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Review: MSI X99S Gaming 9 AC

by Tarinder Sandhu on 13 October 2014, 14:30

Tags: MSI, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacj5f

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Conclusion

...makes sense to have all the bases covered in your motherboard range, from entry-level boards to, like this £290 X99S Gaming 9 AC, premium models offering all manner of bells and whistles.

MSI understands the high cost of entry into the Intel X99 platform means that those enthusiasts considering it place absolute value lower down in their list of criterion than would otherwise be the case.

It therefore makes sense to have all the bases covered in your motherboard range, from entry-level boards to, like this £290 X99S Gaming 9 AC, premium models offering all manner of bells and whistles.

In keeping with the gaming theme and branding, novel features include a baked-in video encoding engine powered by AVerMedia hardware, designed to stream captured 1080p video to various gaming services. Though working as advertised, Nvidia and AMD both have their own hardware-based solutions integrated into the latest video cards.

We'd suggest MSI take another look at the potential for a tight squeeze when mounting enthusiast-grade coolers. Other than that, assuming you have the budget, there's a lot to like here.

The Good
  
The Bad

Good looks
Novel features
SATA Express
Enhanced audio

  
Price premium
Tight squeeze for cooler



MSI X99S Gaming 9 AC

HEXUS.where2buy

The MSI X99S Gaming 9 AC is available from Scan Computers*.

HEXUS.right2reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.


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Posted by Pleiades - Mon 13 Oct 2014 22:02
Not sure *any* X99 board is really suitable for mere gaming tbh… why not save £200, go with a Z97 and use that money for a better GPU?

I know a lot of techheads will buy whatever is deemed the top of the tree as it were - but it just seems wasted on gaming when the X99 is shurely more for workstation jobbies & suchlike…
Posted by herulach - Mon 13 Oct 2014 22:36
Pleiades
Not sure *any* X99 board is really suitable for mere gaming tbh… why not save £200, go with a Z97 and use that money for a better GPU?

I know a lot of techheads will buy whatever is deemed the top of the tree as it were - but it just seems wasted on gaming when the X99 is shurely more for workstation jobbies & suchlike…

This, small arguments about potential longevity aside an i7 4790 isn't going to be outmatched by even the next couple of gens of GPUs unless you're talking quad SLI and such. and I'd be surprised if memory bandwidth ever really matters in games (other than a few % round the edges).
Posted by RobbieRoy - Mon 13 Oct 2014 22:49
I must say that I agree with you both - this mobo and the Intel Core i7-5960X cpu together alone cost more than my Z97 mobo, i7 4790K build and I reckon I really won't notice that I won't have a stratospheric frame rate on games I play!
Posted by Axle_Grease - Tue 14 Oct 2014 07:37
For me the streaming engine was the most enticing feature on this motherboard. It made the board stand out from other X99 boards. Does shadowplay really reduce the FPS by only 2%? If so then the Streaming Engine is pointless. I was going to upgrade from a GTX 590 to two GTX 980s anyway… Now the matter of choosing the right motherboard is more difficult.
Posted by this_is_gav - Tue 14 Oct 2014 08:45
herulach
Pleiades
Not sure *any* X99 board is really suitable for mere gaming tbh… why not save £200, go with a Z97 and use that money for a better GPU?

I know a lot of techheads will buy whatever is deemed the top of the tree as it were - but it just seems wasted on gaming when the X99 is shurely more for workstation jobbies & suchlike…

This, small arguments about potential longevity aside an i7 4790 isn't going to be outmatched by even the next couple of gens of GPUs unless you're talking quad SLI and such. and I'd be surprised if memory bandwidth ever really matters in games (other than a few % round the edges).
To be honest you'd struggle to find games where the (now 6 year old) i7 920 at stock speeds would be a limiting factor.

I'm fairly sure the Q6600 I still use at work would be maxed out by many games.

The extra cores afforded by X99 would be a big benefit for anyone doing lots of media work too, and in that sense it would make a good all-round gaming machine, but yes, it's a waste in most cases.

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