MSI Intel Z97 LGA 1150 DDR3 USB 3.1 ATX Motherboard (Z97 PC Mate)

Due to outgrowing my HP desktop, I decided that I wanted to build a new system but stick a budget while using some components from my older system such as my RAM, power supply, SSD, HDD's, and video. I already had a case, so all I needed was to choose the processor and motherboard.I read a ton of reviews on Amazon, Newegg, and everywhere else online. A lot of people really like the Asus boards. Don't get me wrong, Asus makes some great products, but sometimes I get the impression that you are paying more for the name (like the ROG series) than for the motherboard.I've already been using MSI products before, starting with my GTX 750 ti TF OC. Since I was happy with that, I went with this motherboard. I am really happy with it.It has a ton of USB 3.0 connectors and headers for your front panels on your case. OC Genie is cool too, although I can't comment as I haven't yet decided to overclock my system since I'm happy with the i7 4790k's stock speed of 4Ghz.The UEFI bios is pretty straight forward and it was easy to install Windows 7 from a USB flash drive by pressing F11 to get into boot options and selecting my flash drive. Updating the bios was easy did that the conventional way using a usb flash drive.As for drivers, MSI does a pretty good job of making it easier to install and update drivers. I prefer to download the latest drivers than to use what came on the DVD, so I did that. I also decided that I didn't want the Killer Network App and decided to install the stand alone Killer Network driver instead.I put this motherboard into a Cooler Master HAF 922 case with two Cooler Master MegaFlow 200 fans, + 3 Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition fans connected to my NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller to keep everything cool and quiet.I've had my system built for the last two weeks and everything runs really well. I'm very satisifed with this MSI motherboard and I can see using this system for the 4+ years without any problems. I'll update as needed should anything change. Otherwise at this time I would like to say that I highly recommend this motherboard.

Purchased this board for a new gaming build. I am nothing less than happy with this awesome board. It overclocks whatever I need it to and keeps everything very stable. Even with overvolting! I've got this board paired with a GTX 970 OC'd to just under 1400 and an i5 4690k OC'd to 4.0. I could easily push these clocks further but I am comfortable with where they sit now. OC genie works like a charm, the fast boot is pretty neat too. I have not tried the killer2200 yet but I'm sure it works wonders just like everything else has! There's not much difference between the 3,5, and 7 really. If you want future sli, 5 is a must, and 5 has everything 7 has minus a couple sata ports and there is a physical OC Genie button on the board. I have the 5 and can do the exact same thing by click of a button in th bios. I did have to RMA the 1st board as it was DOA but Amazon sent me a new one (2 day shipping) no questions asked. If it were not for the great customer support I would have docked a star. Only thing I learned was if it ships with bios version less than v1.2 then you will have to update it somehow or with another chip if you get the Devils canyon cpu with this. I lucked out and got 1.5 (1.7 is current) I don't have plans to upgrade bios as I have heard plenty about MSI's flaky bios update tools. V1.5 has had no issues.

I've built many computers, but this mobo is for my Plex server. I built it with old PC parts lying around. The original mobo, an Asrock B85M Pro4 died so I went shopping for a board. It's been years since I've gone with MSI, but they were all good. The onboard HDMI port doesn't work on this used board, but no big deal. I use discrete cards.I really like the BIOS on the MSI Z97 PCMate. Overclocking is easy. Fan control is easy.CPU: i5-4690K OC'ed to 4.0GHz (this is a gamer's mobo so overclocking is a snap)CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 13OC (Massive cooler. Probably don't need the fan. Have it set on silent.)Memory: Four 4GB sticks of Crucial Ballistix Tactical Series DDR3 1600Graphics: NVidia GTX 970Storage: 2 SATA6 SSDs, 1 USB SSDThe server is perfectly silent and runs 24/7/365. So far this new config has been running 4 hours. I'll update later. Many sellers of used mobos will send a pic of the board running and will state any deficiencies. This seller did not. The board took a few days to get here, but that's because it was sent USPS. If it wasn't for the dead HDMI and USPS I'd give 5 stars.Update: Server is still running fine. Moved it into a case, and bought a UPS for it. (Last mobo, CPU, and 3 hdds were destroyed from a serious voltage spike.)

As my first ground up PC build I went with this motherboard which worked wonderfully. The dvd that comes with this board comes with a ton of awesome software that allows you to tweak all the settings. The motherboard's bios menu was very easy and straightforward for me to navigate and figured out. I love the 2 connectors that were included; it made it really easy to hook up jpwr1 and jpwr2, and the included instruction book was very good.It's important to note that when utilizing the M.2 slot for storage it disables port 5 and 6 on the motherboard. Overall, I couldn't be happier with this motherboard. I got it to be able to handle an Oculus Rift build, so I installed a i7 - 4790k processor and a Titan X with a 850w power supply and it all works great.