X79 Preview – MSI X79A-GD65 (8D)
The MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) is a high-end X79 motherboard featuring eight DDR3 DIMM slots and claims to be the first motherboard with support for PCIe 3.0. We show you the board in detail.
Intel X79 Mobos and Sandy Bridge-E Coming Soon!
Motherboards based on the X79 chipset had been making sneak previews on computer expositions worldwide since May of this year. Codenamed Patsburg, this highly anticipated chipset would finally replace the aging Intel X58 platform that now support high-end Nehalem and Westmere processors such as the Intel Core i7-980X and 990X.
The new Intel X79 platform will support the upcoming Sandy Bridge-E processors and it utilizes a massive LGA2011 CPU socket. These new processors should be available by late November, which will coincide with the availability of these new motherboards in retail. There's also the possibility that the Sandy Bridge-E processors may ship without any stock CPU coolers as Intel may be offering its own retail CPU coolers aimed at enthusiasts and overclockers. To us, that sounds logical enough since only high-end enthusiasts would be interested in a CPU this powerful and these folks are likely to purchase their own preferred third-party coolers.
While we've seen a number X79 motherboards on display while trawling through Computex 2011 and more recently in Intel's Developer Forum 2011, it wasn't until recently when we started getting motherboards to inspect up-close. The first to touch base in our lab is MSI’s X79A-GD65 (8D). With claims that it is the first board to support PCIe Gen 3, it has some interesting features which we will showcase in this pictorial.
MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) - Quad-Channel Memory Support on 8 DIMM Slots
If you've been following MSI's motherboard line-up in recent times, you would easily notice the familiar facade and color scheme used on the X79-GD65 (8D). Most of the board's layout also follows much of the tried and tested structure to maintain familiarity among enthusiasts.
On the X79 boards, the LGA2011 CPU socket occupies a good deal of real estate and is flanked by DIMM slots. Specific to the X79-GD65 (8D), you'll find not four, but a total of 8 DIMM slots - two pairs of DIMM slots on each side of the CPU socket. This interesting DIMM array separation is due to the fact that Sandy Bridge-E processors support quad-channel DDR3 memory. With eight DIMM slots on this board, it would mean each memory channel interfaces with two DIMM slots.
This unique layout seems to be a ubiquitous feature amongst the X79 motherboards we have seen to-date. The most recent being the boards we have seen at IDF 2011 in San Francisco, USA. It was also the first time we laid our eyes on the X79A-GD65 (8D), as well as other MSI variants such as the GD65 and GD45 (which these latter two sport only a total of four DIMM slots). We also highlighted boards from Gigabyte and Sapphire.
Further touching on the memory aspects, according to MSI's manual, the X79A-GD65 (8D) supports up to a maximum of 128GB of memory when installed with 16GB DIMMs. However, due to an issue with the chipset resource usage, the system will only detect 127+ GB of memory. We reckon that's more than enough memory most people would ever need, but we thought it would be an interesting note for you readers to .
The ATX form factor board has a pleasant color scheme of black and blue with a sleek mechanical feel of a Transformer robot, ready to spring to action when powered up. It also wears its Military Class III components like a proud war veteran.
A Promotion to Military Class III
Until now, most of the top tier MSI motherboards boasted of Military Class II components, which comprise of using SFC (super ferrite chokes, first discussed here), Hi-c capacitors (first featured here) and the use of solid capacitors (which has become a norm in most boards). The new MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) is probably the first board to upgrade its Military Class status to version III by building on its existing suite of features and obtaining MIL-STD-810G certification that ensures components have been tested rigorously to meet US Department of Defense standards.
Further to that, MSI Military Class III standard also requires the use of the next generation of DrMOS - DrMOS II. To recall, DrMOS or otherwise known as Doctor MOS was the feature name to describe an integrated Driver-MOSFET package that combines three chips together: a driver IC, a high MOSFET and a low MOSFET. These components are vital components that regulate power to the processor, memory and a few other key components. Obviously, combining their functions to one packaged IC greatly increases power efficiency and increases performance as it can react to changes to power needs much more swiftly. All of these characteristics and vital functions are brought forward to DrMOS II, but this version integrates double thermal protection control. An LED warning will signal a 115 degrees Celsius temperature point for the integrated Driver-MOSFET chips and if it should increase any higher, auto shut down will be initiated at 130 degrees Celsius.
Here's how the different MSI Military Class marketing standards stack up.
Taking a Leaf from the Competition
This motherboard has two independent BIOS ROMs, labelled A and B. The default BIOS is A, if it crashes due to a faulty flash operation, a toggle of this switch will allow the motherboard to boot from BIOS ROM B. Both sets of BIOS ROM need to be maintained manually and the switch must not be used when the system is powered. Users are warned only to toggle the switch when the system is switched off.
The Multi BIOS switch is located between the white SATA 6Gbps connector and the 24-pin ATX power connector. With the board in vertical orientation, flicking the switch upwards will toggle BIOS ROM A while BIOS ROM B is toggled when the switch is shifted down,
The Usual Suspects
The board sports three PCIe Gen3 PEG slots (easily seen by their huge latches), a single PCIe 2.0 x1 slot and dual PCIe 2.0 PEG slots, which oddly only run at PCIe 2.0 x1 speeds. Since the board's manual only talks about 3-way SLI and CrossFire support, we don't really see the point of having extra PCIe graphics card slots unless the intended user needs to plug in more cards to expand his/her screen real estate. Of the three PCIe 3,0 x16 slots, two of them run at x16 speeds and the last runs at x8 speeds.
The on-board USB 3.0 and 2.0 connectors allow the connection of additional USB devices with their corresponding USB connector brackets (which are provided in the package). With MSI's SuperCharger application installed on the operating system, these connectors will provide quicker USB charging.
The smaller button with the blue trimming is the power button while the rest of the buttons are for overclocking purposes. For such purposes, MSI recommends using memory modules which have clock frequencies of 1333MHz or higher.
LGA2011 CPU Socket
This massive socket spots a pin count of 2,011 and it is a replacement of the LGA1366 socket with X58 chipset. With regards to mounting and locking the CPU in place, there are two latches to clamp down on the processor bracket locking plate (which is more than the one latch most DIY'ers would have encountered usually). All of this will likely be the same for any X79 motherboard, but the X79A-GD65 (8D) being the first that we've looked in detail, we decided to shine the spotlight a little closer on the new socket too.
The LGA2011 CPU socket is larger than the usual CPU sockets found on consumer computing platform. This is due to the large pin count which number a mind-blogging 2,011. This is mostly the result of a quad-memory controller implementation and more power/control lines to manage this complex CPU. After all, this is a workstation-class processor. Extra caution must be exercised in mounting the Sandy Bridge-E processor as the sheer number of pins translate to higher risks of them being bent due to carelessness.
The Rest of the Board
Besides sporting this new CPU socket, this upmarket board comes packed with features that would please its intended users. With USB 3.0, Firewall support, four SATA 6Gbps and four more SATA 3Gbps connectors, MSI has offered the usual icing in line with expectations of a high-end motherboard.
The board also features many LED status indicators for visual indication of CPU power loads, hard disk drive activity. They are also useful when certain components are in danger of overheating, like the DrMOS alarm. There is also a set of DIMM slot warning LEDs, which light up when installed memory modules in certain channels are not up to the specifications of the board.
The rear I/O of this board includes FireWire ports, USB 3.0 ports (in blue) and 2.0 ones as well. There is no eSATA connector nor does the board offer a second Gigabit LAN port (perhaps they might be reserved for an even higher-end board revision?) Both coaxial and optical S/PDIF outputs are available though. Lastly, a CMOS clear button is also made available at the rear I/O panel in-between the PS/2 and digital audio outputs.
Interestingly, there is a clear CMOS button nestled between the USB 2.0 ports and the optical S/PDIF-Out connector. This allows the clearing of the CMOS without the hassle of cracking open the chassis. Its discreet position also makes it hard for accidental depression of the button while one usually plugs various connections at the back of the board.
The white SATA connectors are the SATA 6Gbps capable while the black ones are the SATA 3Gbps ones. Sufficient for most high-end users, but it's probably not rivaling some of the storage server monster class boards we've seen. Still, we would have preferred if all of the SATA ports were capable of 6Gbps transfers.
The integrated ALC892 HD audio CODEC chipset is from Realtek, which has a virtual monopoly over the supply of such chipsets to motherboard manufacturers.
Breaking the ubiquity of NEC USB 3.0 controllers, the ASMedia USB 3.0 controller featured here was reportedly launched in April this year.
Our first impression of the board is that is looks similar in terms of its layout to the other X79 boards which we have had sneak previews. The list of features on-board is not terribly impressive but it is interesting to note that MSI has catered a backup BIOS in case of corruption to the BIOS ROM in use. The sheer number of LED indicators for debugging purposes is a nod to rig builders and enthusiasts who would want to fine tune the performance of their systems. We will be running tests on this board in near future to gauge its performance with a pairing of a Sandy Bridge-E processor, so do watch this space for more exciting details.
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