Which MSI Z77 board?

[njallday]

So I'm about a week or two from ordering my parts for my second build (which will be water cooled) and I was set on the MSI Gd55, but after looking at the G45, I see no point in spending the extra money for the GD55. Does anyone know what the advantage of the GD55 is or is there really no point.

Thanks for the help :lol:

 

[Josh Weston]

From flipping between the pictures of the two, there are only two discernible differences that I can see.
One: the smaller VRM heatsinks - there are less VRMs and, under high overclocks, this could make a difference, I guess.
Two: the removal of the onboard power, reset and OC Genie buttons - not overly needed, if i'm honest.

 

[njallday]

Yeah I did notice the OC Genie/ power/ reset buttons missing and I was kinda leaning to the GD 55 just for the simplicity of OC Genie, but after looking at OCG's results, I'm unimpressed. Seems to use way too many volts for such a minor overclock, i might as well learn how to properly overclock. I mean that's what it's all about, right?

 

[Josh Weston]

Yup, and with Z77 it really is easy. Are you going with an IB processor?

 

[njallday]

Yup, 3570k ^_^

 

[Josh Weston]

I'll say this, then - when your rig is all looped up etc. and you're ready to start overclocking, make sure you have the latest BIOS. Then, make sure you have MSI ClickBIOS II installed, or else you can't adjust the vcore at all - it's locked from within the UEFI itself.
Set multi to 44, set vcore to 1.2 and then run Intel Burn Test on its Maximum preset for 10 runs. Have HWMonitor running as well, so you can monitor temps. If it's stable, up the multi to 45, and repeat the tests. When the test is no longer stable, up the vcore by 0.05v and try again. As long as you keep under 1.4v as is expressed by MSI as the safe limit (although I really don't think you'll reach that high) and your maximum core temp is under 75*C after IBT you've done well.
Once you reach the temperature limit of your overclock, you can begin to whittle down the vcore until, once more, IBT is unstable. Bump the vcore up until it is once again stable, and voila! - maximum overclock achieved

 

[njallday]

Thanks for the help man (oh how apparent it is that I'm a US member). I honestly can't wait for this build :lol:

 

[Josh Weston]

Make sure to post your rig up on here when it's all done!
Also, happy 4th of July, too.

 

[njallday]

Thanks a lot . Absolutely, hopefully the tidiness will be satisfactory lol

 

[CPMFW]

waiting for the build

 

[Master&Puppet]

Agree with Josh.

Only other thing to note is that the GD55 has more power phases than the GD45 but that won't make much difference unless you want to really push clocks and you'll probably reach the thermal limit before that. For an i7 build I think it's worth getting the GD55 for that extra smoothness with the power delivery but not here.

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

I'll say this, then - when your rig is all looped up etc. and you're ready to start overclocking, make sure you have the latest BIOS. Then, make sure you have MSI ClickBIOS II installed, or else you can't adjust the vcore at all - it's locked from within the UEFI itself.
Set multi to 44, set vcore to 1.2 and then run Intel Burn Test on its Maximum preset for 10 runs. Have HWMonitor running as well, so you can monitor temps. If it's stable, up the multi to 45, and repeat the tests. When the test is no longer stable, up the vcore by 0.05v and try again. As long as you keep under 1.4v as is expressed by MSI as the safe limit (although I really don't think you'll reach that high) and your maximum core temp is under 75*C after IBT you've done well.
Once you reach the temperature limit of your overclock, you can begin to whittle down the vcore until, once more, IBT is unstable. Bump the vcore up until it is once again stable, and voila! - maximum overclock achieved

Just a heads up, the VCORE isn't actually locked in the UEFI, you just have to manually type it in, you can't select from a list. Atleast that's how it is on my GD65 with the latest BIOS. After playing with it for a while and for a bunch of time wasted with MSI customer support I finally figured it out. I just was thinking, they aren't that stupid to lock voltages, are they? Plus, ClickBIOS II in Windows is one of the buggiest programs I've ever used, which is a shame. Enjoy the board!