MSI Z87-G45 Gaming

Overview

TechSpot Metascore

Based on 7 expert reviews

Excellent:

6
Good:

1
Average:

0
Bad:

0

8.2

User Score

Based on 400 reviews
as rated by users

Pros:

Good selection of features.
Good BIOS.
Very solid performance.

Cons:

No onboard buttons or debug LCD.
Slightly elevated power consumption.

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Last revision on May 9, 2020

Reviewers Liked

Good selection of features
Good BIOS
Very solid performance
Competitively priced
Perfect option for a 24/7 GAMING build without OC
Packed with features to keep your system stable
Great stock and overclocked performance
Wideopen BIOS ready for tweaking
All fans independently controllable via BIOS and software
Black and Red Theme
PCIE 3.0 x16 Spacing
Crossfire and SLI ready
Sound Blaster Cinema Audio

Reviewers Didn't Like

No onboard buttons or debug LCD
Slightly elevated power consumption
Relatively low automatic overclocking
No Intel Thunderbolt
Color scheme used may not appeal to all
No Wireless Features
No ESATA

Expert reviews and ratings

I've been interested to see a gaming version of the Z87 chipset since the launch of the Haswell processors, and MSI has now released the very affordable MSI Z87-G45 Gaming. I say affordable, because the next rung on this ladder is the Z87-G65 Gaming...

By micromart.co.uk on December 11, 2013

100

So, now that we have seen what this board is capable of, is it going to be worth its £150 price tag? Does it offer a superior gaming experience over the other boards available? Can it out-perform those board that command a higher price tag? Well, let's...

By Play3r on October 02, 2013

The MSI Z87-G45 Gaming is a great gaming grade board at a awesome value with excellent features for the price. For this it ears the Bjorn3D Golden Bear Award...

By bjorn3d.com on August 16, 2013

100

The MSI Z87-G45 GAMING maybe missing some of the options found on its bigger brother the Z87-GD65 GAMING , but to be honest that's not necessarily a bad thing as it grants you a saving of around £40. All the great qualities of the GD65 are still present...

By pcGameware UK on August 02, 2013

The MSI Z87-G45 Gaming is an excellent Z87 motherboard, for a very keen price. At £115 it’s one of the most affordable enthusiast Z87 motherboards on the market, yet still offers great features such as 3-way CrossFire, 2-way SLI and an mSATA slot. The...

By Bit-tech.net on July 22, 2013

As we reach just about four weeks since the launch of Intel's latest platform, and I pass into my seventh week of testing with Haswell, I have constantly found myself in shock at what the platform offers and how enthusiasts react to it. Many enthusiasts...

By techPowerUp! on July 02, 2013

We are overall pleased with the MSI Z87-G45 GAMING. It has a number of advantages and doesn't seem to be much worse than the more advanced Z87-GD65 GAMING model. It just has fewer power phases but its 8-phase power system with premium Military Class...

By X-bit Labs on April 15, 2014

We’ve already had a taste of what ASUS and Gigabyte have to offer in the way of Z87 motherboards, and now it’s time to give MSI’s lineup a spin. MSI’s offering of Z87 motherboards has essentially three tiers: the “POWER” series (which includes four...

By HotHardware on December 04, 2013

This striking and feature rich board retails at around RM 600 which is pretty good value but for the price, I only wish there's a debug LED, or at least a speaker for debugging purpose. NOTE : This board works with Core i3 and non-K variants of i5...

By GoldFries on November 11, 2013

Final thoughts It is safe to say that most enthusiasts looking to build a new system will look towards Intel's 4th Generation Haswell processors. Once the choice of CPU is made, the next step in specifying a build should be to look at motherboards. MSI...

By HEXUS.net on September 05, 2013

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