14 DAY TRIAL // When we say that a motherboard supports even the most absurd of overclocking plans, we mean to say that the platform has the technology and components to make records possible, not that it will cope with the strain. Overclockers will still have to put a lot of effort into cooling.
Micro-Star International has officially launched the Z87 XPOWER, which is precisely this sort of desktop platform.
Featuring the XL-ATX form factor, it will only fit in the largest of desktop enclosures, which aren't all that many.
The size also ensures that the computer will be large and stuffed with hardware. After all, there would be little point in buying this sort of mainboard if you did't make the best of it.
A 32-phase PSM power supply provides energy to the LGA1150 CPU socket. It takes two 8-pin EPS connectors to deliver all the electricity needed.
Four DDR3 DIMM slots enable up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR3-3000 memory (assuming anyone can find 16 GB modules).
The Ram isn't the only one with a ludicrously high threshold. The Z87 XPOWER also gets five PCI Express 3.0 x16 expansion slots. They can work in x16 or x8 (when all four are populated).
Four of them are enabled by a PLX PEX8747 PCI-Express gen 3.0 bridge chip.
Moving on, the newcomer boasts a pair of PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots as well (between the x16 slots).
As for storage, that side is covered by ten SATA 6.0 Gbps ports (SATA III). Six of them are wired to the PCH (chipset), and four of them to ASMedia ASM1061 controllers. Then, there is the possibility to convert one of the ports to mSATA.
Needless to say, USB 3.0 is available as well (four USB 3.0 form PCH, four more from ASMedia ASM1074 controllers).
Other specs include a pair of USB 2.0 ports (six more via headers), 8-channel Realtek ALC1150 audio, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11 b/g/n WLAN, Gigabit Ethernet (Killer E2205), and three display outputs (two HDMI and one DisplayPort).
Finally, the list of overclocking is this: boot to BIOS button, redundant BIOS, PCIe Ceasefire, voltage measurement points, OC Genie, PCIe power boost.
