MSI Z97 Gaming 7 (LGA 1150) Motherboard Review

BIOS

MSI’s Click BIOS 4 is fairly similar to what we saw on their Z87 motherboards. As far as I can tell this is more or less identical to the MSI Z87I Gaming AC motherboard we reviewed not that long ago bar a few minor tweaks and optimisations. It appears the fan control system has become visually more attractive and slightly more advanced in terms of its functionality. Other than that I’m struggling to see many differences to the last generation of Gaming boards. However, that isn’t a bad thing because this is still a great BIOS, my only quibble last time around was the “low resolution” of 1024 x 768 compared to the full HD of other vendor BIOSes and nothing has changed in that regard. Although if you consider how little time is spent in the BIOS this is hardly a significant issue. MSI’s Click BIOS 4 is a fairly strong UEFI implementation although in my opinion I would like the layout to be a bit more intuitive: having most of the screen taken up by the Gaming Series branding emblem is a waste of productive space.