WEBVTT 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:14.719 All right, guys. This is an exciting motherboard for a couple of different 00:00:11.440 --> 00:00:16.320 reasons. Number one, it is made by MSI. 00:00:14.719 --> 00:00:22.160 Whoops. Here. Number two, it has a three-year warranty. Number three, it features military class 2 with solid 00:00:19.439 --> 00:00:26.240 ferite chokes, high seat caps with tandelum cores, and solid caps with a 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:30.160 10-year lifetime. Number three, they have added a Better Business Bureau 00:00:28.240 --> 00:00:34.239 accredited business sticker to the outside of the box. So, apparently MSI 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:39.440 is a Better Business Bureau accredited business. This is something I did not know. 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:47.360 Number one, two, three, four. Number five, um, it features the world's first 00:00:43.760 --> 00:00:51.280 PCI Express Gen 3 support. So that means 00:00:47.360 --> 00:00:54.719 with a supported CPU, you have support 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:57.559 for double the bandwidth of PCI Express 00:00:54.719 --> 00:01:02.120 Gen 2. Okay. So that means that a PCIe3 8X slot has the same bandwidth as 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:08.159 a PCIe2 16x 00:01:04.360 --> 00:01:09.920 slot. Cool, huh? Okay. Also, Click BIOS 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:16.080 2 has been implemented on this board. So Click BIOS referred to MSI's UEFI mouse 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:20.880 BIOS interface. It has been completely reworked and now it is click BIOS 2. So 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:25.200 hopefully I'll have a chance to check that out on this particular board in the 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:29.439 near future. This is a certified military standard board. So that's with 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:33.360 their military class components. And actually this isn't even right. This 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:37.119 board has a 5-year warranty. This sticker is wrong. This is an Eval unit 00:01:35.520 --> 00:01:40.880 from early on. It's possible the decision for 5year warranty hadn't been 00:01:38.880 --> 00:01:45.200 made yet. But no, this is a 5year warranty board along with the GD80. So, 00:01:43.360 --> 00:01:49.680 what MSI has decided to do with this particular military standard board is 00:01:47.520 --> 00:01:53.280 stand behind it for an even longer period of time than they normally do. 00:01:51.759 --> 00:01:57.200 Got a couple other cool features. You got your instant OC in the MSI control 00:01:55.520 --> 00:02:02.560 center software. We've got the supercharger which allows you to charge 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:05.520 an iPad, so even a larger device at high 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:10.399 speed, even when your PC is shut down. And then we've also got Winky 3, which 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:15.200 allows you to boot up into a pre-Windows OS within the BIOS and do basic things 00:02:12.720 --> 00:02:20.480 like browsing the internet should you so desire. All right, we've got a drivers 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:23.440 and utilities DVD, a quick installation 00:02:20.480 --> 00:02:27.360 guide in black and white. We have a top quality and stability software 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:31.040 application user guide in color on the outside and black and white on the 00:02:28.720 --> 00:02:36.720 inside, which is just fine. All right, we have a rear panel USB 3 header. So, I 00:02:35.040 --> 00:02:40.720 can plug that into the onboard header and I can have a couple extra USB 3 00:02:38.480 --> 00:02:45.599 ports if I don't have front USB 3 on my case. We have an IO 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:47.360 shield. We have the M connectors, which 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:50.959 allows me to easily plug in my front panel connectors without fighting with 00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:54.959 the individual little pins against the board. We also have, oh, look at that. 00:02:52.720 --> 00:02:58.800 We've got Vche. So, this board does feature Ve, which allows you to check 00:02:56.480 --> 00:03:03.120 the voltage directly using a multimeter rather than relying on softwarebased 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:07.440 tools. We've got four SATA cables. They are all straight to right angle. And 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:11.280 then we have a Molex to SATA adapter. I've actually used that on a number of 00:03:09.040 --> 00:03:14.319 occasions for the top uh optical drive sometimes if you don't want to feed a 00:03:12.480 --> 00:03:20.400 SATA cable all the way up there. We've also got a mainboard user guide 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:22.319 here. And finally, an SLI cable. So, 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:26.159 let's have a look at the board itself and talk about some of the other 00:03:23.760 --> 00:03:33.200 features that are applicable to this board because this is a Z68 board. So, 00:03:29.920 --> 00:03:36.599 besides being upgraded with support for 00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:40.400 PCI Express 3.0, it has some cool 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:41.599 features. All right, Z68 board. So, what 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:46.640 that means is, you know what, let's start with uh you know what, let's do the general board layout and then we'll 00:03:44.720 --> 00:03:52.080 and then we'll get into the Z68 features. So, we've got our CPU socket, 00:03:49.040 --> 00:03:53.840 which is an LG 1155 socket right here in 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:57.599 the middle of the board. Around that, we have what's actually a fairly beefy 00:03:55.599 --> 00:04:02.480 looking power delivery system. You can see the tantelum 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:06.319 core components around the CPU itself. 00:04:02.480 --> 00:04:08.080 And um we've also got a thick No, that's 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:12.959 a okay. Nope, that's a standard size heat pipe connecting the cooling for the 00:04:10.239 --> 00:04:17.359 top of our VRM and the side VRM all around the CPU socket. So, we've got 00:04:14.640 --> 00:04:22.240 support for Core i3s, Core i5s, and Core i7 CPUs. And then we've got our power up 00:04:20.799 --> 00:04:27.199 here. So, we've got an 8 pin power connector in its ideal location. Along 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:29.880 the top left of the board, we have four 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:34.080 DDR3 slots supporting dual channel operation. We have our V checkpoints. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:39.280 This is a great feature because it allows you to get actually accurate 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:41.280 voltage readouts on the uh we've got two 00:04:39.280 --> 00:04:47.360 grounds. Okay, so we've got the PCH, VCC, DDDR, CPU GFX, CPU VTT, and VCCP. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:52.080 So, all those settings will mean something to you if you're the kind of person who actually needs to measure 00:04:50.400 --> 00:04:55.040 them. All right, finally, we've got the or not finally, we've got the OCG 00:04:53.919 --> 00:04:59.520 button. So, that's your one-touch overclocking, our 24 pin connectors in 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:03.040 its ideal location along the right hand edge of the board. And we've got some 00:05:01.280 --> 00:05:07.479 more fan connectors. I'll summarize the fan headers after. We've got plenty of 00:05:05.280 --> 00:05:15.919 SATA ports. So, we've got Hm. Uh, four SATA 3 6 GB per second 00:05:11.840 --> 00:05:18.400 ports and two SATA and four SATA 2 3 00:05:15.919 --> 00:05:22.320 Gbit per second ports. Although right now it's hard for me to tell you guys. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:26.000 It looks like these two are running off the Intel chipset for 6 gig per second 00:05:24.400 --> 00:05:29.360 ports. And these two are probably running off this Marvel chipset right 00:05:27.520 --> 00:05:33.520 here, but it's hard to say 100%. Let me just see if I can see where those traces 00:05:31.440 --> 00:05:36.720 are going. Yeah. Yeah, that's what it looks like. It looks like those two are 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:41.280 running off the Marvel chipset. So, moving down, we've got a couple of front 00:05:39.280 --> 00:05:44.120 USB headers here. This one with red behind it. That's the one that supports 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:49.600 the additional power. We've got our USB 3.0 header 00:05:47.520 --> 00:05:54.400 right here. And then we've got built-in reset and power switches here. And 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:58.240 finally, our front audio header here. I always like to see motherboards with the 00:05:56.080 --> 00:06:01.440 maximum number of expansion slots cuz that does give you more options, 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:05.680 especially if you are installing two dual slot graphics cards. So, right here 00:06:03.840 --> 00:06:12.319 we have um three PCIe 1X slots, two PCIe 16X 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:15.520 slots, and two PCI slots. So, if you were to install two dual slot cards, 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:21.600 you're going to be left with a single PCI and two PCIe 1X, which I feel is a 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:25.280 good mix given the state of expansion cards right now. You might have some 00:06:23.039 --> 00:06:29.039 legacy PCI card, but anything new you're buying, you're probably going to get a 00:06:26.479 --> 00:06:33.039 PCI Express version. So, let's go over how many fan headers there are on this 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:38.720 guy. So, we've got one four pin PWM here, one four pin PWM here, two three 00:06:35.919 --> 00:06:43.840 pins here, and a three pin here in the middle. So, that's a total of five on 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:49.840 this motherboard. Moving around to the back of the board, we have 1 2 3 four 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:52.319 USB 2.0 ports, one of those PS2 keyboard 00:06:49.840 --> 00:06:56.800 mouse combo ports, a clear SMOS button. I I love the clear SIMOS button on the 00:06:54.160 --> 00:07:03.440 back. Big fan. Okay, we have optical as well as coaxial audio out, HDMI out, DVI 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:07.919 out, and VGA out, giving you an option for what you want to use if you do use 00:07:05.280 --> 00:07:12.080 the onboard video, USB 3, gigabit Ethernet, and 7.1 audio. So, this 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:17.599 onboard audio brings us to one of the features, and that is Virtue by Lucid is 00:07:15.599 --> 00:07:21.440 a soft. So, that's a software that's licensed by Intel for use on this 00:07:19.440 --> 00:07:26.800 particular platform, which allows you to use Intel Quicksync technology, which is 00:07:23.840 --> 00:07:30.880 built into the onboard GPU and your CPU. The onboard GPU and your CPU, the 00:07:28.400 --> 00:07:35.039 graphics that are built onto your CPU, but use your dedicated graphics card for 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:38.639 gaming, and it will actually help you switch dynamically between those two 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:43.440 different components when you're doing tasks that are optimized for them. Okay. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:50.000 The other feature that is unique to the Z68 platform is the ability to use Intel 00:07:46.960 --> 00:07:52.319 SRT or super smart response technology 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:57.120 which enables you to use a boot hard drive such as a 1 TB Western digital 00:07:54.639 --> 00:08:00.479 black or blue for example. And remember, don't use a green for boot because it's 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:05.599 not optimized for that. and then take an SSD of 60 gigs or smaller capacity and 00:08:03.520 --> 00:08:10.879 use it as a cache for your big hard drive in order to get up to a four times 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:14.080 uh performance increase in real world applications. And it does work, by the 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:17.680 way, in case you guys were wondering. This board is fully SLI and Crossfire 00:08:16.479 --> 00:08:21.039 ready, which is something I hadn't mentioned before. And I think that 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:26.560 pretty much covers it. Thank you for checking out my unboxing of the world's 00:08:23.280 --> 00:08:29.440 first PCI Express 3.0 ready motherboard, 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:34.080 the Z68A GD65. Well, it's actually the world's second and first cuz the GD80 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:37.279 supports the same thing. Remember to watch out for the G3 and the part number 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:41.440 in order to make sure that it does support Gen 3 PCIe graphics. And don't 00:08:39.680 --> 00:08:45.680 forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and other 00:08:42.800 --> 00:08:45.680 computer videos.