First of all let’s take a look at the region near the CPU socket. Here we have 8+2 DrMos Phase Power Design, being Military Class II the Phases are SFC (Super Ferrite Chokes) and instead of Solid CAPs we have Hi-c CAPs. These are essentially better made and more durable components but we will expand upon these components a little later on in the article. The heatsink design we have seen before, on the GD65 G3 has significantly smaller heatsinks compared to the higher end offerings and features a thick heatpipe. Behind the heatsink is the CPU power socket, this is 8-pin.



Moving on to the memory slots, with LGA1155 we of course have Dual Channel DDR3 support. Additional to this the MSI GD65 G3 has Intel XMP support and you can fit kits with a frequency of 1066MHz to 2133MHz and a maximum capacity of 32GB.

Near this area there are more SFCs and a Voltage Checkpoint for the more technical enthusiasts out there. To use the Voltage check points a multimeter is used and various aspects of the motherboard can be verified such as the CPU voltage etc.

For those who want a quick and simple overclock – the MSI OC Genie button has been placed on the edge of the motherboard. Pressing this will boost performance in just a few seconds. MSI comment on the OC Genie II feature saying:
Just press the OC Genie button or enable OC Genie II function in BIOS menu, the CPU, memory, iGPU and HDD performance will be highly improved. Whether users want to watch a high bit-rate HD movie or go online gaming, both can be enjoyed with image performance that is smoother and lag-free![./quote]


Further along there are the SATA storage ports. MSI have separated the Intel Z68 SATA 3 (6Gbps) ports from the Marvell SATA 3 (6Gbps) ports in an effort to avoid confusion – usually these ports are side by side.

On the far left the 2x SATA ports (White) are SATA 3 (6Gbps) via Marvell 9128. The 4x SATA ports (Black) are SATA 2 (3Gbps) whilst the 2x SATA ports (White) on the far right are again SATA 3 (6Gbps) but via Intel Z68.



MSI’s GD65 G3 has support for NVIDIA SLI and ATI CrossfireX. Being a Gen3 motherboard MSI have verfieid that this motherboard is ready for PCI-E 3.0 too. Those with newer soundcards will be pleased to know that there are 3x PCI x1 slots and 2x PCI slots for older devices.

Beneath the PCI-E section are some onboard buttons – power and reset are always a handy accompaniment especially if this motherboard will be going onto a test bench, it saves the hassle of connecting up power/reset button cables. The USB 3.0 header is also found at the bottom of the motherboard, right next to these onboard buttons.



Lastly, taking a look at the I/O we have an assortment of functionality including the following ports:

• PS2 keyboard/mouse
• 2x USB 2.0 ports
• MEM OK!
• Optical/Analogue SPIDIF
• 2x USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI port
• Gigabit LAN (RJ45)
• 2x USB 3.0 ports
• VGA/DVI ports
• 6 Channel Audio