MSI Z77A GD65 Motherboard Review
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Published: 16th July 2012 | Source: MSI | Price: £136.79 |
Introduction
The previous generation of Intel LGA1155 motherboards ran the range from the bargain basement all the way up to the enthusiast level. Of course because most of us only have a certain budget the ones in the middle of the sandwich usually prove to be the most popular, and so it was with the MSI P67 GD65. A very highly rated motherboard that we found to be only good, it proved such a big seller that for the Z77 range of MSI Motherboards the GD65 version has moved from the midrange to the range-topper.
Positioning it at the top of the MSI range naturally brings with it certain expectations. After all if it was considered so good that a GD85 was unnecessary then we hope it's all things to all people. Is that the case though?
Technical Specifications
Specifications wise the GD65 is a pretty standard Z77 affair, with the usual array of connectivity options and memory speeds available, alongside the PCI Express 3.0 slots.
We're pleased to note that it retains the excellent Genie Overclock, a previous winner of an OC3D Innovation award.
| CPU (Max Support) | i7 |
|---|---|
| FSB / Hyper Transport Bus | 100MHz |
| Chipset | Intel® Z77 |
| DDR2 Memory | N/A |
| DDR3 Memory | DDR3 1066/1333/1600/1866*/2000*/2133*(OC), 2200*/2400*/2600*/2667*/2800* (OC, 22nm CPU required) |
| Memory Channel | Dual |
| DIMM Slots | 4 |
| Max Memory (GB) | 32 |
| PCI-Ex16 | 3 |
| PCI-E Gen | Gen3 (16, 8, 4) |
| PCI-Ex4 | N/A |
| PCI-Ex1 | 4 |
| PCI | N/A |
| IDE | N/A |
| SATAIII | 4 |
| SATAII | 4 |
| RAID | 0/1/5/10 |
| LAN | 10/100/1000*1 |
| TPM | 1 |
| USB 3.0 ports (Rear) | 2 |
| USB 2.0 ports (Rear) | 4 |
| Audio ports (Rear) | 6+Coaxial / Optical SPDIF |
| Serial ports (Rear) | N/A |
| Parallel ports (Rear) | N/A |
| 1394 ports (Rear) | N/A |
| eSATA | N/A |
| Display Port | N/A |
| DrMOS II | Y |
| VGA | 1 |
| HDMI | 1 |
| DVI | 1 |
| VGA Max Share Memory (MB) | 1696 |
| 4-way SLI | N/A |
| DirectX | DX11 |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| DrMOS | N/A |
| APS | Y |
| SLI | Y |
| 3-way SLI | N/A |
| CrossFire | Y |
Most Recent Comments
Thanks for the review Bryan.
A very good review - glad I made the right choice, and thanks to SieB for recommending the '65 to me!
all i can say is, despite the bewildering options on the uefi (i really wish they'd agree on standardised namings across different uefi's) the board is godly and i'm glad my gamble paid off
lovely looking board
the only let down is my cpu refuses to go beyond 4.8 so can't get a 5ghz clock on it lol
And yeah, a stable 4.7 is great - what are your temps like when stress testing?
What stress test were you using? And at what volts?
1.3v cpu core and ibt
A testament to the CPU, the H100 and the GD65
And to GTX670 - I only go over for one off overclock attempts
|
Originally Posted by GTX670
with ivy bridge please do never exceed 1.3v , when you do a excessive voltage you will get less performance
|
It certainly looks the dogs. Haven't had a chance to o/c on it yet as my watercooling is all a bit frankenstein.
CSS Valid
Today we take a look at the latest board from MSI, the Z77A GD65, which now sits at the top of their range.
Continue Reading