MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) Review

👤by Richard Weatherstone Comments 📅14-11-11
Conclusion
When I first cast eye on the MSI X79A-GD65(8D) I was impressed with the aesthetics. Sticking with the black and blue theme of previous generations of boards will no doubt serve MSI well as blue seems to be the new red which was all the rage with X58. I do however take issue with the silk screening methods employed by MSI as while the board may be blue, the copper traces show through the black print as brown giving the board an overall glossy dark brown effect which lessons the motherboards visual appeal somewhat. Once in a case it is doubtful anyone would notice but out in the open it is clearly identifiable.

What the board may lack in visual appeal though it makes up for with features. The board has a multitude of attractive features, none more so than PCIe Gen 3 and Quad Channel support with 8 DIMMS. Coupled with SATA 6GB/s and USB 3.0 along with MSI’s Military Class III power components and you have a motherboard that is equipped to take on the best there is.


The MSI X79A-GD65(8D) was always going to be a difficult review due to it being new technology with a new CPU, new chipset, new features meant having little basis for comparison. With this is mind I am hesitant to award anything at present as it could be amazing compared to other motherboards or indeed it could just be a run-of-the-mill offering. However getting a 1.5GHz overclock from stock speed is no mean feat and is testament to an excellent show of power and overclocking ability. Sure there were issues however I feel this is more likely down to an immature BIOS that will be ironed out in future releases more than an inherent fault with the mainboard. Nobody said overclocking was going to be easy but the UEFI BIOS makes the process easier on the eye and easier to navigate thanks to the intuitive control methods available. The motherboard is feature rich and has plenty of scope for expansion. So what do I award?

Clearly the board or rather the BIOS needs to mature a little and the packaging could do with a little improvement but I feel these are minor issues. The GD65(8D) is the top drawer mainstream motherboard from MSI so while it is feature rich, the ultimate offering from MSI will be the MSI X79 Big Bang XPower II. For this reason alone it misses the Platinum award, taking into consideration the minor issues mentioned above I feel the most fitting award would be Silver or bronze however, I have faith the BIOS issue will be resolved so for that reason I’m happy to award the MSI X79a-GD65(8D) the Vortez Silver and recommended awards.

Pros:
+Solid Performer
+Very good (passive) cooling
+Very quiet operation (fan less)
+On-board switches, buttons, LED’s and jumpers
+Military Class III components
+Excellent, informative documentation
+8 Memory expansion slots

Cons:
-BIOS Issues
-Black/Brown PCB
-Basic Packaging






Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net. Thanks to MSI for providing today’s review sample.

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