Shootouts

Intel P67 Roundup - The Mainstream Invasion

By Vincent Chang - 28 Jan 2011

MSI P67A-GD65

MSI P67A-GD65

Going by MSI's recent naming conventions, there should be a higher-end GD80/85 in its lineup, but so far, that's not happening yet. This makes the P67A-GD65 its 'highest end' model currently. The Taiwanese manufacturer has retained its less than attractive (in our opinion) dark brown PCB with blue and black highlights but the components look to have undergone some upgrades in order for MSI to christen it 'Military Class II' and 'OC Genie II'. From what we can tell, the component upgrades include what MSI calls 'super ferrite chokes' and hi-c capacitors. OC Genie II works in the same way as the original version - press it and then restart the system - but MSI mentions that it doesn't work with Sandy Bridge Core i3 processors due to architecture issues. In any case, those processor weren't meant for overclocking.

As for this P67 motherboard, the hardware is above the average P67 board. MSI has supplemented the standard SATA arrangements with an two extra SATA 6Gbps ports with a Marvell 9128 controller. A JMicron controller then adds two more eSATA at the rear panel. There are two NEC USB 3.0 controllers present for four more USB 3.0 ports and a front USB 3.0 bracket included. Like the others before, IDE support has been removed, which means slightly more PCB space. The heatsink design, while connected with a heat-pipe, looks pretty laid back and simple.

MSI however has chosen to go with two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots, with only the first PCIe x16 slot operating at x16 bandwidth effectively. The second slot is pegged at x8 bandwidth, even if you install just one graphics card in to the system. Both SLI and CrossFireX are supported but you're likely to get a x8/x8 configuration in multi-GPU configuration. In short, it's identical to ECS' implementation and better than what's found on some of the others in this roundup.

The new board resembles the previous P55 ones, though with slightly different heatsinks. Note that while the PCB labels this board as P67-GD65, it's actually a mistake and it should be the P67A-GD65.

FireWire remains on this MSI board, but you do get two USB 3.0 ports (blue) and both optical and coaxial S/PDIF. A Clear CMOS button is much required and only a single Gigabit connector signals its more mainstream positioning.

The SATA ports in white are SATA 6Gbps capable, with two from the Intel chipset and the other two from a Marvell controller. The ones in black are standard SATA 3Gbps connectors from the P67 chipset.

The onboard power and rest buttons along with MSI's one-button OC Genie auto-overclocking functionality.

VIA provides the FireWire controller and NEC again is the main controller for USB 3.0.

There's adequate space for dual-slot graphics cards in either SLI or CrossFireX. Do note that the second PCIe x16 slot on the left is only x8 bandwidth capable. Again, note the misprint on the PCB that left out the 'A' in the board model name.

Another sign that the GD65 straddles the mainstream and enthusiast is the fact that next to the ATX power connector, you'll find voltage measuring points for voltmeters, something that only overclockers and enthusiasts will care about.

With these even more 'hardened' MOSFET and capacitor components, MSI is claiming a new Military Class II marketing term.

The 'front' USB 3.0 bracket included in the package, though we were more looking forward to a true front panel chassis solution than a bracket.

This MSI board is sort of in between that of a high-end enthusiast P67 board and a more mainstream version. It strips out some of the less useful extras (subjective to each individual), like dual Gigabit LAN while having some enthusiast friendly features like voltage check points. Overall, it's a slight evolution of MSI's previous boards, with some improvements in the use of even higher quality components. The layout too looks fine and we didn't notice any issues, which is in line with our past experiences with MSI boards.

Finally, we get to the main weakness of this board, the new ClickBIOS. The good thing is that it's colorful, with animated icons that may be a tad too cute for our taste. The bad is that all these eye candy may have contributed to its sluggish response. While we welcomed the mouse support, it's not helped by a generally slow response time to our clicks. Meanwhile, it wasn't that clear which section you have selected if you are using the keyboard to go through the icons since the interface doesn't make it very obvious. If you're one of those who prefer the old-school BIOS interface, then MSI's EFI BIOS will probably be your best example of the newer interface being a step backwards.

It may look cute and friendly, but MSI' BIOS probably was our least favorite EFI BIOS in this roundup. Sluggish and laggy with unnecessary animations.

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