MSI Intel Z270-GAMING-M5 7th/6th Gen USB2 Motherboard - Black (Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Processor, LGA 1151, Dual Channel DDR4, USB 3.1, PCI-E 3.0, PCI-E x1, Sata 6 GB)

I was looking to make my first build in many years and had the money to go big - i wanted to future proof my motherboard so despite the minor enhancements over z170, i went with this board.tl;dr the board is excellent and i can't really fault it except for a few minor points. I'd recommend it to anyone doing a new build this year, but the majority of the rest of this review i'd like to spend discussing points on how to make a very good board great, though it may seem imbalanced it's primarily because motherboards are transparent components thus they tend to be invisible when they do a good job, so based on my feedback and opinions...Pro's:*With the available promo this is very well priced with a similar spec to other top z270 boards. The only difference i noticed was with the audio DACs (and obvious build quality, but i've not found any issues with build quality here).*very nice matte black pcb solder mask*lots of uniquely controllable fan slots*all the connectors except sata were very well located making the install a breeze.*bios is really easy to use but the info pane could be a little more helpful. Fan control was very intuitive and well implemented. My tower is now so quiet that the spinning hard disks i use for storage are now much louder than anything else!Con's:*My biggest issue primarily since the board has a breakout for a 5050 LED strip is that i has *very* poor LED control. You can't control parameters such as dimness which is a big problem when using an RGB strip. There's only a selection of a few colours when there could easily be a huge selection given they're RGB LEDs. It's pretty long winded to make LED adjustments and having to click apply each time is a pain. I noticed with my strip the PWM frequency is not high enough, so I see lots of flicker when the LEDs dim during the breathing animation, and worry that if this isn't increased i'd see them during a dimly lit strip should they bring out a patch with new features allowing so.*Pretty poor usb count on the back - which is strange for a mobo of this calibur.*programs have different names some without 'msi' in the title so hard to keep track of or even know what they're for. utilities had no clear description of what they were or if i needed them when downloading. Similarly the software itself isn't very intuitive or clear on what each button does. For example one button just says 'vr'.*m2 heat sink actually makes the drive hotter*A problem for me but not for all as i built this inside a fractal define S case: the sata slots are not right at the edge of the mobo so couldn't fit right angle connectors.*I have anoctua D15 which is a large heatsink, it covers most of the pretty covers of the IO section, and also covers the ram modules, so couldn't install a dual fan setup. This was the good thing about the m5 specifically, otherwise most of the led show of the m7 would have been covered - wouldn't be a problem with a smaller fan / water cooling though. Personally don't see a reason to go for the M7 if you plan on using a large heatsink.*gtx 1060 length covers about 1/3 of the main southbridge which in trun covers about half of the led show by sitting on the top. Considering this is a mid-top tier gaming board, it should have been placed better especially considering my gtx 1060 is not particularly high end nor unique.*the back plate bulges around the middle quite a lot, i can only just about fit in my male headers into the ports. And the red LEDs on the back are a bit unnecessary and a waste of power.One thing to watch out for is that the M2 SSD that is part of the promo has a very low write limit of about 140 TB, and when reached the SSD literally ceases and becomes read only. Toms hardware states that this drive becomes read only for one boot cycle then disappears to 'preserve' data, though intel couldn't confirm this for me.All around i found this board very easy to work with, but the corresponding software should be cleaned up / more intuitive, and the LED control absolutely needs to be improved as i've chosen not to install my LED strip (until i can at least dim them [without them flickering]).Update: I went ahead with the LED Strip install, but i'd really like better LED control, such as dimness, a greater colour choice and effect choice.I'd recommend this to anyone doing an enthusiast build this year.

Speedy delivery from Amazon had me getting this board up and running with a 7700K in no time. I was in the market for a current gen setup after deciding my 4 year old Xeon and Gigabyte board where in dire need of an upgrade. First impressions of the board were very favourable. I really like the styling employed with current chipsets, the ergonomic black & gunmetal grey covers on critical areas of the board add a welcome relief to the otherwise stark layout of motherboards of old. RGB lighting is a plus, being as the motherrboard is showcased in a glass Enthoo Evolv case. Performance is as expected for a Z270 chipset. I really like the M2 shield cover on the bottom NVMe slot. Whether it helps with heat distribution from these ssd's remains to be seen, but it certainly adds a cosmetic punch to the appearance. Overall happy with this purchase, especially considering MSI offer both a free Intel M2 drive and cashback when purchasing this board and others like it. Thumbs up from this customer!

Fantastic card on mid budget does what it says on the tin only negative it has that's why 4 stars you have multiple fan connections on mb if you are using corsair hydro series coolers etc noticed temp pick ups from board over temps of 120 on temp sensors that 2 are used for cpu fan and pump it's a false negative on these boards as you are using a separate cpu cooler with separate software for fan control this cannot be switched off on bios to control temps yourself with separate software a bad move on msi part to make this viable to control apart from that good board with easy instant overclocking

Awesome product!BTW the next generation - don't get a black motherboard which has dark red tiny writing !

Great motherboard, nice colours

Great Mobo.

its grate probably should have gone for the m7 but on a budget cant do much better

Disappointing quality of sound delivered from on board audio, particularly in treble range