MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) Pro Reviews

We are quite pleased with the MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) mainboard we’ve just tested. It is a cleverly designed product, the 6-pin power connector for graphics cards being the only questionable solution. It offers a full selection of interfaces including eSATA, USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gbps and IEEE1394 (FireWire). The only interface that’s missing is Power eSATA. It supports AMD CrossFireX and Nvidia SLI. It has video outputs, so you can use not only Intel Smart Response, like on the Gigabyte mainboards we tested earlier, but also LucidLogix Virtu, which is yet another special feature of the new Intel Z68 Express chipset. MSI Click BIOS isn’t exceptional and can’t match ASUS EFI BIOS, yet it is not as unsuccessful as Elitegroup’s UEFI BIOS implementation. We were somewhat disappointed with the somewhat strange operation of the exclusive APS technology but the latter works well in default mode together with CPU-integrated power-saving technologies, unlike Gigabyte mainboards, for example.

If you've bought a P67 or H67 board, the very existence of the new Z68 motherboards might frustrate you (perhaps you can sell your existing motherboard). But the advantages are significant and it's worth considering an upgrade.

The MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) has several nice features, such as two FireWire ports, four USB 3.0 ports, three PCI Express x16 slots, decent audio quality with optical SPDIF output, a very high-end voltage regulator circuit, and an impressive set of overclocking options, allowing you to increase the CPU base clock using 0.01 MHz (10 kHz) steps, which is unbelievable. In addition, the OC Genie button allows you to overclock your system without the need of manually changing any complicated settings. It supports Lucidlogix Virtu technology, allowing the computer to automatically turn off your add-on video cards when you are not playing games, thereby saving energy. Furthermore, you can benefit from Intel’s Smart Response Technology to greatly improve your system’s performance.

MSI has put together a good functional package with the Z68A-GD80 that offers up real performance enhancements along with some innovative features to put this board a couple notches above the P67 based boards in its lineup.