Sneak Peek of MSI's Z77A-GD65 Motherboard :)

Question

Here is a quick sneak peek of MSI's Z77A-GD65 motherboard. The board is intended for the upcoming Ivybridge 22nm processor which I think will be out this end of April. CPU socket is based on LGA 1155, so current Sandybridge Processors such as 2600k, 2500, 2300, etc… are still compatible. Other than this, the chipset natively supports USB 3.0 and PCI Express GEN3 lanes which can do both NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX. Running one video card is at x16, two at x8/x8 and three at x8/x4/x4.
With the release of MSI X79 motherboards a month ago. MSI introduced Military Class III Components. This consists of Solid Capacitors, Super Ferrite Chokes (better overclocking and power stability), Hi-C Caps and DrMOS II (higher power efficiency, double thermal protection). All these components have passed the MIL-STD-810G Standards giving the best durability, efficiency and overclock on MSI motherboards.
Moving on, here is the Z77 of MSI looks like. Black and Blue color themed motherboard and I pretty like what they have done with the heatsinks. The layout is clean and finally they moved the OC Genie, Reset and Power buttons on the upper right portion of the board. Much accessible especially when you are in a TRI-SLI video card configuration.
Some basic information on MSI Z77A-GD65:
•Memory Support – 4x DDR3 DIMMs Support DDR3 2667/2400/2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 DRAM 32GB Max
•LAN – 10/100/1000 Fast Ethernet by Intel 82579V
•Audio – Integrated HD Audio Codec by Realtek ALC898. 8-Channel audio with jack sensing. Compliant with Azalia 1.0 Spec
•SATA – 4x SATA 6GB/s Ports (SATA 1-2 Intel Z77 / SATA 7-8 ASMedia ASM1061), 4x SATA 3Gb/s ports (SATA 3-6 Intel Z77)
•RAID – SATA 1-6 Support Intel Rapid Storage Technology (0/1/5/10)
•USB 3.0 – 2x USB 3.0 Rear I/O by intel Z77 / 1x USB 3.0 Internal Connector by Intel Z77
Rear IO Ports
•1x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Port
•1x Clear CMOS Button
•1x Coaxial SPDIF-out Port
•1x Optical SPDIF-out Port
•4x USB 2.0 Ports
•2x USB 3.0 Ports
•1x LAN Port
•6x Audio Ports
•1x HDMI port
•1xDVI-D Port
•1x VGA Port
Let’s check out the lower portion of the board. Just below the South Chipset Heatsink. You will find the Debug LED Code and beside it is the MULTI Bios Switch.
The white SATA ports on the right side are the one being controlled by the Intel Z77 Chipset while on the other side are by ASMedia. You will also find the USB 3.0 L-Type Oriented Header for better cable management.
Bundled Accessories
•1x Certificate of Quality and Stability
•1x Manual and Software Application Guide
•1x Drivers & Utilities DVD (Winki III)
•1xSLI Bridge
•1xEasyConnector Header Guide
•1xIO Back Panel Plate
•4x SATA 6GB/s Cables
•1xV-Check Cables
I was able to test the motherboard using an Intel Core i7 2600K. Well it seems for me that the Z77 is more better in overclocking compared than the previous P67 and Z68 MSI models. Voltages are quite accurate too. It wasn’t hard for me reaching a 4.8GHz overclock on the said motherboard.
Below are two benchmark results using MSI Z77A-GD65 and the 2600k.
So that’s it for my share Hope you liked it guys

Answer 1

Quote from: xmad on 30-November-12, 09:49:07
I wouldn't get too tied up in benchmarking unless that is what you are going to be doing with your computer.  The -gd65 is MSI's 3rd best z77 motherboard, but it is also a bit older and has more bugs worked out.
One big strike against the gd65 is it's lack of a true hardware switch for it's multi bios. The -gd80 and mpower both have multi bios's with a true hardware switch, this come in very handy if you like to tinker and end up flashing bios allot or overclocking often where a corrupted bios is a possibility.
Just out of curiosity, what are the first and second best ?
So you say you never had issue of slow sata transfers ?