Intel Z77 Motherboard Review with Ivy Bridge - ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI
by Ian Cutress on May 7, 2012 7:40 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- MSI
- Gigabyte
- ASRock
- Asus
- Ivy Bridge
- Z77
MSI Z77A-GD65 - Overview
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. Therefore, 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. Today, 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 currently retails at $190, a good amount above the Gigabyte board. With the MSI, we have an Intel NIC, a full set of audio outputs, but no PCI or mSATA. The Z77A-GD65 is in general a good board to play with. It would underpin any Z77 build with ease. The design is beneficial to multi-GPU setups, offers voltage read points of overclockers, and gives a front facing USB 3.0 port for front panel USB 3.0 cases. The auto-overclocking OC Genie is relatively simple, but using the BIOS is straightforward (either at boot time or in the OS with Click BIOS software) to get something more befitting an Ivy Bridge processor.
Due to some of the other boards providing an overclock out-of-the-box, performance on the MSI may seem to be a little down on the other boards, but by enabling OC Genie on board, which every processor should be able to do, performance numbers would be comparable to the competition.
Visual Inspection
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 by 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 6 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 | |
| Price | Link |
| 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 motherboard and plenty of headers to go around. The only things missing where other motherboards may have better all-round functionality are a PCI slot, mSATA or on-board WiFi.
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hasseb64 - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - link
My last build was with a Z68 ATX MB, such a build will never happen again in my house. Next update will have Micro-ATX or maybe even a Mini-ATX.During my 15 years of computer building I have never used more than 1 GPU
In next computer I will probably not use any more expansion, today I have a old SB card installed.
And 2 slots for memory will do too (2x8 GB)
All HDDs are in separate WHS2011 box
ATX feels more and more like a thing of the past, these Taiwan makers are holding on as it seems but the future for them are to deliver smaller packages = less money.
ggathagan - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
For the vast majority of folks, you are correct, and the board manufacturers are also catering to that market.There are, however, plenty of people that *do* have multi-GPU systems.
Further, there are more uses for PCIe than just GPU's; RAID controllers, 10GbE NIC's, and high end sound cards, to name a few.
Zoomer - Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - link
To be honest, with GPUs these days, 7 slots seem to be not enough. 2 slots are needed for the GPU, 3 for semi-decent cooling, particularly for these darn open air coolers manufacturers like to use for some reason.Sysiphus - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - link
Is it possible to control 3pin fans on this boards? I didnt see a option and the asus board has only 4pins. Chassisfans are normally 3pinned.kstan12 - Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - link
i own the asus p8z77-v pro. i have plugged my rear chassis & side panel fans into the 4 pin connectors on the mobo and i can control them with fan expert 2.i bought a few of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
Zoomer - Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - link
Can they be controlled via speedfan?mcquade181 - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
You can plug 3 pin fans into 4 pin MB connectors.ggathagan - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
Under the "ASRock Z77 Extreme4 - Overview" section you mention XFast USB twice.The second time should be XFast RAM
Under the "Visual Inspection" section for the MSI Z77A-GD65:
"Underneath this are the eight SATA ports - two SATA 6 Gbps from the PCH, four SATA 6 Gbps also from the PCH, and another two SATA 6 Gbps from an ASMedia controller."
I believe it should be "four SATA 3 Gbps also from the PCH...".
Under "Updates to our Testing Methodology"
"Also with experience allows us to pick tests ..."
Should be "Also, experience allows us to pick tests ..."
Under the conclusion section for the ASRock Z77 Exteme4:
"The XFast LAN software also shows superior performance in incompressible transfers or real-world transfers compared to standard USB throughput."
Should be "XFast USB software..."
All that aside, great review.
I appreciate the effort you and the rest of the Anandtech staff put in to improving your test processes.
I especially appreciate this multi-board approach that highlights the key differences across a series of boards that use the same chipset.
It certainly helps when making purchasing decisions.
Nickel020 - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
You say in the conclusion that you gain voltage read points by going withe MSI over the Gigabyte - the Gigabyte though does in fact also have voltage read points, just a less convenient implementationAs for the review: I realize that there are time constraints and you can't do one of the in-depth reviews that we sometimes got in the past, but I would like to see a more convenient user oriented layout, e.g. tables comparing the features of the boards, a table comparing the OC results etc. The way the review is structures i have to take a look at every board seperately, take notes and then compare them. Also some more comments on how the tested models compare to other models of the same manufacturers would be nice. Doesn't take much time, but greatly helps someone shopping around for a board.
Lastly, I'm highly skeptical of the software voltage readings but I know that many people do take such software readings as absolute truth, not realizing their potential flaws. You seem reasonably skeptical as well, and this is something I think should be mentioned in the review to prevent misunderstandings.
FozzyofAus - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
Hi guys,Any change you could review the:
AsRock z77 Professional-M
In addition to the previously requested:
AsRock z77 Extreme4-m
Thanks in advance,
Michael.