Know About The MSI B150M Mortar Motherboard

The Mother Board is often referred to as the heart of the computer as this is that very part where all the main connections of the computer or any electronic devices are made. A Mother Board can be as small as a microchip and as big as a room depending on the place and purpose for which it is used.

The MSI B150M Mortar Motherboard is an exceptional one, designed and manufactured by MSI and is specially meant to be used in gaming devices. This Mother Board is one of the best ones available in the markets as when it comes to the MSI B150M Mortar Motherboard there are a lot of things that make it an oracle in the industry. When it comes to Intel one would think of a hefty price tag.

But the B150 chipset is far cheaper with a more promising service. The B150 chipsets offers an average gaming performance with a lower price tag. Thus for an average gamer it is advisable to avoid the costly Z170 chipsets and look into this one. So let’s go ahead with the specifications and features of the product separately.

Gaming all day

With the new MSI Arsenal Gaming series motherboards, one can sit back at his pc and enjoy gaming all day without the need to worry about heating. This chipset comes with ambient light which gives a better experience in the gaming arena.

Best in class memory with performance

With the primitive technology of chipsets, often electromagnetic signals interrupt the proper functioning of the motherboards making it slower or might become unstable. What’s special about the MSI B150M Mortar motherboard is, it uses DDR4 boost technology with optimized and isolated circuits that bring out the best in the performance.

LED lighting effect

This gaming series motherboard comes with LED lights at the back. They provide an ultra-gaming experience when turned on in a battlefield.

Optimized management system for bandwidth

While having any online gaming tournament it is necessary for the LAN to respond properly. The motherboard is designed to give minimum traffic and low latency which accelerates the sensitive applications for online gaming.

Features of the MSI B150M Mortar Motherboard

The features of the MSI B150M Mortar Motherboard

• Supports 6th Gen Intel® Core™ / Pentium® / Celeron® processors for LGA 1151 socket
• Supports DDR4-2133
• Intel® SBA Support: Improves Productivity, Management and Security
• DDR4 Boost: Give your DDR4 memory a performance boost
• GAMING LAN: The best online gaming experience with lowest latency
• GAMING DNA: LED ambient lights are added to give it an awesome look & feel, ready for battle
• Audio Boost: Reward your ears with studio grade sound quality
• Military Class 4: Top Quality & Stability
• Guard-Pro: Improved Protection and Power Efficiency
• MULTI-GPU with VGA Armour: VGA Armour PCI-E slots. Supports AMD Crossfire™
• SATA Express 16Gb/s + SATA 6Gb/s
• Click BIOS5: Secure and Reliable UEFI BIOS solution
• EZ Debug LED: Easiest way to troubleshoot
• Overvoltage Protection: Prevent Unforeseen Damage
• 4K UHD Support: Ultra-high Definition Visual Experience
• GAMING CERTIFIED: 24-hour on- and offline game testing by eSports players for the best gaming experience
• WHQL CERTIFIED.WINDOWS 10 READY.

Specifications of the MSI B150M Mortar Motherboard

The specifications of the MSI B150M Mortar Motherboard are even more better to start with the CPU which Supports 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i3/i5/i7 processors, and Intel® Pentium® and Celeron® processors for Socket LGA1151 with a Intel® B150 Chipset. Then comes the memory of the Mother Board that comprises of 4 x DDR4 memory slots, support up to 64GB, Supports DDR4 2133 MHz, Dual channel memory architecture, supports ECC, un-buffered memory, ECC UDIMM memory (non-ECC mode), Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP).

There are 5 slots 2 x PCIe 3.0 x 16 slots (support x 16/x4), 2 x PCIe 3.0 x 1 slots, and 1 x M.2 Key E Socket supports type 2242 Wi-Fi devices. Coming to the On board Graphics 1 x HDMI™ ports, support a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@24Hz, 2560×1600@60Hz, 1 x VGA port, supports a maximum resolution of 2048×1536@50Hz, 2048×1280@60Hz, 1920 X 1200@60Hz, 1 x DVI-D port, supports a maximum resolution of 1920×1200 @60Hz. The Dimensions are 9.6 in. x 9.6 in. (24.4 cm x 24.4 cm) M-ATX Form Factor along with 8 mounting holes. This Mother Board also has 20 Internal I/O Connectors and 18 Back Panel I/O Ports.

If all this is not enough then there is more for you as well where you get a an Audio configuration of Realtek® ALC892 Codec, 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio, Supports S/PDIF output. The LAN controller is of 1 x Realtek RTL8111H Gigabit with an On-Board SATA consisting of Intel® B150 Chipset, 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports and 1 x SATAe port where the SATAe port is backward compatible with SATA.

On board graphics features

• Single HDMI port that support a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@24Hz, 2560×1600@60Hz
• Single VGA port support
• Single DVI-D support with maximum resolution of 1930×1200@60Hz

Multiple GPU

The multi GPU feature supports 2 way AMD crossfire technologies for best experiences.

USB ports

A total of 6 USB ports are supported where 4 ports are on the back panel and 2 ports are available through internal port connections. These are 3.1 Gen1 super speed USB ports. Another 4 USB ports 2.0 are available at 2 ports on the back panel and 2 ports available through internal connectivity. These are high speed USB ports.

Audio supports

The various audio support measures included in this motherboard are as follows

• Realtek ALC892 Codec
• 1-channel high definition audio
• Supports S/PDIF output

I/O Ports on the back panel

• Single PS/2 keyboard/mouse combination port
• Two high speed USB 2.0 ports
• Four super speed USB 3.1 Gen1 ports
• Single VGA port
• Single HDMI port
• One DVI-D port
• A LAN port
• A CMOS button, clear
• An optical S/PDIF OUT connector
• A total of 5 audio jacks

I/O connectors in the interior

• Single 24 pin ATX main power connector
• Single 8 pin ATX 12V power connector
• Six SATA 6Gb connectors
• Single USB 3.1 connectors
• Single USB 2.0 connector
• A 4 pin CPU fan connector for cooling
• Two 4 pin fan connectors for system cooling
• A clear CMOS
• Front panel audio connectors and many more

What’s in the box- unboxing?

The MSI B150M Mortar motherboard comes in a coloured package, mostly a battle green colour with the Intel logo on the top right. At the back of the packaging there is a diagram of the motherboard depicting its different ports, jacks and connectors. The package comes with the B150M motherboard, a set of SATA cables, CD driver installer, I/O shield for rear, user manual and guide for installation.

A closer look into B150M

The B150M mortar motherboard is a middle class yet high end performing chipset. It has two PCIe lanes with four DDR4 memory slots. There is a heat sink that covers the chipset and enhances prolonged use and continuous performance.

There are I/O ports at the rear which comprise of VGA ports, DVI-D ports along with four USB super speeds Gen1 ports and two USB 2.0 high speed ports, Ethernet port and a set of audio ports.

BIOS settings

When using the installation CD, the BIOS page pops up. The BIOS page is however a bit different from the older counterparts of the MSI series, yet is somewhat same and can be easily understood. In the BIOS page the CPU settings can be changed or optimized. There is another tab which is the system memory tab. Here settings related to memory modules are displayed.

Apart from this, there is the storage tab, where a list of connected drives is shown. Detailed information about the drives and their respective storages can be obtained from this tab. Apart from that beyond this tab there is information regarding the cooling fans. It shows information about the attached fans. Here the spin speed or direction of rotation can be adjusted or changed according to the heating conditions.

The final tab is the help tab where additional information and help regarding more settings can be obtained. Here the BIOS functions of the motherboard along with all the associated features are displayed.

Another important tab in this setting is the Flash tab that deals with flashing of the BIOS with the help of a flash drive. In order to flash the BIOS the latest version has to be downloaded from official site of MSI. There is a hardware monitor which gives information about the different components of the motherboard along with their respective temperature readings.

Lastly there is an explorer tab which shows a basic layout of the motherboard. The empty and populated slots are differentiated by colours. Any populated slot can be zoomed in to have a detail about the hardware installed there.

Software and associated uses and utilities

Each set of hardware comes with a set of unique utilities along with their motherboards. To get the most output from any hardware it is wisely suggested to use compatible software that brings out the best performance of the motherboard. Sometimes some associated softwares might be installed to increase the performance but that is not the case every time. This might also happen that additional softwares are slowing down the performance of the concerned motherboard.

Performance and hardware setup

The MSI B150M motherboard is equipped and able to perform in a wide spectrum. However it is also noted that its performance depends on associated hardware’s connected to it. A compatible set of hardware’s will boost the performance up. A few set up specifications have been listed below that work well on this chipset

• Processor: Intel i5-6600K
• Motherboard: MSI B150M Mortar</li>
• Memory: G.Skill RipJaws IV DDR4
• Boot drive : Inn disk Server DOM 3ME 64GB
• Cooling : custom water cooling
• PSU : EVGA Supernova P2 1200W
• Graphics : Gigabyte GTX 770OC
• Operating system : windows 7

Benchmarks

A few general benchmarks are as follows

• PC mark 7

PC mark 7 is an innovative benchmarking solution mostly used for windows 7. It has a combination of 7 tests and 25 different workloads. It covers from performance to imaging, storage, web browsing, gaming etc. it can be used for PC, netbooks, desktops and tablets and is one of the most trusted benchmarks solutions.

• PC Mark Vantage

It is another benchmark solution that marks the system score via usage statistics and chipset performance optimizations. An upgraded version of this software would unlock vast possibilities.

CPU benchmarks

• Cinebench

CINEBENCH is a perfect CPU benchmark tool which delivers world class performance. It is mostly used by studios for cinematic and 3D art creation.it is in fact a perfect tool for comparison of system and graphics performance at free of cost.

Storage benchmarks

• ATTO Disk benchmark

It is one of the best network and storage service providers.  It has created a wide variety of disk benchmark products compatible with the CPUs which yield a boost in the performance. Top drive manufacturers use this benchmark for their testing of drives.

All these sorts of drives along with other graphics and gaming benchmarks provide an overall stability and enhanced function of the motherboard.

A final word on conclusion

The MSI B150M Mortar motherboard might be an average motherboard when it comes to price. But in terms of features and performance this chipset can leave many leading brands behind. In terms of features and ports, jacks etc. it has no withstanding competitor. For those who want some looks on their gaming motherboard, it comes with dual tone colour and LED lights which add more beauty to it.

Using certain benchmarks on this chipset would surely enhance the performance. It is also advised to update the BIOS to its latest version to get the maximum out of it. The best thing about it is this motherboard is worth every penny.

It has light to moderate overclocking capability in comparison to its older counterparts. When it comes to high overclocking, it would fail but that’s completely normal for a mid-range chipset in such a low price. Thus gamers with mid-range budget may afford this high performance chipset.