Question 1

Does this mobo support the 2x USB 3.0 on the front of my case?  I do see the 3 ports at the back...

My case is the Rosewill ARMOR-EVO ATX mid tower...

Accepted Answer

The MSI Z77A-G45 will support your case's front 2x USB 3.0. 
There is a horizontally mounted USB 3.0 port for the USB3.0 blue cable of your case to go into.

The port is not labelled in the picture. You can still see it still. Look for the SATA port, where the MSI logo is. Below the SATA 3.0Gb/s. Blue thing= USB 3.0 horizontally mounting

Question 2

Does this board come with built in Wifi compatibility or would i need to get another part for Wifi?

Accepted Answer

Hello Jake, sadly the answer is no. You will need to buy a wireless adapter.

Question 3

Does this motherboard come with on-board audio?

Accepted Answer

Yes this motherboard comes with on-board audio.  It comes with the Realtek Audio Chip and software that can be installed with the drivers.

Question 4

what processors will work with this mother board?

Accepted Answer

LGA 1155, also called Socket H2, is an Intel microprocessor compatible socket which supports Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge microprocessors. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?N=100007671%20600095610&IsNodeId=1&Submit=ENE

Question 5

I am not really that dumb but where is the power button on this motherboard? I looked around for one and could only find one black button that when pressed it does not power on? Am I missing something or did I just get a defective board?

Accepted Answer

Power buttons are not on motherboards, they are on the case you put them in. Usually connected through the front panel wiring. You can find instructions in the package with the motherboard on how to correctly wire the panel. After wiring the power button you have to make sure you have connected the power supply to the cpu and motherboard. The instructions will clarify both those steps as well.

Question 6

Does this motherboard overclock well/easily?  I am getting an i5 3570k and want to make it go somewhere near 4GHz.

Accepted Answer

It has OC Genie II which I was able to overclock with an i5 3570k to 4.2GHz just by enabling that. It could go even a bit higher than that if you started messing with the voltages and other stuff but overclocking to 4.2 was quick and easy.

Question 7

This is out of stock and I guess discontinued...can you recommend a like product?  My son is building a gaming computer and wanted this one.

Thanks, Mary   617-529-8386

Accepted Answer

Does he want the older Intel chip?  If not, consider MSI's offerings of the Z87 chipset gaming motherboard.  Then there are other manufacturers such as ASUS and Gigabyte with gaming motherboards.  Has he checked to see what other gaming motherboards have critical praise from industry publications and surveys?  This is a superb way of gauging what's out there.

Question 8

How does this do with Ripjaw memory, or other RAM cards with big heat sinks?

Accepted Answer

The heatsinks do not matter.  I use the G.Skill Ripjaws and they work perfectly.  If you look at the MSI site, they have a list of compatible memory which includes just about anything you can think of.  I got the Ripjaws because of their popularity.  Now, based on the size of your CPU heatsink, I'm not sure on the closest slot to the CPU, but I only have two sticks of 4GBs each in the black slots and not the blue ones.

Question 9

Does this support audio over the HDMI port, or only video?

Accepted Answer

of course it supports audio over HDMI, you just need the intel video drivers, the video drivers will install the hdmi video and audio support.

Question 10

Is this Mobo SLI ready?

Accepted Answer

Yes it is. Not easily though. Bios flash and your good to go.

Questions & Answers