Midrange boards typically have to sacrifice features to get under $200 and MSI’s Z77A-GD65 shows evidence of this philosophy. It’s the only board here without a discrete USB 3.0 controller, instead relying on the native Intel chipset for all USB 3.0. It’s also the only board without DisplayPort.
Folks still rolling PCI components will also have to look elsewhere, as MSI ditches the legacy expansion slot for another PCIe slot.
MSI shaved costs by jettisoning extra USB 3.0 ports on the Z77A-GD65.
Don’t take this to mean MSI cut out all the frills. The board has onboard power and reset switches, overclocking voltage contacts, an LED POST readout, and, like the two others here, offers both CrossFireX and SLI as well as LucidLogix Virtu support.
In performance, MSI takes the safe road by keeping the clocks lower than the other two boards. At stock speeds, the board topped out at 3.7GHz on multithreaded loads and generally bounced around 3.8GHz with single-threaded loads. The two others here ran full tilt at 3.9GHz on all workloads. Overall, the performance among the trio is generally close.
Like the Gigabyte, MSI’s board is obviously intended for Ivy Bridge chips. Why? The last x16 PCIe 3.0 slot only works with an Ivy Bridge. If you intend to run an older Sandy Bridge chip, the slot is deactivated, as SNB doesn’t have enough PCIe bandwidth to run it. By sticking with PCIe 2.0 from the peripheral controller hub, the Asus’s third x16 is hot no matter which chip you run.
The Z77A-GD65 is a fine board at its price, but yuan for yuan, the Asus and Gigabyte simply outclass it in extra features and specsmanship.
Intel LAN controller; OC Genie works well.
Not enough USB 3.0 ports; no DisplayPort
$189, www.msi.com
| Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H | Asus P8Z77-V | MSI Z77A-GD65 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3DMark11 Overall | P6,052 | P6,308 | P6,221 |
| PCMark 7 Overall | 3,549 | 3,739 | 3,603 |
| PCMark 7 Lightweight | 2,526 | 2,755 | 2,584 |
| PCMark 7 Productivity | 2,387 | 2,610 | 2,380 |
| Valve Particle (fps) | 203 | 208 | 190 |
| SiSoft Sandra 2012 (GB/s) | 21 | 21.3 | 20.72 |
| SATA 6Gb/s read (MB/s) | 497.9 | 509.9 | 484.0 |
| SATA 6Gb/s write (MB/s) | 230.4 | 247.1 | 234.0 |
| Native USB 3.0 read (MB/s) | 250.2 | 429.9 | 250.9 |
| Native USB 3.0 write (MB/s) | 177.5 | 181.3 | 177.3 |
| Discrete USB 3.0 read (MB/s) | 243.2 | 324.5 | N/A |
| Discrete USB 3.0 write (MB/s) | 178.1 | 181.8 |
N/A |
| SLI Compliance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 32GB Compliance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Auto Overclock | 4.5GHz | 4.2GHz | 4.2GHz |
Best scores are bolded. We used a Core i7-3770K, 8GB of DDR3/1866 set at DDR3/1600, a WD Raptor 150, a GeForce GTX 580, and 64-bit Windows 7 Professional in all of our motherboards. SATA 6Gb/s speeds were measured with CrystalDiskMark 3.01 and an OWC Mercury Extreme SSD. USB 3.0 speeds were measured with CrystalDiskMark and a Patriot Wildfire SSD in a USB 3.0 enclosure using an Asmedia controller. 32GB compliance was measured with four 8GB DDR3 modules.
NOTE: This article appeared in the August 2012 issue of the magazine.
Comments are closed on this article
methuselah
November 12, 2012 at 12:11pm
What?? Did not review the
Asrock Z77 Extreme 4??http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293
That thing is a poor man's mobo in a performance man's package! To say nothing about how incredibly popular it is.
I easily overclocked my 3770k to 4.5ghz.You can even get it for $50 off if you buy it from Microcenter w/ an 1155 proc.
The only downside (as with most mid range mobo's) is the RAM slots are too close to the processor, making it difficult for aftermarket coolers (Megahalems for example) to fit w/out blocking the slots.
Max PC - Please review this mobo, I'd love to see how it stacks up agains the competition here.
burpnrun
November 12, 2012 at 9:11am
@Gordon Mah Ung: Is the Asus P8Z77-V a real, live board that is actually available (let alone at a $189 price point?) in the marketplace?
Yes, it's listed on the Asus US website. No, it's not listed on NewEgg, Tiger. etc. So no way to validate the price, let alone the availability of the product.
Also, given all the goodies on the board, and the other listings for this board number and variants on NewEgg, i'm very skeptical of the $189 price point. Could it be that Asus smoked the reviewer?
Mediziner
November 11, 2012 at 7:19pm
I know I'm kinda spamming on the comments, but here is is link to my planned rig:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?
WishListNumber=19402825and I'm choosing between this and a this (which is mATX):
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=21336206
Which one should I get? What can I cut corners on?
Strangelove_424
November 11, 2012 at 10:46pm
You're using a 2600k and aiming at budget mobos, so the typical z77/h77 benefits of multiple PCI 3.0 lanes/thunderbolt are moot to you. Haswell will require a new platform anyway, so these h77/z77 boards will be useless for that generation as well. In all probability, since you have the stellar 2600k, you will never own an IB chip and will skip right to Haswell by that point. Essentially, you will never put an IB chip into an IB-based mobo. It would also be a shame not to OC the 2600k, which begs for it. Having said all that, I really think you should be looking at Z68 boards. This is an open box, but the warranty is still upheld and you can have your cake and eat it too:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131786R
Mediziner
November 13, 2012 at 6:48pm
I'm pretty sure the board you suggested doesn't have PCIe 3.0 (the board you suggested only has PCIe 2.0, and doesn't PCIe 3.0 give you a ~10-15% performance increase?). Also, I don't need to overclock. All I'm really going to be doing on it that's CPU-intensive is gaming. But thanks anywasy for you help.
Mediziner
November 10, 2012 at 3:11pm
I'm currently deciding on a budget rig with the Biostar Hi-Fi Z77, so if there is another mobo I should get? What should it be? And is the audio on the Hi-Fi actually good? or...
Hilarity
November 11, 2012 at 12:58pm
Get a H77M-D3H and a Core i5 3470. Sink the rest into a 680 or 7970 GHz.
Mediziner
November 11, 2012 at 1:56pm
My friend gave me his 2600K, so I'm running that. Anyways, I'm on a strict budget. Also, I don't need a heavy-duty graphics card, so I'll be running either a 660 or 7870... still can't decide which:(
Mediziner
November 11, 2012 at 2:01pm
I won't be overclocking and will probably using the Xigmatek Gaia. Oh yeah... mATX?????? Should I get a 67/68 series or 77 series and what's the difference? (Besides PCIe 3.0)
Strangelove_424
November 10, 2012 at 1:56pm
Auto OC to 4.5? and 4.68?... on Ivy Bridge?!?! It doesn't surprise me the chip isn't stable at 4.68, but I'm curious just how astronomical the v-core and temps are at that frequency. In my experience with Sandy Bridge on an Asus, auto-OCing is equivalent to a CPU self-destruct option. Asus happily fried my chip with 1.40v into 85c trying to achieve 4.7Ghz, and didn't stop until it crashed the whole system, requiring a bios reset. These auto-OC features imo are extremely dangerous. They're not optimizing settings as much as pushing them to limits a rational user would never think of doing. On an Ivy Bridge machine I built for my dad, the frequency/temp/v-core sweet spot is indeed 4.2Ghz, and no amount of wishful thinking on the mobo's part could change that. If you do have your eyes set on the stratosphere, get there manually, as the auto-OCing features are not developed with balance, rationality, or the long term health of your CPU in mind.
tony2tonez
November 10, 2012 at 10:33am
I actually posted a question on the help my buy/build forums about the Z77 or X89 board. I am running P35. Asus board. Maximus V Formula. Probably X79 model.
Mediziner
November 10, 2012 at 9:16am
I can actually find the MSI Z77A-GD65 on Newegg for $150 with free shipping... and there are mutiple models of the Asus mobo you reveiwed, such as the Asus P8Z77-V LK, Asus P8Z77-V LX, Asus P8Z77-V LE, Asus P8Z77-V LE PLUS, Asus P8Z77-V PRO, Asus P8Z77-V PRO/Thunderbolt, Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe, and the Asus P8Z77-V Premium, all ranging from $130 to $450. So do they offer the same preformance, or...
Hilarity
November 09, 2012 at 11:31pm
You should point out that an $80 H77 board will give you virtually identical performance. Yes you can OC and all that, but really, if you want to save cash, you don't need Z77 or OC. I went for a 3470 and H77M-D3H. Simple, saved a bit too.
Hilarity
November 10, 2012 at 1:10pm
Yes. Stock vs stock. No difference. Those fancy motherboards are a big waste of money.
fygquas
November 09, 2012 at 11:19pm
For me, the MSI is the one to get. Because the blue paint they use matches the ones used on Corsair Vengeance Blue. They are almost the exact same shade!
tekknyne
November 09, 2012 at 8:59pm
Good read, but I'm definitely feeling the Asrock Extreme 4 @ $124 on Newegg all day. I have the P67 Extreme 4 and man this thing has been great. Needless to say it's going to the lady and I'll get nab the z77 board :)
TheMissingPiece
November 09, 2012 at 8:36pm
I'll have to go with Gordon's recommendation here. I personally own a P8Z77-V and love it. That fan Xpert's pretty useful.
jimmthang
November 09, 2012 at 5:34pm
Yes, it was originally from our August issue, but we also realize there are readers here that don't have an active subscription to the magazine that are also interesting in building budget ivy bridge rigs. Don't worry about a dirth in original web content, we'll have plenty to come in the future!
- Online Managing Editor Jimmy Thang
jason2393
November 10, 2012 at 3:08am
I wish more of the articles from the magazines were posted here. Countless times, I've been reading an MPC article, and felt a strong urge to post a comment, but couldn't because the paper edition has no such feature...
Now, about the article: I'll stick with P67 until MaxPC posts an article telling me Intel is using fluxless solder again.
P.S. Did you mean 'dearth'? I disagree, all of my Econ papers have been sourced from this site's news articles (if you have an even higher volume on the way, that's great!). I wish there were more Saturday posts, though.
j_j_montez
November 09, 2012 at 6:04pm
I appreciate the article. I need to renew my subscription, and I missed this one. I understand you don't just want to throw everything online for free, so I'm glad you guys posted this. I love the hardware comparisons.
Mediziner
November 09, 2012 at 5:31pm
Could you guys please do a reveiw on mATX motherboards and cases? Thanks!
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