MSI Z87 XPOWER Motherboard Review

BIOS Features

For the Z87 XPower motherboard, MSI used the newest revision their UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) BIOS, a customized version of the AMI-developed UEFI style BIOS. The UEFI BIOS offers full keyboard and mouse support while using the BIOS pages with enhanced mouse navigation supported by right clicking the mouse – goes back to previous view if inside a settings pop-up or on a sub-menu page.

MSI's UEFI BIOS design for the Z87 XPower board is similar to the UEFI implementation used on the other Z87 boards and the previous generation Z77-based boards. MSI's UEFI implementation continues to remain a personal favorite because of its smoothness, layout, and design. The BIOS is very responsive both with the mouse and keyboard. I didn't notice any lag at all when using the mouse buttons – menus and settings responded well to double-click and reverse navigation occurred quickly when right-clicking the window or screen. MSI also includes a screencap utility, which generates a BMP 1024×768 image on an attached USB drive upon clicking the F12 function key.

BIOS Notable Features

Click BIOS 4 main page

While MSI did not use the release of the Z87 board line to revamp their UEFI BIOS interface, they did add some new features to aid with the user experience in the form of the Hardware Monitor and Board Explorer tabs. Additionally, MSI synced the BIOS coloration to match that of the MPower series theme with XPower-specific branding throughout.

Hardware Monitor interface

The Hardware Monitor interface displays information about monitored hardware speeds, temperatures, and voltages, as well as allowing for configuration of system fans based on temperature thresholds. The graphical interface provided is very intuitive and easy to use.

Board Explorer interface

The Board Explorer interface gives the user a graphical representation of the motherboard with zones showing in use ports and attached devices. The zones can be clicked on for an expanded view of integrated ports and devices with informational messaging provided where appropriate. This gives a bird's eye view of the board subsystems without having to crack the case.

BIOS Walkthrough

Overclocking Settings (OC) page

Overclocking Settings page, Voltage settings

Overclocking Settings page, Voltage settings continued

Overclocking Settings page, Advanced DRAM Configuration page

Overclocking Settings page, Advanced DRAM Configuration page, Latency Timings Configuration settings

Overclocking Settings page, Advanced DRAM Configuration page, On-Die Termination Configuration settings

Overclocking Settings page, DRAM Training Configuration page

Overclocking Settings page, DRAM Training Configuration page continued

Overclocking Settings page, DigitALL Power page

Overclocking Settings page, CPU Specifications page

Overclocking Settings page, CPU Specifications page, CPU Technology Support page

Overclocking Settings page, MEMORY-Z page

Overclocking Settings page, MEMORY-Z page, DIMM Details page

Overclocking Settings page, MEMORY-Z page, DIMM Details page, X.M.P. Support Information page

Overclocking Settings page, CPU Features page

OC Profile page

OC Profile page, Profile details page

OC Profile page, Profile details page, Save/Load Profile popup

M-Flash page

M-Flash page, Save BIOS popup

M-Flash page, Update BIOS page

M-Flash page, Update BIOS page, Load BIOS popup