MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Review: Haswell Legend in 2026
The MSI Z87-G45 Gaming defined the mid-range Haswell era. Here is how it holds up today for budget retro builders and used-market bargain hunters.
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming: The Mid-Range Haswell Icon
The MSI Z87-G45 Gaming was once the definitive mid-range motherboard for Intel's 4th-generation Core processors. Back in 2013, it paired MSI's signature black-and-red dragon aesthetic with solid overclocking support and an accessible sub-$150 price tag. Today, it lives on the used market as an affordable replacement board for keeping a Core i7-4770K or i7-4790K running without replacing your entire platform.
If you own functional DDR3 memory and a capable Haswell chip, picking up a Z87-G45 Gaming for around $40 to $60 on eBay makes practical sense. However, if you are planning an entirely new build from scratch, legacy LGA 1150 hardware is no longer the value play it used to be. Modern entry-level platforms easily run circles around Haswell while drawing a fraction of the power.
Key Specifications and On-Board Features
MSI designed the Z87-G45 Gaming to hit the sweet spot between entry-level budget boards and flagship overclocking platforms like the Z87-GD65. It delivered standard ATX proportions with a well-spaced layout that accommodated dual graphics cards with room to spare.
- Socket & CPU Support: LGA 1150, supporting 4th-generation Intel Haswell (Core i3/i5/i7, Pentium, Celeron) and Haswell Refresh (Devil's Canyon) CPUs with a BIOS update.
- Memory Support: 4x DDR3 DIMM slots, dual-channel, up to 32GB total capacity, with official XMP support up to 3000 MHz (OC).
- Expansion Slots: 3x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (operating at x16/x0/x0, x8/x8/x0, or x8/x4/x4), plus 4x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots.
- Storage: 6x SATA III (6 Gb/s) ports driven by the Intel Z87 chipset, plus 1x legacy mSATA port (shared with SATA port 6).
- Audio: Realtek ALC1150 codec backed by MSI Audio Boost and Sound Blaster Cinema software.
- Networking: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2205 Gigabit Ethernet controller.
The layout avoided major headaches for system builders. All six SATA ports sit perpendicular to the board, preventing long graphics cards from blocking storage cables. The 8-phase power delivery comes wrapped beneath chunky aluminum heatsinks shaped like dragon crests, providing sufficient thermal dissipation for everyday workloads.
VRM and Overclocking Performance
MSI used an 8-phase VRM setup on the Z87-G45 Gaming, relying on Super Ferrite Chokes (SFC) and solid CAPs under its Military Class 4 branding. For moderate manual overclocks, it handles the heat well. We pushed a Core i7-4770K to a stable 4.4 GHz at 1.25V without encountering power-delivery throttling or VRM overheating in a case with standard intake airflow.
You should not expect extreme sub-ambient overclocking from this board. Unlike its pricier sibling, the Z87-GD65, the G45 skips physical on-board power buttons, voltage check points, and dual BIOS switches. If a bad memory tuning crashes your system, you have to short the clear CMOS jumper the old-fashioned way. For typical air and AIO water cooling, though, its Click BIOS 4 interface provides clean fan curve adjustments, manual voltage offsets, and reliable XMP memory profiling.
Era Comparison: Z87 Mid-Range Battle
During the peak of the LGA 1150 lifecycle, the Z87-G45 fought directly against the Asus Z87-A and the Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H. Here is how they stacked up across primary features:
| Feature | MSI Z87-G45 Gaming | Asus Z87-A | Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H |
|---|---|---|---|
| VRM Phases | 8 Phases | 8 Phases | 8 Phases (True Digital) |
| Audio Codec | Realtek ALC1150 | Realtek ALC892 | Realtek ALC898 |
| LAN Controller | Killer E2205 Gigabit | Realtek 8111GR | Intel I217-V |
| SATA III Ports | 6 (Native) | 6 (Native) | 8 (6 Native + 2 Marvell) |
| On-board Power Buttons | No | No | Yes |
| Typical Used Price | $45 – $65 | $40 – $55 | $55 – $75 |
The MSI board stood out primarily because of its upgraded Realtek ALC1150 audio codec, which offered noticeably better signal-to-noise ratios than the budget ALC892 found on the Asus Z87-A. On the networking side, the Killer E2205 chip was heavily marketed to gamers, though many users eventually stripped out the bloated Killer network suite in favor of the bare inf driver for smoother throughput.
Living with the Z87-G45 Today: Quirks and Workarounds
If you are running this board today, keep a few technical limitations in mind:
- No Native NVMe M.2: The on-board slot is an older mSATA port running on SATA III bandwidth, not PCIe. If you want to use a high-speed NVMe M.2 SSD, you will need a PCIe adapter card and a modified BIOS with NVMe modules inserted to boot from it.
- Devil's Canyon BIOS Requirement: If you buy a Core i7-4790K or Core i5-4690K, the board must have BIOS version V1.7 or later installed. Older revisions will refuse to boot with these refresh chips.
- DDR3 Limitations: You are locked to DDR3 RAM. 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1600 or 1866 kits are dirt cheap on the second-hand market, but 32GB total capacity is the ceiling for consumer LGA 1150 platforms.
Buying New Instead: Modern Alternatives
We advise against assembling an entire PC around an LGA 1150 setup from scratch. Spending $50 on a used motherboard, $40 on a Haswell i7, and $25 on DDR3 memory totals $115 for hardware that is over a decade old and lacks Windows 11 support out of the box.
For roughly $150 to $180, you can pick up a modern Intel Core i3-12100F paired with a basic H610 or B660 motherboard and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. That combination delivers double the single-core speed of an overclocked 4790K, draws half the electricity under gaming loads, and provides native PCIe 4.0 storage support alongside full Windows 11 compatibility.
The Verdict: Who Should Buy It?
The MSI Z87-G45 Gaming remains a rock-solid, well-built piece of hardware. If your original Haswell motherboard died and you want to rescue an existing system without throwing away your CPU, cooler, and RAM, the Z87-G45 is worth every dollar on the used market at $50 or less. However, treat it as a budget repair part, not the cornerstone of a fresh gaming rig.
FAQ
Does the MSI Z87-G45 Gaming support Windows 11?
Not officially. Intel 4th-generation Haswell processors and the Z87 chipset do not meet Microsoft's official CPU and TPM 2.0 system requirements for Windows 11. While you can bypass these checks using custom installation tools, the platform natively tops out at Windows 10.
Can I run an Intel Core i7-4790K on this motherboard?
Yes, the MSI Z87-G45 Gaming supports the Core i7-4790K and other Haswell Refresh chips. However, you must update the motherboard BIOS to version 1.7 (or newer) before installing the CPU, or the system will fail to complete POST.
Can you install an NVMe M.2 SSD on the MSI Z87-G45?
The motherboard only has an mSATA slot, not an M.2 slot. You can install an NVMe SSD using a PCIe-to-M.2 add-in card for secondary storage. If you want to use the NVMe drive as your Windows boot drive, you will have to flash a modified BIOS containing the UEFI NVMe DXE driver.