Overclocking the z77a-gd65 board

Hello my new found friends (I hope).I am new to both these forums and overclocking but I'm willing to learn. I have a msi z77a-gd65 mobo, 32 gigs crucial memory with an i7 3770k cpu rated at 3.5 GHz. I also have a corsair H80i cpu liquid cpu cooler.  Right now the cpu is running at 4.2 GHz but I would like to try to go higher manually if I can. If any body can help with easy  to follow instructions on how to do this I will be extremely grateful.  

I recommend searching the threads that specialize in the 'Turbo' OC method. Ivy CPU's are not super OC'ers on conventional cooling solutions, but excellent performance can be pulled out of them in the 44X-45X range and still keep all the power saving features intact as well. CPU V. left alone to work on Auto is recommended. Initially for testing, set VDRoop to 100%. Disable EuP 2013, Overspeed Protection, and Spread Spectrum.

Similar Messages

  • MOVED: overclocking the z77a-gd65 board

    This topic has been moved to Overclocking, Undervolting.
    https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=166750.0

    I recommend searching the threads that specialize in the 'Turbo' OC method. Ivy CPU's are not super OC'ers on conventional cooling solutions, but excellent performance can be pulled out of them in the 44X-45X range and still keep all the power saving features intact as well. CPU V. left alone to work on Auto is recommended. Initially for testing, set VDRoop to 100%. Disable EuP 2013, Overspeed Protection, and Spread Spectrum.

  • Num Lock on at boot on Z77A-GD65 board?

    Is there anyway to have num lock enabled on boot on the Z77A-GD65 board? I don't seem to see any options in the bios configs for this, thanks!

    I have a z77a-gd80 and don't have any option for such, but my keyboard boots with number lock enabled by default. Perhaps try a different keyboard?
    Here is a way to fix the registry to enable it at windows login.
    http://www.ehow.com/how_2239247_change-default-numlock-key.html

  • Steps And Explain How To OverClock MB:Z77a-gd65 Cpu:I7 3770k Ram:2x4(8gb) 2133

    Steps And Explain How To OverClock and tell us why we enabled and disabled option and voltage and shortcut means ex: ( EIST )
    Board     : MSI Z77A-GD65
    VGA        : gigabyte 570 soc
    V-Bios     : 10.8
    PSU         : huntkey 700w
    CPU        : Intel Core I7-3770K
    MEM       : gskill 2133 2x4gb F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=403
    HDD        : corsair force 3 SSD 60gb on(OS) 
    Cooler    : corsair H100
    OS          : Win 8 Pro 64bit
    Case      : bitfenix.Colossus
     

    Quote
    Spread Spectrum ---Disable--- why
    Spread Spectrum is for unique situation where there are TONS of computers in close proximity and is used to prevent them from interfering with each other via emf. It is also less stable.
    Quote
    Q2 :Intel Turbo Boost ---enbled--- why
    This would be enabled when using a turbo oc. It boosts the cpu multiplier when under load.
    Quote
    Q3 :Enhanced Turbo------ enbled----why
    Enhances turbo operation by increasing the multiplier on all of the cores to the same amount.
    Quote
    Q4 :intrnal pll overvoltage -----enbled---- why
    You can leave this on "auto" for most everyday overclocks. It increase voltage to the PLL a tab but can cause issues with sleep if you are using an everyday OC.

  • Really regretting the Z77a-GD65

    Guys i have 4 7950s running on all the 1X slots with risers (the risers are not powered)
    and every so many hours the whole system just freezes - (no it does not do me the favor of restarting )
    i'm running CGminer and it pushes the cards to pretty much full power . but they are not overheating average degree is 70 to 75 .
    now listen to what expense i have gone to try to slove this issue with this board ! 
    I have TWO maxrevo 1500W PSUs (about $500 a piece) , one is jumped to work and run ONLY the 4 cards.
    the other runs ONLY the motherboard.
    I then went and today and purchased $100 worth of 8GB of Ripjaw 2100 Ram.
    becasue in my hardware experience and actual freze of a system can be RAM related.
    did it all help ?
    nope not really.
    have gone to the latest bios , have tried heaps of diff drivers and AMD SDK .
    changed the PCIe subsystem latency .
    you know what , I could handle if this board just restarted,  as i have regedited the Run to start everything and also bypassed the win error.
    but no . it just freezes randomly .
    it has to be a PCIe bus error or something ?
    edit ** yeah i picked the wrong board - not MSI fault - any suggestion on a board with 6x full size PCIe (don't mind if i have to jump the 1x slot ) want to stick with MSI 

    Quote from: RemusM on 27-May-13, 04:27:17
    The CPU controlls them all, but this is not important now.
    We have to deal with a few thousand configs every year and all kind of customers.
    But this guy is a "rara avis".
    Please tell me who buys a Z77A-GD65 mainboard, a G620 processor, 2 x 1500W PSUs ( ) and 4 x HD7950 (PCI-E x16 used in x1 slots)?
    Unbelievable!
    what is unbelievable is how dimly you seem to understand the situation - ? the PSU's will be used on other setups , i only used two to eliminate the possibility that the freezing was caused from a voltage issue related to the drawing out of the PCie - (as I'm not using powered risers)
    further more your misunderstand in has extended to missing the frequent amount of time i explained that both CPU and Bandwidth between the Pcie and Card is not utilized.
     the other guys seemed to understand , but you don't ?

  • SATA 7/8 not showing up with the Z77A-GD65

    I've recently purchased a new system, and everything runs smoothly other than the fact that my computer is seemingly unable to recognise any devices plugged into the SATA 7/8 ports on the mainboard. I'm trying to install an SSD as a boot drive.
    I've double checked the cables, power, resetting cmos as well as plugging it in to the other SATA ports and it shows up fine, but in the BIOS the 7/8 ports do not even display under the system information section.
    I've been unable to use the LiveUpdate tool for the BIOS as it leads me to a blank screen and I end up just having to restart my computer as nothing happens after a half hour or so.
    Would really appreciate some help with this.

    Okay, I know how you all hate buttinskis but... I just logged on to post a very similiar conundrum with my Z77a-GD65 so I thought I'd save some virtual trees and append here.
    The reason why I (and possibly Murrph) want to boot from ports 7 or 8 is because we want to run SATA3 RAID. The Asmedia ports don't appear to allow that so our only option is to RAID SATA3s from the Intel ports 1&2 which leaves only ports 7 or 8 for our SATA3 boot drive, a slightly slower boot is a small price to pay for a faster raid. Data disks are fine with the SATA2 3-6 but I'd prefer not having to add an additional SATA3 controller to set up my rig the way I'd like it to run.
    Granted, Z77s and SATA3 are still in their infancy and Intel is humpin' to keep up but it would be nice if the BIOS and mobo makers could add a little more leeway with their secondary SATA3 chipsets (beyond the braggin' rights of having "4 SATA3 Ports"!)
    [BTW- Thumbs Up on the Thumbs Down for "Live Updates", the technology just isn't there yet.]

  • Using the Z68A-GD65 board with graphics card and Lucid Virtual Driver

    Edit:  I found the online manual for Lucid, so the main question is answered (where to plug in the monitor).  However, I'd appreciate tips or suggestions on how to use this new technology.
    I play a few games, burn/rip blu-rays, but mostly use Photoshop.  The latest Photoshop and Win7 both use the processing power of a discrete graphics card.  However, I'm going to install an i7 2600k which also has the graphics built into it.  I understand the Lucid software allows video processing with the i7 and gaming with the discrete card.  It sounds as though "i-mode" is the way to go, but are there any drawbacks?  
    Also, while I have your attention, here's my planned build, and I'd appreciate any recommendations/suggestions.  Thanks for the help.
    Win7 Pro
    Z68A-GD65
    Intel i7 2600k
    16 gigs of Corsair Vengeance Low Profile (1600)
    EVGA GTX 560Ti
    Crucial SSD 128gig SATA III (for the boot drive)
    Plus, all the leftover gear from the old build (BD drive, 3 hard drives, OZC 700w psu)

    Thanks for your feedback .

  • Disabling the live/multi update in the z77a-gd65 bios

    I see a lot of stuff saying to use the board's bios app to update the bios.  BUT I see nothing about disabling the bios update in the bios utility of the mb's bios.
    How to disable the auto-"update".  It happened again today where turning the power on, the screen goes blank, reboots showing multi-bios updating & not to turn the power off.  The problem this is the 2nd time & the bios "update" is from my 10.5 to 10.3B4; so is there a difference & is 10.3B4 really the "latest" bios version....From the reading I've seen so far, is that one needed to have the bios on a fat/fat32 drive which I don't have as a hard drive; I do have fat32 flash drives which weren't even plugged in when the bios got changed!
    What happened?  The bios update wasn't within windows as the boot process never got that far.

    1: your computer could have downloaded last time it was on a BIOS update via live update if installed and flashe 1 chip but not the other and the board was trying to flash the 2nd with the same bios on the other chip!
    2: could be you have had a corupted BIOS chip and the board was trying to flash the bios from the other chip to the defective one!
    is your computer working fine now?
    do you have live update on your computer? (if its working remove live update as its got a 50/50 chance of corrupting your bios if it messes it up)
    ps: do a CMOS clear >>Clear CMOS Guide<<

  • Z77A-GD65 and Radeon R9 290 multi GPU problem

    Hi
    I am trying to setup four R9290 GPUs on the Z77A-GD65 board and for the life of me cannot get it to work. Using Windows 7 64bit with 8GB memory. I have tried installing the cards from the CPU end and backwards. Using the latest AMD drivers (13.12). Using 1x to 16x riser cables not powered.
    I think the problem is either not enough power on the PCIE bus or Crossfire is not working.
    Can anyone offer any help please?
    Thanks

    Quote
    Only team members may post here, or those willing to join.
    Are you joining the Red Rockets? If not, this thread is in the wrong part of the forum. The mainboard is only rated and certified to run a total of 3 AMD graphics cards in Crossfire. It also depends on the CPU used. With a Sandy Bridge, only a maximum of 2 graphics cards can be used, 3 with an Ivy Bridge.
    Quote
    I think the problem is either not enough power on the PCIE bus or Crossfire is not working.
    Nope! Only 16 PCI-E lanes in the processor. If you want 4 GPU's, get a pair of dual GPU nVidia graphics cards.
    Allocation with 3 graphics cards is 8X 4X 4X for a total of all 16 available lanes.

  • Z77a-GD65 - Thanks for the help before _ one last question

    -
    you guys were very helpful re - Pcie lanes , and we are probably going to move in future to one of the suggested boards:
    my problem is i have 4 cards in the GD65 all in 1X slots _ the encryption software runs them at a full type pace.
    1X is fine as I'm not gaming , just solving "xxxCoin" blocks .
    at the start everything ran for about 24 hours, but now within 8 hours i will notice that the Blue LED light system is full lit up and everything is frozen - i have been working on the program dialing down the intensity slowly to find the problem, but any suggestions?
    I have to power off manually if this happens , but all the fans on the cards stay at the same RPM (i.e as high) but the blue LED is full lit and everything is frozen.
    as opposed to now there are 2 leds lit in normal operation.
    any pointers?

    OK guys sorry about that.
    I should know better sorry i was rushing , OK i believe have figured out the general problem.
    the Blue Led represent HD activity normally when they get stuck solid the OS had frozen , I have narrowed that down to bad power..
    oh sorry I'll add MAX REVO 1500W PSU to my signature -
    I have a meter on the point, at full blast the 4 cards and the mobo etc are pulling around 1150 to 1200w oh the 1500w Max REVO.
    We have notoriously bad quality power where i live , (the whole suburb) (they have and actual sign up in the main street announcing they are working on it )
    SO here is my Question:
    Does the the Z77A-GD65 have what might be called "Watch dog" where the Bios polls the OS for a response and if it does not get one then restarts the system, my Brother is a Sys engineer he said a lot of Servers have it ?
    this would  be very beneficial to me as its always when i go out that of course the power screws up and i come back to find a frozen or switched off computer , but if i had this feature i could just run a . BAT at the start-up and be back online working again after reboot.
    thank you for any help !
     

  • MSI's Latest Dragoon Equipment Z77A-GD65 Gaming!!!

    As PC Gaming is becoming more and more popular, MSI formed a gaming community named “Dragoon Army”. This division is composed of international gaming teams sponsored by MSI and is equipped with G-Series notebooks and as well as Gaming desktop hardware.   
    The latest gaming equipment that MSI has to offer is the “Z77A-GD65 Gaming “motherboard. Now in black and red color theme and with the new MSI Dragon look, it is a new masterpiece tailored for gaming perfection.
    Below are the highlights of the board:
    • Killer E2200 Game Network – Is built for maximum networking performance for online games and high-quality streaming media. Featuring Advanced Stream Detect, Killer E2200 automatically detects and accelerates game traffic ahead of other network traffic for smoother, stutter-free in-game performance and the competitive edge. With this exclusive, automatic traffic prioritization, games and real-time chat get priority over low-level system chatter, giving you the lowest latency for game data on the most controllable network hardware available.
    •Gaming Device Port – Optimized for high polling rate (500 to 1000 Hz) which lower’s your mouse’s response time from 8 milliseconds to 1 millisecond. Additional gold plating on the ports enhances the durability drastically and ensures your PS/2 and USB ports are always working when you ship out to a LAN party.
    •Sound Blaster Cinema – Get amazing surround sound with just stereo headphones.  The most important gaming sound effects are reproduced crystal clear allowing to focus on your game even during extremely long gaming sessions.
    •Military Class III Components – High quality components ensuring your PC’s stability and efficiency under extreme gaming conditions.
    •Optimized for Multi-Graphic Cards – Provides enough space for optimal airflow when using multi-graphic configuration (SLI, Tri-SLI & Crossfire). No worries about PC overheating.
    •OC Genie II – Automatically overclocks your CPU and Memory for a faster and smoother gaming experience.
    •Supports DDR3 3000 Memory for faster response
    Let’s open up the package
    Black interior and the bundles are all placed underneath the motherboard.
    Specifically there are new bundles for this gaming kit. First one is the Door Label with the message “I’m Sorry Busy Gaming / I’m Not Here” and the Dragoon Army badge which I think is cool hehehe.
    • User’s Guide
    •Quick Installation Guide
    •Reviewer’s Guide - Gives a good understanding how you can fully maximize the Killer E2200 Game Network and the Sound Blaster Cinema Audio Features.
    • DVD Software Utility Disc
    • 2x SATA 6GB/s Cables
    • M-Connectors
    • V-Check Points
    • I/O Back plate
    Here is the board. New heatsink design for the VRM and the most noticeable of all is the Southbridge heatsink with the Dragon design ~~ Wicked!! .
    12 CPU Power Phase design.  Super Ferrite Choke and Hi-C Caps of Military Class III components around the CPU socket providing the best electric current capacity and at the same time power efficiency. Heatpipe design in VRM heatsinks for faster heat dissipation.
    At the upper right area of the board are the Easy buttons which consists of OC Genie, Power and Reset. Then just below it is the V-Check points which provides exact and actual voltage readings of your Processor, Memory and Chipset and usually being use during overclocking.
    8-Pin processor power connector which helps to gain higher overclocks instead of the usual 4pin. 4x DIMM slots with a max of 32GB and when paired up with a 22nm CPU it can handle speeds up to 3000MHz.
    Clean layout for the bottom part of the board. 3x Gen3 PCIE VC Slots capable of running video cards at bandwidth speed of 16x/8x/4x.
    Carved Dragon!!! Such masterpiece  . Below is the Debug LED indicator which helps isolating problems during system boot up and also serves as temperature indicator of the processor during system operation.
    Left to Right: 2x SATA 6GB/s  Asmedia Controller, 4x SATA 3GB/s Intel, 2x SATA 6GB/s Intel and Intel USB 3.0 header.
    Just want to take photo of the labels hehehe 
    Well I hope MSI included a Bluetooth and Wifi Connectivity for the board like what they did with the MSI Z77 MPower.
    • 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
    • 1 x Clear CMOS button
    • 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF-out port
    • x Optical S/PDIF-out port
    • 4 x USB 2.0 ports
    • 2 x USB 3.0 ports
    • 1 x RJ45 LAN jack
    • 1 x 6 in 1 audio jack
    • 1 x HDMI®
    • 1 x DVI-D
    • 1 x VGA
    Moving on, I will be showing you screenshots of Click Bios II, Control Center in Windows, Sound Blaster Cinema, Killer E2200 and the UEFI Bios.
    These are the two windows you will be using to configure your Killer Network. You can assign network priorities with certain softwares. So if you are an online gamer. Ofcourse you will prioritize your games to lower the latency and smoothen out your gameplay.
    Now we look into the control panel of the Sound Blaster Cinema.  This is an improved version of the previous THX Audio software. You can adjust the bass from here, make audio surround, crystallize the audio to make the sound more clearer and many more…
    Control Center configurations and tabs are all the same but the color is changed to black and red and ofcourse the addition of the Dragon logo. Same goes for the Click Bios II Gaming version.
    The response of the BIOS is much faster. Tabs are all the same though.
    Another set of UEFI screenshots.
    That’s it for now and will be updating this with benchmarks stay tuned….

    Now available in the U.S.A. market;
      >> Z77A-GD65 Gaming <<

  • Need help with clickbios ii terminolgy and values. Z77A-GD65 / 3770k

    Hello All 
    I recently purchased a Z77A-GD65 board and after searching I've found the differences in terminology between this and my previous Asus board but still have a couple of settings I cant find any info on.
    System Specs:
    motherboard: msi z77a-gd65
    cpu: intel 3770k
    ram: corsair vengeance 2133mhz 1.5v
    psu: corsair 850w
    First things first is I believe I am running in turbo oc mode. I've selected the oc genie tab on the center right of the bios screen and proceeded to change settings there. With cpu voltage on auto and vdroop set to 50% at 4.6ghz. (I'll try and get screenshots of bios settings soon)
    The following are the terms I need help with:
    In the my oc genie section;
     1. Long duration power limit
     2. Long duration maintained
     3. Short duration power limit
    In the main overclocking section;
     4. Digital Compensation level (not in owners manual, options auto/high)
     5. Cpu core ocp expander (enabled for overclock 4.5ghz+?)
    In the CPU Features section;
     6. long duration power limit w (does "w" stand for watts?)
     7. long duration maintained s   (does "s" stand for seconds?)
     8. short duration power limit
     9. primary plane current limit a  (does "a" stand for amps?)
    10. secondary plane current limit
    11. primary plane turbo power limit
    12. secondary plane turbo power
    I know those are a lot of settings, but would appreciate any simple definitions as to what they do and recommended values for mild overclocking (4.5-4.80)
    Also on my previous board (Asus P8P67 Pro) my 3770k was stable in prime95 for 18 hrs at 4.5ghz fixed 1.155v with only ram timings put in manually and LLC set to extreme.(or whatever max is called in asus bios) Voltage was fixed and everything else was defailts.

    Well I'm back.  Been digging around for a few days and found some answers to my questions.
    First things first s that for some reason I could not adjust voltage values with the + or - symbols. Clearing cmos did not help this. I had to reflash the bios to get this functionality back as well as clearing cmos before and after the flash.
    So I figured out the values in the oc genie section are the same as the normal section but only used when your using the oc genie. (numbers 1-3)
    Digital compensation level and ocp expander should be set to high and enabled respectively when going for higher overclocks. (4 and 5)
    Now for the rest of my questions ( 6 through 12) I have found suggested settings and some info after hours and hours of searching but still have a couple of questions about them.
    Long/short duration power limit, and primary/secondary plane turbo limit. I see suggestion settings of 250 or 255. I take it this is simply max supplied watts to the chip? If so why the 250/255 values? Is that the highest the board will give? Is plane turbo limit related to the enhanced turbo stated and how much wattage can be drawn there while the other limit is for any non turbo frequencies?
    Long duration maintained, I've seen 60 suggested a lot. Why is this?
    There's not an over abundance of info on these boards as compared to asus so it seems info is a little less documented and video tutorials explaining things are next to none.
    Any help would be appreciated. Thanks 

  • Z77A-GD65 Multiple BIOS Issues - B4 Hang, Splash Screen Blinking

    Back in November 2012, I built a home server with a Z77A-GD65.  Lately, I've noticed some strange things happening that I've been trying to research but to no avail.
    First off, I get the B4 code hang-up whenever I'm booting.  This doesn't matter if it's a cold boot or a reboot, it hangs on B4 for about 10-15 seconds, flashes 92 really quick, and then goes to A2 which it stays for another 5 or so seconds.  After that I get the MSI splash screen for about 1 second, then it blinks 5 times.  After that it goes into Windows just fine.
    The blinking is a new issue, the B4 hang is not.  I've read from multiple posts that this is a USB issue.  When I disable USB legacy support, the issue goes away, but of course then I can't have legacy support.  I have yet to figure out what exact device is causing it.  In the process of trying to figure this out, I updated BIOS to A.A0.  After updating to this version of BIOS the splash screen blinks 5 times before going to the "Starting Windows" splash screen.  This is a more difficult issue to figure out why it's doing this because if you search for "BIOS" and "flash" or "flashes" or "flashing", you typically get results for flashing your BIOS.   Hence, why I'm using the term "blinking".  But even then I can't really find a solution out there.
    I also happened to see that the website for the Z77A-GD65 is showing a newer BIOS version, but I'm unable to flash this (at least using M-Flash).  I threw it on a USB, re-enabled USB legacy and whenever I click on it to install, the BIOS screen hard locks.  The screen just freezes exactly where it's at in the BIOS and the mouse is dead.  However, I can CTRL+ALT+DEL on the keyboard and it will reboot the system so I don't need to power cycle the computer.  Not sure why this is happening either.  Perhaps I need to flash this a different way?  Maybe I don't need to flash this at all?
    I could really use some input here on why this is happening.
    As for the specs on my system, they're as follows:
    i7-3770K overclocked to 4.2 Ghz by using the Turbo Mode in BIOS
    32GB Komputerbay DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz DIMM with Low Profile Blue Heatspreaders Quad Channel RAM | 9-9-9-24 XMP ready
    AMD PowerColor 7870 Myst Edition GPU - currently not overclocked although overclocking this doesn't seem to affect any issues
    2 - 128 GB Corsair SATA III SSD - one runs the OS, the other I use to load games from
    2 - 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM Sata II HDD's mirrored via Windows 7
    1 - 750 GB Seagate Barracude 7200 RPM Sata II HDD
    1 - 1 TB Western Digital MyBook USB 2.0 external
    2 - 3 TB Seagate USB 3.0 external
    ASUS DVD Burner - not sure which one, it's a cheapy $20 from Newegg
    1 - PCI USB 3.0 expansion card
    Antec TruePower New TP-550 Modular 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply
    NZXT Switch 810 gunmetal - currently have 4 fans running but plan on more, also the Switch 810 has the multi-card reader in the front with 1x SD Card, 2x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0
    for peripherals
    1 - Microsoft 360 Wireless controller adapter (legit one, not the knockoff although I had a knockoff prior to getting the real deal)
    1 - Logitech Wireless USB Keyboard with Touchpad
    I tried to be thorough.  Thanks in advance for any help!

    Quote from: PirateDog on 26-August-13, 12:45:18
    Probably a USB device problem.
    This is a candidate, as well as mouse and keyboard. Disconnect USB devices one at a time to find the culprit.
    A lot of devices running. PSU a +12V single rail or is it multi rail? A rail going to the graphics or components may not be enough amps. My best guess is the card reader.
    For UEFI/BIOS flashing, select your mainboard here and use the forum flash method;
    I'll definitely try unplugging some of these USB devices to see if that helps with the B4 hang issue.
    As for the PSU, according to the description for it on Newegg:  "Four industry-leading independent +12v rails are provided for more stable and safer power output."  It has two rails going to the GPU.  The GPU is a new addition to the system and so I wasn't running it until recently.  The issues were occurring beforehand, but you're right that this PSU is underpowered for the rig considering PowerColor recommends a minimum of 500w.  I'm going to be buying a larger capacity one sometime in the very near future.  Any recommendations on good modular PSU's?  What's a good way to tell what wattage to get?
    Thanks for letting me know about the forum flash method.  I'll be back later when I have some results.

  • MSI Z77A-GD65 1st PCI-E x16 slot is unusable

    Today I spent some time assembling my new system based on the Z77A-GD65.  It's a bummer but I think I have to RMA the mainboard.  My graphics card (MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 570) isn't recognized in the 1st PCI-E x16 slot (where it should be installed), but it does work in the second PCI-E x16 slot.  I've moved it back and forth a few times, and testing results are consistent.  When installed in the 1st x16 slot, the graphics card's two fans are running, but the card is "MIA".  What a poopy upgrade experience.
    I'm thinking I may just buy another GD65 (assuming most of them have working PCI-E slots & I was just unlucky), sell the 1st one on eBay after RMA is complete, and just take the (relatively minor) financial loss.  I don't want extended downtime.
    Any suggestions before I ship this board away on Monday?
    Thanks.

    I was aware of that possibility but was discounting it.  I just spent some time pulling out the board to have a good look at the CPU socket (with a magnifying glass and everything).  I did see one pin that was slightly off, and I very carefully tipped it back into place.  An out-of-place pin sticks out pretty clearly which is helpful.  After reassembly, unfortunately the first PCI-E x16 slot is still unusable.  It was a good suggestion (probably my only hope to avoid RMA), but sadly I think I can't make this board work properly.  RMA seems inevitable at this point :(
    Thanks for your replies though.

  • Varying boot times - Z77A-GD65

    I have a new build and find that the boot times seem to vary for no apparent reason. Most of the time I will see the MSI splash screen within 15 seconds and then it boots quickly into windows. However, some times it will hang up on codes A2, B4, C3, or CA for up to 45 seconds before the splash screen appears and then it boots fine. I will note that no matter how long the boot takes, the system runs flawlessly and has never crashed or had any odd behavior other than the varying boot times. I see from the manual that A2 and B4 are Onboard Devices Initialize and Detect, but this happens randomly without changing any of the onboard devices. I ran memtest86 on the ram for over 12 hours and 6 passes and got no errors.
    Anyone else have this experience or any suggestions on what may be causing it? I'm OK with it if others have the same experience and it is normal. I'm just concerned that it is a sign of some sort of problem.
    First post, thanks in advance.
    Intel i5-3570K (stock speeds)
    MSI Z77A-GD65 board
    Seasonic M12II 750 w psu
    Corsair Vengeance LP Ram (16 GB)
    Samsung Pro 840 128GB SSD drive (boot drive)
    WD Caviar Black 500 GB HDD (data drive)
    Win 7 Pro
    ATI Firepro V5800 graphics
    Noctua NH-U12P SE2 heatsink
    Corsair Obsidian 550D Case

    I tried disabling the PCIE GEN3 and I don't think it helped. I did a few restarts and still got a hang up on CA, whatever that is. Thanks for the codes. The most common ones I get seem to be:
    A2 - IDE Detect
    B2 - Legacy Option ROM initialization
    B4 - USB Hot plug
    C3 or C6 - OEM BDS Initialization Code
    CA - no idea
    The strangest thing is that I would say 7 out of 10 times it starts up perfect. The other 3 it will hang on something, but then it still boots and runs perfect. It just strikes me odd that I can make no changes whatsoever and it can go from perfect to hanging up. If anyone has any other suggestions for any of those codes, please feel free to respond. Thanks.

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