MSI Z87-G45 GAMING (Intel LGA 1150)

[cadaveca]

Hatched at the same time as MSI's other GAMING Dragon, the Z87-G45 GAMING comes from the same brood as its bigger brother. The genes may be the same, but the abilities offered are different, including the hole the MSI Z87-G45 GAMING is going to burn into your wallet; being smaller sometimes has its benefits.

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[15th Warlock]

Nice review as always Dave!

Seems like MSI boards currently offer the best value as platforms for a Haswell build, impressive results for such an affordable board!

I'm really looking forward to your review of the ROG series, Keep up the good work!

 

[cadaveca]

Nice review as always Dave!

Seems like MSI boards currently offer the best value as platforms for a Haswell build, impressive results for such an affordable board!

I'm really looking forward to your review of the ROG series, Keep up the good work!

The Maximus VI Hero will be next. I just sent an email with my thoughts about that board to ASUS and am starting to write it up right now.

 

[Kursah]

Great review as always Dave! Reading your review makes me glad I picked up the Asus board during Newegg's combo sale last month so I have some solid OC-ing! I sure wish the 65 had been in that combo sale!

 

[Initialised]

Great mid range Z87 board. I got one running a 4770K at 4.7GHz

 

[dumo]

Good review

On FB

 

[springs113]

Great review, waiting on your mpower and oc formula

 

[nodata]

Nice! Can't wait for XPOWER review

 

[nodata]

Nice review as always Dave!

Seems like MSI boards currently offer the best value as platforms for a Haswell build, impressive results for such an affordable board!

I'm really looking forward to your review of the ROG series, Keep up the good work!

Asus Maximus VI Extreme Full Review - TTL says it's crap..

 

[cadaveca]

Asus Maximus VI Extreme Full Review - TTL says it's crap..

I watched that video review he did, and immediately lost any respect I had for that guy. Just saying. That video was 26 minutes of him bitching about it, but no real review is to be had there...it simply confirmed he doesn't understand PC hardware.


Actually, Haswell has been a hard platform for many reviewers. Personally, I'm enjoying it.

 

[nodata]

Guess I'll have to wait for more reviews on MIVE
TTL posted all the graphs in his written review and they don't look good..

 

[cadaveca]

Guess I'll have to wait for more reviews on MIVE

I'm using one now in my memory review rig. You'll see numbers from it and some memory overclocking real soon, review is done, just waiting it's turn for the front page. I will do a full proper review as well.


The Hardware Landscape, if you will, has changed greatly, I feel, with Haswell. It definitely is quite different than I think most were expecting, and how it's approached and what expectations you have will greatly influence your opinion of the platform, for sure. I feel that a lot of negativity from board products isn't really about the boards...it is about the chips, which apparently...don't overclock well.


But if you take a look at our Haswell OC thread, most users are hitting 4.5 or 4.6 GHz, just like IVB. Haswell IS in all aspects faster than previous platforms, but the learning curve here when it comes time to OC is very large. And after reading many reviews, it seems like it's too much for some.

That is part of the reason these MSI boards do so well.. they do take a lot of the mystery out of OC for the normal user. It IS possible to simply use the "old way" of OC, and MSI's BIOS seems ready for that, and the boards are priced pretty competitively.

 

[Frick]

That is part of the reason these MSI boards do so well.. they do take a lot of the mystery out of OC for the normal user. It IS possible to simply use the "old way" of OC, and MSI's BIOS seems ready for that, and the boards are priced pretty competitively.

440BX for life man.

 

[nodata]

the best thing about Haswell so far is IHS removal

 

[Initialised]

Only de-lidded one Haswell so far, got 10 degrees or so lower. My theory is that Ivybridge and Haswell are intentionally poor for OC to make Ivy-E look worth the premium when it come out.

So far this MSI GD45 is the best Z87 board I've had the pleasure of tweaking.

 

[Intel God]

Joined so i could add my .02 cents.

Cad great review. TPU is amazing when it comes to reviews but i didnt see you talk about the Vrin voltage anyway. Vrin = CPU input voltage as ASRock and others call it. In my findings it is the key between stability and freeze's. Most boards need 1.9v for maximum stability but some need more. For those having issue with Stability up your Vrin/CPUIV to 1.9v

 

[cadaveca]

Joined so i could add my .02 cents.

Cad great review. TPU is amazing when it comes to reviews but i didnt see you talk about the Vrin voltage anyway. Vrin = CPU input voltage as ASRock and others call it. In my findings it is the key between stability and freeze's. Most boards need 1.9v for maximum stability but some need more. For those having issue with Stability up your Vrin/CPUIV to 1.9v

Only for some CPUs. The CPUs I have do not seem to benefit from increase. VR-in, or VCCin, or V-Input varies between CPUs, too, as I've seen 1.65V- 1.8V as stock.

Still, great info none-the-less. Perhaps those with CPUs with higher stock VR-in might need the boost, and those with lower are already getting a boost from auto settings, which I am pretty sure is happening on nearly every motherboard. It is self-regulating from what I understand.


Welcome to TPU, BTW.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Asus Maximus VI Extreme Full Review - TTL says it's crap..

I love the way at 10:15 he says the msi gd65 gaming, smashed the maximus in every test but pcmark

Nice review as usual Dave.

 

[ClaytonB]

I really enjoyed this review. Very detailed.

 

[freeboy]

I just read a review of the g43 that showed its specing almost identical testingresults to the g45...
seems like the g43 is the knock off lesser brother to the g45... Im suprised you gave it, the g45, such a low score given how high a score you gave the g65.. thanks for taking the time to do these reviews,, great stuff

 

[Juventas]

A couple questions:

1) The introduction says "Lucid Virtu MVP 2.0" is an "exclusive feature". Does this mean there's a full version of Virtu in the box? Is it Basic, Standard, or Pro?

2) The conclusion lists the first thumbs down as "slightly elevated power consumption". Where in the review was power consumption compared?

 

[cadaveca]

A couple questions:

1) The introduction says "Lucid Virtu MVP 2.0" is an "exclusive feature". Does this mean there's a full version of Virtu in the box? Is it Basic, Standard, or Pro?

It means that not every board in includes it, which makes it "exclusive" to that model, although, hrmm..that's not really "EXCLUSIVE", so point taken. As to the version, I am not exactly sure, to be honest, most likely basic, I'd have to check, but you could too.

2) The conclusion lists the first thumbs down as "slightly elevated power consumption". Where in the review was power consumption compared?

Power consumption for the board, via 8-pin EPS connector is listed, but to compare you must visit a few reviews, or trust my comments.

 

[Juventas]

It means that not every board in includes it, which makes it "exclusive" to that model, although, hrmm..that's not really "EXCLUSIVE", so point taken. As to the version, I am not exactly sure, to be honest, most likely basic, I'd have to check, but you could too.

On MSI's website, the overview mentions Virtu under the "Optimized for" heading. The detailed specifications say "Supports" Virtu. On the downloads page, there's a driver for Virtu, but no application. It's really not clear if there's a non-trial copy of the application in the box. At $35-90, it's significant for those looking to use it.

Power consumption for the board, via 8-pin EPS connector is listed, but to compare you must visit a few reviews, or trust my comments.

Ah, I found it this time... a subheading under "Initial Setup" on page 6. I pulled up the last seven other Z87 reviews and compared: the power consumption is lower than the two other MSI boards, but higher than the five from other brands. MSI apparently has an unusual power design... very interesting!

 

[cadaveca]

On MSI's website, the overview mentions Virtu under the "Optimized for" heading. The detailed specifications say "Supports" Virtu. On the downloads page, there's a driver for Virtu, but no application. It's really not clear if there's a non-trial copy of the application in the box. At $35-90, it's significant for those looking to use it.

Ah, I understand. OEM board makers that offer Lucid Virtu licenses Seem to offer a "one-time-only" version of the software that is not subject to free updates that I could tell. This is the same between all boards so far that I have tested. The Virtu app itself tells you there's an update, but then tells you that you have to pay if you install it, or if you un-install the current...or...it is all rather confusing, for sure, and that's why I feel not all boards have it this time around, where with Z77(or was it Z68), it was with every one.

Ah, I found it this time... a subheading under "Initial Setup" on page 6. I pulled up the last seven other Z87 reviews and compared: the power consumption is lower than the two other MSI boards, but higher than the five from other brands. MSI apparently has an unusual power design... very interesting!

I think that you need to consider both the Turbo profiling and performance when considering power consumption as well, and that's why I no longer have graphs with all boards for that number specifically...if one is running 3.9 on all cores, and one runs a default profile, the testing doesn't really say that much, and I simply don't have to the time to provide anything more meaningful.

 

[Juventas]

I exchanged a few emails with Lucid. They showed me this link:

http://www.lucidlogix.com/mvp-product-list.shtml

They said the ones listed with MVP 2.0 are the Pro Edition. So, for Z87 you're getting something currently costing $56, and it exists only for a few MSI and EVGA boards, and one Biostar. Exceptional value for the Z87-G45.