Pros: Design
Features
Bios
Great for overclocking

Cons: Wifi problem. Keeps disconnecting while playing. 1 egg for that

Pros: Great price here at newegg
no hassle bluetooth and wifi
nice packaging
Worked perfectly without a hiccup

Cons: Only shorty m.2 but people have worked around it so it's really not an issue

Other Thoughts: Worked perfectly with my i7 6700k and G Skill Ripjaws 32gb 3200

Pros: Packed with the features and outputs I want, a loaded and exceptional little motherboard. I love MSI products and find this to be nothing less than what I expect from them. Their BIOS and utilities are excellent. From MSI Fast Boot, to Command Center.

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: I would recommend this itx Mobo!

Pros: I decided to build a mini-ITX gaming pc within a set budget. A key factor of the build was that it

needed to perform reasonably well on 1080p and it had to be fully-upgradeable in the near-future. I paid premium for the MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC motherboard. In fact, this is the most expensive component of my entire mini-ITX build. I figured I might as well invest more for a quality product. And since the motherboard is the foundation of a computer, it was almost a no-brainer. Plus, it came with plenty of USB ports, dual-band Wi-Fi, a M.2 slot and seemingly other nice features.

Cons: Unfortunately, this has been the most enraging, hair-pulling and time consuming decision I've had to go through on this build. The issues began as soon as I fired-up the build and noticed there were no keyboard & mouse support. Amazingly, I had to go through the BIOS and switch the Windows 7 support toggle to on.

Then I tried to install Windows 7 through my USB key (something I've done countless times before), it didn't matter what I tried the computer wouldn't detect the USB key through all 7 USB ports. I tried switching to another USB key, I tried burning the ISO a dozens time using different format and settings with Rufus 2.5, I tried different ISOs in case mine had become corrupted, I tried installing the official MSI drivers and they all failed. I spent hours trying different methods. In the end, I had to transfer the installation files directly onto the SSD using a SATA/USB converter and then install Windows directly from within.

When the installation was completed I had to face another major problem, the motherboard wouldn't detect my graphic card neither in the BIOS nor in Windows. I spent hours trying different approaches: I tried reseating the graphic card multiple time on the PCIe slot. I tried updating the BIOS. I tried installing all drivers from the motherboard and the graphic card. I made sure the 6-pin connector was connected to the graphic card. I tried different dongles and positions on the PSU. The motherboard just wouldn't detect the graphic card no matter what I tried. I called MSI phone support and spoke to someone who couldn't help me at all and said the graphic card was probably defective and would need to be RMA'd and then hung up on me. Infuriated, I took out the graphic card out of the slot and tried one last time, I seated the card so hard onto the motherboard I thought it would crack in half and then hard-booted the computer a few time until it was finally recognized by the motherboard.

But wait, there's more! At that point, I noticed Windows updates kept failing one after another. The culprit was the integrated Wi-Fi. Even though my router was a few feets away, the latency was out of this world. Th Wi-Fi kept disconnecting every 20 seconds. I tried uninstalling the MSI drivers and reinstalling them, I tried reseting the modem and the router. I tried tightening the antennas behind the motherboard and position them in different ways. No mather what I did, the Wi-Fi has never been functional.

I am absolutely disapointed with this product, I will never buy anything from this company ever again!

Other Thoughts: CASE: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini-ITX
PSU : Antec HCG-620M Modular 620W
CPU : Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHZ
GPU : EVGA GeForce GTX 950 SC+ ACX2.0
RAM : 8GB G.SKILL NT Series DDR4 2400
SSD : SAMSUNG 850 EVO 250GB SSD
MOBO: MSI Z170L Gaming Pro AC

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Mathieu,
Sorry to hear about the issue you reported. Before considering an RMA can you check following steps below since many reasons can cause the situation like this ,
1. Check and make sure that power are connected firmly, clear CMOS.
2. Check your other major hardware’s (memory, video card, CPU and power supply) to ensure that they are not the cause of the issue.
3. If possible do a clean install of window and update BIOS and drivers for best result. www.MSI.com
4. If you need further assistant, please feel free to contact our technical support department directly at 626.271.1004 from M to F, 6am to 6pm Pacific standard Time.

Thanks for choosing MSI

Best Regards,
MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com

Pros: Has everything you may need, wi-fi, nice audio components, all intel parts, nice PCB, awesome BIOS (feature-wise)

Cons: I see this kind of issues on most Z170 boards, but the CPU voltages are funky, vdroop seems to cause a lot of issues, I spent 1-2 weeks debugging XMP issues, I thought my system had issues, turns out almost all systems out there experience similar issues

I contacted MSI with my findings, hopefully they will tackle the XMP issues once and for all

There are also various moody CPU/voltage issues, if you want to avoid these issues, disable Turbo/EIST, set CPU voltage manually, enter RAM timings/frequency manually and don't fly too close to the sun

Other Thoughts: I wanted "GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170N-Gaming 5" - but it wasn't available locally, I don't regret my MSI purchase now, but it even made me develop a panic attack, currently I enjoy being able to tweak things and make an insufficient BIOS work

If you read the reviews of that board, there are similar issues at that one too, it seems there issues are very common to pc/hardware, make sure you memtest and prime95 stress test, tune your system, otherwise it's gg

Pros: This is my first ITX build and I'm very impressed. Great board, amazing how much can be crammed into such a small form factor these days. Enabled XMP profile and RAM is running at 2666 with no issues. Board itself is sturdy and fells well made. Love the dual headphone amps.

Cons: My only nitpick would be the M.2 mount but as other reviews have mentioned you can work around it.

Other Thoughts: The foam padding on the I/O shield is a pretty thick. I tried to remove the protective plug from the display port output after I had the board mounted in the case and wasn't able to do it. If you plan to use the video outs you may want to pull the plugs beforehand.

Also, I didn't realize that the M.2 connector is on the bottom of the board until I already had everything put together. Had I realized I probably would've purchased one beforehand. Something to keep in mind when putting together your parts list.

Pros: Very good board. Easy install and set up. BIOS is very user friendly as well.

Cons: Only issue is with the WiFi. It seems to have some issues with latency. Could be Windows 7 and or drivers.. waiting on Win 10 to see if it gets fixed or if it's hardware related.

Pros: A great layout, great software package, easy to update the bios.

Cons: I cannot believe MSI did Not create this board with a 2280 M.2 mount on the back, I used this for a build for my cousin and although I really like this board, I bought a samsung XP951 M.2 fits in the slot but the mount is for a smaller sized M.2's.

2280's are almost standard now, shame MSI dropped the ball on this. I had to mount it with double sided tape. lame

Pros: Awesome board. Very high spec components for a ITX board. Awesome built-in sound card and Wifi/BT

Cons: The board only takes m.2 sizes 2242 and 2260. It does not fit size 2280

Other Thoughts: I successfully have this board working with Samsung 950 Pro SSD. The Samsung SSD is size 2280 All you need to do is remove the little screw that is supposed to hold the m.2 card in place so you can have more space for the longer sized m.2. Works great and awesome speeds.

Very easy fix to a problem that may turn away many potential buyers.

Pros: Awesome little motherboard. Everything booted right up first time. The dedicated USB audio is an awesome touch. Overclocking and setting fan curves in the BIOS is a great little feature. Everything is so easy with a click BIOS. If your overclock setting fail, it automatically restarts into BIOS setting and asks you if you want to reset to default or try again.

Cons: Would be perfect if it had 3 fan plugs instead of 2. Doesn't have a screw mount for 2280 m.2 drives which are the most common size and the only size for pcie m.2 drives. Easily fixed by using a piece of velcro though so I won't knock an egg off. If you want to use the screw mount, it only supports 2242 and 2260 drives.