Legit Reviews have posted a full review of the Ivy Bridge based MSI Z77A-GD65, with an i7-2600K, 8GB DDR3-1600, a Corsair Force GT 240GB SSD and a Radeon HD6950. This new platform brings native USB 3.0 to Intel chipsets, but since they don’t yet have an Ivy Bridge CPU to test we don’t get a chance to see PCIe 3.0 in action, the new SATA 6Gbps controller fared well though. There is a new UEFI ClickBIOS implementation which some might find a compelling reason to upgrade but if you are currently running a Sandy Bridge machine you are better off to wait until you can get your hands on one of the soon to be released Ivy Bridge processors.
"It’s going to be an interesting ride for the Intel Z77 chipset. It is looking like the only difference is the addition of the SuperSpeed USB 3.0. The problem with the Intel Z77 chipset is that it doesn’t feature anything really worth upgrading for over the Intel Z68 system. If your looking to build a new system with either a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge processor, the Intel Z77 would be the way to go. If you’re on an existing ‘Sandy Bridge’ system, there really isn’t a good reason to make the switch…"
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- MSI Z77A-GD55 Motherboard Review @ HardwareHeaven
- ASUS Intel Z77 Motherboard Preview: P8Z77, Formula, Gene & Sabertooth @ Legit Reviews
- MSI Z77A-GD55 Motherboard Video Preview @Hi Tech Legion
- MSI Z77 Motherboard Preview @ eTeknix
- MSI Z77A GD65 @ Guru of 3D
- MSI Z77A-GD65 ‘Ivy Bridge’ Motherboard Preview @ Legit Reviews
- ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Review @ OCC
- ASUS Rampage IV GENE X79 Motherboard Review @ Hi Tech Legion
- Sapphire Pure Black X79N @ Hardwareoverclock
- VGA X79 FTW X79 Motherboard Review @ eTeknix
- Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 Socket 2011 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
- ASRock X79 Extreme9 Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks
- Intel DX79SI X79 LGA2011 @ [H]ard|OCP