MSI Z170A SLI PLUS Review

Introduction

Such is the quality of the Intel chipsets that the need for insanely complicated and expensive motherboards has greatly lessened in recent years. If you’ve been keeping abreast of the motherboard marketplace you’ll know that boards which once would retail for the thick end of £300 are suddenly £180ish. By reducing the need for additional chips to add SATA ports or provide additional bandwidth for the PCI Express slots, so the price is kept low and all the R&D energies can be expended upon making it work as well as possible, rather than cramming as much as they can into the limited PCB space.

The Z170 is no exception to this price reduction despite it being the most recent addition to the Intel arsenal. The model we have up for review today, the MSI Z170A SLI PLUS takes this simplicity and, in the words of Colin Chapman, adds lightness. By keeping things to the bare minimum MSI have got the SLI PLUS at a very attractive price point. If you’re in the mood to leap into the 6th Generation CPU world then has this got everything you require? Let’s find out.

Technical Specifications

As you might expect from a motherboard barely breaking the hundred pound mark, the SLI PLUS sticks rigidly to the Intel Z170 formula with a selection of USB 3.1, SATAIII and even an M.2 port providing all your connectivity needs.