MSI Z87-GD65 Beautiful Motherboard

[mikeyc332000]

After recently acquiring myself a new MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming Motherboard and Haswell i5 4670K ,thought it would be a good idea to share my initial thoughts and opinion of the new motherboard.
I think no one can argue at the beautifully incorporated dragon heatsinks and engineered outlines and of course the style winning red and black that sets it off.
Away from the good looks and pretty face the board is a A1 feature packed game killing mean machine with lag free Killer E2200 Game Networking Internet and OC Genie 4 which really boosts the speed up and leaves your opposition wondering where that headshot came from.Given that alone is good enough with the HD4600 on board graphics from the z87 chipset opened by your Haswell processor use the Multi GPU option with a couple of graphics cards in SLI or Crossfire then your on a different planet before anyone else has fastened their seatbelt.
On board multiple Sata 6Gbs 8 to be precise gives enough room for expansion on a grand scale along with USB3x6 completing the array with Audio Boost and Cinema Sound the quality is just enormous for a board so reasonably priced ,I picked mine up for £156 bargain.
The only thing that I find a bit off is the Bios menu which with my screen seems a bit fuzzy to the eye wether this is because my screens a little old Im not sure, but with the in Windows Command Centre then theres really not much need to enter the bios once you've done your initial set up which was in my opinion quite a pain free swift experience.
On the whole it takes me a lot to get enthused with a motherboard but this time MSI have really tweaked my buttons and I've found myself ranting on about its greatness to anyone who will listen and then some to those who dont.
No more to say except well chuffed and time to play some more Mike

[kalniel]

Thanks for the review. I'm curious how a CPU overclock has any effect on the stealthiness of headshots in games. Could you explain more (which game, what settings etc?). Also do you know what the voltage changes the OC genie makes are? The automated overclocks on motherboards tend to run voltages a little high for my liking.

[Willzzz]

I'm more curious about how SLI/CF takes you to a different planet, and how he knows given that he doesn't have multiple graphics cards in his system.

I've yet to hear of an auto overclock that would replace manual tweaking.

[Teelzebub]

I'm more curious about how SLI/CF takes you to a different planet, and how he knows given that he doesn't have multiple graphics cards in his system.

I've yet to hear of an auto overclock that would replace manual tweaking.

Agreed with all of the above, tbh I find that motherboard to be well a bit naff with the dragons on it I wonder if it goes faster the more dragons you have

[Shirty]

^ Tel would've preferred a pink PCB with fairy decals

[Teelzebub]

^ Tel would've preferred a pink PCB with fairy decals

Speaks the man by his own admission pees in the shower

[Shirty]

And is peed on in the shower

/OT

[Willzzz]

What a shame to ruin this guys advert.. ahem.. review thread.

No strike-through tag available?

[kalniel]

No strike-through tag available?

No Yes.

[Willzzz]

Oi, don't tease me, tell me what it is!

[Teelzebub]

Oi, don't tease me, tell me what it is!

this It's [ st ] word [ / st ] with no spaces

[Shirty]

Any [literal] tags on this version of vBulletin?

[Willzzz]

Aha!

[Phage]

Weird - I have the Z77 GD65 and there's no wildlife at all. I may have to send it back !
And yes OC genie uses too much volts for a 4.2 Oc on my 3570k as standard. You can do a lot better manually. I've got 4.5 @ 1.18v

[Kovoet]

Looks wise tbh I think it looks cheap and nasty. Even the ASrock is a better looking board.

[lodore]

Thanks for the review. That is the motherboard I am going to get for my new haswell build.