MSI Z77A-GD55 Motherboard Review

Rob Williams · 08-02-2012, 09:51 PM

If you're looking for a good Z77 motherboard to pair up with that shiny Ivy Bridge CPU but don't want to break the bank, MSI's Z77A-GD55 is well worth a look. Despite its modest $165 price-tag, the GD55 offers a rich feature-set, looks good, has a robust EFI and even makes overclocking easy for those who don't care for the manual route.

Read through our full look at MSI's Z77A-GD55 and then discuss it here!

Big Red Machine · 08-02-2012, 11:37 PM

Been thinking of allocating funds for an up-to-date dedicated test system (neither 890FX nor P67 are "modern," sad to say).

This looks like a suitable motherboard for that purpose.

Rob, did you try your hand at OCing with it?

Rob Williams · 08-03-2012, 02:38 PM

I had limited time with the board because I needed to move onto something else, but I did get to 4.5GHz with it. I just didn't put it under our usual battery of tests (as can be seen by the lack of us talking about it in the article). Overclocking really isn't a major concern of mine, because if your needs are modest, any board is going to support a decent, at least when it's $150+.

Big Red Machine · 08-03-2012, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

I had limited time with the board because I needed to move onto something else, but I did get to 4.5GHz with it. I just didn't put it under our usual battery of tests (as can be seen by the lack of us talking about it in the article). Overclocking really isn't a major concern of mine, because if your needs are modest, any board is going to support a decent, at least when it's $150+.

This is true.

On the Intel side of things (as far as I've been told, anyway - I've yet to go full-monty when OCing a SB-/IB-era chip), OCing is more dependent on the actual CPU you get. On the motherboard side, you basically just have to be concerned about the power delivery system and the cooling thereof. That's probably why both Intel and AMD have fully-unlocked CPU multipliers on their "performance-oriented" chips.

So different from the old school of doing things!

Thanks for the review!

Rob Williams · 08-03-2012, 03:35 PM

CPU is part of the equation, but again, if the needs are modest, you'd have to be unlucky to get a chip that just won't OC at all. Binning really comes into play with extreme overclockers, where even 10MHz can mean the difference between a world record or not.

Optix · 08-04-2012, 07:21 PM

*looks at his signature*

You can bet I'll be pounding away on this board when I have some vacation later in August so I'll be able to answer the whole overclocking question in more detail.

08-02-2012, 09:51 PM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	MSI Z77A-GD55 Motherboard Review If you're looking for a good Z77 motherboard to pair up with that shiny Ivy Bridge CPU but don't want to break the bank, MSI's Z77A-GD55 is well worth a look. Despite its modest $165 price-tag, the GD55 offers a rich feature-set, looks good, has a robust EFI and even makes overclocking easy for those who don't care for the manual route. Read through our full look at MSI's Z77A-GD55 and then discuss it here! __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

08-03-2012, 02:38 PM	#3
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	I had limited time with the board because I needed to move onto something else, but I did get to 4.5GHz with it. I just didn't put it under our usual battery of tests (as can be seen by the lack of us talking about it in the article). Overclocking really isn't a major concern of mine, because if your needs are modest, any board is going to support a decent, at least when it's $150+. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

08-03-2012, 03:35 PM	#5
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	CPU is part of the equation, but again, if the needs are modest, you'd have to be unlucky to get a chip that just won't OC at all. Binning really comes into play with extreme overclockers, where even 10MHz can mean the difference between a world record or not. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

08-04-2012, 07:21 PM	#6
Optix Basket Chassis Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 1,653	looks at his signature You can bet I'll be pounding away on this board when I have some vacation later in August so I'll be able to answer the whole overclocking question in more detail. __________________ Intel i5 3570K, MSI Z77Z-GD55, 4x2GB Kingston Genesis 2133mhz, 120GB Mushkin Chronos SSD, 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue, Intel 210 cache drive, MSI 7850 Power Edition OC, Corsair H100, Silverstone Strider 750w Gold, Killer2100 NIC, Corsair 600T SE White, LG W2242, ROCCAT Kone+, Isku & Kave, 200GB Western Digital Scorpio Black external drive

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08-02-2012, 11:37 PM	#2
Big Red Machine Hellfire and Brimstone Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: SoCal Posts: 81	Been thinking of allocating funds for an up-to-date dedicated test system (neither 890FX nor P67 are "modern," sad to say). This looks like a suitable motherboard for that purpose. Rob, did you try your hand at OCing with it?