Test System

Initial Setup

Initial setup with a boosted Turbo profile and without XMP enabled was pretty easy. The memory matched standard JEDEC timings. Everything worked well, but I noticed that the Turbo profile used an increased "39" multiplier for some workloads. This is par for the course with high-end boards of this nature and shouldn't be an issue with all CPUs, but it should help the MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING toe up a bit higher in the benchmark section. Not all brands offer features or condone functionality like this, but since it seems pretty obvious to me that this leads to some boards out-performing others in a way that some might call cheating, I don't really care that much. These boosted clocks have never caused obvious stability issues, and that's my primary concern. Anything that offers the end user guaranteed performance benefits is a worthwhile feature as long as it isn't something that will void warranties with other parts. Voiding your CPU warranty is nearly impossible since Intel now offers overclocking protection for all their common enthusiast CPUs, ensuring that all parts are safe. It would, however, be nice to see products that do implement a "natural" overclock to also include a coupon for this extra overclocking warranty, as it is only available through a separate online purchase, and not all retailers offer it for purchase yet. For more information on Intel's Performance Plan warranty, check their site, which can be found HERE


All set up on the motherboard tray of my test bench, the MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING is nearly swallowed up by all the hardware with all the supporting parts installed. Due to the proliferation of red and black hardware on the market today, there's definitely a plethora of parts available for you to build a thematically matching PC, and no matter what you decide to install, there's plenty of room to easily make it all fit. There's lots of room between installed dual VGAs for airflow as well, as that is part of MSI's dual-GPU optimization on all of their GAMING products.


Since the top slot is only a PCIe x1 link, it doesn't take up a lot of space on the board, but it does allow for room between the uppermost VGA and large CPU tower coolers, like the CoolerMaster TPC812 I use now. There's also room to easily install a fan over your RAM. The MOSFET cooler sits low enough to the board's surface for it not to interfere with most CPU coolers, as shown in the second image above.


The 24-pin power plug and V-Check points that sit next to the RAM are easily accessible in my Lian Li test bench, making set-up for extreme clocking easy as well. Since the buttons that were here on the Z77-GD65 GAMING are now found on the board's bottom edge, the V-Check points are all you need to access from the top-right of the board, making sure that wires from your multi-meter aren't getting in the way of your fingers reaching those buttons.


The SATA ports and USB 3.0 front-panel headers stand out from the side of the board, and sit far enough down the board's surface for cables from your drives and such not to interfere with VGAs installed into all the slots. The bottom edge with its buttons, switches, and the POST display is easily reached with dual VGAs installed, but you won't be able to access them should you decide to install a third dual-slot VGA into the MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING.

Power Consumption

We measure CPU power consumption since one of our first tasks is to truly verify system stability. I isolate the power coming through the 8-pin ATX connector using an in-line meter that provides voltage and current readings as well as total wattage passed through it. While this may not prove to isolate the CPU power draw in all instances, it does serve as a good indicator of board efficiency and effective VRM design. Total system power consumption is no longer reported as this figure can change depending on what VGA is installed. The sole board-only power measurements possible without physically modifying a motherboard are those taken via the 8-pin CPU connector, making it the only figure of value worth reporting.


Power consumption with the MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING was a bit higher than I had expected at idle, but both the board and BIOS were very new at the time of testing, not having been released to the market. MSI has provided me with a couple other BIOS versions to try, and one of these will hopefully fix idle power consumption, but I did not have the opportunity to test them at the time this review was written. I don't have any other Z87/4770K results for a comparison at this time, but you can take a look at any of my other board reviews to get an idea of what these numbers truly represent in the grand scheme of things.