BIOS Features
MSI includes the latest revision of their UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) BIOS with the the Z97 Gaming 7 motherboard. 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 also includes a screen capture utility, which generates a 1024×768 BMP image saved to an attached USB drive upon clicking the F12 function key.
MSI UEFI BIOS is largely unchanged from its previous revision (as seen on the Z87 motherboards). But that is not necesarily a bad thing. The BIOS remains very responsive to both keyboard and mouse input with settings logically grouped by function under named sections. The biggest omission was support for some type of enhanced visual mode (dubbed HD Mode by many of the other manufacturers).
BIOS Notable Features
MSI's enhancements to the latest revision of their UEFI BIOS are subtle, acting to refine the BIOS to better meet the user's needs. The biggest change was to the Hardware Monitor section, converting the interface to a UI-driven template rather than the simple text-based template that was there before. MSI's Board Explorer interface continues to give a visual representation of the board and attached devices. Additionally, MSI included real-time change logs for the OC Profiles section and for the Save Changes window. MSI also added a Favorites menu to the BIOS interface, allowing for quick access to up to five pages of customized Favorites pages.
BIOS Home page
The Home page had some slight changes to make accessing features easier for the end user. OC Genie and XMP buttons were added to the upper left of the page so that that user could quickly enable the OC Genie overclocking engine or enact XMP memory settings without having to go into the OC section of the BIOS. Additionally, MSI added a task bar to the upper right of the page containing quick links to the screen shot capture function, the My Favorites page, and the Language settings page.
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.
Load Overclocking Profile page, OC Profile change log
When a profile is selected to load from the Load Overclocking Profile page after clicking the F8 key, a change log containing a list of options and settings tied to that profile displays in the upper section of the BIOS page The settings shown include the current and stored values for the option. Additionally, the profile creation time and date as well as the BIOS version used to create the profile are shown.
My Favorites page
My Favorites page, Favorite 1 details page
Clicking the F3 key within the BIOS or clicking on the Heart icon in the top menu bar spawns the My Favorites page. There are a total of five Favorites pages in which the user can store BIOS settings from any page, giving the ability to access frequently used settings from a single page.
My Favorites page, Favorites setting page
My Favorites page, Favorites setting page, Default Homepage popup
The Favorite setting page contains an option for configuring the Default Home Page for the BIOS. Notice that you can set the BIOS default home page to a multitude of sections including oone of the pages in the My Favorites section. The home page is the page that displays when the BIOS initializes. Setting this value to None causes the BIOS to load to the default home screen.
Favorites Assistant popup
Clicking the F2 key within the BIOS spawns the Favorites Assistant window. From this popup, the user can add new settings and submenus to one of the five Favorites pages. Note that if the F2 key is pressed from within a Favorite details page, teh selected setting will be removed from the Favorite details page.
Save configuration verification popup
Change Settings Info popup
MSI added the ability to track changes made during a BIOS session to the Save popup. This changelog is a text-based interface detailing all proposed changes to be made if the BIOS is saved with both the original values and new values displayed.
BIOS Walkthrough
Overclocking Settings (OC) page
Overclocking Settings page, Voltage settings
Overclocking Settings page, Other settings
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
M-Flash page
M-Flash page, Update BIOS page, Load BIOS popup
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.