MSI B85 G41 PC Mate Motherboard Review

[Guest]

We believe in the value of Intel's B85 platform controller hub, but can MSI turn that impressive piece of silicon into a motherboard we'd recommend to budget builders?

MSI B85 G41 PC Mate Motherboard Review : Read more

 

[wkwilley2]

I have one of these boards. I just did a new build using a i5 4690k and I love it, as mentioned in the review, there are a couple quirks with the BIOS, no game changers but definitely some variability when booting. Most of my issues we're fixed by updating the BIOS to 2.9, the board came with 2.6 on it and was giving me TDR issues with my Radeon 280. Overall though, great board, lots of options for overclocking and very easy to build with.

 

[caiokn]

Nice article! I've been looking to build a PC by the end of the year using the G3258 and a budget friendly motherboard. These mobo reviews will surely be of help when the times comes. Just out of curiosity, how much can you get out of your bad overclocker G3258?

 

[RedJaron]

The power delivery here makes me think this was designed with a Xeon and maybe even an i7 in mind. I know some of the lower budget LGA1150 boards we've reviewed could have trouble keeping an i7 even at stock speeds without the VRM overheating.

 

[Onus]

Yeah, this board looks like it was meant as a workhorse.

My bad-overclocker G3258 has not been stable over 4.0GHz on any board I've tried, including a couple of H97s that allowed voltage adjustment. It runs fine (and not overly hot, so it's not a thermal problem) at 4.0GHz.

 

[delaro]

Why would you even consider DDR3 1333mhz over DDR3 1600mhz especially for Overclocking a G3258? I mean there is cheap and cheapo they are the same price.

 

[RedJaron]

Because an H81 and B85 board can only go up to DDR3-1400 when paired with a G3258. The G3258 can only go up to 1600 when dropped in a Z board.

 

[chaosmassive]

it is just me or MSI put 2 chipsets series as their brand numbering?
sounds weird though

 

[RedJaron]

Nah, this is MSI's normal naming convention. Chipset first, form-factor identifier next ( blank for ATX, M for mATX, I for mini ITX ), then product line identifier ( eXtreme, Gaming, Entertainment, Pro, Casual ) and overall model feature number ( higher numbers mean a more feature-rich board ). The final number, unfortunately, isn't informative about which features always come in which feature range.

 

[Sunderas]

Way overpriced.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

I understand that this platform is still relevant considering low budget needs (It is sub-$100, but not exactly low end budget) and the availability of Haswell based processors is still good, but I'd really like to see more Skylake based motherboards in the reviews.

 

[Onus]

Skylake reviews will be coming. There are still Haswell boards in the pipeline, but the shoe-queue is being loaded.

 

[knowom]

We need a unlocked Skylake Pentium from Intel.

 

[RedJaron]

I'd be very surprised if Intel did that. The G3258 was a special SKU and an anniversary chip. However, if Intel did that, it'd likely be another dual-core CPU, and dual-cores are starting to not be quite enough for some uses now.

 

[Onus]

If they released an unlocked dual-core with a decent IGP, they would relegate AMD to the discount bargain bins only.