MSI Z77A-GD65 Motherboard

On-Board Peripherals

The Intel Z77 chipset is a single-chip solution, which is also known as a PCH (Platform Controller Hub). This chip
supports two SATA-600 ports and four SATA-300 ports, supporting RAID (0, 1, 10, and 5). This motherboard has two additional SATA-600 ports, controlled by an ASMedia ASM1061 chip (no RAID support). These ports are located at the motherboard’s edge and rotated 90°, so video cards won’t block them. See Figure 4. While MSI used two different colors to differentiate the SATA-300 from the SATA-600 ports (black for SATA-300 and white for SATA-600), we think they should have used a third color to identify the SATA-600 ports controlled by the additional chip. There are no eSATA ports.

Figure 4: The two SATA-600 ports controlled by the additional chip, the four SATA-300 ports, and the two SATA-600 ports controlled by the chipset

The Intel Z77 chipset supports 14 USB 2.0 ports and four USB 3.0 ports. The MSI Z77A-GD65 offers 10 USB 2.0 ports, four available on the motherboard rear panel and six available through three headers located on the motherboard; and four USB 3.0 ports, two located on the motherboard rear panel and two available through a header located on the motherboard.

The MSI Z77A-GD65 has one FireWire port, available through a header, controlled by a VIA VT6315N chip.

This motherboard supports 7.1+2 audio format, i.e., eight channels plus two independent channels for audio streaming. On this motherboard, the audio is generated by the chipset using the new Realtek ALC898 codec, which is an outstanding solution, providing an impressive 110 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the analog outputs, 104 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the analog inputs, and up to 192 kHz sampling rate for both inputs and outputs, with 24-bit resolution. This means you are able to capture and edit analog audio (e.g., converting LPs to CDs or MP3, converting VHS to DVDs or any other digital format, etc.) with this motherboard without adding any background noise.

The motherboard has on-board optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs. The analog audio outputs are independent, so you won’t need to use the “mic in” or the “line in” jacks when installing an analog 7.1 speaker set.

The portrayed motherboard has one Gigabit Ethernet port, controlled by the chipset using an Intel WG82579V chip to make the interface with the physical layer.

In Figure 5, you can see the motherboard rear panel with a shared PS/2 connector for keyboard and mouse, four USB 2.0 ports, clear CMOS button, coaxial and optical SPDIF outputs, HDMI output, Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 3.0 ports, VGA output, DVI-D output, and the analog audio jacks.

Figure 5: Motherboard rear panel