Thread: Msi 785gn-e65

The MSI 785GN-E65 is a board that not only offers good value for money but also matches up to the performance of most other boards in its category. The board supports a maximum of 16 GB of DDR3 memory running at 1333 MHz, which can be further tweaked to 1600 MHz when overclocked. The MSI 785GN-E65 is built around AMD's latest incarnation, the 785G chipset, or one might even call it the Radeon HD4200. That's right; the 785G chipset is home to the new HD4200 IGP. You can consider the 785G chipset as the next big step that the reds have taken after the release of their previous 780G chipset. The board also features an updated Southbridge, the 5B710, which supports a total of 12 U5B ports, 5 SATA ports along with 1 e5ATA port and HD audio.

Unlike the MSI 785GM-E51 the 785GM-E65 has all solid capacitors and comes with a very neat heat pipe cooling solution. Since the board has a micro-ATX form factor, the overall layout tends to look a little cluttered. Plus adding a large CPU heatsink might obstruct memory installation since the space between the two is negligible. You might also find the board a little too cluttered with labels but if you look close enough you'll notice that only the necessary components have large readable labels.



Like the previous 780G, the overall video capability is the real selling point of the AMD 785G. It has DVI, HDMI and the good old D-Sub port. On the gaming front the HD4200 will not hold its ground against current generation games but will without a doubt be able to playback HD movies flawlessly. Nevertheless, if casual gaming is what you look for once in a while, top it up with a graphics card that supports Hybrid CrossFire.