Question 1

The online manual says that you have to use a dvd drive to install windows... I was planning to use a USB drive because I did not buy an optical drive. Can anyone confirm this will install windows 10 from a usb?

Accepted Answer

There's no reason you can't install Windows from a USB. I have seen some recent BIOS with settings that disable OS install through USB or weird stuff like that, I haven't messed with it much, but nothing should completely prevent you from installing windows with a bootable USB instead of an optical drive

Question 2

it says windows 10 ready dose it come with windows 10? and if not will 7 and 8 still work?

Accepted Answer

it does not come with win 10, but it does also work with win 7 and 8. If you downloaded the free version of win 10 then you are good.

Question 3

Does windows 7 work on this motherboard ?

Accepted Answer

Works fine for me (W7 Ultimate). The board actually has PS/2 ports so the limitation with installing Windows 7 on Skylake boards isn't actually an issue. You just need to HAVE a PS/2 keyboard and mouse when installing W7 but after that, it's fine.

Question 4

How is the audio quality- Do you have any EMI or static from the 3.5mm jack- Thanks?

Accepted Answer

I bought this board for a friend's PC so i don't have experience with it, 
With that said this board has the onboard audio on a 'separate' (you can see the white line on the bottom left side of the board where the pcb's are separate) pcb that helps alot with EMI and or static, so it will be better than other boards without this feature, but most likely no better or worse compared to other motherboard with the 'separate' pcb for audio. 
Also if you're using normal speakers or headphones/headsets, you most likely won't notice if there is any EMI or static.

If you are an audiophile that needs pristine sound and you have the headphones to properly convey that level of sound quality, i would recommend an external DAC (Digital to Analog Converter, but if you where that kind of person, you would probably have gone down that road,

For most users however the audio from the 3.5mm jacks should be fine, and you would have to really turn up whatever you have plugged in to the point of distortion before hearing emi or static.

for comparison My PC's board is some relatively cheap board from 5-6 years ago, and when i have speakers plugged in i don't notice static, but my pair of audio technica m-50's will pick up a a little bit of interference/emi but only when there is no other sound running through them.

Question 5

does this mobo support sli and crossfire?

Accepted Answer

Yes this board does support SLI and Crossfire. I haven't used it myself but it shows it in the name of the board "SLI Plus", it comes with an SLI bridge, and you can see the specs on MSI's website.

One thing to note about this board is that I had an issue with the USB drivers in the beginning. None of the USB ports worked out of the box so I had to find a keyboard and mouse that had the original PS/2 ports in order to install drivers on this board. I did try to use a USB to PS/2 adapter for my mechanical keyboard and mouse and it didn't work. Other than that this has been a great board!

Hope that helps!

Question 6

does it come with an sli bridge?

Accepted Answer

Yes it does.

Question 7

Under the list of compatible RAM speeds, some of the speeds have an * and the letters "OC" next to them. What does this mean?

Accepted Answer

This means that the stock ram at that speed requires an Over Clock on the motherboard to achieve that speed that the Ram is set for. The * just means all brands of ram at that speed must be overclocked.   The Motherboard is rated for 2133 DDR4 this ram would not have to be over clocked.
Hope this helped ya.

Question 8

Will this MSI Z170A SLI Plus LGA 1151 Intel Z170  run windows 7 32 Bit ?

Accepted Answer

Yes it will, you will need a tool to create a usb install of windows that contains the USB 3 drivers..The tool is at MSI forums site..Look for MSI Win 7 Smart Tool.

Question 9

How thick is the PCB- Does it seem like it could hold a large air cooler such as the Cryorig R1 ultimate?

Accepted Answer

I am using a Cryorig H5 universal. I've been using it about 6 months and it's holding up well. Plus I think it's a great cooler.

Question 10

Does this board have on-board video or not?? The title says "HDMI," and the image shows HMDI and VGA/DVI ports, but under specifications, it says no on-board video chipset. Which is it?

Accepted Answer

The specifications are correct. The board doesn't have onboard video, but the compatible CPU's do have integrated graphics, thus making the board output from HDMI, VGA, and DVI.

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