Extras Thermal sensor connectors, isolated audio circuitry.Ports 6 x SATA 6Gbps via Intel Z97, 1 x M.2, 6 x USB 3.0 (2 x via header), 7 x USB 2.0 ( 5 x via header), 1 x LAN, audio out, line in, mic, Optical S/PDIF out, HDMI, DVI, VGA.Sound ROG SupremeFX 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC.We were hoping the ROG credentials would allow us to hit 4.9GHz, but this simply appears to be beyond the realm of of our chip's capabilities, at least without more extreme cooling. Even so, at 1.28V there was no risk of overheating with our Corsair H80i. It was almost stable with 1.27V but eventually crashed after a prolonger stress test. The Ranger didn't disappoint when it came to overclocking, as it managed 4.8GHz with our Core i7-4770K and needed only 1.28V to stabilise it. Loading and saving profiles is easy as well, and there's even some other nifty features like Secure Erase (for resetting SSDs to factory performance) and RAMDisk. It can be a little overwhelming a first, but it's logically laid out and it's easy to add commonly used settings to the MyFavorites list, which has its own tab. In the more familiar advanced mode you'll find loads of options under every tab. There's also a new EZ Tuning wizard to guide newbies through overclocking and RAID arrays. The fan control, which utilises Fan Xpert 3, is excellent, giving users speed control over both 3-pin DC fans and 4-pin PWM fans, with a graphical fan curve chart making everything very easy. Theres a basic mode, from where you can see system information at a glance, organise boot priority, access fan control and use preset system overclock settings. The ROG EFI has the sensible layout we've come to expect with heaps of features. Another difference between Ranger and Hero is the lack of red LED lighting beneath the chipset heatsink.
Msi z97 gaming 7 chipset drivers#
Whereas the Maximus VII Hero has a full 8-phase design, the Ranger has four shared PWM drivers, eight MOSFET drivers for voltage control, paired with eight chokes and capacitors. Part of what makes Ranger cheaper than Hero is slightly reduced power circuitry. Use of the M.2 connector will disable the lower two PCIe x1 slots and reduce the PCIe 2.0 x16 slot from x4 to x2 bandwidth. Both 60mm and 80mm M.2 cards are supported, and there's enough height on the connector for double sided designs. Asus equips the ranger with an M.2 slot for your PCIe storage needs. An additional PCIe 2.0 x16 slot (max speed x4) and three PCIe 2.0 x1 slots are also included.Īsus has opted not to use any more than the six chipset SATA 6Gbps ports, and unlike the other three boards here, there's no SATA Express support (in fact, SATA Express will be excluded from the entire ROG range, according to Asus). The Ranger features dual PCIe 3.0 x16 slots capable of running together in x8/x8 mode, which makes SLI and CrossFire set-ups a possibility. Unlike ASRock's effort, the Ranger also come equipped with SATA ports mounted parallel to the board, which is handy for cable routing and aesthetics. The layout is excellent too, as of all the connectors and buttons the CHA_FAN3 one is the only one not situated along one of the edges, and its position beneath the VRM heatsink makes it perfect for a rear exhaust fan. It's a full width (244mm) ATX board so it's unsurprising to see a nice and spacious CPU area. The matt black PCB contrasts nicely with the red highlights dotted around the slots, connectors and heatsinks. With an updated design that sticks to the traditional red and black colour scheme, the Ranger looks rather swanky. Provided that not too much has been stripped away, this is good news considering the desirability of ROG boards, even if more generally speaking £130 still can't be called inexpensive. Backed by the imposing looks of MSI's Dragon, each motherboard is an engineering masterpiece tailored to gaming perfection.Click to enlargeAsus's ROG range of motherboards have always carried a price premium, especially the all singing and dancing Extreme boards, but with the 9-Series launch Asus is introducing the Ranger, which brings ROG down to £130, about £35 less than the next board up in the stack (the Hero) is set to retail for. MSI® GAMING motherboards are designed to provide gamers with best-in-class features and technology.
Msi z97 gaming 7 chipset series#
The official marketing text of MSI Z97A GAMING 7 Intel® Z (Socket H3) ATX as supplied by the manufacturer Z97 chipset based motherboards have begun to saturate the market as of late, and we’re here to bring you another offering from MSI.We’ve already had a look at MSI’s upper-end Z97 MPower Max AC and Z97 XPower AC, so this time around we’ll explore one of their new Gaming series motherboards in the form of the Z97M.