MSI Z270-A PRO User manual

I
Quick Start
Quick Start
Thank you for purchasing the MSI®Z270-A PRO motherboard. This
Quick Start section provides demonstration diagrams about how to
install your computer. Some of the installations also provide video
demonstrations. Please link to the URL to watch it with the web
browser on your phone or tablet. You may have even link to the URL
by scanning the QR code.

󳍾MSI®Z270-A PRO 󸠁󱘔󸑨
󾗘PC󶧩󶓈󳿐󴰡
󲓔󳰴󸮚󶧩󶓈󳧼󹯌󱝑
󲷬󴿕󳱠󱡹󶔎󴉄
󴉅󴇦󸍙󸮚URL󸊏QR
  URL󱭴󱾌󵐲󹯆
󼶤󼀓󼸯󽀧
MSI®Z270-A PRO 󻟃󼓧󻩣󻉋󻛫 󻺏󼹌󽋣󼙫󻻃󻺋 󺥿󻸛󽋘󻀷󻁓. 󼓣󻫯󻫳󼌿󻺋󻀃
󼱣󽉗󼺟󻛫 󻺓󼯇󽋇󻀃 󻦘󻨄󼌿 󻁯󽋋 󻃟󻠗 󻁓󼓣󼌣󺭧󻔗󺩫 󼓫󻫯 󻃟󻠗 󻅈󼍰󻸰󼒳
󼖋󺩤󽋇󺩏 󼓷󼀤󻀷󻁓. 󽒣󻁯󼕳󽏃 󻍿󻀃 󼹋󻮃󻜮󼓇 󼑨󻭻󻓫󼐟󼕯󻛫 󼼤󽋇󼍛 URL󼌿
󻜰󼷛󽋋 󽐳󻺓󼯇 󻅈󼍰󻸰󼒳 󺥿󻸰󽋇󼁋󺮟 󻦃󻓼󻀷󻁓. 󻍿󻀃 QR 󼳃󻉋󻛫 󼀓󼰃󽋇󼍛
URL󼌿󻜰󼷛󽋏 󻾇󻄳 󼓷󼀤󻀷󻁓.
󳗑󸷁󳬙󳑙
󳟏󸕳󳜂󸡲󸠁 MSI®Z270-A PRO 󱙛󴟆󴋃󾗘󴉆󳗑󸷁󳬙󳑙󶓯󶚰󳱠󱡹󳜂󲶿󸄅󹧗
󷇂󵵙󶆻󶚶󲔍󸋲󾗚󱜁󳱠󱡹󸽩󱲶󶧪󱝾󵵙󲶿󸄅󶆻󶚶󳔈󵗻󽘫󸒿󳜂󱝤󴄑󳡖󲖸󳧼󴟆󳦕
󳌣󴋃󵵙󵆔󸊳󲏝󸷏󱘔 URL 󶫋󲕈󸷯󸀅󸊻󵸰󳜁󱚓󱿔󱝥󳯠󳱟 QR code 󵵙󳿑󳑎
󳗐󸷀󸷎󳰚󷋼󶫊󲕈󾗘
󳗐󸷀󱮧󹠗
󳟎󸜈󳜁󸢾󱚩 MSI®Z270-A PRO 󱙛󴋄󴉆󳗐󸷀󱮧󹠗󸽩󱲵󳱠󱡹󱛌󴈄󱯃󲤖󱠇
󲶾󸃔󸚇󶙟󴉝󴿖󶆺󲓤󴍅󱛩󸚤󳿗󸴏󳱠󱡹󱛌󸋁󹲙󴿖󶆺󸛝󱡋󵫞󳜁󵵙󳧼󴉝󳦕󳌣
󴋄󵫰󷄑󱘔󵵙󶶙󹱽󴳚󸋃󲏝󹛧󳰚󷋼󶶙󲕈󸊽󵸰󳜁󱚓󱿔󱝥󸶲󸳣󳨫󳱞QR󵿇󹛧󳰚
󱳭URL

II Quick Start
http://youtu.be/bf5La099urI
Installing a Processor/ CPU󱾫󱝑/ 󽉳󻗋󻺧󻺋 󻺓󼯇󽋇󺮟/
󲶿󸄅󷲷󵢻󲏝/ 󲶾󸃔󲠦󵢻󲏝
Youtube
󱞰󹁰
http://v.youku.com/v_show/
id_XNDkyOTY1NjQ0.html
1
2
3
6
45
7
8
9

III
Quick Start
Installing DDR4 memory/ DDR4󱾫󱝑/
DDR4 󻟃󻠗󻜛 󻺓󼯇󽋇󺮟/ 󲶿󸄅 DDR4 󸍚󳣫󺂴/ 󲶾󸃔 DDR4 󱯜󲵙
http://youtu.be/T03aDrJPyQs
Youtube 󱞰󹁰
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzUyMTI5ODI4.html
1
2
2
3
DIMMB2 DIMMB2
DIMMB1
DIMMA2 DIMMA2 DIMMA2
DIMMA1
3
1

IV Quick 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
Youtube 󱞰󹁰
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjcyMTczMzM2.html

V
Quick Start
Installing the Motherboard/ 󱾫󱝑/
󻟃󼓧󻩣󻉋 󻺓󼯇󽋇󺮟/ 󲶿󸄅󱙛󴟆󴋃/ 󲶾󸃔󱙛󴋄
BAT1
1
2

VI Quick Start
Installing SATA Drives/ SATA󱾫󱝑/
SATA 󻉋󻓫󼓣󻭻 󻺓󼯇󽋇󺮟/ 󲶿󸄅 SATA 󶃣󶂩󴟆/ 󲶾󸃔 SATA 󸚤󲠫
http://youtu.be/RZsMpqxythc
http://v.youku.com/v_show/
id_XNDkzODU5MTky.html
Youtube
󱞰󹁰
1
23
4
5

VII
Quick Start
Installing a Graphics Card/ 󱾫󱝑/
󺭧󻔇󽊬 󼯣󻉋 󻺓󼯇󽋇󺮟 / 󲶿󸄅󹱰󶆻󱻴/ 󲶾󸃔󴂲󱻴
http://youtu.be/mG0GZpr9w_A
http://v.youku.com/v_show/
id_XNDkyOTc3MzQ4.html
Youtube
󱞰󹁰
1
2
3
4
5
6

VIII Quick Start
Connecting Peripheral Devices/ 󲂐󸳀󴟄󲏜󳰙󶪓/
󼙫󻨯 󼔔󼯇 󼍟󺨟󽋇󺮟/ 󸷏󳰛󲂑󸻚󸎅󱨵/ 󸴗󳰚󲡋󲓖󸚤󲠫

IX
Quick Start
Connecting the Power Connectors/ 󹧖󴻢󳰙󶪓/ 󼕳󼐿
󼱓󺺔󼺟 󼍟󺨟󽋇󺮟/ 󳱥󱘔󹧗󴻣󳰛󹰈/ 󸴗󳰚󵫰󴻣󳰚󲢃
http://youtu.be/gkDYyR_83I4 http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDkzODU0MDQw.html
ATX_PWR1 CPU_PWR1
Youtube 󱞰󹁰

XQuick Start
Power On/ 󸶱󹧖/ 󼕳󼐿 󼲋󺮟/ 󲈍󱷼󹧗󴻣/ 󳐴󴉝
1
4
2
3

1
Contents
Contents
Safety Information................................................................................................. 2
Specifications......................................................................................................... 3
Rear I/O Panel ....................................................................................................... 7
LAN Port LED Status Table..................................................................................... 7
Audio Ports Configuration...................................................................................... 7
Realtek HD Audio Manager .................................................................................... 8
Overview of Components .................................................................................... 10
CPU Socket ........................................................................................................... 11
DIMM Slots............................................................................................................ 12
PCI_E1~6: PCIe Expansion Slots.......................................................................... 13
M2_1: M.2 Slot (Key M)......................................................................................... 14
SATA1~6: SATA 6Gb/s Connectors ....................................................................... 15
JFP1, JFP2: Front Panel Connectors................................................................... 15
CPU_PWR1, ATX_PWR1: Power Connectors ....................................................... 16
JCOM1: Serial Port Connector ............................................................................. 16
JUSB1~2: USB 2.0 Connectors............................................................................. 17
JUSB3~4: USB 3.1 Gen1 Connectors ................................................................... 17
CPU_FAN1,SYS_FAN1~4, PUMP_FAN1: Fan Connectors.................................... 18
JAUD1: Front Audio Connector ............................................................................ 19
JCI1: Chassis Intrusion Connector....................................................................... 19
JTPM1: TPM Module Connector........................................................................... 20
JBAT1: Clear CMOS (Reset BIOS) Jumper........................................................... 20
JLPT1: Parallel Port Connector ........................................................................... 21
EZ Debug LED....................................................................................................... 21
BIOS Setup ........................................................................................................... 22
Entering BIOS Setup............................................................................................. 22
Resetting BIOS...................................................................................................... 23
Updating BIOS....................................................................................................... 23
EZ Mode ................................................................................................................ 24
Advanced Mode .................................................................................................... 26
OC Menu................................................................................................................ 27
Software Description........................................................................................... 34
Installing Windows®7/ 8.1/ 10.............................................................................. 34
Installing Drivers .................................................................................................. 34
Installing Utilities ................................................................................................. 34

2Safety Information
Safety Information
yThe components included in this package are prone to damage from electrostatic
discharge (ESD). Please adhere to the following instructions to ensure successful
computer assembly.
yEnsure that all components are securely connected. Loose connections may cause
the computer to not recognize a component or fail to start.
yHold the motherboard by the edges to avoid touching sensitive components.
yIt 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.
yStore the motherboard in an electrostatic shielding container or on an anti-static
pad whenever the motherboard is not installed.
yBefore turning on the computer, ensure that there are no loose screws or metal
components on the motherboard or anywhere within the computer case.
yDo not boot the computer before installation is completed. This could cause
permanent damage to the components as well as injury to the user.
yIf you need help during any installation step, please consult a certified computer
technician.
yAlways turn off the power supply and unplug the power cord from the power outlet
before installing or removing any computer component.
yKeep this user guide for future reference.
yKeep this motherboard away from humidity.
yMake sure that your electrical outlet provides the same voltage as is indicated on
the PSU, before connecting the PSU to the electrical outlet.
yPlace the power cord such a way that people can not step on it. Do not place
anything over the power cord.
yAll cautions and warnings on the motherboard should be noted.
yIf 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.
yDo not leave this motherboard in an environment above 60C (140F), it may damage
the motherboard.

3
Specifications
Specifications
CPU
ySupports 7th/6th Gen Intel®Core™i3/i5/i7 processors,
and Intel®Pentium®and Celeron®processors for Socket
LGA1151
Chipset Intel® Z270 Chipset
Memory
y4x DDR4 memory slots, support up to 64GB
7th Gen processors support DDR4 3800(OC)/ 3600(OC)/
3200(OC)/ 3000(OC)/ 2800(OC)/ 2600(OC)/ 2400/ 2133
MHz*
6th Gen processors support DDR4 3600(OC)/ 3200(OC)/
3000(OC)/ 2800(OC)/ 2600(OC)/ 2400(OC)/ 2133 MHz*
yDual channel memory architecture
ySupports Intel®Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
*Please refer to www.msi.com for more information on compatible memory.
Expansion Slots y2x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16/x4 mode)
y4x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots
Onboard Graphics
y1x VGA port, supports a maximum resolution of
2048x1536@50Hz, 2048x1280@60Hz, 1920x1200@60Hz
y1x DVI-D port, supports a maximum resolution of
1920x1200@60Hz
y1x DisplayPort, supports a maximum resolution of
4096x2304@24Hz, 2560x1600@60Hz, 3840x2160@60Hz,
1920x1200@60Hz
Multi-GPU ySupports 2-Way AMD®CrossFire™Technology
Storage
Intel®Z270 Chipset
y6x SATA 6Gb/s ports*
y1x M.2 slot (Key M)
Support up to PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s
Support PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe U.2 SSD with Turbo U.2 Host
Card**
Supports 2242/ 2260 /2280/ 22110 storage devices
Intel®Optane™ Memory Ready***
ySupports Intel®Smart Response Technology for Intel
Core™ processors
* The SATA1 port will become unavailable when M.2 SATA SSD has been
installed in M.2 slot.
** The Turbo U.2 Host Card is not included, please purchase separately.
***
Intel®Optane™ Technology is only supported when using 7th Gen processors.
Before using Intel®Optane™ memory modules, please ensure that you have
updated the drivers and BIOS to the latest version from MSI website.
RAID
Intel®Z270 Chipset
ySupports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 for SATA
storage devices
Continued on next page

4Specifications
Continued from previous page
USB
yIntel®Z270 Chipset
8x USB 3.1 Gen1 (SuperSpeed USB) ports (4 Type-A
ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the
internal USB connectors)
6x USB 2.0 (High-speed USB) ports (2 Type-A ports on
the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal
USB connectors)
Audio yRealtek®ALC892 Codec
y7.1-Channel High Definition Audio
LAN 1x Realtek®RTL8111H Gigabit LAN controller
Back Panel
Connectors
y1x PS/2 mouse & keyboard combo port
y4x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports
y1x VGA port
y1x DVI-D port
y1x DisplayPort
y1x LAN (RJ45) port
y2x USB 2.0 ports
y6x audio jacks
Internal Connectors
y1x 24-pin ATX main power connector
y1x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
y6x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
y2x USB 3.1 Gen1 connectors (supports additional 4 USB
3.1 Gen1 ports)
y2x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 2.0
ports)
y1x 4-pin CPU fan connector
y1x 4-pin water pump fan connector
y4x 4-pin system fan connectors
y1x Front panel audio connector
y2x Front panel connectors
y1x TPM module connector
y1x Chassis Intrusion connector
y1x Serial port connector
y1x Parallel port connector
y1x Clear CMOS jumper
I/O Controller NUVOTON NCT6795 Controller Chip
Continued on next page

5
Specifications
Continued from previous page
Hardware Monitor
yCPU/System temperature detection
yCPU/System fan speed detection
yCPU/System fan speed control
From Factor yATX Form Factor
y12.0 in. x 8.9 in. (30.5 cm x 22.5 cm)
BIOS Features
y1x 128 Mb flash
yUEFI AMI BIOS
yACPI 5.0, PnP 1.0a, SM BIOS 2.8
yMulti-language
Software
yDrivers
ySUPER CHARGER
yFAST BOOT
yCOMMAND CENTER
yLIVE UPDATE 6
yMSI SMART TOOL
yX-BOOST
yMYSTIC LIGHT
yRAMDISK
yNETWORK MANAGER
yCPU-Z MSI GAMING
yIntel®Extreme Tuning Utility
yNorton™Internet Security Solution
yGoogle Chrome™, Google Toolbar, Google Drive
Continued on next page

6Specifications
Continued from previous page
MSI Special
Features
yAudio Boost
yRealtek LAN/ Network Manager
yIntel®OptaneTM Memory Ready
yTurbo M.2
yM.2 Genie
yPump Fan
ySmart Fan Control
yPCI-E Steel Armor
yMuitl GPU - CrossFire Technology
yDDR4 Boost
yOC Genie 4
yX-Boost
yMilitary Class 5
y7000+ Quality Test
yRAMDisk
yClick BIOS 5

7
Rear I/O Panel
Rear I/O Panel
PS/2 Port LAN Audio Ports
DVI-D
VGA
USB 2.0USB 3.1 Gen1
USB 3.1 Gen1
DisplayPort
Link/ Activity LED
Status Description
Off No link
Yellow Linked
Blinking Data activity
Speed LED
Status Description
Off 10 Mbps connection
Green 100 Mbps connection
Orange 1 Gbps connection
LAN Port LED Status Table
Audio Ports Configuration
Audio Ports Channel
2 4 6 8
Rear Speaker Out 
Center/ Subwoofer Out  
Side Speaker Out 
Mic In
Line-Out/ Front Speaker Out    
Line-In
(: connected, Blank: empty)

8Rear I/O Panel
Realtek HD Audio Manager
After installing the Realtek HD Audio driver, the Realtek HD Audio Manager icon will
appear in the system tray. Double click on the icon to launch.
Jack Status
Device
Selection
Connector
Strings
Profiles
Main Volume
Application
Enhancement
Advanced
Settings
yDevice Selection - allows you to select a audio output source to change the related
options. The check sign indicates the devices as default.
yApplication Enhancement - the array of options will provide you a complete
guidance of anticipated sound effect for both output and input device.
yMain Volume - controls the volume or balance the right/left side of the speakers
that you plugged in front or rear panel by adjust the bar.
yProfiles - toggles between profiles.
yAdvanced Settings - provides the mechanism to deal with 2 independent audio
streams.
yJack Status - depicts all render and capture devices currently connected with your
computer.
yConnector Settings - configures the connection settings.
Auto popup dialog
When you plug into a device at an audio jack, a dialogue window will pop up asking you
which device is current connected.
Each jack corresponds to its default setting as shown on the next page.

9
Rear I/O Panel
AUDIO INPUT
Rear
Front
Side
Center/
Subwoofer
Audio jacks to headphone and microphone diagram
Audio jacks to stereo speakers diagram
Audio jacks to 7.1-channel speakers diagram
AUDIO INPUT

10 Overview of Components
BAT1
Overview of Components
PCI_E1
PCI_E2
JCOM1
SYS_FAN3
PCI_E3
PCI_E4
PCI_E5
JTBT1*
PCI_E6
CPU Socket
CPU_PWR1
ATX_PWR1
JUSB3
SYS_FAN1
JUSB1
JBAT1
JUSB4
SATA34
SATA2
SATA1
SATA56
M2_1
DIMMA1
DIMMA2
DIMMB1
DIMMB2
SYS_FAN4
SYS_FAN2
EZ Debug LED
JCI1
JFP1
JFP2
CPU_FAN1
PUMP_FAN1
JUSB2
JLPT1
JAUD1
JTPM1
* JTBT1 is used to connect a specific card.