MSI z170a GAMING M9 ACK User manual

1
Unpacking
Unpacking
Thank you for buying the MSI®Z170A GAMING M9 ACK motherboard. Check to
make sure your motherboard box contains the following items. If something is missing,
contact your dealer as soon as possible.
SATA Cable x6 SLI Bridge
Connector
Drivers & Utilities
Disc
Motherboard User
Guide
I/O Shield
Motherboard
Antenna x2 Door Hanger
Quick Guide
Wi-Fi/Bluetooth
module
Modular Screws
package

2Safety Information
Safety Information
󰁡The components included in this package are prone to damage from electrostatic
discharge (ESD). Please adhere to the following instructions to ensure successful
computer assembly.
󰁡Ensure that all components are securely connected. Loose connections may cause
the computer to not recognize a component or fail to start.
󰁡Hold the motherboard by the edges to avoid touching sensitive components.
󰁡It is recommended to wear an electrostatic discharge (ESD) wrist strap when
handling the motherboard to prevent electrostatic damage. If an ESD wrist strap is
not available, discharge yourself of static electricity by touching another metal object
before handling the motherboard.
󰁡Store the motherboard in an electrostatic shielding container or on an anti-static pad
whenever the motherboard is not installed.
󰁡Before turning on the computer, ensure that there are no loose screws or metal
components on the motherboard or anywhere within the computer case.
󰁡Do not boot the computer before installation is completed. This could cause
permanent damage to the components as well as injury to the user.
󰁡If you need help during any installation step, please consult a certified computer
technician.
󰁡Always turn off the power supply and unplug the power cord from the power outlet
before installing or removing any computer component.
󰁡Keep this user guide for future reference.
󰁡Keep this motherboard away from humidity.
󰁡Make sure that your electrical outlet provides the same voltage as is indicated on
the PSU, before connecting the PSU to the electrical outlet.
󰁡Place the power cord such a way that people can not step on it. Do not place
anything over the power cord.
󰁡All cautions and warnings on the motherboard should be noted.
󰁡If any of the following situations arises, get the motherboard checked by service
personnel:
󰁈Liquid has penetrated into the computer.
󰁈The motherboard has been exposed to moisture.
󰁈The motherboard does not work well or you can not get it work according to user
guide.
󰁈The motherboard has been dropped and damaged.
󰁈The motherboard has obvious sign of breakage.
󰁡Do not leave this motherboard in an environment above 60°C (140°F), it may
damage the motherboard.

3
Quick Start
Intel®LGA 1151 CPU
DDR4 Memory
Graphics Card
SATA Hard Disk Drive
SATA DVD Drive
A Package of Screws
Phillips Screwdriver
Chassis
Power Supply Unit
CPU Fan Thermal Paste
Quick Start
Preparing Tools and Components

4Quick Start
http://youtu.be/bf5La099urI
Installing a Processor
1
2
3
6
45
7
8
9

5
Quick Start
1
1
2
2
3
3
Installing DDR4 memory
http://youtu.be/T03aDrJPyQs

6Quick Start
Connecting the Front Panel Header
http://youtu.be/DPELIdVNZUI
1
2 10
9
JFP1
1 HDD LED + 2 Power LED +
3 HDD LED - 4 Power LED -
5 Reset Switch 6 Power Switch
7 Reset Switch 8 Power Switch
9 Reserved 10 No Pin
RESET SW
POWER SW
POWER LED+
POWER LED-
HDD LED
HDD LED
RESET SW
JFP1
HDD LED HDD LED -
HDD LED +
POWER LED -
POWER LED +
POWER LED

7
Quick Start
Installing the Motherboard
1
2

8Quick Start
Installing SATA Drives
http://youtu.be/RZsMpqxythc
1
23
4
5

9
Quick Start
1
4
5
Installing a Graphics Card
http://youtu.be/mG0GZpr9w_A
2
3

10 Quick Start
Connecting Peripheral Devices

11
Quick Start
Connecting the Power Connectors
JPWR1 JPWR2
http://youtu.be/gkDYyR_83I4

12 Quick Start
Power On
1
4
2
3

13
Contents
Contents
Unpacking ................................................................................................................1
Safety Information...................................................................................................2
Quick Start................................................................................................................3
Preparing Tools and Components....................................................................... 3
Installing a Processor .......................................................................................... 4
Installing DDR4 memory...................................................................................... 5
Connecting the Front Panel Header.................................................................... 6
Installing the Motherboard................................................................................... 7
Installing SATA Drives......................................................................................... 8
Installing a Graphics Card ................................................................................... 9
Connecting Peripheral Devices ......................................................................... 10
Connecting the Power Connectors.................................................................... 11
Power On........................................................................................................... 12
Specifications ........................................................................................................16
Block Diagram ......................................................................................................23
Rear I/O Panel ........................................................................................................24
LAN Port LED Status Table............................................................................... 24
Audio Ports Configuration.................................................................................. 24
Cmedia Xtreme Audio DAC............................................................................... 25
Overview of Components ....................................................................................27
CPU Socket ....................................................................................................... 29
DIMM Slots ........................................................................................................ 30
PCI_E1~6: PCIe Expansion Slots...................................................................... 31
SATA1~6: SATA 6Gb/s Connectors.................................................................. 33
SE1_43-SE2_65: SATAe Connectors ............................................................... 33
M2_1~2: M.2 Slots............................................................................................. 34
OC1: GAME BOOST Knob ............................................................................... 37
POWER1, RESET1: Power Button, Reset Button............................................. 38
JPWR1~2: Power Connectors........................................................................... 38
JFP1, JFP2: Front Panel Connectors................................................................ 39
JUSB3~4: USB 3.1 Gen1 Connectors............................................................... 39
JAUD1: Front Audio Connector......................................................................... 40
JUSB1: USB 2.0 Connector .............................................................................. 41
JTPM1: TPM Module Connector ....................................................................... 41
CPUFAN1~2, SYSFAN1~3: Fan Connectors.................................................... 42
JCI1: Chassis Intrusion Connector.................................................................... 43

14 Contents
FLASHB1: BIOS FLASHBACK+ Button ............................................................ 43
HOT_KEY1: HOTKEY Main Switch................................................................... 44
SLOW_1: Slow Mode Booting Switch................................................................ 45
JBAT1: Clear CMOS (Reset BIOS) Jumper ...................................................... 45
LED Status Indicators...........................................................................................46
LED Status Table .............................................................................................. 46
Debug Code LED Table .................................................................................... 47
BIOS Setup.............................................................................................................48
Entering BIOS Setup ......................................................................................... 48
Resetting BIOS.................................................................................................. 49
Updating BIOS................................................................................................... 49
EZ Mode ............................................................................................................ 51
Advanced Mode ................................................................................................ 53
SETTINGS......................................................................................................... 54
Advanced........................................................................................................... 54
Boot ................................................................................................................... 60
Security.............................................................................................................. 61
Save & Exit........................................................................................................ 62
OC ..................................................................................................................... 63
M-FLASH........................................................................................................... 71
OC PROFILE..................................................................................................... 72
HARDWARE MONITOR.................................................................................... 73
Software Description............................................................................................74
Installing Windows®7/ 8.1/ 10 ........................................................................... 74
Installing Drivers ................................................................................................ 74
Installing Utilities................................................................................................ 74
COMMAND CENTER........................................................................................ 75
LIVE UPDATE 6 ................................................................................................ 79
GAMING APP.................................................................................................... 81
ECO CENTER ................................................................................................... 85
M-CLOUD.......................................................................................................... 86
RAMDISK .......................................................................................................... 89
Killer Network Manager ..................................................................................... 90
Nahimic.............................................................................................................. 91
XSplit Gamecaster V2 ....................................................................................... 93
Intel®Extreme Tuning Utility .............................................................................. 97
RAID Configuration...............................................................................................98
Using Intel®Rapid Storage Technology Option ROM ....................................... 98
Degraded RAID Array...................................................................................... 101

15
Contents
M.2 PCIe SSD RAID........................................................................................ 103
Troubleshooting .................................................................................................105
Regulatory Notices .............................................................................................106

16 Speci󰄈cations
Specifications
CPU Supports 6th Gen Intel®Core™i3/i5/i7 processors, and Intel®
Pentium®and Celeron®processors for Socket LGA1151
Chipset Intel® Z170 Chipset
Memory
󰁡4x DDR4 memory slots, support up to 64GB
󰁈Supports DDR4 3600(OC)/ 3200(OC)/ 3000(OC)/
2800(OC)/ 2600(OC)/ 2400/ 2133 MHz
󰁡Dual channel memory architecture
󰁡Supports non-ECC, un-buffered memory
󰁡Supports Intel®Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
Expansion Slots
󰁡3x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16/x4/x0, x8/x4/x8 or x8/
x1/x8 modes)
󰁡3x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots
Onboard Graphics
󰁡1x HDMI™port, supports a maximum resolution of
4096x2160@24Hz, 2560x1600@60Hz
󰁡1x DisplayPort, supports a maximum resolution
of 4096x2304@24Hz, 2560x1600@60Hz,
3840x2160@60Hz, 1920x1200@60Hz
Multi-GPU 󰁡Supports 3-Way AMD®CrossFire™Technology
󰁡Supports 2-Way NVIDIA®SLI™Technology
Storage
Intel®Z170 Chipset
󰁡6x SATA 6Gb/s ports* (4 ports reserved for SATA Express
port)
󰁡2x M.2 slots
󰁈Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s standards,
4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length M.2 SSD cards
󰁈Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo
U.2 Host Card**
󰁡2x SATAe ports (PCIe 3.0 x2)***
󰁡Supports Intel®Smart Response Technology for Intel
Core™ processors
* M.2, SATA and SATAe ports maximum support 1x M.2_PCIe + 6x SATAs
or 1x M.2_SATA + 1x M.2_PCIe + 4x SATAs. Please refer to page 35 for
M.2 slots with examples of various combination possibilities.
** The Turbo U.2 Host Card is not included, please purchase separately.
*** SATAe port is backward compatible with SATA.
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17
Speci󰄈cations
Continued from previous page
RAID
Intel®Z170 Express Chipset
󰁡Supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 for SATA
storage devices
󰁡Supports RAID 0 and RAID 1 for M.2 PCIe storage
devices*
* M.2 PCIe RAID volume can only be created with UEFI BIOS
USB
󰁡ASMedia®ASM1142 Chipset
󰁈1x USB 3.1 Gen2 (SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps) port on
the back panel
󰁈1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port on the back panel
󰁡Intel®Z170 Express Chipset
󰁈6x USB 3.1 Gen1 (SuperSpeed USB) ports (2 ports on
the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal
USB connector)
󰁈5x USB 2.0 (High-speed USB) ports (3 ports on the
back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB
connector)
Audio
󰁡Cmedia CM6632 codec
󰁡7.1-Channel High Definition Audio
󰁡Supports S/PDIF output
LAN 1x Killer™E2400 Gigabit LAN controller
Wireless
LAN
󰁡Killer Wireless 1535 module.
󰁈Supports 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n/ac with advanced features
󰁈Supports 20/ 40MHz at 2.4GHz and 20/ 40/ 80MHz at
5GHz
󰁈Supports Miracast
Bluetooth 󰁡Killer Wireless 1535 module.
󰁈Supports Bluetooth v4.1
Continued on next page

18 Speci󰄈cations
Continued from previous page
Back Panel
Connectors
󰁡1x Clear CMOS button
󰁡1x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse port
󰁡3x USB 2.0 ports
󰁈1x HOTKEY port
󰁈1x BIOS FLASHBACK+ port
󰁡1x DisplayPort
󰁡1x HDMI™port
󰁡1x USB 3.1 Gen2 port
󰁡1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port
󰁡1x LAN (RJ45) port
󰁡2x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports
󰁡1x Optical S/PDIF OUT connector
󰁡5x OFC audio jacks
Internal Connectors
󰁡1x 24-pin ATX main power connector
󰁡1x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
󰁡6x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
󰁡2x SATAe connectors
󰁡1x USB 2.0 connector (supports additional 2 USB 2.0
ports)
󰁡2x USB 3.1 Gen1 connectors (supports additional 4 USB
3.1 Gen1 ports)
󰁡2x 4-pin CPU fan connectors
󰁡3x 4-pin system fan connectors
󰁡1x Front panel audio connector
󰁡2x Front panel connectors
󰁡1x TPM module connector
󰁡1x Chassis Intrusion connector
󰁡1x GAME BOOST button
󰁡1x Power button
󰁡1x Reset button
󰁡1x BIOS FLASHBACK+ button
󰁡1x HOTKEY switch
󰁡1x Slow mode switch
󰁡1x Clear CMOS jumper
󰁡1x 2-Digit Debug Code LED
I/O Controller NUVOTON NCT6793 Controller Chip
Continued on next page

19
Speci󰄈cations
Continued from previous page
Hardware Monitor
󰁡CPU/System temperature detection
󰁡CPU/System fan speed detection
󰁡CPU/System fan speed control
Form Factor 󰁡ATX Form Factor
󰁡12 in. x 9.6 in. (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm)
BIOS Features
󰁡1x 128 Mb flash
󰁡UEFI AMI BIOS
󰁡ACPI 5.0, PnP 1.0a, SM BIOS 2.8
󰁡Multi-language
Software
󰁡Drivers
󰁡COMMAND CENTER
󰁡LIVE UPDATE 6
󰁡FAST BOOT
󰁡SUPER CHARGER
󰁡GAMING APP
󰁡ECO CENTER
󰁡M-CLOUD
󰁡RAMDISK
󰁡Killer Network Manager
󰁡Nahimic Audio
󰁡XSplit Gamecaster V2
󰁡Intel®Extreme Tuning Utility
󰁡Norton™Security
󰁡Google Chrome™,Google Toolbar, Google Drive
󰁡SteelSeries Engine 3
󰁡CPU-Z
Continued on next page

20 Speci󰄈cations
Continued from previous page
Enthusiast GAMING
Features
󰁡Xtreme Audio DAC
󰁈384 KHz / 32-bit Audio Codec
󰁈Hi-Fi Audio DAC from ESS SABRE Hi-Fi
󰁈120db SNR Headphone Amplifier
󰁈Multiple Audio Amplifiers
󰁈Isolated Audio PCB
󰁈Full Audio Cover
󰁈High Quality Audio Capacitors
󰁈Golden Audio Connectors
󰁡GAME BOOST
󰁈Easy Overclocking
󰁈7 Gear Clock Change
󰁡GAMING LAN with KillerTM DoubleShot PRO
󰁈Smart teaming by Killer E2400 and Killer Wi-Fi AC 1535
󰁈Killer Network Manager
󰁈EMI Shielding
󰁈Electric Wave Surge
󰁈Killer Shield
󰁡GAMING APP
󰁈System Mode Switching: OC/Gaming/Silent
󰁈Gaming Hotkey
󰁈Gaming Mouse Control
󰁈Gaming LED Remote Control
󰁡Optimized Thermal Design
󰁈Heat-pipe Direct Touch Technology
󰁡Nahimic
󰁈Sound Effect Equalizer
󰁈Microphone Noise Reduction
󰁈HD Audio Recorder
󰁡XSplit
󰁈XSplit Gamecaster
󰁈XSplit Broadcaster
󰁡GAMING CERTIFIED
Continued on next page