# MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING (LGA 1150)



## cadaveca (Jun 1, 2013)

Man the ramparts! A dragon is approaching! It's coming to eat our pretty Haswells! Clad in black and red like its older brother, MSI's Z87-GD65 GAMING was genetically engineered out of the base DNA the Z77-GD65 GAMING used, but don't be fooled, the Z87-GD65 GAMING has a few unique abilities.

*Show full review*


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## BiggieShady (Jun 1, 2013)

Not everyone likes dragons  
I love it when hardware is so good that negative points get to be funny


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## Nordic (Jun 1, 2013)

Tried to look up what specifications that fnatic has because that sounded weird to me. I only found this page. I'll go out on a limb and say that their motherboard specifications are a paid sponsorship of their clan...


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## LagunaX (Jun 1, 2013)

Daenerys Targaryan likes dragons...


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## pjl321 (Jun 1, 2013)

Thanks for the review Dave. Questioning the new overclocking section though. Do you not feel re-running all the tests at the maximum overclock possible on that particular board would help us decided what board is best to buy?

I understand where you are coming from doing it at a set and very attainable by all 4.6GHz for direct comparability but imagine motherboard 'A' performed really well at this 4.6GHz but was pretty much topped out and motherboard B, C, D... all went on to 5+GHz. From this new lay out it would look mobo A was the best to buy.

I guess I'm saying where has the max overclock gone?


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## ArchStupid (Jun 1, 2013)

How come the first picture of the mobo is called 'vanity.jpg'?
Do you really dislike dragons that much cadaveca?


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## cadaveca (Jun 1, 2013)

pjl321 said:


> Thanks for the review Dave. Questioning the new overclocking section though. Do you not feel re-running all the tests at the maximum overclock possible on that particular board would help us decided what board is best to buy?
> 
> I understand where you are coming from doing it at a set and very attainable by all 4.6GHz for direct comparability but imagine motherboard 'A' performed really well at this 4.6GHz but was pretty much topped out and motherboard B, C, D... all went on to 5+GHz. From this new lay out it would look mobo A was the best to buy.
> 
> I guess I'm saying where has the max overclock gone?



It was taken away by heat affecting max clocks. Temps can change from mount to mount as well. I had tested multiple boards and chips before coming to this decision. There is no other accurate way to compare boards other than by per-clock efficiency. Memory clocking does vary from board to board, so I showed that.  Memory overclocking is what will affect max clocks, IMHO, for 24/7 use.



ArchStupid said:


> How come the first picture of the mobo is called 'vanity.jpg'?
> Do you really dislike dragons that much cadaveca?







That's what I call that shot. The same shot is there in every board review, and it saves me great time by naming files the same and using the same review template for all reviews. It also helps ensure I cover everything that is needed.


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## XtremeCuztoms (Jun 1, 2013)

Nice review cadaveca..


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## pjl321 (Jun 1, 2013)

cadaveca said:


> It was taken away by heat affecting max clocks. Temps can change from mount to mount as well. I had tested multiple boards and chips before coming to this decision. There is no other accurate way to compare boards other than by per-clock efficiency. Memory clocking does vary from board to board, so I showed that.  Memory overclocking is what will affect max clocks, IMHO, for 24/7 use.
> --



Again, i do understand why you chose to do it that way but surely you must appreciate the importance of knowing what the maximum overclock was with each board you test?


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## cadaveca (Jun 2, 2013)

pjl321 said:


> Again, i do understand why you chose to do it that way but surely you must appreciate the importance of knowing what the maximum overclock was with each board you test?



I do. But I can tell you, I see no difference so far. What I do see, is a difference in voltages needed for my 4.6 GHz clock. This serves the same function as "max OC". A CPU will ALWAYS require the same current to push a specific clock(until damaged). So then, it's matter of how efficient boards supply power...which power consumption testing and load voltages cover.



So, while "max OC" may show one board does better than others, the same data can be gleaned form what I already present, although you might need to think about it a bit.


I have these boards already, with more coming, so my testing is not from limited attempts.:









Also, do keep in mind that in my books, gaming boards are reviewed against gaming boards, OC against OC, mITX vs mITX.... In the coming weeks, I think this may prove to show why I do things the way that I do, but rest assured that I do test every single angle although all results may not be reported in reviews. If a board seems to overclock far better than another, I'll definitely report that. IN the end, I should be picking one "best" board form each user category.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Jun 2, 2013)

cadaveca said:


> I do. But I can tell you, I see no difference so far. What I do see, is a difference in voltages needed for my 4.6 GHz clock. This serves the same function as "max OC". A CPU will ALWAYS require the same current to push a specific clock(until damaged). So then, it's matter of how efficient boards supply power...which power consumption testing and load voltages cover.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




That's some nice boards there. 


Also what's in the Gibson box? a Les Paul?


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## cadaveca (Jun 2, 2013)

tigger said:


> Also what's in the Gibson box? a Les Paul?



Yeah, that's my Buckethead sig model.


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## XtremeCuztoms (Jun 2, 2013)

Nice array of boards to review...


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## Delta6326 (Jun 2, 2013)

Great review I like these new boards i can't wait till you do the m-atx reviews! I want one to go into a CL Mercury S5.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jun 2, 2013)

Looking forward to a gb gaming board review for once to see the audio progress. I'd like to audition that with a LME49990 in vs my Titanium HD.


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## 15th Warlock (Jun 2, 2013)

Thanks for the review, really looking forward to your ROG series review as well 

This is a nice looking board, and it seems like MSI got their act togheter in terms of features, I've never owned an MSI board before, if you don't mind me asking, in your opinion how does it compare to the ROG line of boards in terms of quality and performance?

Now that NDA is lifted, do you mind sharing the price on the ROG boards also?

Once again, thanks for the awesome review


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## ChaoticG8R (Jun 2, 2013)

Looks like you finally got a Sabertooth 

"To take a quote our recent news article:"  I think the end of your article is missing the word "from" (or something equivalent).


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## smoke22 (Jun 2, 2013)

Please, focus also on loudness of audio from like before, because there are even 50% differencies in terms of loudness.
For example Realtek ALC889 is OK, but Realtek ALC898 volume is very low and in your motherboard reviews you've mentioned it's very quiet, also.
So, thank you and please don't forget to focus on this


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## cadaveca (Jun 2, 2013)

15th Warlock said:


> This is a nice looking board, and it seems like MSI got their act togheter in terms of features, I've never owned an MSI board before, if you don't mind me asking, in your opinion how does it compare to the ROG line of boards in terms of quality and performance?



That's a tough call. Overall, MSI has really stepped up their game, using high-end VRM and having excellent memory clocking, something we'd find on ROG boards.

At the same time, I haven't put a lot of time on the ROG boards, but what I have seen is a bit more impressive, at least for memory clocking. Because of the inclusion of the iVR into the CPUs itself and the Z87 having such great functionality, boards are packed with even more extra features to help distinguish themselves on the market. Each brand seem o have a new product, and those are the boards that will cover these pages first. MSI has the gaming line-up, ASUS has the ROG Hero and the new mATX Gryphon, and Gigabyte has the Z87X-OC, a "value" OC-focus product. how these new SKUs place themselves in the market will be quite interesting.



ChaoticG8R said:


> Looks like you finally got a Sabertooth
> 
> "To take a quote our recent news article:"  I think the end of your article is missing the word "from" (or something equivalent).



Thanks G8tor, I'll amend that right now.



smoke22 said:


> Please, focus also on loudness of audio from like before, because there are even 50% differencies in terms of loudness.
> For example Realtek ALC889 is OK, but Realtek ALC898 volume is very low and in your motherboard reviews you've mentioned it's very quiet, also.
> So, thank you and please don't forget to focus on this



Of course. When reviewing boards, I set them up in my test bench, do some stability testing, and then I clock up the board, test stability, and game on it with guys on our TS server. If mic quality is different, or anything of that nature, I do get feedback from these guys about that. Audio is ALWAYS tested, and not just with RMAA; I actually use each board for 7 days before writing up my review.


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## 15th Warlock (Jun 2, 2013)

cadaveca said:


> That's a tough call. Overall, MSI has really stepped up their game, using high-end VRM and having excellent memory clocking, something we'd find on ROG boards.
> 
> At the same time, I haven't put a lot of time on the ROG boards, but what I have seen is a bit more impressive, at least for memory clocking. Because of the inclusion of the iVR into the CPUs itself and the Z87 having such great functionality, boards are packed with even more extra features to help distinguish themselves on the market. Each brand seem o have a new product, and those are the boards that will cover these pages first. MSI has the gaming line-up, ASUS has the ROG Hero and the new mATX Gryphon, and Gigabyte has the Z87X-OC, a "value" OC-focus product. how these new SKUs place themselves in the market will be quite interesting.



Thank you very much for your reply cadaveca 

I'm kinda disappointed with the OCing potential of Haswell, but from your review it would seem like this platform greatly benefits from higher memory OCing, and that's probably where most differentiation will reside when it comes to comparing Z87 boards, as most of the power circuitry resides in the CPU itself, like you pointed out, and it would seem from your experience like this board has what it takes to get some crazy memory clocks 

I've been a very loyal ROG user, but there're no boards available anywhere for some reason, you can find Asus full LGA 1150 lineup, but the ROG boards are unfortunately MIA at the moment.

I'm seriously considering this board, to build a mid range Haswell rig, but I'll wait for your other reviews before I make my decision, once more, thank you for your thorough reviews, they're greatly appreciated


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## cadaveca (Jun 2, 2013)

15th Warlock said:


> I've been a very loyal ROG user, but there're no boards available anywhere for some reason, you can find Asus full LGA 1150 lineup, but the ROG boards are unfortunately MIA at the moment.



Likewise.


I just received the ROG boards during this past week. That means I haven't had much time to play with them yet, as I have had boards and CPUs for several weeks now. I have multiple chips on-hand right now to test with because I need to do both board and memory reviews, and my memory testing rigs are built once and then sit in that configuration until the platform changes, while with boards I change the chip into another board every week, so I've got more than one rig testing at once. I've a lot of ground to cover here before I can devote good attention to the ROG boards... I'm also eager to get the ASRock OC Formula boards as I see that John Lam has spent some considerable time already getting the BIOSes tweaked for memory clocking this weekend.

I get my ASUS boards direct from the factory, so I understand that they might have been a bit later getting out the factory than some other boards did. ASUS has many products ready right now, so it must have been a literal logistical nightmare to get everything off the assembly line and out the door, PLUS dealing with Computex prep...and every company is doing this. The UPS guy has been at my door every day for several weeks now.


I've got other MSI products to cover, too. I'm really impressed with how each board, no matter which brand, really is more of a "platform" that just a board product...they really seem to have envisioned complete builds that users would do, and then built these products around those configurations. That means that each has a specific focus that doesn't carry over from product to product, and doing that correctly is truly a majestic feat.


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## wot (Jun 3, 2013)

*typo?*

Specifications table says "8 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (six via *Intel Z77*, two via ASMedia ASM1061)"

Edit: Oh first post here


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## cadaveca (Jun 3, 2013)

wot said:


> Specifications table says "8 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (six via *Intel Z77*, two via ASMedia ASM1061)"
> 
> Edit: Oh first post here



Fixed, thanks.  

And welcome to TPU.


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## DOM (Jun 3, 2013)

Where's the OCF .


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## Ikaruga (Jun 3, 2013)

A very good review, thanks and well done. I love how passionate you are about the new "Dragon series" from MSI, but it's understandable since they are offer some truly great value indeed.


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## cadaveca (Jun 3, 2013)

DOM said:


> Where's the OCF .



I had several packages get stuck in customs or not arrive this time around. That actually screwed up my schedule pretty good as I had intended to have a different publishing order than what I am working on now. But, oh well. Such is life.



Ikaruga said:


> A very good review, thanks and well done. I love how passionate you are about the new "Dragon series" from MSI, but it's understandable since they are offer some truly great value indeed.




I love dragons. What can I say?


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## pjl321 (Jun 3, 2013)

cadaveca said:


> I do. But I can tell you, I see no difference so far. What I do see, is a difference in voltages needed for my 4.6 GHz clock. This serves the same function as "max OC". A CPU will ALWAYS require the same current to push a specific clock(until damaged). So then, it's matter of how efficient boards supply power...which power consumption testing and load voltages cover.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




After reading and digesting many Haswell reviews it seems 4.6GHz is actually a really high overclock. What's with Haswell poor overclocking? I appreciate its heat density but it looks very much by design than accident. Intel has always hated overclocking and now they have the perfect control.

Do you have any idea if it uses TIM or solder?


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## EarthDog (Jun 3, 2013)

Excellent review... though you stole my 'featured image'. As soon as my Mpower publishes, slight issue we discussed in PM, that was my 'featured' image was your first one, LOL!


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## cadaveca (Jun 3, 2013)

EarthDog said:


> 'featured image'



Huh? 








pjl321 said:


> After reading and digesting many Haswell reviews it seems 4.6GHz is actually a really high overclock. What's with Haswell poor overclocking? I appreciate its heat density but it looks very much by design than accident. Intel has always hated overclocking and now they have the perfect control.
> 
> Do you have any idea if it uses TIM or solder?



Yep, 4.6 GHz seems high, but both my retail chips hit that clock and then some, no problem. When clocking up CPU multi, "RING" voltage is important. I suspect some users having issue clocking may not be adjusting that voltage, or that the board fails to scale it adequately for their CPU, or there is something else amiss. With early BIOSes, it can be hard to judge what's going on, but I haven't had a few issues I see other reviewers running into. Maybe I just got lucky in the silicon lottery...

CPUs use TIM, but thermal transfer on my samples seems fine. Personally, I'd ignore any reviews using "ES" CPUs.


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## EarthDog (Jun 3, 2013)

Ha! Sorry, our forum has a 'featured image' on its front page for articles... I used the same one (the branding by the PCIe area), LOL!


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## cadaveca (Jun 3, 2013)

EarthDog said:


> Ha! Sorry, our forum has a 'featured image' on its front page for articles... I used the same one (the branding by the PCIe area), LOL!



Check any of my reviews for the past several years, they all have that image.  It's like the "Vanity" shot, which is the opposite angle from the little thumb at the top of the review. Been in every review for years.


So your site 'stole" that from ME!!!


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## rzepa10 (Jun 3, 2013)

Great review. This mobo is on my first place today because of you.
Can't wait to see your others reviews so I could choose correctly. 

Any chance for approximate date of sabertooth z87 or gigabyte x-oc review ?


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## cadaveca (Jun 3, 2013)

rzepa10 said:


> Great review. This mobo is on my first place today because of you.
> Can't wait to see your others reviews so I could choose correctly.
> 
> Any chance for approximate date of sabertooth z87 or gigabyte x-oc review ?



Soon.

GRYPHON Z87 next, then Z87X-OC.


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## Delta6326 (Jun 4, 2013)

Sweet can't wait for the gryphon I really want a m-atx build. Your reviews rock.


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## pjl321 (Jun 4, 2013)

cadaveca said:


> Huh?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I don't know about everyone else but for me the move to 22nm has been a massive disappointment for me. I thought we would be seeing pretty much guaranteed +5GHz overclocks at relatively low temperatures, not forgetting the hype over 3D transistors. I put Ivy Bridge down to teething problems and genuinely thought Intel would have sorted the heat density issues or four Haswell. It's not even like they have been increasing the core count either, we have had quad-cores since 2006!

Anyway, Dave/anyone has Intel confirmed Broadwell compatibility with z87? A year or so ago articles said it was confirmed that z87 would be compatible with Haswell and Broadwell, then it was announced that Haswell was going to be the last ever LGA socket, then we seem to have gone back on that too.any ideas?


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## cadaveca (Jun 4, 2013)

pjl321 said:


> any ideas?



Yes, new CPU should go in same socket, some time in 2014. Will that actually happen? Time will tell.


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## Hilux SSRG (Jun 4, 2013)

Great review cadeveca, looking for to future Z87 review from you.  

Will you or another poster from techpowerup be reviewing one of the Gigabyte Z87 UltraDurable 5H/4H/3H as well at some point?


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## cadaveca (Jun 4, 2013)

Hilux SSRG said:


> Great review cadeveca, looking for to future Z87 review from you.
> 
> Will you or another poster from techpowerup be reviewing one of the Gigabyte Z87 UltraDurable 5H/4H/3H as well at some point?



Yes, I will. It was one of many that got caught in customs, had to wait for Customs to release the board back to Gigabyte, and then it will get shipping back to me, probably after Computex.


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## dupcengier26 (Jun 7, 2013)

hmm official MSI says  on 64 GB DDR3 support on this motherboard ....


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## Ravenas (Jun 7, 2013)

What is the max CPU voltage setting in the BIOS cadaveca?


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## Delta6326 (Jun 7, 2013)

Ravenas said:


> What is the max CPU voltage setting in the BIOS cadaveca?



Doesn't really matter, once you get 1.2v+ the temps skyrocket and 1.3v+ need's delid with great cooling.
Even in the bios Cad was Idleing at 57c with 1.28v


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## Ravenas (Jun 7, 2013)

Delta6326 said:


> Doesn't really matter, once you get 1.2v  the temps skyrocket and 1.3v  need's delid with great cooling.
> Even in the bios Cad was Idleing at 57c with 1.28v



Did you answer my question? No.


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## Delta6326 (Jun 7, 2013)

Ravenas said:


> Did you answer my question? No.




I think I maybe reading the manual wrong(just went through 116 pages) but it mentions 1.67


EDIT it should be 
CPU voltage tweaking (maximum) 	2.1 V 	
 Memory voltage tweaking (maximum) 	2.445 V 	
 North bridge / PCH voltage tweaking (maximum) 	1.68 V 	
 VCCSA voltage tweaking (maximum) 	0.99 V 	
 QPI / IMC / I/O voltage tweaking (maximum) 	2.13 V


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## cadaveca (Jun 7, 2013)

Delta6326 said:


> Doesn't really matter, once you get 1.2v+ the temps skyrocket and 1.3v+ need's delid with great cooling.
> Even in the bios Cad was Idleing at 57c with 1.28v
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/Z87-GD65_GAMING/images/MSI_SnapShot_18.jpg



BIOS isn't "IDLE". considering 1.3 V is nearly a 30% boost in voltage...temps are fine.



Ravenas said:


> Did you answer my question? No.



That question is answered in the review.

IN the table at the top of the BIOS page:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/Z87-GD65_GAMING/8.html



dupcengier26 said:


> hmm official MSI says  on 64 GB DDR3 support on this motherboard ....



4770K supports 32 GB only...:

http://ark.intel.com/products/75123/Intel-Core-i7-4770K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz

But I'll change it if that is what they say.


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## Delta6326 (Jun 7, 2013)

cadaveca said:


> BIOS isn't "IDLE". considering 1.3 V is nearly a 30% boost in voltage...temps are fine.



Hm, everyone I've heard is getting horrible temps. But you are right i didn't put 2&2 togeather with the V and temp. I figured in bios the CPU would be idle. Could you post some more info on how your CPU temps are doing plus your cooler?

I must not be thinking straight tonight its getting late here.


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## 15th Warlock (Jun 7, 2013)

Dave, I couldn't find a way to change to multiplier inside the BIOS (haven't read the manual yet ) but what do you think about using MSI's Command Center to play with multipliers and voltages?

Also, I wanted to ask you, my CPU's default voltage on its first boot in the BIOS was 1.000V, and the ring voltage was 1.024V, you mentioned this tells you a lot about OCing potential, what do you think about this CPU in particular?

Thank you for your help!


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## DOM (Jun 7, 2013)

Delta6326 said:


> Hm, everyone I've heard is getting horrible temps. But you are right i didn't put 2&2 togeather with the V and temp. I figured in bios the CPU would be idle. Could you post some more info on how your CPU temps are doing plus your cooler?
> 
> I must not be thinking straight tonight its getting late here.




Why don't you look at the review smh 


 http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/MSI/Z87-GD65_GAMING/7.html


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## cadaveca (Jun 7, 2013)

Delta6326 said:


> Hm, everyone I've heard is getting horrible temps. But you are right i didn't put 2&2 togeather with the V and temp. I figured in bios the CPU would be idle. Could you post some more info on how your CPU temps are doing plus your cooler?
> 
> I must not be thinking straight tonight its getting late here.



I get just under 85C in P95 with the Coolermaster TPC812 @ 4.6 GHz, and 1.285V. Idle is ~30c in OS.




15th Warlock said:


> Dave, I couldn't find a way to change to multiplier inside the BIOS (haven't read the manual yet ) but what do you think about using MSI's Command Center to play with multipliers and voltages?
> 
> Also, I wanted to ask you, my CPU's default voltage on its first boot in the BIOS was 1.000V, and the ring voltage was 1.024V, you mentioned this tells you a lot about OCing potential, what do you think about this CPU in particular?
> 
> Thank you for your help!



That sounds pretty good, actually. Maybe you can get 4.6 GHz with just 1.2V. Set ring voltage to 1.15V and ring multi to 39, as I mentioned, then CPU voltage to 1.2 V, and see what you get.

I don't like software for clocking, at all, since there are many times what you get with software is not actually bootable, although perfectly stable. I'll ask Crazyeyesreaper to look more into MSI Control Center, since the board is on it's way to him now.


CPU Multi(6th "white" option down the list):








Or, at the bottom of the OC page, is CPU Features, and Turbo multis can be set there. You can roughly copy my settings in those screenshots, but I would not use the high vCPU, vRING and vDIMM I have there, as that was before I tweaked them down.


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## Delta6326 (Jun 7, 2013)

DOM said:


> Why don't you look at the review smh
> 
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/MSI/Z87-GD65_GAMING/7.html






I read the whole review. But Im starting to get all mixed up. Over read over 10 haswell reviews 13+ MB reviews plus all the haswell OC and delidding threads at ocn . I've got about 7 threads going also. I think I need to step back and go to sleep goodnight all.

Thanks for the info Cad!


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## DOM (Jun 7, 2013)

Review on of the same mb or different ones ?

Im just going to get mine tomorrow mpower max 

But it seems haswell is the same like sb ivy they all don't oc the same and seems some reviews say its hotter then ivy which sucks 

But reading to many isn't helping you it seems go to sleep let your mind rest


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## cadaveca (Jun 7, 2013)

DOM said:


> Review on of the same mb or different ones ?
> 
> Im just going to get mine tomorrow mpower max
> 
> But it seems haswell is the same like sb ivy they all don't oc the same and seems some reviews say its hotter then ivy which sucks



I got 15 or so boards sitting here to review. Will be doing these board reviews until September 1st, about 1 a week or so.


Haswell is IVB + SB-E tweaking. iVR allows tighter regulation, so droop...pretty much gone now. Also, L3 cache is now separate from CPU speed(was linked before), so if you got cache that runs a bit poopy, it doesn't hold the CPU back. Also, since cache utilization is never 100%, this allows you to run cache speed lower, and thereby lower temps.

Really, it's everything you want as an OC'er. The level of tweakability is amazing.

At the same time, it's still simple, but one more voltage is required for most 24/7 use, the ring voltage, since that's L3 and ring-bus. Since workload in cache increases with CPU speed, you need to increase ring voltage as well. There are about 20 other voltages now to play with for those wanting to really push limits. 3100 with Hynic MFR PBC-based DIMMs is a piece of cake with most CPUs, but bandwidth is low. Nearly every CPU should do 2800 MHz high-bandwidth.

That said, I run 4.6 GHz, but only 3.9 GHz cache. If you look at the results in this review, there is IVB, SB-E, and Haswell results there. Even with the slower cache speed, Haswell still beats IVB in nearly everything.


ES chips are different than retail. There are several versions of ES, not sure who exactly has what. I really hate reviews with ES chips, since that's not what end users get. This isn't the fault of the reviewers that used them...Intel should have given them retail for review.


I seen advice to stay with 1.5V XMP DIMMs if possible for 24/7 use. 1.65V is absolute max instead of the 1.85V of IVB. Dunno how that relates, but I find DIMMS that hated voltage before now scale really really well, not sure if that's the chip, the platform, or my tweaking...still testing.


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## 15th Warlock (Jun 7, 2013)

cadaveca said:


> I get just under 85C in P95 with the Coolermaster TPC812 @ 4.6 GHz, and 1.285V. Idle is ~30c in OS.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks Dave, will try these settings now, I actually took a photo with my cell, will let you know how it goes!

Appreciate your help! You rock! 

BTW there's a new BIOS ver. 1.2 for this board if you're interested


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## DOM (Jun 7, 2013)

Yeah been hearing the ES can take a lot more volts then the retail, but I have no clue to what I'm getting in to


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## pjl321 (Jun 7, 2013)

Any idea is the ES chips are physically different or just really well cherry picked?

What are the chances that the C2 stepping will improve on this heat issue? When is C2 due?


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## Ravenas (Jun 7, 2013)

cadaveca said:


> That question is answered in the review.
> 
> IN the table at the top of the BIOS page:
> 
> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/M..._GAMING/8.html



That's a ridiculous amount of voltage. Thank you for letting me know I didn't see that in the review.


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## Delta6326 (Jun 7, 2013)

DOM said:


> Review on of the same mb or different ones ?
> 
> Im just going to get mine tomorrow mpower max
> 
> ...



All different boards. Probably why I can't remember anything.

But from what I've seen someone did a review same chip 5 MB they all oced around the same 4.5-4.8GHz the best was Asus. I will try and find it again.

Edit: here it is http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z87-haswell-motherboard-review,3524-30.html to me I think overall the chip will have the biggest impact on ocing.


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## domtine (Jan 17, 2014)

I have this board and it gave me a lot of problems. RMA'ed once and the m-flash function is not as stable as MSI claims. 

1st board came with BIOS V1.2 and was giving me missing fields in BIOS menu and a mighty long time in POST. Ended up bricked when updating BIOS through M-flash. Yes. both main and backup BIOS were bricked.

2nd board came with BIOS v1.5 and was still giving me missing fields and long POST. Asked around on the MSI forums and flashed a beta version of BIOS v1.91 in DOS environment. Managed to stay stable for 1 month or so now.

I got this board in mid Nov 2013 with BIOS v1.2 and in end Dec 2013 they have BIOS v1.91b...... it says pretty much about QC.

Nonetheless, it's still a great board with the lowest price in its category. Get it if you can live with the unexpected troubles.


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## Bo$$ (Jan 17, 2014)

domtine said:


> it says pretty much about QC.



I'd take that as a good thing, fixing issues which may not surface after internal testing...


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## domtine (Jan 18, 2014)

Actually I was implying that they could have tested it more thoroughly instead of releasing it so early. There are few people facing various problems with this board on the MSI forum. 

If anyone has this board, DO NOT update the BIOS through MSI live update or M-flash there have been cases of BIOS corruption or bricks. 

Ask around on the MSI forum for the FPT method.


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