<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">When I had previously seen the MSI &lsquo;Power&rsquo; range of Z87 motherboards in press releases and at media events, it was a little perplexing to see the differences between them with a quick glance. Within the spectrum we have the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: small;">MPower</span><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;(the enthusiast motherboard), the XPower (the overclockers model) and the</span><span style="font-size: small;">MPower MAX</span><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;(a bridge between the two). All three, at quick glance, looked similar, with the larger heatsinks of the MPower MAX and XPower defining their position ahead of the MPower. Now when I actually got the XPower in for review, the first thing I noticed was the length of the motherboard, and instantly drew parallels to the MSI X79 Big Bang XPower II &ndash; this board has effectively nine PCIe slots of size. This limits the number of cases it can be fitted in, increases cost, but allows a good deal of wiggle room for routing, tracing, and features on the motherboard.</span></span></p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">As a result, the XPower tries to hit the high notes that make all the PR numbers light up &ndash; a full fat 32 phase power delivery, the PLX8747 chip for four-way SLI, a PLX bypass for single GPU users, 802.11n WiFi (2x2:2 Centrino N-2230 which means 2.4 GHz), a Killer E2205 Gaming NIC, 10 SATA ports, two onboard USB 3.0 headers, 12 total USB 3.0 ports, the Realtek ALC1150 audio chip, goodies in the box and a three year warranty. It aims to be the halo board for the MSI range, and at $440 it has the price to match, although the 2.4 GHz WiFi is clearly not a halo solution and was not up to standard in my 2.4 GHz crowded apartment block.</span></span></p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">After testing, several things become clear. The most positive stance on the box is that at stock speeds, the MSI Z87 XPower comes out as a well rounded board benchmark-wise. It is clearly designed for multi-GPU in a big way and wants to provide that efficiency, even if it means being a 9-slot motherboard.&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">It is however still in the early stages of development &ndash; the BIOS is not yet mature, even for reputable 24/7 use.&nbsp; The BIOS shipped with the board (1.1b4) had issues retaining XMP between boots, the latest public BIOS at the time of writing (1.0) enabled XMP but had stability issues, and the latest beta BIOS still requires a manual in order to learn to adjust all the OC settings.&nbsp; This is on top of an excruciatingly long POST time, which was 25 seconds with two GPUs POSTing to Windows 7 (this is in comparison to the best Z87 boards needing less than 10 seconds). Other issues that cannot be fixed overnight are the long traces from the audio codec to the rear IO audio, resulting in lower performance of the ALC1150 than some ALC898 solutions in both dynamic range and THD+N.</span></span></p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">When the MSI Z87 XPower is stable and functioning the way you want/need it to, the motherboard does draw more power than the other Z87 motherboards we have tested due to the extra controllers and PLX chip used. For example the Z77X-UP7 had 32 phases and was in a similar position, compared to the motherboards that used &lt;16 phases and were more power efficient than standard 8-phase ATX solutions.</span></span></p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">$440 is a big ask from MSI, which is placated some by the inclusion of a mouse mat and goodies in the box, and from a design perspective the XPower does look the part. However the BIOS needs to mature/ultimately be more stable (which will come in time), and I can imagine that reducing the power delivery to 16 phases then pushing that money into a 5 GHz WiFi solution would make this a better product for the casual user. The MPower and MPower MAX are $235 and $260 respectively, with the MPower being a 24/7 friendly and the MPower MAX geared for overclockers, suggesting that at just over half the price MSI has better options unless you (a) want MSI and (b) need 3xSLI and above with avenues to (c) sub-zero overclocking.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /> </span></p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arimo, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/7209/msi-z87-xpower-review-our-first-z87-with-plx8747" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></p>