MSI Z97S SLI PLUS (LGA 1150) Motherboard Review

A Closer Look & Layout Analysis

The MSI Z97S SLI PLUS has a bit of a strange layout for some elements which we will detail now. On a broad aesthetic note the board does feel a little garish with a brown PCB but presumably brown is cheaper than black otherwise we can’t see why MSI would choose it.

Around the CPU socket we can see what appears to be an 8 phase VRM plus there are two CPU fan headers with a moderate spacing between them.

At the bottom of the board we find strangely placed front panel connectors, normally they are closer to the SATA ports. The front panel connectors are also not labelled and they are spread out over two headers when we typically expect to find them combined into one. You can find a pinout map of the front panel connectors in the manual.  The two PCIe lanes that support dual GPU configs have a decent dual slot spacing for extra airflow.

The audio implementation doesn’t feature a separated PCB: that’s very much a higher-end feature reserved for more pricey boards.

MSI decided to place the SATA Express vertically which baffles me a little, cable management will be a little more untidy. Having all the USB 2.0 headers in the same place also seems a little strange. Generally speaking most cases will use only one USB header and the other USB headers are likely to be used by drive bay devices like Card Readers or by Smart Components like liquid CPU coolers (Corsair’s H100i for example) or digital PSUs (Thermaltake’s DPS 750W for example). In those instances having some USB 2.0 ports in different locations may have helped.

By the DRAM area we find the M.2 port as well as some V Check Points and OC Genie 4 markings. If I’m not mistaken the V Check points and the OC Genie 4 button are not installed: they certainly don’t look functional. I guess MSI is reusing the PCB layout of a higher end board and just not installing the more expensive features.

The CPU draws power from a single 8 pin EPS connector which is plenty for Haswell CPUs: even the unlocked Devil’s Canyon i7 4790K part.

All the heatsinks can be easily removed with a phillips head screwdriver or tightened up if they arrive with you loose for some reason.