MSI Z77 MPower Review: The XPower’s Little Brother
by Ian Cutress on January 26, 2013 10:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- MSI
- Z77
- Overclocking
Rightmark Audio Analyzer 6.2.5
In part due to reader requests, we are pleased to include Rightmark Audio Analyzer results in our benchmark suite. The premise behind Rightmark:AA is to test the input and output of the audio system to determine noise levels, range, harmonic distortion, stereo crosstalk and so forth. Rightmark:AA should indicate 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 volume to 100%, and run the Rightmark default test suite at 48 kHz, 96 kHz and 192 kHz. We look specifically at the Dynamic Range of the audio codec used on board, as well as the Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise.
The MSI Z77 MPower uses a Realtek ALC898 audio codec which usually performs better than most standard solutions on our test, but MSI use no specific audio shielding in order to reduce electrical noise in the setup. As mentioned previously, the MSI Z77 MPower is designed to appeal to gamers (as well as overclockers), and some gamers would appreciate a better audio codec on the board.
USB 3.0 Backup
For this benchmark, we run CrystalDiskMark to determine the ideal sequential read and write speeds for the USB port using our 240 GB OCZ Vertex3 SSD with a SATA 6 Gbps to USB 3.0 converter. Then 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 the videos used in the WinRAR test.
MSI have once again struck the floor with their USB 2.0 implementation. The Z77 MPower gets ~26 MBps compared to the 30-34 MBps of every other solution, which is similar to what we saw on the Z77A-GD65 at the Ivy Bridge launch. This is most likely down to their default BIOS settings and internal configuration.
By comparison, the USB 3.0 implementation is pretty standard, and the Renesas controller used on board is up to the challenge, easily fitting in with the chipset USB 3.0 compared to the Etron used on the ASRock Z77 OC Formula.
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. So 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, resulting in an empty audio buffer – this leads to characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. Having a bigger buffer and correctly implemented system drivers obviously helps in this regard. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is processing DPCs from driver invocation – the lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds and taken as the peak latency while cycling through a series of short HD videos - less than 500 microseconds usually gets the green light, but the lower the better.
In our DPC testing, under 200 microseconds is a great result, and the Z77 MPower clearly comes in under that, although some of the competition have their head screwed on more and are diving below 100 microseconds.
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sherlockwing - Saturday, January 26, 2013 - link
I really love the 90 degree USB3.0 port on this board, it makes hiding the large and bulky 3.0 connector so much easier.This was one of board I considered before I bought my UP5-TH. Unforunately this board like most MSI boards use analog VRMs and MSI Bios don't allow Offset Overclocking so I went with the UP5-TH instead.
Blibbax - Saturday, January 26, 2013 - link
What exactly does this board need to be a top-notch overclocking board?IanCutress - Saturday, January 26, 2013 - link
A revised BIOS layout for options, a fully working software package that allows overclocking without issues in the OS (for digital power delivery options as well), and a series of automatic overclocking options for users that are unsure about overclocking but want more than the 4.2 GHz that OC Genie provides. There are a couple of boards in the $240-$280 range that adjust the VRM heatsinks to allow water cooling as well. Extreme overclockers would perhaps enjoy switches to disable PCIe slots, a wider variety of temperature probes on board, onboard on-the-fly adjustment buttons and a super level of BIOS options for skew, slew et al.Ian
NitroWare - Saturday, January 26, 2013 - link
The Intel ME is no longer solely ganged to the primary firmware and has not been for a while.Intel's package allows the ME to be invidually flashed or recovered using a number of bundled tools from DOS or Windows . Grab the ME pack either from the board OEM,Intel or station-drivers if you want to use the bleeding edge build#
If you are lazy, you can use asus's updater as it has been QA'd for end users IntelME81_Updating_Tool_V10001.zip from any ASUS Z77 download page, which is just Intel's flash tool and binary bundled with a custom ASUS front end which doesnt really work too well especially if you need to downgrade or reflash - they forgot the decision trees in the front end, but Intel's tool works well.
This will either contain a installshield or loose files
The Intel tools you are looking for are in neatly organised folders. MEtool.exe and FWUpdLcl64.exe, found in a variety of packages especially the ASUS package
both have context senstive help to dump version#s, recover, or force/flash the ME.
There are 2 sizes of ME for v8, 1.5MB and 5MB. Consumer Z77 use 1.5MB, I dunno what the 5MB one is for, maybe vPro systems
I cannot see any OEM custom builds as the binary comes from Intel, but each OEM releases a slightly older or newer buld depending on random reasons. I have used bleeding edge builds on various mobos without issue but that is something for personal preference.
I honestly can' remeber if you can flash v7 to v8 as it has beren a while since I have however last year for releaser of Ivy Bridge, Cougar Point (7 series) and Win8 some mobo vendors such as ASrock did a complete overhaul of their UEFI BIOS and updated all of the modules to the latest standard.
Z77 boards should have come with v8 or v8.1 ME anyway, I can't see why theyd ship a v7.
ASUS provided a end-user recommended update to 8.1 to 'enhance windows 8' as above.
Intel Desktop Boards support 8.1 also.
One wonders why they dont take this approach with the RAID OROM, as its just a BIOS module anyway.
NitroWare - Saturday, January 26, 2013 - link
I forgot to add that some third party vendors such as NEC-Renesas and ASmedia make it painful to flash the firmware for their products. ASmedia needs a DOS boot disk afaik.Some other vendors make it dead easy.
Why do you feel a one touch OC key is needed? Do you not think this is a gimic? It may be handy for bench testing but everything should be point and click or at least front bay controlled once the system is built up.
Sabresiberian - Saturday, January 26, 2013 - link
One of my "pet peeves" with mainboards is that the socket layout is terrible on pretty much all of them - regardless of size of board. They don't even take advantage of having more room in an E-ATX, XL-ATX, or what have you.This board has one of the best layouts I's seen in the sense that I could actually install 2 PCIe-1 devices even after installing 3 graphics cards! Unfortunately, that would make the graphics cards run on 8x-4x-4x and isn't enough for me, but still, it is a tempting board just for the socket layout. Most boards won't even allow for 1 PCIe-1 device if you have 3 graphics cards installed. It's ridiculous, in my opinion.
I love the color, too. Nice thing about black - it pretty much goes with anything, so even if my memory and graphics cards didn't match in color scheme, the mainboard wouldn't really add to a color confusion explosion. The yellow areas are small enough that they won't have much of an impact (I think).
I have built more computers based on MSI mainboards (hence my exposure to and acceptance of a term I like better, "mainboard" :) ) than any other brand, and they've always been reliable. I tend to prefer Asus these days for high end, but would always consider an MSI offering.
mayankleoboy1 - Sunday, January 27, 2013 - link
With someVRM moving to the CPU in Haswell, i expect the mobo to get a cleaner layout. Or that the space could be used for cramming some additional stuff. Not sure which i would prefer....cjb110 - Sunday, January 27, 2013 - link
You mention that there's no help on-screen, but are the BIOS settings detailed in the manual though?As I'd say that's acceptable, maybe not for the target market (that would more likely be changing settings regularly), but for a general user a once-off trip to the BIOS with the manual next to you would be fine.
peterwhitehouse - Sunday, January 27, 2013 - link
Surely this is not true for Windows 8 as that has native USB 3.0 support?Perhaps if we ever see a Windows 7 SP2 that may possibly support USB 3.0 natively as well.
peterwhitehouse - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
I have checked this today and Windows 8 does indeed support USB 3.0 ports during install as suspected so I guess we can cross off having lots of USB 3.0 ports on the rear as being a possible downside.