MSI P55-GD65 - Mid-Range P55 for the Masses
by Gary Key on October 10, 2009 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Our board of interest today is the MSI P55-GD65. You can purchase this board for around $160 at various e-tailors.
MSI P55-GD65 Feature Set
MSI includes a full featured set of components like the Realtek ALC 889 HD audio codec, dual Realtek RTL8111D Gigabit LAN controllers, Via VT6315N 1394a chipset, powered JMB363 eSATA/USB port on the I/O panel, and full support for the Core i7/i5 S1156 processor series.
MSI includes an extensive accessories bundle. You get the standard rear I/O panel cover along with 1 x IDE cable, 1 x Floppy cable, 4 x SATA cables, 1 x SATA power cables, SLI and CF bridges, a USB bracket, an informative manual, quick installation guide,OC Genie guide, Winki Guide, and two software CDs.
Of note in the software package is Winki. This is a Linux-based operating system similar to ASUS’ ExpressGate. Unlike ExpressGate, you boot Winki off the DVD or off a USB thumb drive once it is setup. Winki includes Open Office, Photo Viewer, Instant Messaging, Web and Skype functionality without booting into your primary OS .
BIOS
The BIOS layout is very good and offers a significant amount of settings for overclocking. MSI’s Cell Menu is where all the action takes place with a wide variety of adjustments including the CPU Core, PLL, VTT, PCH, VDimm and VRef voltages. Each of the settings is very granular and offers just about any range that a user could want or need. Clock and PCIe skews are not available but generally are not needed in this range.
One extremely nice function that MSI includes is that frequency and timing changes are directly visible in the BIOS when values are being changed. Overclocking profiles can be saved, loaded and individually named in one of the available eight slots. MSI's M-Flash (in-BIOS updating) worked very well with our board not having a problem with the BIOS being flashed 30 times in our testing. One item missing from the board is some type of BIOS backup or redundancy system that we find on the ASUS and Gigabyte boards in this price range.
MSI's BIOS-level fan speed control options are an improvement over other P55 boards, but not perfect. Users can select a target CPU fan speed between 40 and 70°C while setting a minimum fan speed between zero and 87.5% in 12.5% increments. The two system fan headers are only capable of speed changes with settings at 50, 75, or 100%. Unfortunately, they cannot be controlled by system temperature changes.
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petergab - Saturday, October 17, 2009 - link
Do they use a foxconn socket on this motherboard?Gary Key - Thursday, October 22, 2009 - link
Yes, Foxconn socket. We are compiling a list of motherboards with each socket manufacturer along with whether they launched with the revised Foxconn socket or the old one (which seems to be the primary problem child). It has been difficult getting straight answers as you can imagine. ;)thermbug - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
Pardon the brain freeze but what does the color coding inside the performance charts indicate?I see 3 i7's and i5 and an AMD chip for comparison.
Am I interpreting correctly that the i5 750 is the light green, dark green is the I7 860?
The utilization of color doesn't seem to be consistent on the various graphs.
The MSI board is consistently highlighted as dark green in the latter several graphs. But which CPU is being used in that case? It looks like the I7 860 is the standard test but I can't quite grok it.
thermbug - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
Pardon the brain freeze but what does the color coding inside the performance charts indicate?I see 3 i7's and i5 and an AMD chip for comparison.
Am I interpreting correctly that the i5 750 is the light green, dark green is the I7 860?
The utilization of color doesn't seem to be consistent on the various graphs.
The MSI board is consistently highlighted as dark green in the latter several graphs. But it mentionsBut which CPU is being used in that case?
strikeback03 - Tuesday, October 13, 2009 - link
I'm guessing that all results which don't specify a processor use the 750.haplo602 - Monday, October 12, 2009 - link
OMG another P55 board review ... how about a 785G one ? there was NONE since it launched, yet you are covering P55 like the next best thing to sliced bread ...maomao0000 - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - link
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ipay - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - link
That generally sums up my experience with every MSI board I've ever used. Unfortunately, while the warts are few, they're usually significant enough that they overshadow all the good features, and you end up with a board that's frustrating to use.Buy an ASRock or Biostar instead. You'll get a similar layout, similar overclocking options and fewer "warts" at a lower price.
yacoub - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - link
My MSI P6N-SLI Platinum (c2d) board has been flawless since day one. It is my first MSI motherboard and has been running great (overclocked, no less) ever since.crab nebula - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - link
If you insert a device in the PCI Express x4 slot, then the other two PCI Express x1 slots are disabled automatically (because the mb has an extra PCI Express Gb LAN controller and a PCI Express IEEE 1394 controller). Somehow this is not mentioned in any review of this mb.