Z87 XPower Software
Though MSI relies primarily on on-board buttons (Direct OC control) and its co-branded Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) for on-the-fly overclocking, it still has a more basic utility that’s able to address MSI-specific functions. It even gets a CPU Core Voltage knob this time, though that control was already available in XTU.
OC Genie can be set by either firmware or software, and the software version responds to the on-board button. We were happy to find a super-efficient 4.0 GHz fixed overclock at a lower-than-stock 1.10 V fixed voltage, though we actually had to change memory to get there. OC Genie automatically set our memory’s XMP-3000 profile, but the board couldn’t push this RAM past DDR3-2965.
The Killer E2205 GbE controller also gets a new management interface, with a handy pie chart for traffic analysis. Packet prioritization is a top feature here, as expected from a firm famed for its low response times.
