Product on Review: MSI X79A-GD45 8D
Manufacturer and Sponsor: MSI
Street Price: £153.98
The MSI X79A GD65 8D was one of the first X79 motherboards we reviewed and while it impressed, it didn't set our pulses racing. Conversely, the MSI Big Bang II is perhaps the best X79 motherboard we have had through our doors. Both mid and top range motherboards have been met with varying levels of success, not least because of the cost of the X79 chipset. It's been a while arriving but MSI have finally released an entry level motherboard in the guise of the GD45 8D. I say entry level but in all fairness, the X79 chipset feature list is anything but entry level as it has many features, lower end chipsets would only serve up in their flagship products so even though this motherboard is marketed as a budget motherboard, you have to place this in context, there is simply no such thing as a budget X79 motherboard!
Costing £154, the MSI GD45 8D is certainly at the lower priced end of the X79 motherboard market but for this you still get PCIe Gen 3, Military Class III components and MSI's user friendly ClickBios II UEFI BIOS along with a host of other features we will cover in this review. Let's make no bones about it though because cost is the biggest feature of the GD45 8D. It is presently the cheapest ATX X79 motherboard available and allows the extreme enthusiast an entry point into the feature rich X79 chipset without breaking the bank nor having to compromise on features. At first glance you would be very hard pushed to tell the difference between the GD45 and its bigger brother, the GD65 because both boards are almost identical in appearance. There are however a few small differences which may tempt you to go for the baby MSI board over its stable mate.
About MSI (In their own words)
MSI is proud of its more than 20 years experience in designing and manufacturing high performance IT products. The product lines of MSI are mainboards, graphic cards, notebooks, consumer electronics, barebones, networking and server products, and fully integrated add-on peripherals. With its ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 qualified facilities, MSI products provide the best performance, reliability and value-increasing productivity.
We distribute our products through offices located in The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Brazil, Taiwan, Japan, China, Korea, India and Australia. MSI markets its products to distributors, computer system manufacturers, and system integrators. For more information about the company go to
We distribute our products through offices located in The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Turkey, Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Brazil, Taiwan, Japan, China, Korea, India and Australia. MSI markets its products to distributors, computer system manufacturers, and system integrators. For more information about the company go to
