We've showed it at Computex already but MSI announced the Z68A-GD80 (G3), claiming it's world's first motherboard with PCI Express 3.0. This marketing claim is false though, ASRock introduced its PCI Express 3.0 motherboard a couple of days earlier, but it remains to be seen which of the two will hit retail stores first. One thing is for sure though, the MSI mainboard is definitely the first motherboard with three PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots because the ASRock model offers just two. Availability is slated for later this month.

Three PCI-Express x16 slots (PCIe x16 3.0 deliver a bandwidth of 32GB/s) for SLI or CrossFireX setups (Virtu technology is also supported for some on-the-fly graphics switching), Military Class II components (Hi-c CAP, Super Ferrite Choke and Solid caps), four DDR3- memory slots, and ten SATA ports (probably four SATA 6.0 Gbps and four 3.0 Gbps).

MSI's PCIe Gen 3-enables solution also boasts the OC Genie II overclocking function, voltage read points, dual Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1 channel audio, DVI and HDMI outputs (apparently), two USB 3.0 ports on the backplate (plus two via a header), and also FireWire and eSATA connectivity.