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We tested: LGA6 motherboard with 7 types of 1155-series PCH

MSI Z77A-GD65

The MSI Z77A-GD65 is a fine wall at a glance, but before we get into the analysis of the printed circuit board, let's describe the technologies used on it! 

MSI Z77A-GD65 picture 3D1k

Let's start with the power supply, which is still based on DrMOS, but this time DrMOS II. Anyone who has been a bit in the picture with MSI motherboards lately has definitely met DrMOS, as the company has been using this solution on their motherboards for a long time, all the way back to P45. DrMOS stands for Driver-MOSFET, a power supply component.

dromos

The essence of the technology is that the driver IC required for control and the upper and lower MOSFETs are housed in a single chip, a case. One of its important virtues is the increase in switching frequency, which, according to the manufacturer's data, means four times the speed compared to a conventional MOSFET, which results in a significant improvement in the stability in voltage regulation.

 

It retains its stability and efficiency not only under general conditions, but also in the case of hard tuning. DrMOS II follows the same structure, but MSI has further refined the method. The second revision became more energy efficient, which according to the manufacturer's measurements means 3,1 mOhm of Low-side RDS instead of 2,3 mOhm. DrMOS II has also received so-called Double Thermal Protection, which in practice means that DrMOS II is very difficult to destroy, as it warns with an LED light at 115 ° C and switches off automatically at 130 ° C.

 drmos II

The MSI Z77A-GD65's power supply is based on DrMOS II and works with a total of eight phases. It receives the necessary energy through an 24-pin auxiliary power connector in addition to the 8-pin ATX power connector. Nine LEDs are ready in the upper right corner of the printed circuit board, which emit blue light when active. The first LED is a so-called "DrMOS alarm", and the other eight inform you of how many phases are working at the given moment.

 ledeightk

 

The next thing is called Xtreme Components, which includes Military Class III, which is leveling in the meantime, and Hi-c capacitors only in the direction of the CPU. Military Class III applies to the entire motherboard. Military Class III, as its name suggests, is already the third revision, but the point is in the details, i.e. the parts.

mc3_05

Hi-c CAP

The soul of Hi-c capacitors is tantalum, which is the 73rd element of the periodic table, and is a rather rare, off-white, shiny metal. Its melting point is very high, 3017 ° C. Due to its high chemical resistance, chemical devices and electrodes are made of tantalum. It is used to make dental drills, analytical balance weights, cathodes of X-ray tubes, fountain pen tips. Because it fits well with tissues, it is used to make aids that remain inside the body, such as supporting bones. It is also widely used mainly for capacitors in mobile phones and other electronic equipment, as shown in the attached figure. As a result, the Hi-c capacitor is estimated to have an eight times longer lifespan than conventional solid electrolytic capacitors, which is approximately 160 hours. Due to its shape, it is also less vulnerable, and thanks to tantalum, its heat load stability is much higher.

 

SFC

SFC (Super Ferrit Choke) covers a specially designed iron core coil. The coil contains an iron core whose permeability has been significantly increased. Compared to conventional coils, the SFC operates at 35 ° C lower temperatures, can handle 30% more current, and has an average of 10% better energy efficiency. This, of course, has a small positive effect on heat production and stability, and thus on tuning.

 

Solid CAP

Solid CAP, the solid electrolytic capacitor, is the starting point for the Military Class series. These models no longer include conventional electrolytic capacitors, all conduits are at least Solid CAP, but where needed, Hi-c capacitors are placed (around the CPU socket). This way we no longer have to worry about exploding capacitors, these types of capacitors fail in a negligible number, with a nominal lifespan of 10 years.

 

 

Military Class III is formed from these components, and the package also includes a certificate that guarantees the authenticity of these parameters. Components meeting the requirements of the MIL-STD-810G standard undergo the following tests: Temperature "shock" and humidity "shock" - test, vibration and low air pressure, extreme high and extreme low temperature, and simple physical "shock" by dropping. 

 

 

Speaking of BIOS: MSI also uses UEFI BIOS, i.e. the entire environment is graphics-based. MSI shaped this a little on its own face and gave its work the name Click BIOS. This model is already equipped with Click BIOS II. This resulted in a very simple and clear, transparent graphic interface, which can be controlled not only with a mouse, but also with a touch screen. The interface looks almost the same as under Windows, the individual operations can be performed even by dragging the mouse, using the "drag & drop" method. In this, of course, we get full access to all the capabilities of the motherboard, including monitoring and high-level tuning.

 multi-bios

The BIOS topic also includes a feature called Multi-BIOS 2. Two EPROMs have been integrated into the BIOS on the motherboard PCB, one is the primary chip and the other is the spare chip. If anything goes wrong during the flash or we have other problems, we can use the Multi-BIOS two-position microswitch at the bottom of the page to switch to the other chip immediately. Of course, this thing can also be used to use two different BIOS versions on the motherboard.

Well, we’ve taken over the various technologies on the board, now let’s take a look at the printed circuit board!

 MSI Z77A-GD65 picture 2Dk

We are talking about a standard ATX size board (30,5 cm × 24,4 cm) with the standard black PCB, the standard black-blue MSI color pair. Let’s start with the LGA1155 socket, which is thankfully a non-new socket, so we’re not forced to replace it again, the Z77 motherboards also accept Sandy Bridge processors. The placement of the DrMOS II-based eight-phase power supply surrounds the CPU in a classic, L-shape, nicely and airily. Each area was covered with a correctly sized, densely and thickly lamellar rib connected by a thick, flattened, nickel-plated copper heat pipe. One OC Genie II (with the 8-pin auxiliary power connector resting to the left and the 4-pin, PWM-controlled CPU fan connector to the right) preaches the word Military Class III. Externally, they provide a very pleasing sight to the eye, presumably they are not ashamed of their original task either.

drmospick

The memory sockets are located to the right of the socket in the traditional way, four in number, indicating the number of channels in black and blue, i.e. two-channel operation is by definition possible. The four DIMM slots can receive a total of 32 GB of DDR3 memory, with the usual JEDEC standard clock signals with tuning up to 2667 MHz! Behind the RAM slots and the 24-pin power supply, observant eyes can spot another unusual element on the edge of the PCB. This blue, "Lego-like" thing studded with seven holes is nothing more than a measurement terminal, the so-called V-Check Points. With a multimeter, we can start reading the following values ​​right away: VCCP, CPU VTT, CPU Graphics, DDR VCC and PCH 1P05, GND.

ledight 2kpwm ribs

Moving further to the right from here, we reach the Easy Button 3 area, which covers three physical control buttons. The missions of “Power” and “Reset” probably don't need to be detailed, but the OC Genie II should also be familiar. Its application means simple and immediate tuning, activating a setting for the given system that significantly increases performance, but is still completely safe in terms of stability and lifetime. Of course, this depends on the particular processor and memory. The nine pieces of information LED, which we have already mentioned, spread out after the corner.

PCHk

Let's look at the other half of the PCB. The Z77 PCH is where the PCH has been used in recent years, i.e. under DIMM slots. It is cooled by a relatively wide, properly flattened rib with a nice blue sheen. One of the most important and best news about it is that it now provides native support for SuperSpeed ​​USB, meaning it has its own USB 3.0 controller (unfortunately, that doesn't mean that all USB ports are now USB 3.0 standard), so manufacturers don't finally need a separate use a control tile for this purpose. So there’s a blue connector right on the edge of the page that offers a USB 3.0 port for MSI’s own USB 3.0 panel, which is included in the package.

 

To its left are the SATA ports on standby, a total of eight rotated 90 degrees. We have bad news on this topic: The Z77 is nothing better than its predecessors, as before, it offers six SATA interfaces, and only two of them support the latest 6 Gb / s standard, which is a clear black point. To Intel. The other two white SATA are the result of the ASMedia ASM1061 control chip, so we get a total of four SATA 3.0, which is considered sufficient, but this again required the use of an external chip, which complicates the structure on the one hand and makes the purchase price more expensive.

 

debug partsdebug part2k

 

Under the MSI label on the PCH rib of the Z77, the two pieces of BIOS storage have been integrated, with a microswitch under them to select the piece to be used (Multi BIOS II). The Debug LED isn’t missing either, it’s still here in the form of two seven-segment displays and keeps us informed of events. At the bottom of the PCB are the pin terminals: three USB 2.0, one with the SuperCharger capability marked in red, two with one FireWire header. 

 

pcie 1kpcie 2k

On the other side, we come across Lossless HD audio and THX terms that refer to the capabilities of integrated sound generation. This is a Realtek ALC898 8-channel HD audio codec, say the standard recipe. It is not worth looking for a separate ethernet controller on the PCB, as the MSI Z77A-GD65 offers a LAN connector for which the Intel 82579V controller resting in the PCH is responsible. In connection with the controllers, the Fintek F71189AD Super I / O controller can also be mentioned. Finally, let's look at the most important area, the expansion rails.

 

pcie 3kpcie 4k

 

Like its predecessors, the Z77A-GD65 supports PCI Express 3.0, but this of course requires a CPU that has this version of PCI Express controller. This model offers three full-width rails, all of which are 3.0 standard and support both 2-way / 3-way SLI and CrossFireX. The slots can work in × 16 / × 8, × 8/8 ×, × 4, × 4 mode depending on the number of cards, in other words, with 3-way operation, it may no longer be possible to get enough bandwidth. The × 16 slots also included four short × 1 rails that are 2.0 standard.

 

There was nothing left but to browse through the motherboard offerings, as always, going from left to right!

 

MSI has not abandoned the good old PS / 2 combi connector, which we consider a smart decision. Underneath, two USB 2.0 waits ready for work. Next to them is a tiny microswitch with a CMOS clear function. This is followed by digital coaxial audio output as well as optical output, two USB 2.0 in the company of a native HDMI, so those with HTPC setup don’t have to give up anything. Then we see the RJ45 LAN output and the two native USB 3.0 outputs, followed by a VGA (dsub) output and a DVI. From the three types of monitor outputs, it’s easy to guess that the Z77, like its predecessor Z68, has the ability to take advantage of IGP dormant in the processor, and moreover, Lucid Logix Virtu is still supported. The line ends with the analog jacks.

MSI Z77A-GD65 picture IOk

 MSI Z77A-GD65 full specification:

z77a spec

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