MSI MSI Z77A-G45 Thunderbolt, Intel Z77 Mainboard with THX TruStudioPro Sound

Well-known mainboard manufacturer, Taiwanese company MSI has just announced a new Intel Z77 motherboard that comes with Intel’s own Thunderbolt controller. The new device also comes with SLI and CrossFire certification from AMD and Nvidia.

The new product is officially named Z77A-G45 and is THX-certified, as it comes with 7.1 TruSoundPro audio channels. On the video side, the Z77A-G45 comes with support for three different displays with a HDMI connector, a D-Sub 15 output and a mini-DisplayPort. The new motherboard comes with three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 ports with the usual Ivy Bridge configuration, where only the first slot can function with the full x16 bandwidth, while the rest are configurable. On the backside I/O bracket, the Z77A-G45 from MSI comes with a combo PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 connectors, 6 HD audio jacks, a single Thunderbolt port, an RCA and an optical audio connector along with the already mentioned D-Sub 15, HDMI and mini-DisplayPort connectors.

MSI’s marketing department has come up with some interesting numbers for describing the motherboard’s Thunderbolt capability. “Data transfers for backup, sharing, and editing are faster with Thunderbolt technology, significantly reducing times to complete these tasks. Running at 10 Gbps, Thunderbolt™ technology on the MSI Z77A-G45 Thunderbolt can transfer a full-length HD video in less than 30 seconds and backup 1 year (!!!) of continuous audio playback in just over 10 minutes.”  While this is mainly marketing talk and the USB 3.0 ports on the mainboard are just as impressive as the Thunderbolt connector without coming with the likely $40 price premium that this technology brings, we can appreciate the good overall quality of the device. Pricing information has not been made available at the moment, but you can calculate it for yourself by adding around $40 to an existing MSI model with similar characteristics and lacking the Thunderbolt port.

MSI Z77A-G45 LGA1155 Motherboard with Thunderbolt connectivity
Images credits to MSI

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