Marathon motherboards in the middle price category of the new Z370 chip, the top chip for 8th generation Coffee Lake processors, however, these motherboards are the first choice for many who want to get a glimpse of the upper class, broken-speed processors and the Z370 upper chip
The second paradigm shift in the eighth generation Coffee Lake, the i3 class has evolved into quad-core processors without multi-threading support instead of being dual-core processors with multi-threading support in the past.
As for the new chipset for motherboards that accommodate the new processors, only the largest chip Z370 has been released as usual. What distinguishes it most is overclocking support, it is the only chip that supports overclocking, and the processors that support this in that generation are the ones that end with the letter K are the processors The i7 8700K - i5 8600K - i3 8350K, and as you have already seen, we also have an i3 processor in the eighth generation that supports overclocking like its successor, the i3 7350K processor of the seventh generation.
Moving to the Z370 platform, we find that the Z370 chip itself did not differ from the previous Z270 chip, as it comes with the same number of 30 HSIO communication channels, which includes one of the following channels:
- Maximum number of communication channels 24 PCIe 3.0 Lanes.
- A maximum of 14 USB channels, including a maximum of 10 USB 3.0 ports.
- 6 SATA 6Gb / s drive channels are also available
We mentioned the sentence (maximum) because motherboard manufacturers have the freedom to modify and provide ports through communication channels and change them as they want according to the adapters provided by the chip between those channels, but not all of these channels can exist together because they exceed thirty channels, but each board is made according to Its price category is a combination of all these channels for the user and it is what distinguishes each panel from the other in the different price categories.
The Z370 supports RAID as follows:
- RAID 0/1/5/10 connectivity for SATA drives.
- Supports RST technology with its latest release and RAID 0/1/5 connectivity system for NVMe SSDs, where the chip supports linking up to three disks together with support for disks that come with Intel Optane technology based on Intel 3D Xpoint technology.
Remember that the Z370 chip supports the usual technologies such as Thunderbolt 3, but the controller itself does not exist on the chip as a default, rather, motherboard manufacturers restrict it to their higher-end panels (or add ports in order to connect external Thunderbolt cards). There are also shared channels for communication with the Network Controller that is added to the board.
Therefore, the chip has 30 high-speed communication channels, each panel uses those channels according to its price category, so let's see now the combination that the board comes in from ports and slots ...
First, we review the panel combination of ports and slits and the full specifications of the panel.
Panel size: The panel comes in the usual size ATX Form Factor with dimensions of 30.5cm x 24.4cm, so it is suitable for most of the boxes that users have now.
Supported processors, socket and control chip: The board contains the Z370 control chip and supports the eighth generation Coffee Lake processors, so far, that works on the updated LGA 1151 socket that works with the air and water coolers that support previous generations without problems. So if you have the 1155/1151/1150 Socket Boost CPU cooler it will work normally with the board. (As a reminder, choose a power cooler for overclocking)
Memory: There are four slots for DDR4 memory in the board. It can support memories with an operating frequency of 4000 MHz for the XMP preset file with 16GB support for each piece of memory with a total size of 64GB. These slots are connected through two channels of communication with the Dual Channel processor, each channel supports two slots of the memory.
Disk and Storage: The board offers six SATA 6Gb / s drives, all connected directly to the Z370, but some of those slots share communication channels with the M.2 ports, as we will see.
You have two M.2 slots of the Socket 3, M Key, and they're all attached to the Z370
The first notch above the first graphic slot supports disks of size up to 22110 with the PCIe X4 / X2 interface, as well as M.2 drives with the SATA interface
The second slot supports disks in size up to 2280 with the PCIe X4 / X2 interface, as well as M.2 drives with the SATA interface.
The only case for all six SATA ports to work with M.2 drives is to mount a single M.2 disk with a PCIe interface on the first slot. But other than that, if two M.2 disks are installed, whatever their type, some SATA ports will be ineffective, the following picture shows that.
The board supports RAID 0/1/5/10 for 3.5 ″ SATA and RAID 0/1 for NVMe PCIe SSDs. So you can easily connect to the board via two M.2 slots from two NVMe M.2 SSDs via the M.2 GENIE app via the BIOS interface.
Expansion slots: The expansion slots on the board are six in total, including three slots of PCIe 3.0 X16 size, but they work with the number of channels in order:
The first slot connects directly to the processor and connects to the number of PCIe 3.0 x16 channels (this is the slot used with one graphics card)
The second slot connects to the processor with the number of X8 channels and shares the communication channels with the first slot and works on the number of PCIe 3.0 X8 / X8 channels for both of them with the installation of two cards.
The third notch connects directly to the Z370 and connects to the PCIe 3.0 X4 number of channels.
The board supports multiple graphics cards as follows:
Supports the installation of two NVIDIA cards together with eight channels for both X8 / X8 for the first and second slot respectively.
Supports the installation of three AMD cards together, with the number of X8 / X8 / X4 channels for the three slits respectively.
The other three slots connect to a single-channel PCIe 3.0 X1 Z370 chip. There are no PCIe expansion slots connected to the Z370 that share communication channels. You have the six expansion slots that you can use together however you like.
Sound card: The acoustic treatment of the board is based on the Realtek ALC 1220 chip, which comes under the name Audio Boost 4, and MSI has added some features to it in the audio system in order to enhance the audio experience of headphones and external speakers. We will learn about it in the next lines. Unfortunately, there is no usual Nahimic software support with the sound card in order to add more options to improve the audio experience.
Network cards: The board has an Intel i219V LAN network chip that supports 10/100/1000 Mbit speeds with Gaming LAN Manager software support in order to control network communication paths to improve the gaming experience as we will see. The RJ-45 is also equipped with a 15KV anti-surge circuit to protect it from constantly stripping network conductors.
USB Ports: USB 3.0 and multiple USB 3.1 ports on the board, divided as follows:
The board ports USB 3.1 or as it is called USB 3.1 Gen 2 are as follows:
There are two USB 3.1 Type C + Type-A ports on the rear of the board and it is connected via the Z370 chip with the ASMedia2142 chip. The Type-A port is light blue. There are no USB 3.1 ports for the front box ports.
To illustrate, the ASMedia 2142 chip uses two PCIe 3.0 channels to provide a data transfer rate of 16 Gb / s for the USB 3.1 ports, meaning that if you use one port, you will get the full theoretical speed of 10 Gb / s for the USB 3.1 interface, but if you use the two ports, the speed will be divided by 8 Gb / s per port.
The board ports USB 3.0 or as called USB 3.1 Gen 1 are as follows:
There are four USB 3.0 ports that connect to the Z370 chip in the rear (the four ports are blue).
On the side of the board there are two Headers for four USB 3.0 ports for the front box headers.
The board USB 2.0 ports are as follows:
The rear ports have two USB 2.0 ports in the usual gray color.
On the side of the board are two Headers for four USB 2.0 ports for the front box headers or other accessories.
USB 3.0 ports are supported by signal booster chips for greater control and less signal loss in long USB connectors.
All USB ports are equipped with special circuits for discharging static electricity when removing and installing from USB slots in order to protect flash drives or external disks from damage by the accumulation of static electricity.
The rear ports: We find the rear ports in order from the top:
One PS / 2 port and two USB 2.0 ports
Display output DVI-D
Then we find the light blue USB 3.1 Type-A ports and the Type-C port
Two USB 3.0 ports with HDMI display.
Two USB 3.0 ports with associated RJ-45 Intel I219V
And then finally, the sound card slots.
The price of the painting: The price of the painting is approximately $ 140, and it is one of the paintings of the lower middle class and it is one of the most prominent paintings in that price category.
Related items with the board: We find the following belongings with the board:
- Four SATA cables
- 2-Way SLI High Speed Transmission HB SLI Bridge
- Lighting strip extension cable
- Mounting screws for M.2 drives
- Instructions booklet and definitions CD
- Wire arrangement stickers.
- I / O Shield.
The MSI Z370 SLI PLUS packaging and panel close up
The outer box of the plate has the usual design in black and golden writing, and on the front you find the identification icons for the plate, and on the back you will find the main information and the most important characteristics of the plate.
The board itself is dominated by black and light gray like the rest of the gamepads now, which makes the board compatible with different colors for the rest of the equipment used. There are some white lines on the Z370 diffuser and areas next to it to add a more aesthetic touch to the panel.
The different areas of the board we will get to know in detail shortly, but let us know now about some of the distinctive additions in the external structure there are four lights that show you the boot sequence starting from the memory, processor, disks and graphic card and then the start by lighting the green color, and these lights help you in knowing the error 9. In the boot sequence. There is also the lighting for activating the XMP settings file.
Processor area and VRM power circuit
The processor, as we can see, draws its power source through one port, EPS12V 8-Pin, so there is room to supply the processor with the appropriate power level with overclocking to the operating frequency of 5.0 GHz.
The VRM power regulation circuit for the processor is part of the Military Class V propaganda system and it depends on the uP9508 controller, which is a microcontroller capable of managing up to five power phases in the order of 4 + 1, in detail the VRM circuit consists of the following.
The VRM power circuit for the processor consists of:
- The PWM uP9508 controller is able to manage five phases of power phases in the form of 4 + 1 phases, but the board has ten phases to deliver power to the processor, so how? Signal multiplier units are the solution, the PWM outputs five signals and then multiply by the following Doublers.
- UP1961 Doublers / Drivers that double the four control lines coming from the PWM unit and drive eight power phases to the core unit. The next last line of the PWM splits either providing more power to the processor or doubling its signal into two remaining stages to control the iGPU.
- Mosfets units, which consist of 4C024 High-Side and 4C029 Low-Side stages, whose power output reaches 64A
- Titanium and black Power Inductors chokes with lower resistance and lower operating temperature.
- Black Capacitors with continuous working hours of 10,000 hours.
Panel VRM circuit evaluation
The power circuit of the processor is of good level in terms of hardware and gives you the level of overclocking you want. To judge the overclocking axis of the board and power supply options, we will mention it when we test the overclocking of the i7 8700K processor to the operating frequency of 4.9 GHz in the next lines.
Memories
Now we see the four cracks of the old design that relies on closing both sides in order to lock the memories. There is no metal shield to reinforce these cracks.
The memories are linked to the processor through two communication channels and each channel of them supports two pieces of memory, so the board supports connecting a piece of memory for each channel together as a Dual Channel. The drawing on the board is beside the slits of the memories.
The board supports XMP presets up to the frequency of 4000 MHz without problems for the four slots. This was helped by first designing the cracks in the processor, which is isolated from the top and the bottom from the rest of the circuitry on the board to reduce interference between the memory circuits and the rest on the board. There is a lighting point next to the slots of the memory that lights up with the activation of the XMP file through the BIOS interface and by pressing one button at the top of the page only.
The memory VRM power regulation circuit, which relies on two groups of amplifier units for each group of memory, is sufficient to operate the memory without problems with operating frequencies exceeding 4000 MHz.
Experimenting with this with our group of memory at 3600 MHz, all you have to do is activate the XMP option and save the settings from the BIOS. And with testing the memory at that frequency with the AIDA64 program, we had no problems with system stability.
MYSTIC LIGHT
We all know that each motherboard manufacturer has a different lighting system to be in harmony with the rest of the equipment in the box, such as fans, graphics cards, memory, discs, computer boxes and lighting strips.
The lighting system for MSI panels is Mystic Light Sync and the lighting system consists of the following
:You can control the lighting
As we can see, the board offers six SATA 6Gb / s ports, all linked to the Z370 at vertical angle.
As for the two M.2 disks, we talked in the specifications about their support for the disks and how they interfere with the SATA ports, depending on the type of M.2 disk used. Check out the picture in the panel specifications section to find out.
- With the Mystic Light app, it identifies the rest of the compatible hardware, including graphics cards, fans, coolers, and light strips, and combines them together to enable synchronized lighting for all of them.
- As well as the application Mystic light that you can download on your phone through the APP Store or Google Play.
Cooling
What is meant by cooling on the board is the complete system for it in terms of fan ports and its control interface, as well as the dispersants located on the board itself to cool the hot areas on the board, such as the Mosfet units for the power regulation circuit of the processor and the Z370 chip.
The plate cooling system consists of the following:
- Six ports for the Hybrid 4-pin fans with integrated recognition and speed control.
- Various panel temperature sensor areas such as processor and VRM module
- Software support to control the speed of fans via the Command Center application or through the BIOS interface.
- Fan ports, numbering six, consist of:
- CPU Fan port, but no CPU Opt Fan next to it
- Four of the ports that System Fans can be connected to are located on the right, left and bottom of the panel.
- The inlet for the Water Cooling System Pump is able to supply 2A power to the fans, pumps or AIOs that need that amount of energy with Overcurrent Protection.
All fan outlets are Hybrid, meaning that the panel has the ability to adjust the fan speed efficiently through DC voltage or through PWM Mode control signals with different types of fans, whether it is box fans, processor cooler, or water cooling system pump.
Fan speed can be controlled through:
- Programmatic support for controlling the fan speed via the Command Center application, which allows identifying the fan, determining its speed, and providing a control curve for it consisting of the speed versus the temperature bike, but here the temperature on which the curve depends is not the temperature of the processor only, but the reliability can be allocated to one of the areas The temperature sensors on the board next to the processor, such as the chip and the VRM circuit, as well as the ports for the heat sensors.
- Through the BIOS interface via DC / PWM Mode, which is DC Mode by default for the four System Fans to control fans that do not have a PWM control line and come with three 3-Pins
Disk and storage units
As we can see, the board offers six SATA 6Gb / s ports, all linked to the Z370 at vertical angle.
As for the two M.2 disks, we talked in the specifications about their support for the disks and how they interfere with the SATA ports, depending on the type of M.2 disk used. Check out the picture in the panel specifications section to find out.
The motherboard has two M.2 slots, but the Z370 platform supports connecting three NVMe SSDs together via RAID. This can be accomplished by connecting the third drive via PCIe X4 slots and using the M.2 GENIE app to link the disks in simple steps.
There are no heat pads on any of the M.2 drives, so it is better to use one that comes with an attached heat sink such as the ADATA SX8000 disk, or use the air cooling unit for M.2 drives like the XPG Storm, which is luminous and compatible with the Mystic Light system.
Expansion cracks and graphic cards
The first and second PCIe X16 expansion slits located on the board work in a number of channels depending on the installation of one or two graphics card, as we talked previously, and there is a metal shield on the first and second slits to protect it from the interference of electromagnetic signals EMI and to enhance the rigidity of those cracks and fix them well on the body of the board with the jaw Continuous graphic cards.
The goal is so that the slots can hold the heavyweight graphics cards and also not be snatched out of their place when the graphics cards are removed continuously.
You have three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots to mount the Wireless Card or other peripherals on one of them. The crack exploit scenario is as follows:
If you have one card, only the PCIe X1 notch is hidden behind the main graphics card, and the rest of the ports are available.
Only PCIe X1 middle slot will be available if you install two graphics cards on the first and second slots PCIe X16 which takes up two of the box slots. Because both PCIe X1 ports are located directly below them, the graphics card will consume that space. But
Sound card
The audio processing is based on the Realtek ALC 1220 chip, which is called Audio Boost with MSI boards, but there are some additions to the rest of the audio system, such as:
The area of the sound card is isolated from the rest of the circuit board with a luminous insulation to reduce the interference between the audio circuit and the rest. The ALC 1120 audio chip and the DAC are surrounded by a second isolation chip to prevent electromagnetic interference from the circuit board.
The left and right audio channel circuit is designed on two different body layers of the same board to prevent audio signals from interfering between them.
There is no longer any need to adjust the level of resistance to outside audio signals using an on-board converter because amplifier units have been used that sense the amount of resistance, whether for the front or rear audio channels, which sense the resistance of the headphones up to 600 ohm.
Use of high-quality Nichicon Gold Capacitors to filter noise and audio signals.
The audio ports have been coated with a layer of gold in order to improve the level of signal transmission and not lose its strength over time.
Our experience of the MSI Z370 SLI PLUS
We will now review our experience of the board through the different aspects that the user wants from the motherboard, where the focus of performance is the hardware used, and the motherboard, it accommodates that hardware and provides the ports, technologies and internal components that are the focus of the user's preference from one board to another, so we are experimenting with those options Such as experimenting with the audio and network card, overclocking features, controlling the speed of the fans, experimenting with different ports on the board, and using the attached applications in other assistive tasks, and finally we will test the board with our hardware to see its results with the hardware that you will actually use with it.
Network card and MSI Gaming LAN app
The Gaming LAN Manager application depends on the application CfosSpeed as its goal is to improve the gaming experience by controlling the connection paths of the game and the rest of the other applications and services for the operating system that connect to the network and determine the priority to access the game and pour communication resources with the game servers to reduce the time of delay access Ping.
From the Application tab, the application determines the applications that you use and the level of consumption of network resources and determines their priority from the default Normal to Higher in order to increase the priority of connection resources.
After that, you will find the priority setting for data access with the manual mode next to the application, which is the higher priority setting for games, and you will find preset control levels such as game mode, broadcast, file sharing over the network, or manually customize your own settings. You can also prevent other applications from allowing the Internet connection by activating the Block option.
But if you want to customize and specify the level of download or upload speed for data for each application or service that uses the Internet, this is available through the indicator located next to each application. You can also monitor network speed and resource-consuming applications on the Performance tab.
Network card evaluation
The Gaming LAN Manager application aims to control communication paths with game servers and other applications that are used by them in order to pour communication resources in the interest of games. For that purpose, it is achieved and you have the appropriate components in the appropriate network card for the gamepad.
Fan speed control system via Command Center app
You can control the speed of the fans through the main package Command Center, where you will find an interface to control the speed of the processor fan or System Fans.
If you want to manually select the fan speed, you must choose Fan Tune to Calibration the fan speed.
Smart Mode, in which you will find a graph to determine the speed of the fans according to the temperature of the processor, whether it is the CPU Fan Speed, pump, or System Fans fans all depend on the temperature of the CPU Package, and you cannot customize the fan speed otherwise as the board lacks sensor ports Or having multiple heat sensor areas on the same board.
The Manual Mode lets you specify the fan speeds in four levels: 25% -50% -75% -100%. Therefore, the panel is not the best in the system to control fans and provides you with the initial options only for that task.
At the bottom of the interface, you have a monitoring system that warns if the processor and the rest of the equipment's temperatures or voltages increase, as well as to record those readings in a certain period of time so that you can monitor the temperature and voltages in case of pressure or experiment with voltage readings.
Evaluation of the cooling system
The board has the basic elements to control the speed of the device's fans through the operating system or the BIOS interface, but the thing that needs development is the reliability of the fan speed on the temperature of the processor only and it must include other options such as the temperature of VRM or the temperature of some areas and sensors on the board.
Mystic Light Sync
The Mystic Light system for MSI boards includes many luminous hardware devices that you can synchronize with lighting such as computer boxes, memories, disks, lighting strips, fans and of course the company's graphics cards.
The application automatically recognizes the associated equipment that can synchronize lighting with the illuminated areas of the panel, as we see from the top, the units supported by the lighting system from the memory and lighting strips. Profile.
As we can see, we have the graphics card, memory, and lighting strips so that you can choose between different lighting modes for your platform, including depending on the temperature of the processor, as well as the music and different types of it.
You can control the lighting of all areas of the panel all by choosing Select All or choosing the lighting of each area separately through LED AREA and determining the shape and color of their lighting
The panel provides you with the Mystic Light App on your phone, which must be connected over the same network, and then you can synchronize and specify the lighting shapes as you want.
What is unique about the application is that it makes you form a lighting system consisting of devices next to each other and connect the shapes and colors of lighting to all of them through their connection over the same network.
Overclocking and cooling VRM
Overclocking depends mainly on the capability of the piece itself for the applicable overclocking range and the associated heat emission level. But the motherboard offers the necessary options and the power regulation circuit and the efficiency of the circuitry which helps to achieve a higher frequency.
Also, with the higher level of power supply, cooling of the mosfet units is important and the design of the panel for the dispersants cooling the power circuits has an effective role in this.
The motherboard that we have has a sufficient number of options to control aspects of overclocking through the BIOS interface or through the operating system via the Command Center application.
We were able to reach the frequency of 4.9 GHz with the i7 8700K processor, which was the obstacle to the thermal emission and not the ability of the board to break the speed, as the processor reached the frequency of 5.0 GHz, but with exceeding the limit of the permitted temperature.
The board works with a group of memory that we have at a frequency of 3600 MHz. All you have to do is activate the XMP option and save the settings from the BIOS. And with testing the memory at that frequency with the AIDA64 program, we had no problems with system stability.
The temperature of the amplifier units in the case of overclocking with pressure did not exceed 67 ° C, and the temperature of the Z370 control chip did not exceed 45 ° Celsius, so the dispersants on the board responsible for cooling the VRM circuit in particular and the Z370 chip were efficient and able to maintain The board's internal gear to work normally.
The APP Manager driving program
The main driver program for MSI boards is the APP Manager. As we see the main screen contains the important applications that come with the board, and we review our experience for them as follows:
Control Center app
The main control interface of the board has a window for adjusting the hardware used from the processor and memory, adjusting their frequency, and determining the voltages and timings of the memories from the advanced mode as we see.
The application also provides you with a window to control the fans, as we mentioned, as well as a temperature and voltage monitoring system for the gear on the panel.
Apply Live Update 6 updates
The user window to detect updates for the definitions or applications that come with the panel periodically or manually, and we have already updated some applications to the latest version as we see, with the possibility of alerting the installation of updates for the operating system itself.
Fast Boot app
This simple performance provides you with the option to directly enter the BIOS interface without having to press the DEL button upon boot. It also provides you with activating or deactivating the Fast Boot system, which activates or cancels the training process for the memory timings that take up to 10 seconds with the start of the operating system's booting.
RAMDisk app
This tool allocates part of the system memory DRAM and makes it as a cache disk that can be assigned to Chrome or Firefox or a specific Partition in order to increase its writing speed, as was our experience for the ADATA SU900 disk.
X Boost app
The tool is intended to increase the response speed of disks or flash units in a way that is not clear from the board, but with its experience with ADATA SU900 disk, the speed of random reading and writing of the disk increased slightly after activating the tool.
Comment on our experience of the painting
There are points we have mentioned in order to choose the appropriate board for games, we want you to hear the points that you prefer and choose on the basis of which the appropriate motherboard for you, but we review the points that we see during our experience of the board and see the extent of achieving them:
The external view of the panel: The shape of the panel is suitable for building the lighting system and modifying the device as you want because it is in black color, which is suitable for the consistency of many colors with it. (✓)
The accessories that come with the panel are preliminary to work and user needs. (X)
Manufacturing quality: Paying attention to the rigidity factor and continuing to provide the same level of performance over time is achieved in the multiple options on the board such as graphic card shields and protection circuits for the USB and Rj-45 () ports.
Panel lighting system: The Mystic Light system is good and you have two light strip ports but the lighting areas on the panel are few (X)
Networking connection: The board has the appropriate software support for a better experience with game servers. (✓)
Sound Card: We don't have anything impressive at that point and you have the right components for audio processing. (X)
Power regulation circuit: The VRM circuit is of good standard and the design of the plate coolers will keep the components' temperature at the required level. (✓)
Overclocking: The board can rely on it to break the speed of the used hardware and reach a high frequency. (✓)
Control fans: You have a good level of fan speed from within the operating system or the BIOS interface. (✓)
Disk Ports: You have the ability to connect the appropriate number of SATA drives with M.2 drives and connect two NVMe PCIe M3.2 drives together via the board ports with the M.2 GENIE app. (✓)
USB Ports: You also have the right number of USB 3.1 / USB 3.0 ports, whether they are in the rear ports or provide slots for the front ports of the box. (✓)
Ancillary applications: The board provides you with sufficient support to use the different aspects of the board in terms of controlling overclocking options, lighting, monitoring used parts and many other auxiliary applications (✓)
Comments
Post a Comment