MSI P67A-GD65 Intel Socket 1155 Motherboard Performance Review

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Before we get into my thoughts on the MSI P67A-GD65 motherboard, there are a couple of details on this article that need to be mentioned. If you have been following the way that we have been doing our motherboard reviews, you know that we have been testing the sub-components on each board. For this article we decided to leave out the USB3 and SATA6 testing. Not because anyone asked us to, strictly because we are in the process of updating those tests. Since we started testing those components we have been using Western Digital Black hard drives. While those are great drives, the boards that we have tested were hitting the limits of the hard drives long before we maxed out the boards. I will likely update this article once we have received everything we need to complete the testing with much faster SSD’s.

Now that the polls are in and the results have been tallied, it’s simply too close to call. Any performance differences between the MSI P67A-GD65 and the ASUS P8P67 Deluxe are entirely too negligible to add up. When we look at the ASUS P8P67, the MSI P67A-GD65 has a leg up in CrossfireX configurations. One thing is for sure though, the MSI P67A-GD65 certainly didn’t crash and burn. MSI has clearly given us yet another quality product!

Whether you are an experienced overclocker or just getting into overclocking, the MSI P67A-GD65 should satisfy your urges for speed. Starting out with the OC Genie, which will overclock your system in only one second, we had a system that was overclocked to 4.2GHz, and was rock solid. Nothing like a little free performance with zero work. When I first started overclocking manually I was running an older version of the BIOS. With this version I was able to hit the same overclock with the Intel Core I5 2500K as we were able to previously in the ASUS P8P67 Deluxe article. Our previous best was 4824MHz on both of the ASUS boards that we have tested. Since then a new feature has been added within the BIOS for both the ASUS boards as well as for the MSI P67A-GD65. You can now have the Internal PLL Voltage either enabled or disabled. Once we enabled it within the MSI P67A-GD65 BIOS, things started to get just a little more interesting. Previously we would hit a “multi-wall” at a 48 multiplier; now I was able to boot into Windows with a 51 multiplier! I wasn’t able to get it stable at that, but we were able to have a solid overclock over 5GHz. Is it fair that we say that the MSI P67A-GD65 is a better overclocker than the ASUS counterparts that we have looked at? Not until we get the chance to set the ASUS boards up and see what they can achieve once the Internal Pll Voltage is enabled. Though it is safe to say that the MSI P67A-GD65 is a board that is extremely capable of overclocking!

Throughout this article the main comparison for the MSI P67A-GD65 has been the ASUS P8P67 Deluxe. For the most part the MSI P67A-GD65 and the ASUS P8P67 Deluxe were running neck and neck throughout the testing. When it comes to performance neither one truly stood out from the other. One area that does separate these two boards is price! The ASUS P8P67 Deluxe does carry a bit heftier price. I am not saying that the ASUS P8P67 Deluxe is overpriced; it does have a few more features that justify the price tag of $239.99. At $179.99 the MSI P67A-GD65 has a price tag that may be more mainstream; sure there are a few features that the P8P67 Deluxe has that some may need, like the ability for three graphics cards and dual LAN. For those that aren’t looking for those extra features and want to save a few bucks the MSI P67A-GD65 may fall into that category along with the ASUS P8P67. When we look at the P67A-GD65 and the P8P67 we can see that the MSI P67A-GD65 has a performance advantage in CrossfireX configurations. The MSI P67A-GD65 also has the ability to run SLI which is not an option on the ASUS P8P67.

The MSI P67A-GD65 offers features that we didn’t get a chance to take a look at during the review. These include Winki 3 which is a full operating system that includes several key applications for day to day usage. Winki3 includes a web browser, instant messaging programs including MSN messenger, Yahoo, and AOL. There is also a full OpenOffice suite and several recovery tools in case of system failure! The MSI P67A-GD65 also has Super Charger; this feature allows you to charge devices from the USB ports while the system is shutdown. This is great for those who have devices like the Apple iPad, iPod, or iPhone. The Super Charger will deliver up to a maximum of 1.5Amps or lower if that is all that the device requires.

As we can plainly see, the MSI P67A-GD65 offers a whole lot of bang for the buck! Price and performance aren’t the only items that need to be considered when making an investment into a quality motherboard. Peace of mind is a third factor and is always a plus when putting together a shiny new system. Fortunately, MSI will give you just that. If you reside in the United States of America, Canada, or Mexico the MSI P67A-GD65 is backed by a three year warranty. For details on the three year warranty from MSI you can visit their website at http://us.msi.com.

Legit Bottom Line: The MSI P67A-GD65 is a rock solid board that has the features needed to make a great motherboard. When we combine the price of the MSI P67A-GD65 with the performance it radiates, it is plain to see that it will satisfy the needs of any gamer or overclocker extremely well!