Overclocking and Conclusion
Overclocking
To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the X299 Gaming M7 ACK motherboard, we attempted to push it to known CPU-supported performance parameters with minimal tweaking. At the stock base clock speed of 100Mhz, we pushed the CPU to 4.7GHz with a 3.0GHz mesh bus frequency and 3200MHz memory speeds. This was done at a 1.24V CPU voltage, a 1.15V Ring voltage (Mesh voltage on this board), a 1.90V CPU VRin voltage, and a 1.35V memory voltage with all other values left at default settings. Unfortunately, I did not have any memory modules faster than 3200MHz to test the board with. All overclocking sessions remained stable for over 4hrs. System stability was tested running the AIDA64 stability test in conjunction with EVGA's OC Scanner X graphical benchmark running at 1280×1024 resolution and 8x MSAA in stress test mode. Note that 16GB (4 x 4GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests
100MHz Base Clock Stats with 4.7GHZ CPU speed
Note that this is is meant only as a quick preview of the board's performance potential. With more time to tweak the settings to a greater extent, pushing to a higher base clock and ring bus speed may have been achievable, in addition to an overnight stability run without issue.
Pricing
As of July 31, the MSI X299 Gaming M7 ACK motherboard was available from Amazon.com for $399.00 with Prime shipping. The board was also available from Newegg.com for $399.99 and B&H for 399.99 with free shipping.
Conclusion
The MSI X299 Gaming M7 ACK motherboard is a well designed board with some aesthetic enhancements meant to appeal to the gaming enthusiast. Instead of some of the more "in your face" designs of the past, MSI chose a more subtle aesthetic approach with this board. The board features a flat black PCB with black chromed heat sinks and CPU socket, and integrated RGB LEDs into the rear panel cover, the VRM heat sink, the chipset heat sink, and the audio cover. Better even is the integrated dual-purpose chipset cover plate that also acts as a passive heat sink for drives plugged into the board's two M.2 slots. The board performed well with stock and overclocked settings as well, further justifying its price point.
We will be taking a more in-depth look into this board and its features in the near future, which should uncover even more strengths with this board and its new branding than was discussed in this preview article.
Strengths
- Stock performance
- Overclocking performance
- Board aesthetics, layout, and design
- UEFI BIOS design and usability
- Configurable RGB LEDs using LED applet included with MSI Gaming App
- Hinged M.2 cover plate / heatsink for M.2 slots/li>
- CMOS battery placement
- Multitude of drive port types, including SATA, M.2, and U.2
- Integration of both Gigabit and 802.11ac controllers/ports
Weaknesses
- Lack of RGB LED configuration via UEFI
- No PCIe x1 port to right of primary PCIe x16 slot
Could you add testing those
Could you add testing those M.2 coolers with motherboards that come with those for future motherboards? It seems like those coolers and claims made by manufacturers regarding those coolers vary wildly and having a clear idea on how they perform would be useful shoppers.
I will make sure to add some
I will make sure to add some testing for that when we do the full review of the board. Thanks for the feedback…
MSI X299 Gaming M7 ACK
MSI X299 Gaming M7 ACK Motherboard is damn awesome! it is one of the best for the gaming. people who are interested in hardcore gaming those can look for it to buy.
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