
LET THE GAMES BEGIN
MSI Z97 GAMING Motherboards are designed to provide gamers with best-in-class features and technology with all Intel® 4th Generation Core™ i7, i5 and i3 Processors, including the newer Haswell Refresh CPUs.
Backed by the imposing looks of MSI's Dragon, each new Z97 Gaming 7 Motherboard is an engineering masterpiece tailored to gaming perfection.
MSI® GAMING motherboards are designed to provide gamers with best-in-class features and technology. Backed by the imposing looks of MSI's Dragon, each motherboard is an engineering masterpiece tailored to gaming perfection.
The best gaming weapons at hand
Reward Your Ears With True QualityGet ready for ear-drum shattering sound, with MSI Audio Boost 2! With Audio Boost 2 we're delivering the highest audio quality with the use of Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 2 so you can enjoy crystal clear sound and music through 8-channel HD Audio.
Isolated Audio PCB
With traditional onboard audio the signal is distorted by electromagnetic signals from the rest of the PCB. Audio Boost 2 acts like a dedicated soundcard by physically isolating the audio circuitry which is separated by a red LED path. Less interference gives you a more clear audio signal.
Direct Audio Power
Enjoy a heavy caliber audio experience with Direct Audio Power. A dedicated power input to Audio Boost 2 allows for a more powerful and stable power delivery, resulting in a more explosive and pure sound experience.
Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 2
Thanks to Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 2, you're getting amazing surround sound with just stereo headphones or speakers.
Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 2 enables you to clearly hear specific sounds in gaming environments. Hear your enemies perfectly, make your ears a decisive tool to finish on top.
EMI Shielding
To shield the audio core from EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) caused by other add-in cards the audio chip is protected by a high-grade EMI cover with backlight illumination.
Dual Headhpone Amplifiers
Prepare for an eargasm. The built-in dual headphone amplifier rewards your high quality headphone with the most amazing studio level sound quality up to 600Ω delivered from your gaming PC.
Tired of having to connect your headset in difficult to reach places? MSI GAMING motherboards are designed to be easy to use, featuring front & rear audio outputs fueled by Audio Boost 2.
High Quality Audio Capacitors
With the use of professional Nichicon Japanese capacitors, specially designed for audio purposes, MSI GAMING motherboards provide the highest possible audio signal filtering. Delivering high fidelity crystal clear sound with exceptional acoustics and realism.
Golden Audio Connectors
With golden audio connectors you get the best possible signal output with less chance of distortion.
When connecting multiple USB devices, most motherboards will be unable to deliver a strong 5V power signal to all USB ports. This is highly noticeable with high-quality external USB DACs where sound quality degrades as the motherboard is unable to deliver a perfect USB signal.
Only MSI USB Audio Power continuously delivers a stable 5V to the USB ports on motherboards, making sure you can continue to enjoy the crystal clear audio standard you expect.
Benefits:
The Killer™ E2200 Intelligent Networking Platform is built for maximum networking performance for online games and high-quality streaming media. Featuring Advanced Stream Detect™, Killer E2200 automatically detects and accelerates game traffic ahead of other network traffic for smoother, stutter-free in-game performance and the competitive edge. With this exclusive, automatic traffic prioritization, games and real-time chat get priority over low-level system chatter, giving you the lowest latency for game data on the most controllable network hardware available.
Push Your SSD To The Limit
Enjoy a blazing fast system boot up and insanely fast loading of applications and games with MSI Overclocking motherboards. We offer the next generation of high speed storage support through M.2 and SATA Express. M.2 and SATA Express transfer data through a PCI Express 2.0 x2 interface up to 10 Gb/s, making it 67% faster than SATA 3.0 solutions.
Faster storage solutions with M.2
M.2 is the successor to mSATA, offering a 67% performance increase up to 10 Gb/s. M.2 is packed in a small form factor and is compatible with 3 different sizes to fit most storage solutions. All latest generation Intel® based MSI Overclocking motherboards feature M.2 storage.



Want to show off your skills or make a fun GAMING video for your friends?
XSplit Gamecaster lets you easily record your gaming moments and broadcast your live gameplay sessions to Twitch, YouTube, UStream and more.
It's simple, easy to use and ideal for sharing your gameplay with friends, family or the world - Or for capturing those perfect gaming moments, just for the heck of it.
So what are you waiting for? Join the revolution and start streaming and recording with XSplit Gamecaster today.
Use XSplit Gamecaster to stream all of your gaming activities
Add a webcam and show your game face
Share your broadcast and conquer the world
Draw attention whilst casting with in-game annotations
Organize and upload your greatest gaming moments

MSI is committed to PC Gaming and that is why MSI GAMING motherboards support SteamOS by default. Because of this, MSI works close with numerous tier #1 system integrators that released their popular SteamBOX PC's.


Military Class 4 is the next step in high quality components. The Hi-C Cap, Super Ferrite Choke and Solid Caps will make sure that your PC runs more stable under extreme conditions.
Hi-C Cap
A Hi-c CAP is a very small, but super-efficient capacitor. Besides ensuring enough spacing around a CPU socket to install large coolers, it also allows for 93% energy efficiency. Thanks to Hi-c CAP`s MSI mainboards are the most energy efficient in the market.
Super Ferrite Chokes
Super Ferrite Choke uses a Ferrite core that is Super-Permeable. This allows the Super Ferrite Choke to run at a 35 degree Celsius lower temperature, have a 30% higher current capacity, a 20% improvement in power efficiency and better overclocking power stability.
Dark Cap
With their aluminum core design, Dark CAP's have been a staple in high-end motherboard design and provides lower Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) as well as its over-10-year lifespan.

Circuit Protection
ECO Power
Humidity Protection
High Temperature Protection
ESD Protection
EMI ProtectionMSI has put extra effort into increasing customer satisfaction. Their RMA rate has drastically decreased in the last few years. To achieve the highest quality the MSI Overclocking motherboards are developed by MSI's most senior engineers on the most advanced production lines.
MSI is continuously improving our customer services, so in case you might run into a problem you can be assured MSI will offer a fast response to your questions and hand you in depth information on the subject.
MSI Gaming Device Port is optimized to deliver the best connectivity for high end gaming mice to fully utilize it's speed. This results in a much faster and smoother mouse response in games.
| Gaming Benefits | Technical Benefits |
|---|---|
| More responsive | 3x more gold than regular connectors |
| Smoother gameplay | 10x longer lifetime when plugging/un-plugging |
| Faster reactions | Prevents oxidation |
OC Genie is the world's first built-in hardware overclocking technology on motherboards. With this one-second overclocking option we're giving you even more performance. Just hit the button and your PC gets another adrenalin shot. Delivering up to 20% of free extra performance for the CPU, memory and iGPU.
Outperform your competition with the MSI GAMING APP which allows simultaneous control of both your Motherboard and Graphics Card's overclocking.
Simply select your preferred mode with the click of a button:
This allows your to tune your system exactly how you want it, without any technical knowledge of overclocking.

The MSI Click BIOS 4 is the latest UEFI BIOS with optimizations for Windows 8. Not only that it also reacts faster, runs smoother and has better mouse support. And this all comes with many cool features. Click on the button on the right to visit our dedicated BIOS page and learn more.
Get up to 3 PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, with optimal placement for better fitting and airflow. That way, you can enjoy the best graphics at the highest framerate jumping off from your screen when running a NVIDIA® SLI™ or AMD CrossFire™ gaming setup.

OC EssentialsA small set of tools that are essential to get the best performance out of your motherboard.
This way you can keep your mind on gaming and be confident that you have the tools to maximize your performance.
| CPU | Supports 4th and 5th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors, and Intel® Pentium® and Celeron® Processors for Socket LGA1150 |
|---|---|
| Chipset | Intel® Z97 Express Chipset |
| Form Factor | ATX Motherboard |
| Memory | 4x DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32GB (4x 8GB) non-ECC, un-buffered Dual Channel SD-RAM Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) |
| Storage | Intel Z97 Express Chipset: - 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports (SATA1~6) - 1x M.2 port* - M.2 port supports M.2 SATA 6Gb/s module - M.2 port supports M.2 PCIe module up to 10Gb/s speed** - M.2 port supports 4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length module - Supports RAID 0, RAID1, RAID 5 and RAID 10*** - Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology, Intel® Rapid Start Technology and Intel® Smart Connect Technology**** ASMedia ASM1061 Chipset: * The SATA5 and SATA6 ports will be unavailable when installing a module in the M.2 port. |
| Audio | Realtek® ALC1150 Codec: - 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio - Supports S/PDIF output |
| LAN | Killer E2205 Gigabit LAN controller* The Killer™ Network Manager is only available for Windows 7 and Windows 8 currently. The supported drivers for other operating systems would be available on the MSI website if provided by vendor. |
| USB | Intel Z97 Express Chipset: - 4 x USB 3.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB 3.0 connectors) - 6 x USB 2.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB 2.0 connectors*) ASMedia ASM1074 Chipset: ASMedia ASM1042 Chipset: * Internal JUSB1 connector supports MSI Super Charger. |
| IEEE1984 / Firewire | N/A |
| Wi-Fi | N/A |
| Bluetooth | N/A |
| Integrated Graphics (with CPU support) |
2 x HDMI port, supporting maximum resolutions of: - 4096 x 2304 @ 24Hz - 2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz - 3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz - 1920 x 1200 @ 60Hz 1 x DisplayPort, supporting maximum resolutions of: |
| Multi GPU Support | Supports 3-Way AMD CrossFire™ Technology* Supports 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology * Supports Windows 7 and Windows 8 / 8.1 |
| Internal I/O Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector 8 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors 1 x M.2 port 2 x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports) 1 x USB 3.0 connector (supports additional 2 USB 3.0 ports) 2 x 4-pin CPU fan connectors 3 x 4-pin system fan connectors 1 x TPM module connector 1 x Serial port connector 1 x Front panel audio connector 1 x Direct audio power connector 2 x System panel connectors 1 x Chassis Intrusion connector 1 x Clear CMOS jumper 9 x V-Check connectors 1 x Power button 1 x Reset button 1 x OC Genie button 1 x Multi-BIOS switch 1 x Audio power switch 1 x 2-Digit Debug Code LED |
| Back Panel I/O Ports | 1 x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse combo port 1 x Clear CMOS button 1 x LAN (RJ45) port 2 x USB 2.0 ports 8 x USB 3.0 ports 1 x Optical S/PDIF OUT connector 6 x OFC audio jacks 2 x HDMI 1 x DisplayPort |
| BIOS | The mainboard BIOS provides "Plug & Play" BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically. The motherboard provides a Desktop Management Interface(DMI) function which records your motherboard specifications. |
| Expansion Slots | 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16, x8/x8, x8/x4/x4 modes) 4 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots |
| Form Factor | ATX Motherboard, 305 x 244mm (12.0 x 9.6") |