MSI Outs Z68MA-G43 (G3) mATX Motherboard with PCIe Gen 3 Support

MSI is one of the most eager motherboard makers to embrace the new PCI Express 3.0 standard, so the company keeps expanding its portfolio of PCIe Gen 3 solutions with new models, the latest to make its appearance being the Z68MA-G43 (G3).

Going from PCIe Gen 2 to Gen 3 doubles the bandwidth available to the add-on cards installed, from 500MB/s per lane to 1GB/s per lane.

As a result, a PCI Express x16 slot is capable of offering 16GB/s (or 128Gbit/s) of bandwidth in each direction, which should prove more than enough for even the fastest graphics cards and SSDs.

Speaking of PCI Express x16, Z68MA-GD43 (G3) is equipped with two such slots, which are accompanied by a pair of PCIe x1 slots, which is a more than OK configuration for a micro-ATX motherboard.

The PCI Express x16 slots are compatible with AMD CrossFireX setups and users can also install up to six SATA storage devices, thanks to the two SATA 6.0Gbps and four 3.0Gbps ports driven by the Z68 Express chipset.

The rest of the feature list includes support for the Virtu switchable graphics technology, Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1-channel audio, D-Sub, VGA, DVI and HDMI video outputs, as well as two USB 3.0 ports.

Just like all the other MSI motherboards, the Z68MA-GD43 (G3) also includes features like support for OC Genie II and an UEFI BIOS.

No information regarding pricing or availability has been made official by MSI, but the board is already listed on the company's website.

Sadly, users won't find much use for the two PCI Express 3.0 slots at this point in time, as the first Ivy Bridge LGA 1155 processors to get support for this technology won't arrive until March or April of 2012.