MSI Z68A-GD65 (G3) LGA1155 SLI PCI-e Gen3 Motherboard Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips

[Xdreamer89]

Hmm... this board or ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe/GEN3?

HELP ME!!! Can't decide xD

[bananakiller21]

@Xdreamer89 msi i hear bad things about asus D:

[MultiDERZ]

MSI products are of good quality, right? I've never owned any MSI products.

[George241312]

@MultiDERZ horrible quality i got mine doa from newegg on Thursday it was all covered in fingerprints and the heatsinks screws on the back were stripped it was like that when i opened it i rma'd it now and waiting on replacement and the io shield is pretty cheap....

[George241312]

@George241312 the motherboard is amazing when it works but too many failure rates i would buy a better board from asus for $30 more..... but for now if the new one i get is all good then ill keep it...

[bananakiller21]

what motherboard should i get then george what would you buy

[George241312]

@bananakiller21 i would get the GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P i was going to get that one but because it had 5 year warranty i choose this one and it was a horrible choice wasted a week of my life returning the board for a new one.......

[George241312]

@George241312 i said i did not get the open box they sent me an open box i purchased the "retail" A brand new product from the manufacturer....

[bananakiller21]

@George241312 you got an OPEN BOX DONT LISTEN TO THIS BUM HE BOUGHT AN OPENBOX YOU FAIL @multiDERZ

[George241312]

@bananakiller21 I bought a retail version u numbskull i got sent a open box product from newegg ... last time i buy a board from them.... this motherboard looks good but too much of a failure rate i will get a replacement tomorrow and see of its all good..

[bananakiller21]

@George241312 well good luck getting a open box sucks but nothing is worse then figuring out you MB is dead...

[wmw0702]

does anyone know the meanings of the numbers and letters on this model? z68 would be the chipset, but how about the rest (the A, the GD55, etc.)? i hope when people make reviews or unboxings, they'll also explain what these letters/numbers stand for.....

[BobboGFX]

I wonder one thing. Will Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB work on this motherboard?

[aeroaa2]

@BobboGFX :facepalm:

[dudedude873]

@BobboGFX ofcourse it will m8 XD

[George241312]

hmmm im gettings this moderbordai ......

[PTNLemay]

I've heard some good reputation for the Z68A-GD55, and I've been checking it out, but I just want to make sure...

Is there any other difference between it and this one aside for the extra SATA ports? I think the GD55 has 6, while this one shows 8. I don't think I will need 8 SATA ports, but I want to know if I will lose any other features by going for one tier lower. It's only a 15$ difference... but it really adds up you know.

[bananakiller21]

@PTNLemay your just paying for more ports thats it if you need it spent the xtra money but if you dont then dont spend 15$ more

[PTNLemay]

Can someone tell me which is "better" Touch BIOS or Click BIOS II?

I'm going for ease of installation here, and I don't plan on doing much overclocking or SLI/Crossfire, I would like something that will install reliably without giving me a headache. I know that things are moving towards UEFI right now, but it seems like they're both pseudo-UEFI, or something... I just want to know which is best for me.

[bananakiller21]

@PTNLemay same thing just different look

[fiqabumm]

very nice review. i am thinking of changing my board i have acer predator g72 will i be able to put this board in my case and which board is better. MSI Z68A-GD65 or ASUS P8Z68-V pro. thanks

[paintbrawl]

@fiqabumm i was wondering the same just now did you find any info on that? plz thanks

[fiqabumm]

@paintbrawl In all the forums there are fanboys. u will never get a clear answer. But as far as i researched. MSI is cheaper If you compare it to assus at the same price range with more option and come with way better softwares and for the auto clocking msi OC gene is way faster but it puts the processor in way higher voltage if you compare it to asus.

[paintbrawl]

@fiqabumm i was under the impression that the auto over clocking software on the asus will get you a higher clock you think? im new to o.c.ing and want to run it 24/7 with whatever clock i get from auto..........and don't want to screw up my hardware! thanks for your response :)

[TheUberSubber]

@fiqabumm Get the MSI one, better quality. It's a good motherboard.

[nhs2008NC]

Man the way you explain the features! MSI people must be having orgasms watching this!

[flicktrix3]

which is better the ROG Asus Maximus IV GENE-Z/GEN3 or this ? thanks for your suggestions.

[seroyer2]

Linus whats the difference between this and the GD55?

[kanbeiZ]

can someone explain me what the use is of gen 3 boards if you use a sandy bridge (not E) processor on it, which cant get on with pcie 3.x, so what is the point?

[Scubasteve52655]

@kanbeiZ Gen 3 means that IF YOU WANT you can upgrade to intels new CPU code named ivy bridge. It's going to be their new type of CPU(Which it isnt out yet) which also uses the same socket, the LGA 1155. Intel said it will use the 1155 so you will start to see 1155 socket boards with the Gen 3 tag. Also the PCI-E 3.0 slots are for say the new video card from AMD that uses the 3.0 technology, the HD 7970...but the current gen of cpus dont support pcie 3.0 so the card i think will run at 2.0.

[Scubasteve52655]

@kanbeiZ oh correction G3 emans it has the pcie 3.0 slots. So an Intel ivy bride cpu will work on a regular lga 1155 socket mobo with pcie 2.0 slots. ivy bridge cpus will support pcie 3.0

[SniperKillerize]

wow, when the manufacturer makes a video response to the unboxing YOU made... then you know that you are an professional unboxer :)

[abi2478]

is that mean that lucid virtu thingy are the same technology as nvidia optimus in laptop?

[Willasap43]

I can't really tell from the video but is the pcb brown or black

[COD88MONEYMAN]

Cameramen sucks ASSS! ehh -_-

[madman00069]

Hey was wondering if you or any one can tell me,.i am sending for this board but the GD80 with a i5 2500k sandy bridge and here is the question lol can i put a zalman x11 cpu cooler will it fit on the board without covering a memory chanal ?...thank's

[ZoSoWizard]

Is the additional 2 SATA 6GBps ports on the GD65 the only difference between this and the GD55 boards?

[LogiForce86]

@Rangenade My P67A-GD65 (B2) just started acting up because of the chipset B2 stepping bug, so I am upgrading to the Z68A-GD65 because of two things. First is the ability to use the onboard graphics and switch in between using Virtu Lucid, the second is the Intel Quick Response technology so you can use a cheap and small SSD to use as cache. For me a 120GB is just a bit too small and a 240GB SSD too expensive, so this would be ideal for now.

[TheSerbiaZero]

can i install 2 generation i5 procesor on this board

[whydoyouaskdude]

Thanks a lot for your unboxing, i ordered the Board today :)

[DazhFX]

@Rangenade

Z68 is better than P67, in my opinion, if your graphics card goes wrong, and you don't have a temporary graphics, your Z68 will use the Intel HD graphics, however for P67, sorry, you can't use the Intel HD graphics at all.

[Rangenade]

@DazhFX Owh

[SniperKillerize]

@Rangenade Z68

[walterajaxwalter]

Can i use PCi-e 2.0 graphic cards on a PCI-e 3.0 mainboard?

[morph2g]

@walterajaxwalter

yes you can

[Goliath002]

@walterajaxwalter yes you can, and they say you can get better performance just for using a PCIE 3.0 like 12%

[diarreescheet]

4 ddr3 "sluts" xp

[tlxxxsracer]

You didnt explain the pci-e 3

[mindharvester]

apple is so dead

[GetOnMyL1ama]

@mindharvester how because they're bigger than microsoft?

[mindharvester]

@GetOnMyL1ama no there leader is death apphitler

[mindharvester]

oc works when i turn off the pc press the button then boot up????

[mastorakis]

this mobo doesnt have ide? what if we have cd drive?

[LancegladsFTW]

@mastorakis Use SATA lol

[MCruzerProductions]

... Also... (Lolz) Before someone tells me to just use the OC genie that comes on the board... I did try that and a manual OC. The genie put it strait to 4.2 GHZ even with the voltage being at 1.5 :/

[MCruzerProductions]

Also... I had a really bad OC on this board (Actually the B3 but i couldnt find a vid on it). My cpu was clocked at 3.4 out of factory and i brought it up to 4.2 but the voltage was at 1.5v Which is pretty high, I saw people on forums at 4.7 ghz at 1.25v so i had to take it back down to 3.8 to feel safe using it. Is there any reason for this or just a bad board?

[MCruzerProductions]

Lolz you said 3 twice :D

[killersaad]

does this support ivy bridge?

[JChan1026]

@killersaad  all current z68 motherboards support ivy bridge ;P

[MrFpsBaby]

@JChan1026 The Ivy bridge cpu?

[JChan1026]

@MrFpsBaby well...i suppose:S i saw the news on some tech website

[JChan1026]

@MrFpsBaby if you'd like to know more, type "LGA1155 Ivy" on google and click on the first link =)

[IvorStiffan]

Uefi bios doesn't support ivy bridge? How can it support gen 3 cards if it can't use ivy bridge?!?

[flipeffect]

Review Review Review it~!!!!!

[jolichja]

Hi I was just wondering: if you have like a GTX 580 running on an 8x pci 3.0 would it still be running at pci-e 2.0 8x?

[Xl33tXzerg]

this or Asus P8Z68-V Pro ?

[PancakesGaming]

@Xl33tXzerg I would suggest this. I don't know is Asus boards support PCIe 3.0 and Ivy Bridge.

[ensampojken]

Does the PCIe express ports run in full x16 when using SLI with two cards? Or would it run in one x16 and one x8 or something like that?

[Say0n]

@ensampojken the fact ur using xfire or sli in 8x doen'st make improvement, you will only see a little diff running very higher resolutions like eyefinity 3 monitors

[sleepzou]

I did not really understand the last thing with using a 1 tb hard drive and ssd? Please explain somebody :(

[MsiEvgaAsusGigabyte]

@sleepzou SRT basically uses your hard drive for storage. It then finds out all you most frequently used programs, files and saves those to the much faster ssd. So all the not used very much programs are stored in the hard drive wheras the programs used alot are saved to the ssd.

Hope this helps

[TheExprima]

No black SLI bridge. =(

[jurassic512]

You idiots have no idea how PCIe Gen 3 is gonna perform against Gen 2. You're probably the same fags that thought a PCIe 6600GT was faster than an AGP 600GT. wait til their are actual cards and CPU's with Gen 3 lanes before you start saying how much better 3 is than 2. makes you look stupid. theoretical is not the same as actual.

[Allenj3]

Can anybody comment on the difference between the (G3) version and (B3) version of this motherboard?

[jurassic512]

@Allenj3 wow i thought you were stupid when you replied to my other comment, and you proved it. B3 refers to the intel chipset, G3 refers to 3rd Generation PCIe lanes (3.0).

[TiT4Z]

Do an unboxing of Asus Maximus IV extreme-z!

[TheGuyAroundTheBlock]

I have a question: Does this motherboard have a built in case speaker

[DArK5taTiC]

Are you planning on doing a benchmark review on this board ?

[Zraupp10]

why on 60GB or less for the Intel smart response ?

[KH12010]

I think Linus traded his ability to count for all of his computer knowledge :P

[orion7256]

first time when Linus dont say us to download latest drivers from website

[Gergus008]

We watch linus because the errors he makes, makes the videos A LOT Funnier :D

[rohitthakur60]

PCie 3 Port is not available for Current generation i3 i5 i7 processors, it will be available with next generation, Ivy Bridge.

[narutofreak1012]

Your Canadian dammit, it's "zed' :P

[AttackOfTheThumbs]

Being made by MSI is not a good thing. They have some of the worst quality control in the world. I've built hundreds of PCs over the year and never has there been an MSI board that didn't have faults. It's why I tell customers NO when they want MSI mobos. The GPUs are great though.

PCIe gen 3 is so useful, especially considering we don't even fully use PCIe gen 2. Rate it's going, SSDs will hit that cap first.

[iTat1000]

@AttackOfTheThumbs My MSI board died unexpectadly last year. I had no warning about it at all. It also didnt feature 64 bit support for the CPU I was using aswell. Were as the gigabyte motherboard I'm using can take advantage of it fully.

[rajface814]

@AttackOfTheThumbs What board was this? Our current generation Military Class series has proven to be a major success in terms of reliability, hence why we are adding a 5 year warranty on these new Z68 (G3) boards. :)

[AttackOfTheThumbs]

@rajface814 Any. From 775 to 1366 and AM3. Pre-775 and 939/754 worked great. For all I know MSI is back on the rise, but I've had too many issues that I simply cannot be bothered. Maybe in few years.

Most people I build for are gaming focused, so they aren't exactly low end boards.

[wickedout2010]

MSI makes solid motherboards! I roll with MSI but also like ASUS.

[Brightinator]

@linustechtips can you do a nas build? I am looking at building a nas build commending what sata cards to use and what motherboard to get?

[TheComputerNerd0101]

shit, i'm using a green drive as boot.... will a smasung f3 work with srt?

[CakesnakeFilms]

what is the difference between the gd65 and the gd80?

[eddief60]

@CakesnakeFilms 15

[CakesnakeFilms]

@eddief60 aw thanks, thats awesmome :)

[barf245]

marveil chipset suks for ssd;s unless they fix the bottlenecking issue

[waseem1173]

what do you mean a caviar green isnt optimized for boot up. all i have is a 1.5 TB green

[Eire247]

@waseem1173 Its not as fast as something like the Caviar Black. The Caviar Green is only 5400rpm.

[waseem1173]

@Eire247 ahh no wonder it was so cheap compared to the black. well at least its green . would run cooler and such lol

[kariyusi1230]

ha ha ha! Nice!!

[AgraelDemonLord]

Linus! Go back to elementary school

[BOMBOVA]

very cool mother board, i am going for PCIe 3.0 and one of those Revo x3 ssd's just need the chip.

[Raikuaza]

1 2 3 3 5

[OTAKUJHE]

Sigh* this is why I stick to console. As soon as my gaming pc is done (asus maximus 4 P67 MOBO) it's going to be 3yrs old in computer years. tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk!

[hoketero]

I'm still running a Striker 2 formula :>

[12345samaniegos]

this supports core i7 2600k???

[cyra123]

@12345samaniegos socket lga 1155 supports the i7 2600k

[Raikuaza]

@12345samaniegos LGA 1155

asshole

[12345samaniegos]

@Raikuaza ooohhh im sorry i just tink than that was the model

[chronofusion]

@Raikuaza yes we're all so freakingsure that 12345samaneigos is a weekly or daily computer tech window shopper and is always informed of all intel sockets and what types of intel cpu's they support....

asshole. now you two are even.. so chill.

[jurassic512]

my P8P67 EVO still looks down on this mobo

[Allenj3]

@jurassic512 def not. 8x/8x compared to 16x/16x is where it all begins..... etc etc etc is fun too.

[psib93]

nah, im still running a P7N like a boss

[aXque]

I have rolled with MSI since the P55 and it is really awesome.

[Ptro001]

@aXque im still rolling with Asus

[ronaldmonster]

I wouldn't buy another MSI board if my life depended on it. And btw, PCI-E 3.0 can easily be updated but MSI is the only company cheap enough to NOT use it.

[7Uriel13]

anyone wonder what ever happen to the close up on the boards instead of having him in all the shots? Its almost like he wants his face to take the focal point and not the product

[TheSilencedOne19]

Somebody clearly doesn't like the number 4.

[Typhoon10UK]

All series 6 B3+ GB board support PCI-E now (with a 22nm CPU that is).

[starwarsfan76]

@Typhoon10UK PCI-E is supported by everything silly. PCI-E= PCI-Express. You are thinking of PCI-E **3**

[NastyTigerstyle]

"the cpu power in the ideal location in the top left hand of the board".... which full-size atx motherboard released in the last 6 years has not had the cpu power in that location. linus, you need to change your lingo.

[christelcharm]

II this is awesome!

[pipinhot2]

P67A-GD65

V

Z68A-GD65

Features + Performance KGO.

[nielsthomas1]

@Davy2612 How would he do that? There aren't (m)any PCIe 3.0 graphics cards.

It is rumored that the AMD 7xxx series of GPU will have support for it. But until official details come out, we don't know

[D34N6232]

I love boards with 2 PCI slots between the PCI-E 2.0 slots cos it is sooo much better for dual SLI or Crossfire in terms of airflow and cooling

[Davy2612]

linus can you do a benchmark comparison of PCI 2.0 against PCI 3.0 plz

[codebraker12]

Can you show us the new bios interface?

[Tech4U247]

any1 know a am3 board with a usb 3 header?

[poil27]

@Tech4U247 all am3 board with chipset 890 are usb3 and sata3 native

[LetsPlayGamiing]

@Tech4U247 AM3+ Gigabyte, 990FXa-UD7, there is the UD5, and the UD3 but i don't know about their internal headers :)

[Tech4U247]

@LetsPlayGamiing ty cuz my other option is to get a £35 pci usb 3 with one internal port and one external so i can use the front ports on my haf x :),

[leogatobhzte]

Hey Linus, unbox one OCZ REVODRIVE 3 X2 PCI-EXPRESS SSD!!

[launchsa]

PS2 on one uses PS2 port anymore so why do they put on the board?

Z68 = Zzzzzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzzzz

X79 = Extreme! Fun

[pivan23]

pls benchmark the pci express x16 3.0

[ismelllikeaturd]

if computer nerds made their own country I would elect linus to be our president.

[MINICLIPGAMER]

@ismelllikeaturd Nerd? This guy barley knows what he is talking about.

[ismelllikeaturd]

@MINICLIPGAMER neither does our president

[MINICLIPGAMER]

@ismelllikeaturd So you are one of the uneducated voters who vote for anybody?

[iGhost]

@ismelllikeaturd king. definitely king.

[iplaybose]

@ismelllikeaturd I love him, the way he talks and reviews, best reviewer .

[MindSeeR666]

@ismelllikeaturd I 2nd that. . .

[YxFLETCHxY]

@ismelllikeaturd ... =o.... LET'S DO IT!!!!

[SigmaPCGaming]

@ismelllikeaturd

lol...and Elric Phares was be Vice President

[jakehall331]

@ismelllikeaturd president ... pssstt he would be eternal ruler .... all hail!

[TransfuSe]

pci-e gen 3 and gen 2 comparison video? :D

[SandyBridgeVideos]

@TransfuSe watch the 8x vs 16x video.

on gen 2 when you sli or crossfire 2 graphics cards they run at 8x,

on gen 3 they run at 16x.

[TheMuffinDoctor]

0:53, Install

[omartechgeek2011]

nice unboxing and review linus!!!!!!!!!!

[Lyserberg]

You guys are only talking about PCIE 3.0 What's the CPU that supports it

Linus you forgot to mention That it supports Ivy bridge processors Am i wrong!!!

(Niko bellic angry voice when he talk to dimitri)

[Jere369]

I live in Windsor Ontario. There is not 1 PCI-e 1x slot piece of hardware anywhere here.

[Claizen]

Better Business Bureau is just an exploitation racket

[Eragon86micky]

bump

[rito502]

review some hardware Trubyd44 uses in builds!

[Umbrago]

PCI-e 3.0 i jizzed.

[kira003030]

@Umbrago LOL I guess the GTX 590 and ATI 6990 is outmatched now..

[thespeedmaster]

Linus you should mention that PCI-E 3.0 only works with the next generation Intel and AMD CPUs

With to days CPUs it will only be PCI-E 2.x!!

[Pointburn]

"Should you so desire."

[ConservativeAtheist9]

He said zed, Canadians are so funny.

[mammoth280]

@ConservativeAtheist9 You mean zee?

[ConservativeAtheist9]

@mammoth280 Nope, Linus says zed at 7:43, but says z every other time.

[mammoth280]

@ConservativeAtheist9 True, but with Linus being Canadian and zee is the American way of pronouncing z It's to be expected eh? ;p

[ConservativeAtheist9]

@mammoth280 It was more noticable and funny because he only said it once and I know Canadians tend to pronounce it zed for some reason.

[sk317r]

My favorite unboxings are the motherboards ones. If only he unboxed more AMD based boards.

[CouponsFTW]

Unbox the z68xp-ud3-issd, it has an integrated 20gb intel ssd

[TheSCR1899]

@willeyboy2

AsRock offers high Quality 1155 mainboards that can easily compete with ASUS/Gigabyte/EVGA Mainboards.

There is no big difference in this LGA 1155 Generation. Very good Mainboards out there..

[Hekynn]

Very nice Motherboard love the pci layout. :)