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MSI P55-GD65 LGA 1156 Motherboard Review

MSI’s latest Intel P55 based board looks to be cut from the same mold as its big brother P55-GC80 motherboard. The GD65 is mean, lean, and ready to rumble. While it does not pack in all the features of the GD80, the GD65 does not act like a $155 motherboard.

Introduction

MSI is a long time component manufacturer in the enthusiast and gaming realms, well known for its performance driven design innovation. With each new product, MSI strives to push the limits of the technology just a bit further, squeezing every possible bit of performance out of a product line as physically possible. The newest edition to their Intel P55 motherboard line is a fine example of this innovative engineering. And do know that MSI’s P55 line up of motherboards shows to be some of the best motherboards MSI has ever brought to market.

The MSI P55-GD65 board is designed around the Intel P55 chipset, which offers in-built support for all LGA1156 based Intel processors. The Intel P55 chipset innately supports the following technologies: Intel LGA 1156 Core i7 and Core i5 processors, DDR3 memory operating in Dual Channel mode up to 1333MHz officially, and either NVIDIA SLI and ATI CrossFireX graphics mode using matching video cards.

MSI chose to included the following integrated devices in to the board’s layout: 6 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable) on the Intel P55 controller; 1 SATA II port, 1 e-SATA port, and 1 ATA-133 IDE port on the JMicron JMB363 controller; 14 USB 2.0 capable ports (8 in rear panel, and 3 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE 1394 capable port (1 in rear panel, and 1 onboard header supporting 1 port each); 2 Realtek GigE Ethernet ports in the rear panel; Realtek 8-channel HD audio codec with integrated S/PDIF optical and RCA component output ports; an integrated power button; OC Genie and base clock overclocking control buttons; integrated voltage check point; and PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports in the rear panel.

Main Specifications Overview:

Detailed Mainboard Specification List:

Packaging

For the P55-GD65, MSI used its standard P55 board line box art design, with reflective flames on the left side of the box front. To the right of the flames, the box sports the board supported technologies. The following accessories are bundled in with the P55-GD65 board: a ribbon IDE and floppy cables; locking connector SATA drive cables and dual headed power cables; the rear panel shield; 2-way NVIDIA SLI and ATI CrossFireX connectors; a rear panel bracket with USB 2.0 ports; extension plugs for the USB and front panel headers; and the normal complement of manuals and drivers discs. The header extension plugs allow for an easy interface for connecting in to the motherboard headers. You simply plug in the appropriate connector cables in to the header block, and then plug the block in to the appropriate motherboard header. It makes for a much easier install for those typically hard to reach header areas.

Board Layout

Overall, the P55-GD65 has clean yet sleek looking layout, with the silver, black and blue color scheme making for a catchy appearance. There are no tight areas on the board, with the CPU socket area clear enough for even larger coolers. The heat sinks used to cool the power components are effective, but found that active cooling via a small fan was necessary on the chipset to keep the system fully stable. While I could find no definitive serial number markings on the board, the board revision is clearly marked in between the 2 PCI slots. The tested board was a version 1.0 revision. As is common with higher end board, MSI chose to use polymer solid-electrolyte capacitors for the board’s power needs.

The P55-GD65’s CPU socket is free and clear of close encumbrances, will all power circuitry in close proximity of the low profile persuasion. The cooler is held to the CPU using the standard LGA1156 design, with a stability plate directly on the CPU for added support. The SYS_FAN header is located to the upper left of the socket, with the ATX12V 8-pin power connector to it upper right and just under the rear panel interface. The 4-pin CPU_FAN header is located to its lower right, dwarfed by a large heat sink covering some of the more critical power components.

The onboard DDR3 memory slots are located directly below the CPU socket, but space far enough away so as to not hinder CPU cooler installation with a larger cooler installed. Dual Channel memory mode activates with DIMMs place in like colored slots, with the primary slot set being black in color. Directly below the DIMM slots are the 24-pin ATX power connector, a voltage checkpoint block, and the SYSFAN2 and SYSFAN3 4-pin headers. The voltage checkpoint block gives easy access to check specific board voltages using a multi-meter, which include the CPU voltage, the CPU termination voltage, the memory voltage, and the chipset voltage.

The Intel P55 chipset is located under and in between the 2 PCI-Express x16 slots, covered by a large area, low profile heat sink. Just below the chipset are the onboard SATA 2 ports and the IDE port. Note that the black colored SATA 2 ports are the Intel controlled ports, while the blue colored port and the SATA3_4 header are controlled by the JMicron controller. The CMOS reset jumper, the chassis intrusion header (labeled JCI1), and battery are located to the left of the chipset. The front panel headers are located in the lower left corner of the board with the onboard USB 2.0 and serial port headers directly above them.

The P55-GD65 is packed full with a total of 7 card slots - 2 PCI-Express x16 slots, 1 PCI-Express x4 slot, 2 PCI-Express x1 slots, and 2 PCI slots. The power, the base clock adjustment and OC Genie activation buttons are located along the outside of PCI slot 2, with the S/PDIF output, IEEE 1394, CD_IN, and front panel audio headers just above the buttons. The + and - buttons allow for real time adjustment of the board base clock, while the OC Genie button activates the board’s dynamic overclocking mechanism. The Trusted Platform Module header is located just above the PCI-Express x4 slot.

MSI included the following ports in the P55-GD65’s rear panel assembly: 2 PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports; 7 USB 2.0 ports; 1 dual function USB 2.0/e-SATA port; 1 IEEE 1394 port; 2 Realtek GigE Ethernet ports; and 6 analogue and S/PDIF optical and RCA component audio output ports.

MSI Control Center

MSI included their Control Center application on the included driver DVD, used for Windows based board monitoring and overclocking with version 1.0.128 shown. The application itself is divided in to 3 sections, System Information, Overclocking, and Green Power. The System Information section displays read-only statics concerning the onboard devices across 3 tabs, labeled Motherboard, CPU, and Memory.

The Overclocking section allows for use of preset overclocking profiles or manual selection of settings. The BIOS controlled overclocking functionality is controlled by a series of buttons across the top of the screen of the Basic tab, with the settings tied to each of the default profiles shown when the button associated to the profile is selected. The OverClock/OverVoltage section also allows for direct user manipulation of the board’s base clock speed, which affects both the CPU and memory speeds, and several of the board device voltages. You have the option of creating and using custom profiles through the Save and Load buttons, located in the screen’s lower right corner. The Advance Screen contains additional settings for controlling the memory timing options. The OC-Genie screen is merely a graphical representation of how the OC-Genie device operates.

The Green Power area is divided into Basic and Advanced sections. The Basic section shows stats on the current board power usage, with a series of profile presets shown across the top of the window. The Advance section is divided in to 2 areas, Mainboard and LED. The Mainboard screen allows for direct control of subsystem power phase usage and fan speeds, with the ability to load and save user profiles. The LED screen shows the location of CPU power phase LEDs on the board, providing the capability to enable or disable this functionality.