CPU Cooler Fit and Included Accessories
CPU Cooler Fit
To test the amount of space surrounding the CPU socket, we mounted the Noctua NH-D14 cooler to the CPU socket. This behemoth CPU air cooler sports a dual fan construction and two huge vertical cooling towers.
When running the unit oriented to blow air towards the rear panel, there is more than enough room along all sides to accommodate the cooler as well as any installed PCIe cards.
While the back set of cooler heat pipes come close to the upper VRM cooler, the cooler does not come into contact with the upper heat pipe. There is also more than enough space to accommodate use of all four memory slots.
The Noctua hold down mechanism is large enough to quickly determine exactly how much space is available around the CPU socket. The mount easily fits in the allocated space without contending for space with the VRM heat sinks.
The backplate sits comfortably over the socket backplate without risk of crushing any board components because of the lack of circuitry directly around the socket.
Included Accessories
MSI includes in everything you need to get the board up and running with accessories for supporting the board's more esoteric features.
MSI includes multiple manuals with th board, including a quick setup guide. The motherboard manual was sufficient for board setup, missing in-depth explanations for many of the board's features. MSI also bundles in SATA cable labels, a case badge featuring the Gaming Series shield logo, and a Gaming Series branded door hanger.
The included rear panel shield features a flat black base with port identifying text and icons colored red to mesh with the board's color scheme. All ports are clearly marked, but the red coloration could make the text or icons hard to make out under certain conditions.
MSI included a total of four 6Gb/s rated SATA cables for use with the integrated port. The cables and sleeved with black plastic sleeving and have integrated port locks and a mix of straight and 90 degree connectors.
For multi-GPU use, MSI includes a single two-way NVIDIA SLI cable.
For use with the on-board front panel headers, MSI included their M-Connector plugs. You simply plug the front panel plugs into the M-Connector and plug the M-Connector into the appropriate board header. It makes installation the front panel plugs much easier.
The included V-Check cables plug into the ports in the V-Check Point assembly to give easy access for measuring board voltages directly. Instead of having to stick multi-meter leads into the assembly, you attach them to these extension cables.
The included Direct Audio Power adapter can be used to power the board's audio circuitry directly from the PSU rather than relying on board delivered power. You simply plug the cable into the Direct Audio Power header on the board and into a free MOLEX port from the PSU, then turn on the Direct Audio Power switch.
Nice write up, Morry. I may
Nice write up, Morry. I may have missed it, but I have a question:
Can you enter and view the UEFI settings if you just plug an HDMI monitor into the motherboard? In the past, I’ve never gotten it to work so I don’t know if that’s possible now.
Thanks!
I did not try with this
I did not try with this motherboard, but have had varying success with other boards.
The trick I've found for HDMI output of the UEFI BIOS is that the HDMI cable must be the only cable plugged into the card. If any other cables are plugged in, I've never had success getting an HDMI signal. You could also try from the onboard graphics HDMI port, but you would have to remove the secondary video card for it to work…
Thanks for dedicating more
Thanks for dedicating more than half of an entire section to aftermarket CPU cooler fitting (with good pictures to boot!). I don’t often see that in motherboard reviews. +5 cool points for Morry!
Interesting that you oced
Interesting that you oced with the 166 strap. Any reason for using that strap over the 100 strap?
you get a slight performance
you get a slight performance bump using bc overclocking combined with ratio overclocking over pure ratio overclocking. And t also proves that the board is stable at the higher strap speed…
Hi Morry. I see this MSI
Hi Morry. I see this MSI board has an optical/spdif out for audio. However a number of other MSI Z97 boards do not provide this header.
Do you know, in cases like the above, how do I get optical out?
Do I get it by getting a splitter cable for the HDMI port that I can tap the optical audio from, or am I simply out of luck?
Thanks much.
Hi Morry,
I have just
Hi Morry,
I have just purchased this motherboard and built my machine with all the parts.
Unfortunately I’ve encountered a problem which I have narrowed down to the RAM slots.
With both 8GB RAM in slots 1 and 2 the machine will power itself on and off repeatedly, providing the LED Status code C0.
Once I remove the RAM from slot 2 and try again it will work perfectly. Similarly, if I switch the RAM sticks it will also work. The problem is only when both are applied.
I got the RAM as a packaged deal(Kingston 2x8GB 2400Hz) with the motherboard so I am sure it had been tested beforehand.
I am just wondering if you had encountered this error and can suggest a cause/solution or if not, please advise, could placing the RAM in slots 3 and 4 (leaving 1 and 2 blank) cause any damage or should it work?
Thanks and kind regards,
Andrew
Looking at the manual if you
Looking at the manual if you are using 2 sticks of ram they need to be in slots 2 and 4. Have you tried that? Mine works just fine with slots 2 and 4 filled.
hi,what memory do i need to
hi,what memory do i need to purchase for this MSI Z97 GAMING 7 ? I HAVE SOME G.SKILL RIPJAWS x ,F3 WILL THIS MEMORY WORK WITH THIS MOTHERBOARD and it is ddr 3 1600 cl 10-10-10-301.50v,and the memory i have is pc3-12800 8gx2 intel XMP AND AGAIN WILL IT WORK ON THIS BOARD i do hope to hear back from you soon,yours GABRIEL O CONNOR.PS this is my 1 build.
Yes, it will work fine. Get
Yes, it will work fine. Get that capslock key fixed.
Hey people, if you want to
Hey people, if you want to know what parts are compatible google PCpartpicker and then select this mother board it it will only show you parts that are compatible.
bios came right up on my
bios came right up on my 1080p tv via hdmi no problem
I have the same problem and i
I have the same problem and i dont now what to do, i have four slots filed whit corsair dominator platinium whit 16Gb at 1866Hz i already check, and they are camtible whit the MSI Gaming 7 Board, it only works whit 1 dimms in the Thirth slot or the Fourth slot, or works whit Thirth and fourth Slots, 1 and 2 not work, i reset by itself, and dont work even whit 4 slots full. I need help am about to burs this Motherboard.
u need to match the ram and
u need to match the ram and processor frequency. Also the voltage at which your ram and processor operate
To all those having ram
To all those having ram problems, I eventually found that on mine, the problem was bent CPU socket pins. Do check for those if all else fails.