Gorgeous functional piece of art
I purchased this board based on all z270 boards, reviews, and my own experience with brands. It has everything you could want in a board for your traditional gaming, editing, or general purpose build.
Aesthetics: If your case doesn't have a window, keep in mind that you are paying for the look (carbon fiber in various places) and the RGB LEDs (on front and back). For that reason I wouldn't recommend it for most servers or builds that won't be seen.
Performance: it's a z270 chipset, and it works. The bios splash screen does last quite a bit longer than previous board (Asrock z77 extreme4) at 4-5sec vs 1/2sec, but I suppose that's due the more advanced UI of the bios, and the additional features not found on z77 such as m.2. Beyond that, it allows my gear to work the way it should.
Bios: this is one of the more advanced bios I have seen. It supports a mouse so you can click around vs traditional keyboard based navigation. It does overclocking math for you for CPU and RAM making OC as simple as a few clicks.
Installation: everything seem to be there while relying on the case/chassis to come with most of the hardware as usual. I found that the CPU location did not line up with the hole in the back of my case forcing the installation of my CPU and CPU cooler prior to mounting the board to the case which can make it difficult to work around. The IO shield is padded on the board side requiring a bit of pressure to get the mounting holes to line up and it causes the shield to protrude beyond the front of the ports, but I haven't found that to be a problem yet.
Other bits: the RGB is not mentioned much in the manual. It is not controlled via bios. You will need to download a program from MSI to change the colors/effects which default red/always on.
Summary: I'm very pleased with it, and believe MSI to be among the more respectable brands for this sort of thing. None of the ports feel sloppy. I didn't have any issue with any gear covering up other gear except my GTX 1080 covering up the Sata ports, which is primarily because the 1080 is massive and not because of the board. If you are willing to pay a bit for looks, but want to make sure you have all the options until next generation this should be in your shopping cart.
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