MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) Motherboard

Main Specifications

The main specifications for the MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) motherboard include:

• Socket: 1155
• Chipset: Intel Z68 Express
• Super I/O: Fintek F71889AD
• Parallel ATA: None
• Serial ATA: Four SATA-300 and two SATA-600 ports controlled by the chipset (RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10), and one SATA-600 port controlled by a Marvell 88SE9128 chip
• External SATA: One eSATA-600 port controlled by the same Marvell chip
• USB 2.0: 10 USB 2.0 ports, four soldered on the motherboard rear panel and six available through three headers on the motherboard
• USB 3.0: Four ports, two soldered on the motherboard rear panel and two available through a header on the motherboard, controlled by two NEC (Renesas) µPD720200 chips
• FireWire (IEEE 1394): Two ports, one soldered on the motherboard rear panel and one available through a header on the motherboard, controlled by a VIA VT6308P chip
• On-board video: Yes, controlled by the CPU, HDMI and DVI-D connectors supporting Lucidlogix Virtu technology
• On-board audio: Produced by the chipset together with a Realtek ALC892 codec (eight channels, 24-bit resolution, up to 192 KHz sampling rate for both the inputs and outputs, 90 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the inputs and 97 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the outputs), on-board optical SPDIF output
• On-board LAN: Two Gigabit Ethernet ports controlled by two Realtek RTL8111E chips
• Buzzer: No
• Infrared interface: No
• Power supply required: EPS12V
• Slots: Three PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (16x/0x/4x or 8x/8x/4x, supporting SLI and CrossFireX), two PCI Express x1 slots, and two standard PCI slots (ASMedia ASM1083 bridge chip)
• Memory: Four DDR3-DIMM sockets (up to 32 GB, up to DDR3-2133)
• Fan connectors: One four-pin connector for the CPU cooler and three three-pin connectors for auxiliary fans
• Extra Features: Dual BIOS
• Number of CDs/DVDs provided: One
• Programs included: Motherboard utilities
• More Information: https://www.msi.com
• Average price in the US*: USD 240.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this First Look article.