Power Consumption and Conclusions
Power Consumption
The Z68A-GD80 kept pace with a couple other P67-based motherboards we pitted it against in the power consumption arena. Under idle conditions, the Z68A ran several watts lower than the other boards, but under load conditions, the board didn’t break the bank at 168 watts. The power management system MSI incorporated with the Z68A-GD80 is an excellent blend of hardware and software improvements to give users enough options to have an eco-friendly system or monster overclocking rig.
Performance
The Z68A-GD80 showed its prowess in several of our benchmarks, but the most impressive aspects of this board lies in its overclocking and power management capabilities. We were able to get a 4.789 GHz overclock using a Thermaltake Frio OCK cooler (two fans running at 2,000 RPMs), which is the highest overclock we have achieved with our i5-2500K processor. The Z68A board didn’t showcase any gaming improvements from the previous P67 series of boards so users looking for their next upgrade to play Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 may need to weigh other options before making their buying decision.
The addition of LucidLogix’s Virtu technology adds a very unique aspect to this board that users will appreciate. Users can tag team their system by using integrated graphics to play high definition movies and video transcoding and use their discrete graphics card for 3D gaming. PC builders also won’t have to manually change between the integrated and discrete graphics because the Virtu technology does it automatically.
Pricing
As of Oct. 11, the MSI Z68A-GD80 (G3) is available at Newegg for $219.99. Consumers can also purchase this board at Amazon.com for $239.47 and Overstock.com for $249.99.
Conclusion
We’d like to thank MSI for providing the Z68A-GD80 motherboard for our review. The Z68A-GD80 builds upon the successes MSI had with their previous P67 motherboards and went all out with their next-generation Click BIOS II. Creating software that seamlessly ties into the BIOS to make changes right from Windows will help users overclock their systems on the fly and make other basic changes. The incorporation of Intel’s Z68 chipset really brings together the best features from the H67 and P67 chipsets and allows MSI to leverage all of those capabilities in this $220 motherboard. The addition of three PCI Express 3.0 slots really make this board future proof and a good solution for gamers with SLI or CrossfireX graphics configurations. Overall, the Z68A-GD80 earns PC Perspective’s Gold Award.
Strengths
- Superb overclocker
- Three PCI Express 3.0 slots with SLI/CrossfireX support
- Voltage checkpoints
- Click BIOS II enhancements to modify BIOS in Windows
Weaknesses
- Motherboard layout a bit awkward with placement of power, reset, and OC Genie buttons
Nice board and all. But it’s
Nice board and all. But it’s $240 compared to $180 I paid for a P67A-GD65 7 months ago.
Surely the Virtu folks want to get paid, and Intel probably charges a bit extra for a Z68 compared to the P67, but as the consumer I don’t ask *why*, I just see the price tag.
The board is not $60 faster. If one really needs the Z68 features, well then this is a great choice. I just think the pricing isn’t good for the level of performance.
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That $240 price (at least, in
That $240 price (at least, in the US) is for the B3 version, which is being replaced by the G3 reviewed here. I’m not sure why the price is higher, unless it’s due to odd supply/demand.
The Z68A-GD80 G3 is around $220 from most resellers, but MSI also has the Z68A-GD65 G3 for people who are in the sub-$200 range; it is priced around $180 and is still an enthusiast class board.
Currently, I’m running a Gigabyte board. However, I am interested in seeing what MSI has up their sleeve with their upcoming X79 and 7-series chipset boards. I’ve had some good boards from them in the past, and it looks like they are making improvements to their Gen-1 UEFI BIOS with ClickBIOS II, which is very welcome.
i tend to suggest to user to
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you do know Intel makes the
you do know Intel makes the chipsets but doesn’t actually make motherboards anymore?
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