Intel Z77 Panther Point Chipset and Motherboard Preview – ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, ECS and Biostar
by Ian Cutress on April 8, 2012 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Biostar
- MSI
- Gigabyte
- ASRock
- Asus
- Ivy Bridge
- ECS
- Z77
MSI Z77A-GD65—Visual Inspection
Whenever it comes to a motherboard comparison involving ASUS, Gigabyte or ASRock against an MSI board, the MSI board always tends to show a strong result—either in terms of price, performance or features. So when it comes to the new batch of motherboards for Ivy Bridge, it is fair to say that I expect a strong showing from MSI. For this preview, we have their Z77A-GD65, which will be one behind their future released GD80 that got attention back at CES for being Thunderbolt equipped.
The Z77A-GD65 is another motherboard in this roundup that comes in a black and blue livery. This time MSI have more of an excuse than others do as they have been using it for a fair while now. Using what is essentially a 10 + 2 phase power delivery, MSI are using somewhat beefier heatsinks than their rivals, connecting both via a heatpipe. The socket area is right up against Intel's minimum requirements from left to right, but there is some room to maneuver big air coolers from top to bottom. Around the socket there are at least four fan headers to use: one 4-pin CPU header between the top VRM and the memory slots, a 4-pin system fan header just the other side of the memory slots, a 4-pin to the bottom left of the socket area, and another 4-pin beside the 24-pin ATX power connector. A fifth fan header can be found at the bottom of the board.
Along the right hand side, we have the standard MSI trio of power/reset/OC Genie buttons, followed but a series of voltage checkpoints for overclockers. Aside from the 24-pin power connector and the system fan header, there is also a USB 3.0 header at right angles to the board, indicating its primary use is to the front of the case. Underneath this are the eight SATA ports—two SATA 6 Gbps from the PCH, four SATA 3 Gbps also from the PCH, and another two SATA 6 Gbps from an ASMedia controller.
As the power/reset/OC Genie buttons are at the top right, the bottom of the board has more room to fit in all the headers as needed—front panel audio, TPM, front panel headers and USB 2.0 headers. In terms of PCIe, MSI have done away with the PCIe to PCI bridge and focused purely on PCIe. We have an x1, x16 (x8 with dual GPU), x1, x1, x8, x1, and a PCIe 2.0 x4. In this instance, there is plenty of room for a dual GPU setup with PCIe slots to spare for any extras.
Also of note is the chipset cooler, which is very flat and large with minimal fins, perhaps suggesting that MSI is confident about their heatsink design. Underneath this is a two digit debug display, and a BIOS switch for changing between two BIOSes.
On the rear IO panel, I think MSI have been reasonable with what they have left in and what they have left out. From left to right, we have a combination PS/2 port, two USB 2.0 ports (black), a clear CMOS button, digital and coaxial SPDIF outputs, two more USB 2.0 ports (black), a HDMI port, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports (blue), D-Sub, DVI-D, and audio jacks.
Board Features
MSI Z77A-GD65 | |
Size | ATX |
CPU Interface | LGA-1155 |
Chipset | Intel Z77 |
Power Delivery (CPU/iGPU) | 8 + 1 + 2 + 1 (VRM/VTT/GPU/SA) |
Memory Slots |
Four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 32 GB Up to Dual Channel, 1066-2667 MHz |
Video Outputs | HDMI, DVI-D, D-Sub |
Onboard LAN | Intel 82579V |
Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC898 |
Expansion Slots |
2 x PCIe x16 Gen3 (x16, x8/8) 1 x PCIe x16 Gen2 (x4) 4 x PCIe x1 Gen2 |
Onboard SATA/RAID |
2 x SATA 6 Gbps (PCH), Support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 4 x SATA 3 Gbps (PCH), Support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 2 x SATA 6 Gbps (ASMedia ASM1061) |
USB |
4 USB 3.0 ports (2 back panel, 2 from headers) 10 USB 2.0 ports (4 back panel, 6 from headers) |
Onboard |
4 x SATA 6Gbps 4 x SATA 3 Gbps 1 x USB 3.0 Header 3 x USB 2.0 Headers 1 x IEEE1394 Header 1 x TPM Header 1 x Front Panel Audio Header Power/Reset Buttons OC Genie 5 x Fan Headers |
Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX connector 1 x 8-pin 12V connector |
Fan Headers |
1 x CPU Fan Header (4-pin) 4 x SYS Fan Headers (two 4-pin, two 3-pin) |
IO Panel |
1 x Combo PS/2 Port 1 x Clear CMOS Button 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Port 1 x Optical S/PDIF Port 4 x USB 2.0 2 x USB 3.0 1 x Gigabit Ethernet Audio Jacks 1 x HDMI 1 x DVI-D 1 x D-Sub |
Warranty Period | 3 Years |
Product Page | Link |
It is good to see an Intel NIC on this $180 MSRP motherboard. There are plenty of headers to go around. The only things missing where other motherboards may have better all-round functionality are a PCI slot, mSATA and on-board WiFi.
145 Comments
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t4murphy - Wednesday, April 18, 2012 - link
That was a good cpu for me before I went to the 920. I still ran MS FS9 with good results along with my GTX 8800. Im not laughing:)rocknrob - Thursday, April 12, 2012 - link
I had a 920 X58 setup and decided to rebuild to an i7 2700K Z68. So far I've regretted the whole thing. I'm going to pick up one of these ASUS Z77 Deluxe boards but I don't think it's going to make a big difference.The X58's/i7's were rock solid and performance monsters. I honestly see very little in terms of performance gains. Supposedly Ive Bridge processors are only going to give you about 15% to 20% increase in performance. If that's the case I think I'm going to stick with the 2700K until the next architecture change.
457R4LDR34DKN07 - Sunday, April 8, 2012 - link
you need to get a asus P8Z77-I DELUXE review.Mitxplease - Sunday, April 8, 2012 - link
Hells yes.GreenEnergy - Sunday, April 8, 2012 - link
I only found one (tiny) review sofar:http://vr-zone.com/articles/first-look-asus-p8z77-...
457R4LDR34DKN07 - Wednesday, April 11, 2012 - link
I actually would like a comparison with ZOTAC Z77-ITX WiFi, as I'm leaning toward the zotac mobo due to the msata compatibility by removing the wifi/bt module.ViperV990 - Sunday, April 8, 2012 - link
Does the Virtu MVP stuff work with an Eyefinity or NV Surround setup?martinw89 - Sunday, April 8, 2012 - link
I'm very curious about this too. On page two, Ian says "Within the hybrid system, the integrated GPU takes over two of the tasks for the GPU – snooping for required frames, and display output. This requires a system to run in i-Mode, where the display is connected to the integrated GPU."But on page 3, Lucid's own slide makes it sound like these new features are monitor configuration independent: http://images.anandtech.com/doci/5728/Lucid1.png
This is a super interesting feature, and I hope it performs as well in reality as it sounds like on paper. And with a triple screen setup it would be bliss.
jimnicoloff - Sunday, April 8, 2012 - link
I have a three monitor setup working just fine on a Z68 board with all monitors attached to a 6970. Virtu gives the option of which you want to be primary - the video card or the integrated graphics. So for me (with the video card primary) this works kind of backwards from a power saving point, but good for performance since it still allows for quick sync video transcoding, etc.I know this doesn't adress the new Virtu MVP, but I can't see them taking a step backwards when something similar works on the old version. Especially since if you are running in eyefinity mode it is just seen by the system as one big wide monitor and not three separate screens that each get their own render. Hopefully they can pull it off because I like my three screen setup and would hate to lose features because of that.
Zoomer - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I'm leading no:"This requires a system to run in <b>i-Mode, where the display is connected to the integrated GPU.</b>"