Verdict and Conclusion
I have to say, I am very pleased with the MSI Z170M Mortar motherboard, both in terms of performance and features. In my opinion, the MSI Z170M currently offers one of the best price/performance ratios on the market… for a mATX gaming motherboard based on the Z170 chipset. I did check out the Asus Maximus VIII GENE, but it was way out of our budget … in other words, it wasn’t really worth it!
The motherboard comes packed with great features such PCIE guard protector, audio boost, 3 types video output (VGA, DVI and HDMI), 4 x DDR4 DIMM slots, dual PCIE 3.0 x16 slots) as well as DDR4 boost, which allows for memory overclocking. What’s more, the Z170 chipset, along with the easy to use BIOS, gives you ability to overclock your unlocked i5 or i7 processors with ease. I was able to overclock my Core i5-6600K to a whopping 4.5GHz with just a couple of mouse clicks (all other settings on AUTO, and no messing around with voltages!)
You’re probably asking why anyone would want a Z170 based mATX motherboard? Most gaming enthusiast would probably opt for a full-size ATX motherboard … and I would agree. But for our Project Ice Stream 2 PC build, the MSI Z170M motherboard was a perfect match and fitted perfectly for our purpose.
What’s interesting about the MSI Z170M motherboard is the fact that you can actually run an AMD Crossfire multi-GPU setup with this motherboard … now that’s something you don’t often see for a mATX motherboard!
Pricewise, the MSI Z170M Mortar motherboard is an absolute bargain! Costing only USD $120, it’s one of the best Z170 motherboards (mATX) on the market that offers great value and performance. Buy now at Amazon – https://goo.gl/CTC37f
Final words
I really like this motherboard. It offers very good performance, comes with tons of features and it’s extremely affordable. I have no problems recommending the MSI Z170M Mortar to anyone who fancy a micro ATX based Z170 motherboard, for their custom PC build. Just look at our Project Ice Stream 2 and you’ll know what I mean.
