We’ve experienced the delights of mainstream Z68 from other brands and now it’s the turn of MSI, but how does their offering compare against rivals?

If aesthetics are important to you then the GD65 G3 is going to be right up your street. Savage heatsinks and a two-tone black/blue colour-scheme sets this motherboard off very well indeed, overall layout and construction isn’t slap-dash – care has been taken to make this board look sharp.

In terms of performance the GD65 G3 delivered consistently good results overall and reached that 5GHz overclock milestone with ease. I decided to overclock with the new windows-based ClickBIOS II. Using this software was a fresh experience – it was easy to use and provided all the settings I needed in order to make the best alterations to the system. MSI have done a great job with the development of their new UEFI BIOS - ClickBIOS II. It just shows the true potential of what can be achieved with some careful layout choices and a keen eye for detail.



Other features include onboard power/reset buttons, OC Genie II for a fast solution overclock and dual card configuration options from NVIDIA and AMD. Based on the features and included items within the bundle the Z68A-GD65 G3 is one of my favourite mainstream offerings – it comes at the princely sum of £145.

The bottom line is The Z68A-GD65 G3 is a joy to work with thanks to a brilliantly designed UEFI BIOS/ClickBIOS II, a generous feature-set and stealthy looks to suit. If you are looking for a mainstream Z68 motherboard then add the Z68A-GD65 G3 to the shortlist, it’s definitely worth your consideration.