MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) Review

Performance

The GD65 (8D) didn’t manage to top any of the results graphs in our benchmarks. While it was a paltry 1MB/sec behind the leader in the SATA 6Gbps speed test and 1fps off the pace in the minimum frame rate results for Arma II, it was some way behind in the Media Benchmarks.

It was 47 points short of the top spot in the GIMP image editing test, 15 points slower in the HandBrake H.264 video encoding test and 29 points adrift in the multi-tasking test. However, despite these results, percentage-wise, all the motherboards performed very similarly. The GD65 (8D) managed read and write speeds on its Intel SATA 6Gbps ports of 552MB/sec and 522MB/sec respectively, while the ASMedia controller could only manage 400MB/sec and 364MB/sec – this controller is worth avoiding if you have a fast SATA 6Gbps SSD.

MSI has often been a little behind the competition when it comes to EFIs, and this is still the case with the GD65 (8D). Its EFI is a little laggy, with both the ASRock and Asus boards we tested proving to be snappier, especially when getting into the EFI in the first place. However, all the expected settings were there and unlike both ASRock motherboards, you have direct control over the CPU strap and are able to see the resulting CPU frequency too.


This made things easier when overclocking, and MSI also includes some useful tweaking software. Its Windows-based Click BIOS II utility looks exactly the same as the GD65 (8D)’s EFI and the Control Center software allows for some extensive tweaking and monitoring, even if most of it requires a reboot to apply the settings.

We managed to push the CPU to 4.76GHz but found performance to be most stable using a rather lowly CPU Base Clock of 119MHz and a CPU multiplier of 40x. However, we only needed to use a vcore of 1.385V combined with a CPU strap of 1.25x – a comparatively easy overclock.

This saw the GD65 (8D) leap up the graphs, posting the fastest video encoding score on test and falling just eight points short of the overall top dog. However, its frame rate in Arma II only rose by 2fps, possibly due to the lower CPU Base Clock compared with those of the other boards.

Conclusion

The MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) is a solid motherboard that’s easy to overclock and sports a number of useful features, such as on-board power and overclocking buttons, and it recovered well from failed overclocks. However, it’s lacking in a couple of key areas; the superior EFI and tweaking software provided with the Asus boards on test are enough to make them better value for money.