MSI's Z87 XPower Mobo Will Feature 32-Phase Power Design

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By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

MSI has released yet another teaser regarding the Z87 XPower motherboard.

Earlier, we already showed you MSI's teasers regarding the upcoming Z87 XPower motherboard; now, yet another image has been released. Assuming that this image corresponds to the same motherboard, which is highly probable, it appears that the X87 XPower motherboard from MSI will feature a massive 32-phase power design.

On MSI's UK Facebook page we found that the upcoming motherboard would be built using MSI's Military Class 4 components, which includes Black Solid State capacitors, Super Ferrite Chokes, and in this case a massive 32-phase VRM to power the Haswell chip that will rest in the LGA1150 socket.

Given that Haswell CPUs will have the 320 iVR built into them, and that the Z87 XPower will pack a 32-phase VRM, it appears that MSI is really aiming to break some overclocking world records with this motherboard. Although, this much was already clear from the teaser video MSI released earlier.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

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14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • echondo
    That picture is beautiful...
    Reply
  • Its finally time to upgrade my 2600k this Summer.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    Before everyone gets their overclocking hopes up, they may want to wait and see how well Intel's iVRM can actually cope with overclocking. If the iVRM ends up capping overclocking results, even the best motherboard imaginable won't be able to help that by much.
    Reply
  • ikyung
    Heard rumors that the Z87 platform will support SATA 3.2 is that true?
    Reply
  • bee144
    10714118 said:
    Heard rumors that the Z87 platform will support SATA 3.2 is that true?

    I heard the rumor is that Z97 will support SATA 3.2 and DDR4. Just a rumor though. Pretty sure Z87 will still be SATA III.
    Reply
  • vmem
    Well, MSI already has haswell chips to test their mobos on. now I know that half of salesmenship is showmenship, but they won't spend money and put on 32-phases if the chip can't OC. You have to remember that all the mobo manufacturers have a bit of an OC war going on and everyone trades the OC crown back and forth just so they can brag about how good their flagship board is. now you won't be hitting those crazy clocks without LN or liquid helium, but it's still a good sign :)
    Reply
  • amoralman
    I'm just glad I didn't upgrade to SB or IB yet. Still going with my C2D 8400 and GTX 460. I guess this haswell thingy will be good for years to come for me :)
    Reply
  • ojas
    10714240 said:
    10714118 said:
    Heard rumors that the Z87 platform will support SATA 3.2 is that true?

    I heard the rumor is that Z97 will support SATA 3.2 and DDR4. Just a rumor though. Pretty sure Z87 will still be SATA III.
    True, 8-series is SATA 3, 9-series is probably 3.2. If 9-series is for Skylake however, then it's going to be DDR4, otherwise, it wont be.

    X89 will be DDR4, though.
    Reply
  • tului
    I might build a Haswell system while I wait for a decent LGA 2011 CPU. Intel don't screw me.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    10714240 said:
    I heard the rumor is that Z97 will support SATA 3.2 and DDR4.
    The z97 does not support any memory whatsoever since the memory controller is in the CPU just like every other Intel CPU since the i3/5/7 were introduced.

    Mainstream DDR4 will begin next year with Haswell-E and Broadwell.
    Reply