The wheel of time turns and chipsets come to pass, and a year after the Z77 chipset's launch, you can pick up top-spec boards for a fraction of the price you could just a few months back. MSI's Z77 MPower is one such mobo, packing in a rather impressive specs list for £135. Bargain, but by no means budget. The Z77 chipset may be getting a little long in the tooth now that we've got the twin joys of the new Z87 and fourth-generation Core CPUs (Haswell) on the horizon, but if you're talking about a gaming machine relying on discrete graphics, the Ivy Bridge chips and the related top chipset are still going to be practically as capable. The imminent Haswell CPUs aren't going to deliver any exceptional boost in the CPU performance stakes, being more focused on energy efficiency and improved integrated graphics. Yup, they're going to be mobile parts re-engineered for the desktop. Same as it ever was. But that means if you're looking for a mobo upgrade, you needn't concern yourself too much with hanging around for the next generation. Us PC gamers aren't going to see much improvement once you've dropped a discrete GPU into the mix. Feature-filled The Z77 is one of MSI's latest boards with Windows 8 certification, and it packs quite a punch. Despite the sub-£150 price point, it doesn't feel like MSI has had to make any real compromises with this setup. There's a wealth of USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel, wireless networking built in, and both DisplayPort and HDMI connections sprou
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