MSI Z77A-GD55 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Pros: Lots of features, SLI/Crossfire, easy-to-use BIOS, price/performance, sturdy well-built feel to it

Cons: The main con is that the SATA connectors are positioned at the front of the board facing forward instead of upward. I don't know why some board manufacturers still insist on situating the connectors in this way, but it makes plugging in SATA devices a pain in the ---. It's enough of a hassle that I almost docked an egg for it.

Other Thoughts: Overall, this board is packed with features and was easy to install. Also, I'm a pretty big sound enthusiast and am pretty picky when it comes to audio quality, and the onboard digital sound chip on this board is quite nice.

The board posted the first time it was turned on with no fuss. As a warning, one thing I had to do in order to get Windows 7 to install was change the SATA config in the BIOS to from AHCI to IDE, so if you run into any issues with the Windows install disc hanging at start-up, then that is most likely your fix.

So, other than the SATA connector positioning mentioned earlier in the cons, this board really is a fantastic value for everything it gives you, and should be a strong consideration for anyone looking to move to an I5 or I7.

Pros: Overclocking is literally as easy as the push of a button

Cons: The CPU socket is close to the memory slots, so if you have a large HSF it may get in the way of only one slot depending on your RAM physical size

Pros: Boots fine
GUI is good
Works well with SSD and HD together

Cons: Winki 3 partially functional

Other Thoughts: Running Win 8 and an SSD with MB in a fresh build. So far, so good, but I haven't stressed the board with any gaming to date. Winki 3 is a little gimmicky, but if it worked, you could almost get by with it for simple tasks. Keyboard functionality was sporatic with Winki 3. For example, I could could clear the default SSID on the setup screen but I couldn't type in the correct SSID for my home network. For file searches, the keyboard did work. Just funky little stuff with Winki that marks my initial impression down a little.

Pros: clean board, good manual and extra fancy OC and PWR button. Easy to install.

Cons: Failed at first reboot and became loop rebooting unless insert the memory into Dim 3 and 4. Manual is somewhat misleading to instruct user insert the memory into Dim 2 and 4.

USB3 port needle is so slim and easily bent.

Pros: Excellent compatibility, ease of installation, and documentation. I have always purchased motherboards from another manufacturer, e***. Their items have really gone down hill over the past couple of years. This board is an amazing value and so capable. Great bios and over clock ability. Software is actually useful and effective. Will be purchasing MSI boards from now on.

Cons: The only downside to this board is a lack of accessories, but its not a top level board so that should be expected.

Pros: Absolutely no issues whatsoever. I love the MSI UEFI Bios, and the color of the board is just awesome with my custom watercooling loop.

Cons: No complaints at this price point!

Pros: Nice layout and internal buttons.
Blue LEDs are nice and bright.
BIOS is cool.
Got a free 8GB RAM.
Power efficient.

Cons: There's not a lot of information about the BIOS in the included manual. However, you can go to MSi's website and download the fully explained BIOS manual.

Other Thoughts: I hope it doesn't fail me any time soon.

Pros: Everything worked perfectly on first bootup. OC genie is a nice touch, upped my i5 3570k to 4.2ghz at the touch of a button and I've never seen anything over 40c. Easy bios. Recognized my SSD instantly and configured it properly without changing anything myself.

Cons: None that I can think off, haven't tried to manually OC yet.

Other Thoughts: My quad core overclocked to 4.2ghz is enough for me so the OC genie button made it really easy to get the performance I want. I know manually overclocking would net better results, but I don't like to push my processor to the limits anyways, stability and a decent OC is everything I could ask for.

Pros: good amount of features
looks nice
solid bios

Cons: well my z77 gd55 broke after 3 months. msi replaced it with a mobo with a loose heatsink. hopefully this loose heatsink doesnt cause any issues down the road.

Pros: Very easy to navigate the BIOS and overclock. First build but I was able to overclock very easily using the BIOS. Even has an auto-overclock utility but it doesn't switch frequencies under lighter loads so I'd recommend setting up your own OC.

I also really like the look of the board. Looks slick in my case with its blue highlights and my case's blue LEDs.

Cons: wasn't free

Other Thoughts: Wasn't sure about MSi boards since ASUS and Gigabyte are generally the recommended brands but this one was a good price for my budget and it worked out great.