MSI Z270 Xpower Gaming Titanium |Specs | Price

Hi all!

New processors almost always mean new chipset and therefore new motherboards from Intel, so it’s done with the Z270 models (even if the processors are Z170 compatible with a simple BIOS update)! Today I will present a model from Mr MSI, the Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium! Under this name, well stuffed with marketing names, hides a motherboard in standard ATX format and equipped with the latest Z270 chipset from Intel, with as a primary feature its gray color (Titanium please!) Which succeeds the Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium that I tested here. In addition to that it is geared towards avid overclocking users with a small dedicated PCB.
As for the old model the price is up to the task, it will cost around 350 € per hour or I am writing this test to get it, which can hurt peut

The MSI Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium (yes it’s long) is therefore a standard ATX motherboard (30.5 x 24.4 cm), equipped with the latest chipset from Intel, the Z270. It is compatible with 6th (Skylake) and 7th (Kabylake) generation Intel Celeron, Pentium, Core i3 / i5 / i7 processors. Note that as usual the Z270 chipset can support the overclocking functions of “K” processors (i3 7350K, i5 6600K / 7600K and i7 6700K / 7700K), which other chipsets (H270 and B250) can not do.
The motherboard is compatible only with DDR4 memory, ranging from 2133 to 3600 MHz for 6th generation processors (Skylake) and from 2133 to 4000 MHz for 7th generation processors (Kabylake). Note that the “Kabylake” processors can natively manage the frequencies of 2133 and 2400 MHz against “only” 2133 MHz for the “Skylake”, all higher frequencies will be considered as overclocking. The MSI Z270 Xpower Gaming Titanium can handle a maximum of 64 GB of RAM, which lets see it coming for an individual 😀
MSI has seen fit to provide 4 PCIe 3.0 16x ports compatible with SLI 2-Way and CrossFire 4-Way, note that unlike motherboards equipped with a PLX chip adding PCIe lanes the Z270 Xpower Gaming Titanium can only handle one only 16x card, if there is multi-GPU then it will be 8x / 0x / 8x / 0x for 2 cards, 8x / 0x / 8x / 4x for 3 cards and 8x / 4x / 4x / 4x for 4 cards. In order to add expansion cards (sound card, wifi card etc.) the beast also has 3 Pcie 3.0 1x ports.
MSI storage side offers a plethora of possibilities, in fact in addition to the 8 Sata 6Gb / s ports (6 x Intel and 2 x ASMedia ASM1061) we are entitled to 3 x M.2 compatible Sata and PCIe 4x and 1 x U.2 PCIe 4x NVMe, enough to connect a good little package of peripherals!
Connectivity level we are not left out here either, 8 x USB at the back mixing 3.1 Gen 1 or 2, type A or C and 2.0 but also 2 USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A connectors and 2 USB 2.0 connectors internally.
The integrated components are also of high level, there is a Realtek® ALC1220 sound chipset accompanied by high-end capacitors, two network controllers, Intel I219-V and I211AT Gigabit of very good quality and the power stages of the reinforced processor.
For now we could say that despite the high-end components we are dealing with a motherboard like all the others, but that’s without taking into account what MSI has concocted for these gentlemen the overclockers (mainly). Indeed we are entitled to:

• 1 x 4-pin CPU connector in addition to 8-pin to provide additional power
• 1 x additional 6-pin PCIe power connector for PCIe ports
• 1 x switch to enable / disable the first 3 PCIe ports (to switch from one graphics card to another without unplugging them for example)
• 1 x OC Dashboard module (overclocking buttons as well as points to measure voltages)
• 1 x chipset « VR Boost »
• 1 x USB Xpander
• Different buttons, power / reset / multi-BIOS

As you can see MSI has clearly added all the little extras that the most discerning user could want, although that won’t help 99% of users, overclockers are the main target here.
Offered at a price of around 350 € the MSI Z270 Xpower Gaming Titanium is clearly a very high-end motherboard, combining features and devastating look thanks to its silver PCB, you will really need all of this to justify such a price.

The box clearly announces the color, silver with a photo of the beast on the front, the brand logo, the name of the model of course. As on a lot of the brand’s products there are two nice little marketing touches, the “Enthusiast Gaming” with 7 stars, ladies and gentlemen as well as the “VR Ready” logo, whatever that may mean vouloir

At the back there is a table with all the technical characteristics, a view of the rear panel and a photo of the beast showing its main strengths.

Inside the box we find 2 other boxes, the first houses the motherboard behind a transparent plastic mold. The other box of course contains the bundle.

The bundle consists of:

• 1 x OC Dashboard module (already installed on the motherboard)
• 1 x extension for the OC Dashboard module
• 6 x Sata cables
• 1 x pont SLI
• 1 x I / O plate
• 1 x USB Xpander and its cable
• 6 x extension cords for measuring voltages
• 2 x 4-pin extension cords for LED strips
• 12 x stickers to label Sata cables
• 1 x Driver DVD
• The manual and the various warranty sheets

As we can see MSI is not making fun of us with a really very complete bundle, whether at the level of Sata cables numbering 6, a large SLI bridge, stickers to label the Sata cables (which can be practical), and of course the eternal driver manuals and DVDs. The little more characteristic of the Z270 XPower Gaming Titanium is nevertheless the small OC Dashboard module which gives access to the main overclocking functions without going through the BIOS, in addition to its extension. There is also the presence of the Asus XPander which could be interesting in use, allowing to convert 1 USB 2.0 port into 4 ports, here is the small PCB:

The small PCB (the same color as the motherboard, please!) Allows you to transform 1 USB 2.0 port (in red) into 4 ports, which may be interesting in some cases, such as those who use an AIO watercooling kit connected to USB, or devices managing LEDs, etc. It must also be connected to the molex power supply, which is a shame instead of the Sata.