By Steven Iglesias-Hearst
Manufacturer: Micro Star International
Product Name: Z77A-G45 GAMING
Model Number: 911-7752-19S
UPC: 816909106244
Price As Tested: $139.99 (Amazon | NewEgg)
Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Micro-Star Int’l Co., Ltd.
Intel’s Haswell CPU’s and Z87 motherboards may well be just around the corner, but that hasn’t stopped MSI from releasing another line of Z77 motherboards. With this new line of motherboards MSI are aiming at the gaming scene, and have a bold new color scheme and heatsink design to match. We are used to seeing either yellow or blue theme motherboards from MSI but this new ‘gaming’ line-up breaks that mold.
Benchmark Reviews takes a look at the mid-range MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING LGA1155 Motherboard (P/N 911-7752-19S) in this article. The MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard supports 3rd and 2nd Gen’ Intel CPU’s designed for the LGA115x socket, and supports DDR3 speeds up to 3000MHz (OC). To differentiate itself from motherboards with the same chipset, extras like a KILLER E2200 NIC, Creative Sound Blaster Cinema and PCI Express Gen’ 3 expansion slots aim to make sure you have a high quality experience with this latest offering from MSI.
It is not unusual for a hardware manufacturer to sponsor e-Sports or even have their own gaming team these days, and MSI is setting new standards for getting involved with the gaming scene. Sure ASUS has their ROG division, but they also charge a high premium. MSI on the other hand have lowered that cost sufficiently enough to take some market share away from ASUS with their Z77 ‘GAMING’ motherboards. Join me in the next section as we take a good look at the aesthetics and layout of the MSI Z77A-G45 Gaming Motherboard.
MSI are giving Z77 one last chance to show what it is capable of before Intel release Haswell CPU’s and Z78 socket Motherboards. It makes sense for MSI to release it’s gaming line-up on an established platform since all issues have been ironed out by now and stability is crucial when releasing something new.
The box tells you everything you need to know while remaining minimal. There is no doubt about the purpose of this motherboard.
The MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING Motherboard has a black colored PCB and rich red accents on the heatsinks. The first potential issue I noticed is the placement of the SATA ports, they are directly in line with the top PCIe 3.0 x16 slot and I noticed that my video card makes contact. The MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard supports up to 32GB DDR3 memory in its four DIMM slots. Depending on your CPU and RAM, it will support memory speeds up to 3000MHz (OC).
The PCIe lanes are laid out as follows:
- PCIe 2.0 x1
- PCIe 3.0 x16 (16 lanes)
- PCIe 2.0 x1
- PCIe 2.0 x1 (When populated #3 will not function)
- PCIe 3.0 x16 (16 lanes)
- PCIe 2.0 x1
- PCIe 2.0 x16 (x8 electrical, x4 speed)
The CPU socket looks quite crowded but your CPU’s mounting mechanism will be the deciding factor here. The mounting system of the Noctua NH-D14 provides ample clearance above the capacitors and chokes surrounding the LGA115x socket and a low profile set of Corsair memory modules sit comfortably in DDR3 slots 2 and 4.
The Z77 chipset supports the integrated GPU of 2nd and 3rd Gen’ Intel Core processors. Which video ports a board will provide is up to the vendor; MSI provides VGA, DVI, and HDMI outputs. Starting from the left, there’s a combination PS/2 port for a mouse or keyboard, two USB 2.0 sockets, the Clear CMOS button, RCA and optical audio outputs, two more USB 2.0 ports and the HDMI connector, a gigabit Ethernet port and two USB 3.0 connectors, the VGA and DVI ports, and last a standard analog audio panel.
Storage is not one of the strongest points of this motherboard, MSI have provided only the ports that are supported by the CPU. SATA ports 1~2 are 6GB/s compliant while ports 3~6 are 3GB/s compliant.
The MSI dragon has migrated from their gaming notebook line to the desktop gaming platform, making a statement about MSI’s commitment to PC gaming enthusiasts.
In this section we take a closer look at the notable features of the MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING Motherboard.
Above the RAM slots there are four CPU phase LED’s. The phase LED’s light up blue in real time according to the load on the CPU. This feature is on by default and can be turned off in the MSI Command Center software if you don’t find it useful.
The internal I/O connectors on the Z77A-G45 GAMING Motherboard are in a slightly different layout than I am used to. The main difference being the front panel headers are in the middle rather than their ‘standard’ placement on the far right. There are a number of proprietary headers (JTPM1, JDLED3 and JCI1) available that support optional extra hardware from MSI, and are covered in more detail in the user guide.
Although it is more of a bench testers feature, the Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard sports V-Check points for the more avid enthusiast that likes to tinker with their hardware.
I didn’t spot it right away but a closer inspection of the VRM/phase heatsinks reveals that they are shaped like the head of a dragon. This is a nice touch but it will be inevitably lost in an enclosed system with a large CPU cooler much like my own. Even with a large side panel window I can’t see either of these heatsinks behind the gigantic Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler.
The image above shows the more noteworthy IC’s featured on the Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard from MSI. Firstly we see the KILLER E2205-B NIC from Qualcomm Atheros. specially designed with gamers in mind the KILLER E2200 NIC accelerates gaming and streaming media (UDP traffic) for a more responsive feeling network connection.
The Fintek F71889AD Super I/O IC monitors hardware values such as voltages, fan speeds and component temperatures etc. Voltage adjustment (overclocking) comes courtesy of the uPI Semiconductor uP1618A IC. HDMI and DVI outputs are controlled by two Parade PS8101 HDMI/DVI Level Shifter IC’s allowing for simultaneous use. Four asmedia ASM1480 IC’s provide the PCIe 3.0 lanes.
In this section we will take a brief look at the UEFI ClickBios II. The outer shell remains the same throughout and the center pane handles the data. I found that MSI’s ClickBios II keeps many aspects of a legacy BIOS (mainly text based) with a snazzy interface that takes up more room than it needs to. The center pane deserves more room.
This is the landing screen of the MSI Z77A-G45 Gaming Motherboard UEFI. Information pertaining to CPU and RAM is immediately available without having to find your way to the hardware monitor, and three large icons below that allow you to quickly and easily select different operation modes. A lot of effort has gone into making the UI look good which really adds to the overall user experience.
ClickBios II works much the same as legacy BIOS with the added bonus of being able to use your mouse. There are no magic sliders to modify CPU speed or memory frequency, it is all still heavily text based which I found it very easy to use.
The large icons on the left and right make for speedy transitions between configuration modes. If you are more familiar with a legacy BIOS you will easily navigate around this UEFI. MSI allow for a lot of user configurable values in the overclocking settings, but you will need to know what you are doing as the ‘HELP’ prompts can be very vague.
Scrolling down in the OC settings pane reveals yet more user configurable values.
The ECO section of the UEFI gives you settings that pertain to energy saving. Each setting is covered in detail in the user guide. It’s nice to see that higher end motherboards need not be the power hungry monsters they used to be.
In the utilities section you have option to back up your hard drives and update your BIOS ROM. I have never been a fan of live update (like installing a BIOS in windows) for the simple fact that so many things could potentially go wrong. Live update has the advantage that it will find the latest BIOS file for you, but it’s not as if that’s really a hard task. Best bet for me it to stick to simple methods where I have control.
Standard and new features are found in the security section of the UEFI. The most notable feature for me is ‘U-Key’ which allows you to create a physical level of security via a USB key. If this feature is enabled and the USB key is not present, then the motherboard will not boot.
In this section of the review we will take a brief look at the main software for the MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING Motherboard: MSI Control Center (PC) and Command Center (Android/iOS).
The first screen of MSI Control Center gives you info regarding your CPU and memory and their operating speeds, more detail is available via the ‘More’ and ‘advanced’ buttons. In this screen you can overclock in real time without needing to reboot your system. Of course when you go too far the system will become unstable and our old friend BSOD will present itself. After a quick reboot original safe settings are restored and you may continue playing.
The next tab is OC Genie. This screen is somewhat of a waste in my opinion. A paragraph of text that tells you “You are a dummy”, a fancy info-graphic, and an icon to enable and disable OC Genie. I enabled OC Genie and awaited confirmation, I don’t quite know what I was expecting but any sort of confirmation would have done. “OC Genie has successfully overclocked your CPU, you are now running at 7GHz” would have been nice, but I was left hanging. I will end this rant on a positive note though. OC Genie was able reach a stable overclock of 4.2GHz on my CPU in the same amount of time it took my mouse to click on the OC Genie icon and enable it. If you want a stable overclock and you can’t be bothered to learn how it all works then OC Genie is for you, and it only takes one click of your mouse. Genie-ous.
The Green Power tab allows you to monitor your system temperatures and adjust fan speeds to save power and reduce system noise. It’s quite basic but gets the job done all the same.
In the LED screen you can enable/disable the CPU phase LED’s on the motherboard.
The Record tab is your hardware monitor screen, useful if you are pushing your system to its limits and want to keep a record of what’s happening during a benchmark or stability test. in the bottom pane you can set thresholds to trigger an alert if they are reached.
The mobile tab allows you to set up a virtual server on your PC that will allow overclocking and system monitoring via an Android or iOS mobile device. This feature is also available to MSI Afterburner, so you can now control all aspects of your overclocking and monitor your system’s vital statistics via a remote handheld device.
MSI are taking overclocking to the next level with their Command Center app. As if overclocking from the Windows desktop wasn’t enough, you can now remotely adjust settings via your Android or iOS device. All of the settings available in the MSI Control Center desktop utility are also available in the MSI Command Center application. Setup is quick and easy and the UI is very well laid out.
The MSI Command Center app also features a very handy hardware monitor. Values are updated in real time so you can monitor your systems vital statistics while you are running benchmarks, stress testing your system or playing games. It would be nice if Command Center could also detect your video card but MSI do also have an Afterburner app for Android and iOS devices.
eControl has options to shutdown or reboot your system and a clear CMOS button. The next tab (shown above) is a nifty media center remote. This is a great addition for HTPC/Gaming PC’s hooked up to a big screen where using a mouse and keyboard might not always be practical.
Motherboards based on the same chipset tend to have very similar performance. This wasn’t always the case, but now that the memory controller is in the processor, and the PCIe lanes are in the chipset, it’s not surprising that everyone’s “Z77” chipset motherboard performs pretty much alike…at stock settings, anyway.
The MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING Motherboard is, as the name suggests, primarily a gaming platform. With the right CPU overclocking is facilitated, but this motherboard isn’t all about overclocking. There is only a 6-phase CPU power setup, enhanced power circuitry and extra power connectors are reserved for the Z77A-G45’s bigger brother, the Z77A-GD65 GAMING Motherboard.
I will test the motherboard using the synthetic AIDA64 benchmark’s CPU tests as well as a “real world” benchmark, SPECviewperf, at stock, OC Genie overclock settings, and the best “hand tuned” overclock I can reach. MSI’s “OC Genie” raised the 2600K’s stock speed of 3.4GHz to 4.2GHz, and I was able to reach 4.5GHz after a little bit of tweaking and a few BSOD’s when I pushed too hard.
- Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard with BIOS V17.0B4
- Processor: 3.4GHz 2nd Gen’ Intel Core i7-2600K “Sandy Bridge” CPU
- System Memory: 8GB Corsair LP DDR3 1600MHz CL9
- Disk Drive 1: OCZ Vertex 2 60GB
- Video Card: MSI GTX 560Ti HAWK
- CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
- PSU: Corsair HX750W 750 watt Modular
- Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (SP1)
- AIDA64 v2.85.2400
- SPECViewPerf 11
Let’s start out with AIDA64 synthetic benchmarks.
AIDA64 is a full 64-bit benchmark and test suite utilizing MMX, 3DNow! and SSE instruction set extensions, and will scale up to 32 processor cores. An enhanced 64-bit System Stability Test module is also available to stress the whole system to its limits. For legacy processors all benchmarks and the System Stability Test are available in 32-bit versions as well. Additionally, AIDA64 adds new hardware to its database, including 300 solid-state drives. On top of the usual ATA auto-detect information the new SSD database enables AIDA64 to display flash memory type, controller model, physical dimensions, and data transfer performance data. AIDA64 v1.00 also implements SSD-specific SMART disk health information for Indilinx, Intel, JMicron, Samsung, and SandForce controllers.
All of the benchmarks used in this test- Queen, Photoworxx, ZLib, and hash- rely on basic x86 instructions, and consume very little system memory while also being aware of Hyper-Threading, multi-processors, and multi-core processors. Of all the tests in this review, AIDA64 is the one that best isolates the processor’s performance from the rest of the system. While this is useful in that it more directly compares processor performance, readers should remember that virtually no “real world” programs will mirror these results.
The Queen and Photoworxx tests are synthetic benchmarks that iterate the function many times and over-exaggerate what the real-world performance would be like. The Queen benchmark focuses on the branch prediction capabilities and misprediction penalties of the CPU. It does this by finding possible solutions to the classic queen problem on a chessboard. At the same clock speed theoretically the processor with the shorter pipeline and smaller misprediction penalties will attain higher benchmark scores.
Like the Queen benchmark, the Photoworxx tests for penalties against pipeline architecture. The synthetic Photoworxx benchmark stresses the integer arithmetic and multiplication execution units of the CPU and also the memory subsystem. Due to the fact that this test performs high memory read/write traffic, it cannot effectively scale in situations where more than two processing threads are used, so quad-core processors with Hyper-Threading have no real advantage. The AIDIA64 Photoworxx benchmark performs the following tasks on a very large RGB image:
- Fill
- Flip
- Rotate90R (rotate 90 degrees CW)
- Rotate90L (rotate 90 degrees CCW)
- Random (fill the image with random colored pixels)
- RGB2BW (color to black & white conversion)
- Difference
- Crop
The OC Genie automatic overclock adds 19.99% to the Queen score and 14.78% to the Photoworxx score. My manual overclock, while only slightly quicker, increases the scores by 28.54% and 15.05% respectively.
The OC Genie scores are 19.92% and 20.06% better than the base scores, while manual overclock scores are 21.01% and 22.69% better. Now let’s try some real-word benchmarks with SPECviewperf in the next section.
The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation is “…a non-profit corporation formed to establish, maintain and endorse a standardized set of relevant benchmarks that can be applied to the newest generation of high-performance computers.” Their free SPECviewperf benchmark incorporates code and tests contributed by several other companies and is designed to stress computers in a reproducible way. SPECviewperf 11 was released in June 2010 and incorporates an expanded range of capabilities and tests. Note that results from previous versions of SPECviewperf cannot be compared with results from the latest version, as even benchmarks with the same name have been updated with new code and models.
SPECviewperf comprises test code from several vendors of professional graphics modeling, rendering, and visualization software. Most of the tests emphasize the CPU over the graphics card, and have between 5 and 13 sub-sections. For this review I ran the Lightwave, Maya, and Seimens Teamcenter Visualization tests. Results are reported as abstract scores, with higher being better.
The lightwave-01 viewset was created from traces of the graphics workloads generated by the SPECapc for Lightwave 9.6 benchmark.
The models for this viewset range in size from 2.5 to 6 million vertices, with heavy use of vertex buffer objects (VBOs) mixed with immediate mode. GLSL shaders are used throughout the tests. Applications represented by the viewset include 3D character animation, architectural review, and industrial design.
The maya-03 viewset was created from traces of the graphics workload generated by the SPECapc for Maya 2009 benchmark. The models used in the tests range in size from 6 to 66 million vertices, and are tested with and without vertex and fragment shaders.
State changes such as those executed by the application- including matrix, material, light and line-stipple changes- are included throughout the rendering of the models. All state changes are derived from a trace of the running application.
The tcvis-02 viewset is based on traces of the Siemens Teamcenter Visualization Mockup application (also known as VisMockup) used for visual simulation. Models range from 10 to 22 million vertices and incorporate vertex arrays and fixed-function lighting.
State changes such as those executed by the application- including matrix, material, light and line-stipple changes- are included throughout the rendering of the model. All state changes are derived from a trace of the running application.
Since the SPECviewperf tests actually comprise code from real-world applications, their results are more indicative on total system performance than the pure CPU performance we see from synthetic tests like AIDA64. Still, overclocking produces some performance improvements, most notable being the Lightwave test. The Maya and TCVIS results show what appears to be only a slight performance increase.
Most OEM built PC’s ship with standard or proprietary power supply and they tend not to exceed 450 watts top end. While that might be enough power for a standard PC, overclocked multi-GPU enthusiast systems can easily exceed 700 or 800 watts under load, and can go even higher with extreme cooling and high voltages.
Perhaps this is why all CPU and GPU vendors are embedding their products with power-saving features, and why motherboard vendors try to add even more. And the use of these features can make a significant difference in the power use of your system.
To test the power-saving features of the MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard, I measured the power draw of the system (with no video card, and the monitor connected to the iGPU) with all the power-saving features in the “ECO” section of ClickBIOS II enabled, and with all the power-saving features disabled.
| Windows Login | Idle at Desktop | AIDA64 Stability Test | Sleep | |
| ECO enabled | 32 watts | 34 watts | 108 watts | 1 watt |
| ECO disabled | 57 watts | 62 watts | 109 watts | 1 watt |
| ECO disabled, manual OC | 69 watts | 71 watts | 136 watts | 1 watt |
Take from this what you will, but the results are clear cut enough to convince me that that it is worthwhile enabling the power saving settings available on the MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard. In the 60’s and 70’s there was a big ecology movement after oil prices had risen sharply and we collectively realised that we could not sustain our then current level of consumer lifestyles. In the ensuing years the economy changed for the better and consumption ramped up sharply. We now find ourselves consuming more than ever and we once again need to realise that natural resources can’t possibly sustain us forever. We need to demand more energy efficient products. We need to demand better built and longer lasting hardware. But most of all, we need self control and a more conscious approach towards our consumer habits.
MSI embed “OC Genie” in the EUFI and also in their Control Center desktop utility. After it is enabled a quick reboot is required and then it will go to work overclocking your CPU. With my Intel Core i7-2600K CPU, OC Genie raised the CPU multiplier from 34 to 42, and automatically found and applied the XMP profile in my Corsair memory, raising the memory frequency from 1333MHz to the XMP profile’s 1600MHz.
I won’t pretend to know how OC Genie reaches that particular overclock, but it does so very quickly and provides a substantial boost. You get a stable overclock, but you will get better results with the same CPU if you take some time to manually overclock it yourself. Slowly increase clock speed and voltage as well as the CPU multiplier until the system is unstable, then scale it down and start over. Sure it will take some time, but if you really want to squeeze the most performance out of your hardware then this process is necessary.
OC Genie is great for set and forget overclocking but it seems such a shame that control is out of your hands. The MSI Control Center desktop utility and the Command Center app for Android and iOS devices allow you to tweak these settings in real time while your system is running. Modern CPU’s and motherboards have built in fail safe and fall back settings so you won’t screw your hardware if you take it slowly. There’s really no reason not to give it a go, unless you are an eco warrior of course.
Tweaking the values myself, I was able to achieve stable operation under AIDA64’s “System Stability Test” with a maximum CPU multiplier of 45, and a CPU core voltage of 1.3V. This resulted in a significant increase in benchmark scores over stock settings, and I was able to easily program my hand-tuned values within Windows into MSI’s Control Center utility.
I’ll give my final thoughts and conclusion on this motherboard in the next section.
It was a bold move for MSI to release a new line of motherboards so close to the end of the Z77 chipsets lifecycle. Many enthusiasts may pass on buying these motherboards purely because they plan on being an early adopter of the next generation Z78 chipset coming just around the corner. From a business perspective though, it is a different story altogether. It makes more sense to release a new line of motherboards with a proven and stable chipset, and avoid bad reviews based on factors that may be out of their control. MSI have also moved away from their traditional yellow or blue color schemes with this new line-up, and have opted for a red/black ‘gaming’ theme.
The MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard has some interesting features that differentiate it from the vast swathes of motherboards available with the same Intel Z77 chipset. Firstly there is the Killer E2200 NIC that detects and accelerates gaming traffic and streaming media. I have previously tested a Killer 2100 NIC integrated into a VisionTek HD5770 Video Card and the test results told us that the Killer NIC accelerates network traffic that uses the UDP protocol. Next we have integrated Realtek ALC892 8 channel audio with Creative Sound Blaster Cinema support. Unless you have an extremely good pair of ears on your head you won’t necessarily be able to differentiate between two similar Realtek integrated audio chipsets. Thanks to the ever shrinking world of modern computing, an integrated audio IC today would have needed an expansion slot 10 years ago. Four DIMM slots on the Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard support` up to 32GB memory. With the right CPU and RAM the MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard will support memory speeds up to 3000MHz (OC). There are 32 PCIe Gen’ 3.0 lanes available via two slots so even the fastest SLI/CrossFire setup won’t saturate the bandwidth.
There is a balance to strike however; the Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard’s 6-phase CPU power won’t deliver any record breaking overclocks. The six available SATA ports mean your storage options are limited without additional hardware, so you won’t exactly be building a home server with this motherboard. I would have liked more USB 3.0 ports at the rear I/O but there is a USB 3.0 header on board should your PC case support this feature. The aesthetic qualities of this motherboard are quickly lost in a closed PC case, especially when using a large air-cooled CPU cooler. If you want to make the most of the visual aspects of the Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard you will want a high-end water cooling setup.
In this section I am going to write a brief five point summary on the following categories; Performance, Appearance, Construction, Functionality and Value. These views are my own and help me to give the MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING Motherboard a rating out of 10, a high score here does not necessarily mean that it is better than a similar motherboard which has been reviewed by another writer here at Benchmark Reviews, that may have got a lower score. It is however a good indicator of whether the motherboard is good or not. I would strongly urge you to read the entire review, if you have not already, so that you can make an educated decision for yourself.
The performance of the Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard is exactly what you would expect from a big name like MSI. Gaming features such as the Killer E2200 NIC and Realtek ALC892 8-Channel audio with Creative Sound Blaster Cinema support, ensure this motherboard give you a high quality experience. There isn’t much that separates motherboards with the same chipset so features like this help to differentiate. You won’t get any record breaking overclocks thanks to the 6 phase CPU power circuitry, and 6 SATA ports restrict the amount of potential storage options.
The classic red/black ‘gaming’ color scheme has finally been adopted by MSI, and they have also used their dragon logo (featured on their gaming laptops/notebooks) to brand the design. Over the years I have seen many badly executed color schemes, and I have seen red/black done to death. If there are any new color schemes that work well but have yet to be discovered, I will be very surprised. Until then I think I will forgive MSI for choosing the route they have. If you plan on using a non window case or a large air cooled CPU cooler, the aesthetics are all for nothing anyway as they won’t really be seen, you will want water cooling and a windowed case to really make the most of the visual aspects of this motherboard.
Construction of the MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard is excellent, it uses high quality components but reserves the best of the best components for the higher end Z77A-GD65 GAMING motherboard. The PCB is not too over populated in any one area and the PCIe slots are perfectly spaced for SLI/CrossFire multi-GPU setups using large coolers. MSI have a good reputation for their hardware and this new motherboard does not let them down.
Functionality wise the MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard makes up in some areas where it lacks in others. It’s main strengths are the Killer E2200 NIC and Realtek ALC892 8-Channel integrated audio with Sound Blaster Cinema. There are four USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports readily available, and a further six USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports available via on-board headers. The Control Center windows desktop utility and the Command Center Android/iOS app really open up the ways you can interact with this motherboard.
Value is perceived differently based on the type of motherboard you are looking for and the features available. The asking price of $139.99 (Amazon | Newegg) is slightly above average for this level but MSI have given the Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard (P/N 911-7752-19S) some features you don’t see every day. The original MSI Z77A-G45 motherboard still retails for $125, so I think the extra $15 for the GAMING edition is well worth it.
If you are looking for overclocking or lots of storage you will do better to cross this motherboard off your shortlist. If (as the name suggests) you are a gaming enthusiast, and you are looking for a feature rich motherboard that won’t break the bank, then the MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard is a worthy contender. After a giving a lot of thought to the individual ratings, I have decided to give the MSI Z77A-G45 GAMING motherboard the Benchmark Reviews Silver Tachometer Award.
+ 2 x 16 lane PCIe Gen 3.0 slots
+ Fairly priced
+ Integrated Realtek ALC892 8-Channel Audio
+ Integrated Killer E2200 NIC
+ Bold design
+ Well laid out PCIe slots
+ SLI / CrossFire multi GPU support
+ Great power saving in ECO mode
+ Excellent software (Command Center and Control Center)
– Top SATA ports may hinder VGA install in top PCIe slot
– Only 6 SATA ports
– Limited overclocking power
– UEFI Could use some improvements
- Performance: 8.75
- Appearance: 8.50
- Construction: 9.50
- Functionality: 9.00
- Value: 8.75
Quality Recognition: Benchmark Reviews Silver Tachometer Award.
COMMENT QUESTION: Who makes your favorite motherboard?
