MSI X99A XPOWER AC Motherboard Review

The MSI X99A XPOWER AC is a well-designed overclocking motherboard that provides plenty of convenient tools for both beginners and hardened overclockers.

It is not often that I praise a motherboard’s accessory bundle, but MSI definitely deserves credit this time. There are a number of smart inclusions that sub-zero overclocking users will be happy to see. Many of the accessories are also geared towards overclockers who use a test bench which can typically introduce its own challenges.

Overclocking performance from the X99A XPOWER AC is strong. The board took our 5960X to its 24/7-voltage limit of 4.4GHz with relative ease. Cache overclocking results were positive thanks to the added CPU socket pins, although I was disappointed by the board’s reluctance to fully boot at a cache/ring frequency higher than 4GHz, even though the speed was perfectly stable. A BIOS update may fix this issue.

The motherboard’s overall design and layout decisions are smart. MSI has clearly done its research into what sub-zero overclockers want, and a clutter-free CPU socket is one of the main outcomes. This makes board preparation and protection a much simpler task when preparing for sub-zero benchmarking.

Moving onto the general usage features, I like the inclusion of USB 3.1 connections. Like any other consumer motherboard, there is the likelihood that the board will be used for general purposes where the 10Gbps USB 3.1 transfer rates may prove handy in due time.

With that said, I do not fully understand the inclusion of an expensive Intel Wireless-AC 7260 802.11ac WiFi adapter and dual Intel NICs. It’s hard to criticise a solution that performed so well in our testing, but to benchmarkers looking to purchase this board, the WiFi will be of little interest. And even in the event of general purpose usage, dual NICs rarely see use together. I think MSI could have included design support for the Intel WiFi adapter (PCB space and rear IO cut-outs) but then left it as a purchasable add-on, thus driving down the motherboard’s cost.

The board’s UEFI is packed with useful settings that allow overclockers to draw the best from their system. There is some room for layout/information improvement though, and that’s especially relevant to overclockers who are battling the clock with their system-tuning attempts.

Priced at £299.99 from OverclockersUK, the MSI 99A XPOWER AC is one of the most expensive X99 motherboards on the market. For that price a user gets a sizable amount of motherboard and plenty of worthwhile features and accessories alongside it. The £300 section of the X99 market is a tough territory where users who want nothing but the best shop.

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Pros:

• Good overclocking capacity and extra pins in the CPU socket.
• Superb set of bundled accessories and items.
• Smart layout choices and a sturdy design.
• Plenty of overclocking options in the UEFI.
• Good set of on-board overclocking features – buttons, measuring points, switches.
• Smart general usage features – strong audio, USB 3.1 Type-A, 32Gbps M.2, fast WiFi.

Cons:

• MSI Control Center software slows down performance.
• WiFi solution is costly and may be deemed unnecessary by enthusiast overclockers.
• Some slight reluctance's with the current UEFI (such as cold booting above 4GHz cache frequency, despite being stable)

KitGuru says: MSI’s X99A XPOWER AC is a smart choice if you are searching for a high-end motherboard that can double up as your daily operator when not using it for hardcore benching.

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