MSI Z87 XPower
MSI has no trouble with crowded components, spreading its Z87 XPower to an XL-ATX size that could have potentially supported up to nine expansion slots. It omits the top two slot connectors, though, to make more room around the CPU socket. With the same slot layout as competing samples from ASRock and Gigabyte, we have to ask: what does all that space provide?
The I/O panel has eight USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, yet it’s no larger than standard, and at least one competitor matches that array of connectivity with an ATX-sized board. CPU-based graphics connectors include two HDMI ports and one DisplayPort connector, but without the additional Thunderbolt controller offered by two competitors. Gigabit Ethernet also gets kicked down to a single port and controller, and there is a noticeable gap above the CLR_CMOS button.
That gap gets filled with the same 802.11n single-band Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module seen in our Z87 MPower review, which is less valuable than the dual-band 802.11ac card installed on ASRock’s sample. On the other hand, it resolves the slot issue faced by Gigabyte in three- and four-way SLI configurations. Also important is that it doesn’t require the use of a 5.25” bay for its antennas.
MSI includes overclocking control buttons for CPU ratio and BCLK, along with a power discharge button for CLR_CMOS, an auto-OC button, a power button, and a collection of voltage detection pins at the front edge. But those additions cause the board to be wider from front to back, not from top to bottom, and are matched by Gigabyte’s ATX-sized sample.
A look at the top shows what this motherboard's layout includes. Part of the PCB is consumed by an mSATA slot, but that’s not where the Z87 XPower was stretched. Heat sinks fill most of the area that MSI expanded, but the 32-phase voltage regulator covered by two of those sinks is the hidden prize. Fed by two eight-pin EPS12V connectors, that voltage regulator should be able to put out enough current for serious overclocking attempts. It's only a shame that Intel's Haswell-based processors don't appear very scalable on air or water cooling. While we might question the usefulness of such a large voltage regulator, the extra space it consumes also enables owners of 10-slot cases to fill them up with an appropriately-sized motherboard without any extra space at the bottom.
Can we assume that any manufacturer specialized enough to offer nine- and 10-slot enclosures would also be wise enough to make their front-panel audio cables long enough to reach the bottom-rear corner of a motherboard? MSI doesn’t leave this chance, moving its front-panel audio connector just to be safe. The remaining layout is good as well, including ten forward-facing SATA 6Gb/s connectors that are fed by a combination of the chipset’s controller and two PCIe x1 dual-port controllers.
Vacant slot positions at the top of the board should be filled with something, so MSI includes a two-port USB 3.0 breakout plate for one of the Z87 XPower’s two front-panel headers. Buyers also get two wireless antennas, six SATA cables, and three flexible SLI bridges that can be used for four-way SLI by connecting the first card to the second, the third card to the fourth, and the fourth back to the second. Because they’re flexible, three-way SLI is also supported by connecting cards one to two, cards two to three, and cards three to one (cross-ways).
