The MSI Gaming motherboards are directly recognisable thanks to their dragon themed box-art and idem ditto looking heatsinks, especially the latter used around the voltage regulator modules are real pieces of art. As with all mATX boards, the box content is rather sparse: a backplate, a bundle of SATA cables and the manual and driver CD.

The black PCB and slots in combination with the red and black heatsinks are a stunning combination. Gamers not only want a reliable platform, but also prefer a great looking design to integrate in their precious gaming rigs.

The area around the LGA1150 socket is pretty clean: no abundance of insane amounts of phases & capacitors here;  an 8 phase power design is all that is needed to feed the Intel Haswell processor generation, being it overclocked or not. The two over-dimensioned dragon shaped heatsinks keep the operating temperatures down for enhanced reliability and longevity during intense gaming sessions. On top of that MSI remains loyal to their Military Class Components, Super Ferrite Chokes and Dark Caps, what's in a name, should make these series build to last while being stressed in the most rigorous conditions.