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MSI Click BIOS 4
Firstly, we can report that our Roccat Kone XTD mouse worked perfectly in the MSI Z87 XPower motherboard's UEFI BIOS; however Leetgion's Hellion mouse refused to function correctly.
This is quite worrying as some of the motherboard's options, such as selecting the on-screen OC Genie 4 button and quickly altering boot drive priorities, require the use of a mouse.
The main page provides access to all six primary subsections. Boot device priority, system frequencies, and component temperatures are also outlined on the page's upper edge.
System settings and options can be accessed via the settings subsection of the UEFI BIOS. From here, boot devices can be set and integrated controllers can be enabled or disabled.
The main overclocking page features enough voltage, frequency, and setting adjustments to please most overclockers.
Entering some of the OC page's various subsections reveals settings that are geared towards hardcore overclockers. We would be surprised if anybody had complaints about the number of adjustable overclocking settings that MSI's Z87 XPower motherboard possesses.
The M-Flash page allows a new BIOS to be installed, or current BIOS profiles to be backed up and shared.
Up to six overclocking profiles can be saved to the Z87 XPower motherboard. If six unique overclocking configurations aren't enough, profiles can easily be saved to a USB flash drive and used when required.
Hardware Monitor shows a graph of CPU (or system) temperature and associated fan speeds. The graph highlights the fan speed curve when different minimum and maximum temperature thresholds and operating frequencies are set.
Board explorer highlights some of the Z87 XPower's main connections, including the DRAM and PCI-E slots, SATA ports, fan headers, and rear IO connections. Hovering over a specific area gives users an insight into which connections are currently being accessed, for example two SATA ports, or the WiFi antennae.
MSI equips the Z87 XPower motherboards with a feature-rich UEFI BIOS that gives hardcore overclockers plenty of flexibility. The system doesn't feature the most attractive layout on the market, nor is it the easiest to use. We feel that enthusiasts wanting to push for high-frequency overclocks will be able to overlook the interface's design which is somewhat clunky in comparison to the implementations by Gigabyte, Asus and to a lesser extent, ASRock.
I think the interface would be far more intuitive if MSI separated the user-definable options from status indication for voltages, frequencies, and other specifications. Without the odd voltage level or frequency being displayed between a list of user-definable settings, the overclocking page would have a far cleaner interface which would be easier to operate.
Novice users will quickly get lost in the sea of options, but that isn't a problem due to the fact that MSI is targeting an audience which is experienced at overclocking.
MSI Control Center Software
MSI's control center software allows for motherboard settings to be tweaked in a Windows environment. Some of the settings that can be adjusted include CPU core ratios and fan speeds.
A set of ‘advanced' pages provide DRAM timings control, fan speed adjustment, and voltage management.
Four ‘information' pages provide data related to system voltages, temperatures, and operating frequencies.
The ‘setting' subsection can be used to record component temperatures, voltages or fan speeds. The software also features a built-in warning alert which can be used to signal dangerous voltage levels or operating temperatures.
