MSI Z77A-GD65 Gaming Pro Reviews

We hadn’t expected much from the MSI Z77A-GD65 GAMING, so we have no reasons to be disappointed with its downsides. As for its advantages, they are hardly impressive. However, it is the newest MSI mainboards that we’re looking forward to. Every mainboard maker has prepared something special for the announcement of the LGA1150 platform, and MSI is no exception. We used to criticize MSI’s BIOS for its numerous problems but now MSI Click BIOS II is going to be replaced with MSI Click BIOS 4 in the company’s LGA1150 products (skipping over the third version for some reason). Hopefully, this will help MSI mainboards get rid of their old-time problems without acquiring new ones.

MSI is certainly moving in the right direction again. Quite frankly, we have not seen MSI as moving much anywhere in the last year as it seemed to be sitting on its laurels. The fact that attention has finally been paid to its UEFI BIOS is a big sign to us that MSI has woken up and actually gives a damn. The hardware, design, and build quality of the Z77A-GD65 Gaming motherboard are nothing short of excellent. Factor in the current price of $136 and MSI has a huge win. As the "Gaming" moniker suggests however, this is not a hardcore enthusiast level motherboard, but there will be plenty of enthusiasts and gamers that will be very satisfied with this motherboard. I think MSI has successfully secured the legacy of its GD65 series of motherboards, and for several years now these GD65 products have been our favorites in MSI's product stack. We are very much looking forward to seeing the "Z87A-GD65" motherboards soon, assuming the same naming scheme.

When a product on the market promotes itself as a gaming tool, it cannot just be part of the name or the branding. The product has to showcase why it is a gaming product, and why it is so deserving of our money above and beyond the standard product grade. Associating the product with professional gamers and marketing strongly are worth nothing if the product itself is a poor shell of what is actually good for gamers. Out with the fluff, in with what the real world needs and wants. It is hard to judge where the MSI Z77A-GD65 Gaming sits on this proverbial spectrum – in almost every way it is the standard Z77A-GD65. What makes it different is the Killer NIC for reduced lag, the gaming port (that has no associated software to make sure it is enabled), and the dragon styling, covering the shape of the VRM heatsink, the chipset heatsink, the BIOS and various elements of the software stack.

Although the MSI Z77A-GD65 Gaming Series Motherboard may be a day late to the party, it's certainly not a dollar short. Everything we asked the Z77A-GD65 Gaming motherboard to do it did without fail. We're happy with the overall performance and feature set the MSI Z77A-GD65 Gaming motheroard has to offer!

Before continuing with our final thoughts on this board, we would like to take this opportunity to give our friends at MSI a hearty “Thank You” for giving us the pleasure of reviewing the Z77A-GD65 Gaming motherboard. After getting such stellar performance out of there Z77 MPOWER board, I had high expectations for the Z77A-GD65 Gaming board going into this review. I was not disappointed. From the initial unpacking, it is obvious that MSI squarely targeted this board at gamers and enthusiasts. Its appealing black and red color scheme and dragon branding is just the tip of the iceberg. MSI took their time with the Z77A-GD65 Gaming board layout and design, using top of the line components throughout and spacing everything perfectly. Even the massive Noctua NH-D14 cooler did not make the board sweat. Its performance was consistent with the other top Intel Z77 boards in both stock and overclocked modes. Additionally, MSI kept with their uniquely pleasant and easy to use UEFI BIOS design. One of the board's advertised features appears to be the one Achilles heel of the board - the Killer NIC. Don't get me wrong, the NIC performs as good as an Intel-based NIC speed-wise. However, it does require a bit more CPU horsepower than some of the controllers I've tested - 15 to 20% average CPU utilization is higher than I'd like to see. The only other quirk was the placement of the CMOS battery. The battery would be hard to get to with a video card seated in the primary PCI-Express x16 slot.

I'm in love. Really, it's hard for me to convey how I feel about the MSI Z77A-GD65 GAMING. This Dragon has, in a way, put me under its spell, and I am, in all honesty, not sure why. With the board sitting here next to me, the Dragons of the VRM cooler looking ready to eat my poor 3770K for a snack, the MSI Z77A-GD65 GAMING board presents a well thought-out package with a highly polished design that really puts to shame quite a few boards I've had on my desk in what has been nearly a year since Ivy Bridge first hit the retail market. From the simple, yet complex heatsink design to the new BIOS and its gaming-optimized performance, the MSI Z77A-GD65 is nearly the perfect solution for the base of a high-end gaming platform with one or two GPUs. There's not too much here, but nor is there, at the same, too little.