MSI X58A-GD65 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Price, Warranty, Multiple OS support. Triple booting Win 7 64 bit on Neutron SSD, with Win 8 and Kubuntu on a spindle drive. Getting a stable 3.8 ghz on my i7-920 with a Spire cooler. Smooth video performance from both an older ATI 5870 and now, 2 GTX 660's in SLI.
Nice capacitors. I repeat, NICE CAPACITORS. I am a stickler for NICE CAPACITORS.

Cons: Front panel header for Audio is in bad location if running triple sli. Awkward SATA port location and fan headers.

Other Thoughts: Replaced a dying ASrock board after 3 years and this was one of the only available boards for X58 and I did NOT want to trash my 920 or my high dollar, low latency RAM. I have had some issues with MSI boards in the past(10 years ago), but after some recent RMA issues that they handled professionally, I gave them another another shot on my PERSONAL rig. Very nice board overall. Get one before they are Gone!!!

Beware of peeps moaning about this board. Just by reading their posts and problems and claiming they are at a high tech level just shows how noobified they are, and should just let professionals build PC's!!

Pros: good for 7 months

Cons: This board died after 7-month use. The computer can not start up, no power and no self test, only black screen.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued MSI Customer,
“Please contact MSI customer service/RMA Team: Customer Service / RMA: 1-626-271-1004 Press 2 usrma@msi.com with your case details. Thank you.”
Best Regards,
Customer Service/RMA Team

Pros: Great price point...great features...easy to work with

Cons: nothing so far

Other Thoughts: just gotta love how people come on here and talk about a board without really using it or having any knowledge...someone mentioned samsung ssd with marvel controller..ummm the board has a sticker that even says FOR SSD USE THESE 2 PORTS especially if you are going to raid them. I run a vertex 4 ssd raid 0 and no problems at all.. pushing almost 900mb/s read and 950mb/s write..honestly going from an asus p8p67 board this was a great buy and great setup.

Pros: layout is decent. low price.

Cons: This board took a dump when i attempted a 4.2 Ghz OC. one of the little pins under the cpu decided to melt down (pic available on request). The Realtek Lan controller will experience frequent compatibility issues with Windows 7 Usb controllers require frequent driver updates. Bios on this thing is pretty much Worthless. It lets the RAM do what it feels like, as opposed to taking the timing settings you put in. Voltage adjustments are way too generalized for a good and stable OC.(e.g will not accept an input voltage of say 1.2875. Its gotta be either 1.28 or 1.29. Not very "fine tuneable").

Other Thoughts: I wont be bothering with RMAing this thing. Think ill hang it on my wall as a trophy/ reminder of what Not to buy. Bottom Line: you get what you pay for. We have a saying in Spanish that goes "Lo varato sale caro." basically means going the cheap way can get expensive. Seeing as i now have to replace this thing with the one i should have bought the first time around. Avoid this Board and MSI in general, If it can be helped.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued MSI Customer,
“Please contact MSI customer service/RMA Team: Customer Service / RMA: 1-626-271-1004 Press 2 usrma@msi.com with your case details. Thank you.”
Best Regards,
Customer Service/RMA Team

Pros: Works flawlessly. Plenty of RAM & PCI-e slots. No troubles with the bios or boot priority.

Cons: As others have said there was no driver CD in the box. It wasnt a problem for me because I have other machines.

Other Thoughts: I will be keeping MSI in mind for future builds ahead of others. Very pleased.

Pros: Have a Dell XPS 730x and I wanted to upgrade the motherboard. Expand upto 24 gig of Ram and finally be able to have atleast 2 SATA III ports. Front IO, fans everything hooked up just right from previous XPS 730x motherboard.

Cons: I purchased 2 Samsung 830 Series 256GB SATA III hard drives and the Marvel Controller only pumps out 350 read/ 200 write speeds???? COMPLETELY SUCKS!!! HELLO!! I purchased 830 Series for a reason....sigh....purchase Raid Controller...

Pros: 1st time buying MSI MB. Good packaging/Good material used, and Good value. After rebate, the value is even better.

Cons: No image at all, can not post it. I have tried different PSU, Graphic card, and momories, and still failed.

Other Thoughts: This is my 7th pc I build, and 1st time using MSI MB. When requesting MSI technical support for the current MB (after rma procedure), I was emailed -
"It is not the problem of the MB".
I really want this to work, am I by myself now..

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued MSI Customer,

We would like to apologize for the issue you have experienced with this particular MB. Please email me directly via USUserSupport@msi.com your MB's serial number and your complete contact information, subject heading "EAHX58A-GD65". I would like to help you get this resolved.

Best Regards,
User Support
MSI Product Support

Pros: Low price after rebate if working

Cons: 1st MB was brand new but not working- can not booted up and do not even have image (2 graphic cards tried). 2nd MB is a used one (with older s/n#), and still not working for my i7-990X.
Really Really disappointed. 1st time trying MSI MB. Would like to see if any luck 3rd can work...

Other Thoughts: Any one has this board working with i7-990X

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued MSI Customer,

We would like to apologize for the issue you have experienced with this particular MB. Please email me directly via USUserSupport@msi.com your MB's serial number and your complete contact information, subject heading "EAHX58A-GD65". I would like to help you get this resolved.

Best Regards,
User Support
MSI Product Support

Pros: it works.

Cons: BIOS is clunky, likes to reorder the boot sequence according to it's whims when you say, use a usb drive and then remove it and then refuse to boot from secondaries. however, it loves to try to boot from the imaginary "2.2TB Infinity!" also, there was no driver cd in the box i got from newegg. this combined with the fact that win7 x64 doesn't support the ethernet controller out-of-the-box and MSI not offering an integrated installer for download i.e. you download each driver separately, added a surprising amount of time to the build.

Other Thoughts: premium price, not premium experience

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued MSI Customer,

We would like to apologize for the issue you have experienced with this particular MB. Please email me directly via USUserSupport@msi.com your MB's serial number and your complete contact information, subject heading "EAHX58A-GD65". I would like to help you get this resolved.

Best Regards,
User Support
MSI Product Support

Pros: Nothing

Cons: The lga 1366 socket was broken when i opened the box

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued MSI Customer,
“Please contact MSI customer service representative Jane at janegao@msi.com, or call Jane at 626-913-0828 ext 221 with your case details. Thank you.”
Best Regards,
Customer Service Team