Product Comparison: MSI Z170A GAMING M3 vs MSI Z170A GAMING M5

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MSI Z170A GAMING M3 Gaming Motherboard

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MSI Z170A GAMING M5 Gaming Motherboard

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General Specifications

Brand

MSI

Model

Z170A GAMING M3

Z170A GAMING M5

Origin

China

About the Product

MSI introduces DDR4 Boost technology with optimized traces and fully isolated memory circuitry. This design ensures the memory signals stay pure for optimal performance and stability. An added XMP LED highlights an active Extreme Memory Profile for the best memory speed and stability setting.

The MSI Z170A Gaming M5 ATX Motherboard enables you to build a PC system with a 6th-generation Intel processor and up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM. This version of MSI's line of motherboards offers BIOS Flashback+ so you can flash the BIOS without a CPU and memory installed.

Key Specs

Form Factor

ATX

Socket

LGA1151

Chipset

Intel Z170 Express

Supported Processors

Supports 6th Gen Intel Core, Intel Pentium, Celeron

Memory Slot Type

288 pin

What customers say about "Key Specs"

MSI Z170A GAMING M3 Gaming Motherboard

A great first-time builder board. Good form factor.
Motherboard is amazing. Nice list supported processors for my case.
Overall, a great motherboard. Form factor is really good.
I like this motherboard a lot so far. Really good form factor for my build.
This has been a great motherboard. Great chipset.

MSI Z170A GAMING M5 Gaming Motherboard

Looks great, works great. Good form factor.
This was my first PC build and it works perfectly. I like this form factor.
Solid Motherboard. I love this motherboard with this form factor.
Fits perfectly fine in my corsair 450D case. Perfect form factor.
This MSI board is just great. Good chipset and support my processor.

Size & Weight

Height

12 in.

Width

9.6 in.

Depth

3.6 in.

Weight

2.05 lbs.

3.3 lbs.

MSI Z170A GAMING M3

MSI Z170A GAMING M5

MSI Z170A GAMING M3

MSI Z170A GAMING M5

MSI Z170A GAMING M3

MSI Z170A GAMING M5

MSI Z170A GAMING M3

MSI Z170A GAMING M5

Memory

Memory Type

DDR4

Maximum Speed

3600 MHz

Number Of Memory Slots

Max. Memory Supported

64 GB

MSI Z170A GAMING M3

MSI Z170A GAMING M5

MSI Z170A GAMING M3

MSI Z170A GAMING M5

MSI Z170A GAMING M3

MSI Z170A GAMING M5

What customers say about "Memory"

MSI Z170A GAMING M3 Gaming Motherboard

Works quickly. Good speed memory.
The color scheme also fit nicely with my build. A lot of memory slots.
Awesome overclocking CPU and RAM. Good memory size.
This motherboard is stable. Good memory slots and speed.
The ddr4 memory was not normal in configuration for it.

MSI Z170A GAMING M5 Gaming Motherboard

Amazing quality. Good memory speed.
Great speed. No problems after nearly 2 years of use.
Good motherboard for the price. A lot of memory slots, I like it.
Solid construction, everything works out of the box. Great memory size.
Everything works as expected. Great memory speed for me.

Connectivity

PCI

PCI-E

2x PCIe 3.0 x16, 2x PCIe 3.0 x1

3x PCIe 3.0 x16, 4x PCIe 3.0 x1

HDMI

USB

2x USB 3.1 Gen2, 6x USB 3.1 Gen1, 4x USB 2.0

2x USB 3.1 Gen2, 6x USB 3.1 Gen1, 6x USB 2.0

SATA

Other Interfaces

DVI-D, M.2, Serial port connector, PS/2, RJ-45, Optical S/PDIF out, 5x OFC audio jacks

DVI-D, 2x M.2, Serial port connector, PS/2, RJ-45, S/PDIF Out, 5x OFC audio jacks

MSI Z170A GAMING M3

MSI Z170A GAMING M5

What customers say about "Connectivity"

MSI Z170A GAMING M3 Gaming Motherboard

Easy to install. You will need either a direct wifi connection or a wifi adapter for install.
Installation was easy. The manual is easy to read!
Installed Ubuntu 15.10 without any issues. Easy connect.
Worked out of box as intended, no issues installing or setting it up.
2 PCI-E slots works great with crossfire!

MSI Z170A GAMING M5 Gaming Motherboard

The connectivity is great as well.
The board offers three 4-pin fan connectors, as well as two 4-pin CPU fan connectors.
The motherboard was easy to install even with a watercooler as well.
Outstanding motherboard for a non gaming PC. Easy to install.
The board only offers two extra USB 2.0 ports on the board. At least three would have been nice.

Features

Native Audio

Realtek ALC1150

Additional Accessories Included

Driver disk, I/O Shield, SATA Cable

4x SATA cables, SATA Cable Labels, SLI Bridge Connector, I/O Shield, MSI case badge, MSI door hanger, Driver disk

Extras

Nahimic Sound Technology, Titanium Choke, CrossFire, VGA Armor

Nahimic Sound Technology, Chemi-Con Audio Capacitors, Game Boost, MSI Super Charger, Titanium Choke

What customers say about "Features"

MSI Z170A GAMING M3 Gaming Motherboard

The bios menu is easy to use and there are a lot of features inside!
Red LED lights are amazing goes well with my red LED fans!
I really love the motherboard and the features that came with it.
Really great board with a good feature set.
Packs a lot of features for the price.

MSI Z170A GAMING M5 Gaming Motherboard

Good price for the budget I was going for without sacrificing any features. Good features.
Good competitive price, lots of features!
I really like the features in the bios, it makes it very easy to overclock my 6700k.
Manage other functions such as fan speeds and boot devices with bios.
Tons of features. M.2, Crossfire/SLI, overclocking, Deticated Audio, Sata 6gbs. DDR4 and Skylake. Highly satisfied.

Power

Power Connectors

24-pin ATX, 8-pin ATX 12V

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

3 year(s)

Certifications

CE, FCC

Other Information

Manufacturer

Link

Manual