At the start of this week we took a glimpse at what was then the only micro-ATX LGA 2011 motherboard to ever come into our attention, the ASRock-built X79 Extreme4-M, but it now seems like MSI will also have a similar model on offer, the X79MA-GD45.

Like all the other high-end motherboards fabricated by the Taiwanese company, this latest of MSI's creation also sports Military Class III components for improved overclocking and reliability.

In order to fit in the micro-ATX form factor, the X79MA-GD45 was however forced to drop some of the features of its larger siblings, mainly the extra expansions slots.

Despite this change, the motherboard still manages to come with a complete feature set sporting no less than four DDR3 memory slots as well as support for dual-GPU setups using AMD's CrossFireX or Nvidia's SLI technology.

Furthermore, both of the installed PCI Express x16 slots offer the full PCIe x16 bandwidth.

The rest of the expansion slots include two PCI Express x1 slots, while storage is provided thanks to a pair of SATA 6Gbps ports, which are seconded by four other SATA ports working at 3Gbps.

[img=2]When taking a look at the rear I/O connections of the X79MA-GD45, users are greeted by a pair of USB 3.0 ports, one Gigabit Ethernet, a number of USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 port and by 7.1-channel audio with optical and coaxial S/PDIF outputs.

On the motherboard's PCB, consumers will also find a series of dedicated voltage read points, a Clear CMOS switch as well as the usual on-board header for connecting two extra USB 3.0 ports.

The pricing of the MSI LGA 2011 X79MA-GD45 is still unknown at this point in time, but TCMagazine believes that the board won't end up retailing for more than €200 (roughly $276 US).

Source: Softpedia

MSI X79MA-GD45 micro-ATX LGA 2011 Motherboard Pictures

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