MSI Z68A-GD80 (G3) Pro Reviews

The Z68A-GD80 G3’s price is up in the $250-260 price range which puts it on a level footing with some of today’s most respected boards like the ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe and Gigabyte’s Z68A-UD5. It is difficult to choose a winner between the three because each board has its own unique flavor but The GD80 does have an edge in the warranty department. Unfortunately, it is currently behind the competition in terms of BIOS support but once updates start (hopefully) flowing on a more regular basis, MSI could have a clear winner in the $250 price range While the GD80 may have some minor issues, it has the makings of an absolutely fabulous motherboard that packs enough features to satisfy just about anyone. We do want to give credit where credit is due for Gen 3 support, a great auto overclocking routine, an attractive yet intuitive UEFI BIOS and a very useful Control Center utility which includes memory timings. As such, MSI’s Z68A-GD80 G3 gets our Innovative award.

If you ask about my personal opinion of the MSI Z68A-GD80 (G3) mainboard, I may sound pretty disappointed. Of course, my experience was not the easy one because of the encountered error and the numerous attempts to get it sorted out and fixed, which required getting the board on and off the testbed countless times and in the end cost me a lot of time and effort. However, I hope you won’t ever have to deal with the same issue and therefore, your impression of this mainboard will be totally unbiased. It is a definitely a product with rich set of accessories, which could only use an additional module bringing USB 3.0 ports to the front of the system case. It features very smart and convenient layout 9the only questionable thing being a six-pin power connector for additional graphics card power supply. It boasts extensive functionality and offers a lot of additional onboard controllers. It looks like an exact replica of the MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) model, but features a tremendously improved new MSI Click BIOS II, which looks way better than the first MSI UEFI BIOS version. Although I have to admit that it acquired a number of new problems, some of which have already been fixed, and is missing a few useful features, such as the ability to adjust the rotation speed of additional fans. Unfortunately, MSI’s proprietary software is mostly quite disappointing, but you don’t have to use it. Besides, there is hope that it will eventually become much more user-friendly.

For those that aren’t quite ready to make the plunge into Intel’s X79 chipset and they haven’t been too impressed with AMD’s offerings; this board represents and incredible value that shouldn’t be overlooked. MSI has even simplified the upgrade process by including Lucid Hydra technology for your graphics solution. Given the way prices on these boards have dropped since the X79 boards hit the market, I wouldn’t imagine that they’re going to get that much cheaper. You might be able to find some great bundle deals on this board if you look around. MSI have already priced this board to move and at its current price you really shouldn’t look anywhere else for a Z68. Given its price, included features and performance this is an Editor’s Choice here at Motherboards.Org.

There are a lot of really nice features that the MSI Z68A-GD80 (G3) comes with: support for the next generation PCI-Express Gen 3.0 slot interface, 5 Year Warranty after registration, fast UEFI BIOS that's both appealing easy to use, OC Genie II, and the Military Class II components all add value to this motherboard. In addition, it will support the next generation Ivy Bridge processors, and next generation graphics hardware. So is it worth getting the MSI Z68A-GD80 (G3) over the previous (B3) version or compared to other competitors boards? For users who are planning on using the motherboard for 2-3 years, perhaps. However, for users who currently have a strong system that can handle most of the games on the market, then probably not. We do have to remember that at the moment, there is no support for PCI-E Gen 3 because the current Sandy Bridge processors do not support PCI-E Gen 3 slots. Ivy Bridge will provide the performance needed to support PCI-E Gen 3, but even then, we'll need to wait for PCI-E 3.0 video cards to arrive before the new interface can be fully utilized.

We'd like to thank MSI for providing the Z68A-GD80 motherboard for our review. The Z68A-GD80 builds upon the successes MSI had with their previous P67 motherboards and went all out with their next-generation Click BIOS II. Creating software that seamlessly ties into the BIOS to make changes right from Windows will help users overclock their systems on the fly and make other basic changes. The incorporation of Intel's Z68 chipset really brings together the best features from the H67 and P67 chipsets and allows MSI to leverage all of those capabilities in this $220 motherboard. The addition of three PCI Express 3.0 slots really make this board future proof and a good solution for gamers with SLI or CrossfireX graphics configurations. Overall, the Z68A-GD80 earns PC Perspective's Gold Award.

MSI has not let up with this offering and continues to improve the product and brand for its consumers. You get all the latest technology to future proof your build (as much as is possible), a huge BIOS upgrade, a killer five year warranty, Military spec parts, and a board that overclocks with the best of them on the market, all for a $10 premium over the B3 board. Can you say winner?