MSI Z77 Motherboard Preview

Where the first set of slides showed us the improved qulity can attention that has been put into MSI’s components, the second set here goes into the new and improved features that makes the boards what they are.  To get this section of to a start, performance boosting and overclocking is the topic of conversation.

MSI have harnessed to power Intel’s Smart Response Technology (ISRT) along with their own OC Genie II system to reduce Windows loading times.  This is not solely where the power will be seen, HDD speeds will also be improved and as demonstrated from their PCMark Vantage scores, a significant boost is to be expected.

Continuing on with the OC Genie II in mind, PCM Vantage is not the only benchmark to show significant improvements.  When harness with the Virtu technology (as found on the GD55 and GD65) we see scores in 3DMark 11 that are 1.5x better than without the technologies enabled.

OC Genie button on the motherboard works with the My OC Genie function in the BIOS allowing you to in an instant enable or disable overclocking functions and with the 1 second overclocking, users will almost instantly be able to switch between an overclocked or or stock speed system. Whats important here is after enabling this feature, you can build your own OC Genie settings and this is totally independent to the standard settings, meaning that you can easily switch between two OC profiles within Windows without having to restart each time.

MSI’s Click BIOS is the last thing to have a major overhaul in preparation for the new chipset with a whole new set of features.

With the use of the UEFI BIOS, whether you’re in a pre-operating system environment or in Windows itself, the Click BIOS II looks identical with a windows based look, making it easier to navigate your way around and easier to make fine tweeks to system variables.

Frequently used areas of the Click BIO will now appear in a utilities tab for even quicker access and convenience of use.

The OC profile export is a feature that will become invaluable to overclockers.  For a long time now, people have taken screen shots of their BIOS cunfiguration to allow other to mimic their setups to get the same overclock themselves.  By exporting the profile, users will now simply be able to share their settings in a single file to others, this has been common practice in a legacy BIOS environment of recent times, however integrating into a UEFI environment is much harder.  MSI are the first manufacturer to have achieved this

Further more, in a UEFI environment, gaming mice have previously had the tendency to behave erratically due to their fast polling rates.  With the improvements that MSI have made to their UEFI, this is no longer an issue.