive with gaming-orientated solutions, and there's plenty of expansion room for a hefty multi-GPU configuration. M.2 connector We use Plextor's fast M6e 256GB M.2 SSD to test the speed of a motherboard's M.2 connector. We reviewed the 512GB Plextor M6e (and its PCIe x2 adapter card) HERE. Unfortunately we do not yet have access to a PCIe 3.0-based SSD to fully test the M.2 connector's performance limits. No problems with the M.2 connector's PCIe performance. A faster drive would be needed to show any glaring weakness for MSI's Turbo M.2 connector. SATA For SATA 6Gb/s testing we use a Kingston HyperX 3K (SandForce SF-2281) SSD. X99 SATA 6Gbps performance is without issues. USB 3.0 We tested USB 3.0 performance using the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD connected to a SATA 6Gb/s to USB 3.0 adapter powered by an ASMedia ASM1053 controller. USB 3.0 numbers are about as fast as you'll see when running Windows 7 without a UASP-activating tool (such as Asus' USB 3.0 Boost). We explored the performance of MSI's USB 3.1 solution over here. We anticipate the performance to be almost identical due to the same ASMedia ASM1142 USB 3.1 chipset being used. Audio We use RightMark Audio Analyzer (RMAA) to analyse the performance of the motherboard’s onboard audio solution. A sampling mode of 24-bit, 192 kHz was tested. MSI’s Audio Boost system is based around the Realtek ALC 1150 audio codec. Accompanying the widely-used codec is a pair of Texas Instruments OPA1652 op-amps and Nichicon capacitors. "Excellent" audio performance is delivered by the X99A XPOWER AC. Despite the motherboard's overclocking target audience, MSI has outfitted the component with a clearly positive audio system. That could be useful for benchers' downtime where they may want to listen to music or play games. Wireless We use Totusoft’s LAN Speed Test software to measure the real-world throughput offered by the MSI X99A XPOWER AC motherboard’s WiFi solution. The test motherboard was located in close proximity to our Linksys EA6900 AC1900 802.11ac wireless router. We tested using the 5GHz frequency band and kept other network resources at a low usage level to ensure the transfer rates were not capped. I was actually surprised to see such high transfer rates over WiFi, even if the solution is two-stream 802.11ac rated. Multiple retests confirmed the wireless solution's excellent results. The line-of-sight distance between our test system and the wireless router is very small, so don't expect to see similar transfer rates when walls and distance are factored into the equation. The results do, however, show that the Intel Wireless-AC 7260 card and hefty antennas are clearly capable from a performance standpoint. Manual CPU Overclocking: To test the MSI X99A XPOWER AC motherboard’s CPU overclocking potential, we first increased the CPU VCore to 1.30V, Cache voltage to 1.25V, and CPU Input Voltage to 1.9V. We maintained the DRAM frequency at 2666MHz to take its stability out of the overclocking equation. Cache frequency was maintained at 3.0GHz. We had no problem hitting our 5960X processor's limit of 4.4GHz at 1.30V. In all honesty, 1.30V is far less than sub-zero overclockers will be putting through this motherboard. The result serves to show that MSI's X99A XPOWER AC scales across a range of overclocking frequencies, and is not simply biased towards high voltage overclocks. A 12mV overshoot to our requested voltage was measured. Asking for 1.30V, the CPU was fed 1.312V. An overshoot this small is no cause for concern. Cache/Ring Overclocking: LGA 2011-3 sockets with extra pins open up additional voltage headroom so that greater overclocks can be achieved. The biggest particular gain in overclocking capacity comes from the speeds that the CPU Cache/Ring can reach. MSI's X99A XPOWER AC was able to take our 5960X CPU to a cache (ring) frequency of 4.2Ghz when being fed 1.3V through the CPU ring. This is the same frequency level that we observed on Gigabyte's X99-Gaming 5P motherboard and its pin-enhanced socket. 4.2GHz is a solid result and is considerably higher than many boards with the standard LGA 2011 socket will be able to reach at sensible voltage levels. Whilst we were able to run at 4.3GHz CPU cache/ring frequency, the system displayed odd behaviour. Above 4GHz on the cache, the motherboard was very reluctant to POST on occasions. This is frustrating for users looking for 24/7 stable overclock (which 4.1GHz and 4.2GHz were) without having to mess with frequencies before each boot. That said, the system would restart without issues when the CPU ring frequency was operating above 4GHz. Restart performance is likely to suffice hardened overclockers, many of whom use the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) to adjust frequencies (after the numbers are selected, Intel XTU initiates a system reboot). The minor issues are nothing that we would think require more than a little attention in the BIOS updates, a number of which MSI is currently working on and testing with the motherboard. Memory Frequency Performance: Support for high-speed memory kits has been a particularly troubling topic since the X99 launch. We test the motherboard's ability to load the 3000MHz XMP configuration on our G.Skill Ripjaws4 DDR4 memory. 3GHz XMP on the G.Skill memory worked without hesitation. The system simple applied the 3GHz DRAM frequency after switching to the 125MHz base clock and then rebooted. CPU frequency was maintained at 3.5GHz and the CPU cache/ring ran at 3GHz. We will outline the performance increases that can be obtained from using the MSI X99A XPOWER AC motherboard to overclock our system. Our overclocked processor frequency was 4.4GHz and memory speed was 2666MHz. As a performance comparison, we have included the overclocked results from eight other X99 motherboards. The maximum overclocked configuration achieved with each board was a 4.4GHz processor frequency and 2666MHz memory speed (2400MHz for ASRock’s X99E-ITX/ac). MSI's X99A XPOWER AC delivers solid overclocked performance where raw CPU-only results are concerned. The anomalous issue that we have observed on some of MSI's other X99 boards returned with the X99A XPOWER AC. Results relating to GPU-intensive workloads take a performance hit using our overclocked settings. Whilst this could be related to our overclocking procedure, it is a slightly concerning issue to users wanting to run GPU-intensive benchmarks. Further tweaking in the BIOS would likely reveal a fix as there is no sign that the issue is a permanent, hardware-based one (it doesn't occur at stock speeds on the same hardware). CPU Cache/Ring Overclocking Performance We examine the performance gains that can be had when overclocking the CPU cache/ring, in addition to the CPU core. Overclocking the CPU cache/ring frequency to 4.2GHz delivered a strong performance boost in the CPU-intensive Cinebench test. Temperature levels for the CPU did not show a noticeable increase despite there being a ~20W increase in system-wide power consumption. 3GHz Memory Performance While XMP dictates the memory operating frequency, voltage, and primary timings, the secondary and tertiary timings are set at the motherboard vendor’s discretion. That can lead to performance differences in memory-intensive workloads. We used G.Skill’s Ripjaws4 modules set to their 3GHz XMP frequency to test memory bandwidth and latency numbers. MSI's 3GHz XMP settings are clearly biased towards lower latencies. This is good for users whose benchmarks like low latency memory, although could be considered a negative for bandwidth-intensive tests. Manually tweaking the memory timings will change the performance levels, so there is no cause for concern at the X99A XPOWER AC motherboard's preference towards lower latency operation. We measured the power consumption with the system resting at the Windows 7 desktop, representing idle values. The power consumption of our entire test system (at the wall) is measured while loading only the CPU using Prime95′s in-place large FFTs setting. The rest of the system’s components were operating in their idle states, hence the increased power consumption values (in comparison to the idle figures) are largely related to the load on the CPU and motherboard power delivery components. Stock-clocked load and idle power consumption numbers are positive for the X99A XPOWER AC. This result point towards a well-managed, efficient power delivery system. Idle values dip below 100W thanks to the controller's ability to rapidly drop system voltages under low loads. Overclocking the MSI X99A XPOWER AC results in mediocre power consumption levels while loaded. The constant voltage level results in high idle power draw though. Clearly the override voltage section in MSI's UEFI is actually overriding the voltage level all of the time. This may be considered a positive when pushing for higher overclocks where system instability can come at any point or load level - high idling voltage increases the chance of maintain system stability. The MSI X99A XPOWER AC is a well-designed overclocking motherboard that provides plenty of convenient tools for both beginners and hardened overclockers. It is not often that I praise a motherboard’s accessory bundle, but MSI definitely deserves credit this time. There are a number of smart inclusions that sub-zero overclocking users will be happy to see. Many of the accessories are also geared towards overclockers who use a test bench which can typically introduce its own challenges. Overclocking performance from the X99A XPOWER AC is strong. The board took our 5960X to its 24/7-voltage limit of 4.4GHz with relative ease. Cache overclocking results were positive thanks to the added CPU socket pins, although I was disappointed by the board’s reluctance to fully boot at a cache/ring frequency higher than 4GHz, even though the speed was perfectly stable. A BIOS update may fix this issue. The motherboard’s overall design and layout decisions are smart. MSI has clearly done its research into what sub-zero overclockers want, and a clutter-free CPU socket is one of the main outcomes. This makes board preparation and protection a much simpler task when preparing for sub-zero benchmarking. Moving onto the general usage features, I like the inclusion of USB 3.1 connections. Like any other consumer motherboard, there is the likelihood that the board will be used for general purposes where the 10Gbps USB 3.1 transfer rates may prove handy in due time. With that said, I do not fully understand the inclusion of an expensive Intel Wireless-AC 7260 802.11ac WiFi adapter and dual Intel NICs. It’s hard to criticise a solution that performed so well in our testing, but to benchmarkers looking to purchase this board, the WiFi will be of little interest. And even in the event of general purpose usage, dual NICs rarely see use together. I think MSI could have included design support for the Intel WiFi adapter (PCB space and rear IO cut-outs) but then left it as a purchasable add-on, thus driving down the motherboard’s cost. The board’s UEFI is packed with useful settings that allow overclockers to draw the best from their system. There is some room for layout/information improvement though, and that’s especially relevant to overclockers who are battling the clock with their system-tuning attempts. Priced at £299.99 from OverclockersUK, the MSI 99A XPOWER AC is one of the most expensive X99 motherboards on the market. For that price a user gets a sizable amount of motherboard and plenty of worthwhile features and accessories alongside it. The £300 section of the X99 market is a tough territory where users who want nothing but the best shop. Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE. Pros: Good overclocking capacity and extra pins in the CPU socket. Superb set of bundled accessories and items. Smart layout choices and a sturdy design. Plenty of overclocking options in the UEFI. Good set of on-board overclocking features - buttons, measuring points, switches. Smart general usage features - strong audio, USB 3.1 Type-A, 32Gbps M.2, fast WiFi. Cons: MSI Control Center software slows down performance. WiFi solution is costly and may be deemed unnecessary by enthusiast overclockers. Some slight reluctance's with the current UEFI (such as cold booting above 4GHz cache frequency, despite being stable) KitGuru says: MSI’s X99A XPOWER AC is a smart choice if you are searching for a high-end motherboard that can double up as your daily operator when not using it for hardcore benching.