MSI Z77A-GD80 & R7770 Power Edition Transthermal OC Review

The MSI UEFI bios is attractively laid out and I found it easy enough to navigate, although not quite at the same level as the latest ASUS motherboards.

There are options to automatically let the motherboard attempt to overclock the processor, but today we are using the Standard mode to push it further. The main panel gives an overview of the connected drives and the memory installed.

The boot device priority can be adjusted with the mouse by simply dragging and dropping the positions, top right.

The motherboard defaulted the 3770k to the correct speeds, although the Corsair GTX8 2,400mhz memory was initially configured to 1,333mhz. This is pretty much a standard feature however to ensure a safe, first post in case of incompatibility issues. Loading the X.M.P. corrects this easy enough and we had no problems running 2,400mhz memory from Corsair, Kingston and G.Skill during our time with the motherboard.

The CPU ratio can be adjusted directly via the menus. We will look at overclocking in more detail shortly.

A range of bios shots above.

We know our Core i7 3770K sample limitations and it can tick over at 4.7ghz with good air cooling @ 1.28 volts. 4.8ghz is possible, but the voltage needs increased to around 1.35, which would cause long term problems for the sample. Watercooling or phase change would be needed for this speeds.

CPU-Z Validation is available over here. We did get a 4.8ghz post with this MSI motherboard, but as detailed above, we wouldn't risk it long term. This is a good overclocking motherboard which offers a variety of droop and voltage settings to achieve maximum stability.

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