MSI Z77A-GD65 Quick Preview

[siopao1984]

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We still have some time remaining before the official launch of the Z77 platform (April 8th) and new Intel CPU's (April 29th). However that's not stopping motherboard manufacturers from showing off their ranges of Z77 boards. Now that CeBIT is underway, every company will be proudly displaying their wares. One of the boards to come into the lab is the MSI Z77A-GD65. It is, of course, a Z77 motherboard supporting processors compatible with Socket 1155. That means the whole LGA1155 Sandy Bridge range and more importantly, 3rd generation 22nm Core i7 desktop processors due in the not too distant future.First up we check out the retail packaging. The design is nearly identical to the company's X79 range with its "Military Class III" components being the prominent theme. The back of the box is chock full of the featured technologies of the board.

There aren't any real surprises when looking at the bundled accessories. We have user manuals and a installation guide, driver CD, I/O panel, single SLi connector, four SATA cables, front panel connectors, a set of wires to connect a digital multimeter to the voltage read points and finally a official-looking certificate detailing the range of stress tests the board components have passed.

The board itself looks good and features MSI's iconic blue on black theme. The layout is generally sound although an extra fan header to complement the single one at the bottom of the board would be nice. The PCIe slot layout is fine, with at least one 1x slot available even in a triple GPU setup. We also have a total of eight SATA ports, four of which are 3GB/s with the other four supporting 6GB/s.Taking a look at some of the controller chips, we have a gigabit Intel 82579V chip taking care of a single LAN port with audio support provided by a standard Realtek ALC898 controller. The two extra SATA ports are controlled by a ASMedia ASM1061 supporting SATA 6GB/s. There is a board header for a firewire connector that is controlled by a VIA VT6315N chip. There is no need for a supplementary USB 3.0 chip as it is now integrated into the Panther Point PCH, which the board offers up to four such ports.

Read more: MSI Z77A-GD65 Quick Preview by VR-Zone.com

[siopao1984]

Below are the memory slots and some of the overclocking features. The memory slots claim support up to an impressive DDR3-2667! This is quite a jump over existing platforms and gives a hint of the capabilities of the platform.

We also see the voltage read points, power and rest switches and the one touch OC Genie automatic overclocking button.



The three blue 16x slots all support PCIe 3.0 in either 16/0/0 or 8/8/0 with Sandy Bridge or 16/0/0, 8/8/0 or 8/4/4 with upcoming CPU's. CrossfireX and SLi are supported. All of the 1x slots support PCIe 2.0 only.

On the right hand side we see the BIOS chips with the toggle switch, debug LED and the Asmedia ASM1061 chip that controls the extra SATA 6GB/s ports for a total of eight. The chipset heatsink is quite large and functions well.



The PWM section of the GD65 appears to be solid. It incorporates the usual DrMOS II components with tantalum capacitors and super ferrite chokes similar to what we've seen on MSI's Z68 and X79 range. The board should have no problem powering heavily overclocked CPU's.



On the real panel we see a total of four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a single Gigabit LAN and analogue audio jacks. MSI offers a choice of S/PDIF and coaxial digital audio outputs. Also present is a legacy PS/2 port and a CMOS clear button. We also have HDMI, DVI-D and VGA outputs taking care of the video output side.



Overall the board appears to be a good mid range contender with the bells and whistles reserved for the high end boards. We hope this means the board will come with an attractive price.

We can't give away any performance figures...yet. Some preliminary tests with a 2600K processor left a good impression. Memory compatibility, overclocking capabilities and efficiency look good even with a pre production BIOS. MSI has the makings of a solid board that should hit a nice sweet spot for performance and price with a practical set of features. We look forward to giving the board the full review treatment with a 3rd Generation Intel Core CPU soon.