MSI P67A-GD65 Motherboard Review
Test Setup and Overclocking
Published: 31st January 2011 | Source: MSI | Price: £142.99 @ Aria |
Test Setup
MSI P67A-GD65
Intel Core i5-2500K
4GB Kingston Hyper-X
EVGA GTX570
Cougar CM1000 Modular PSU
Windows 7 x64
Noctua NH-D14
Overclocking inc OC Genie II
Knowing that this CPU happily will do 4.6GHz but has a bit of a struggle going much past it without silly voltages we were hopeful than the excellent OC Genie would at least get us to the 4.6GHz mark.
Sadly it has many issues, not least of which we'll show below, but for now the best it manages is 4.19 GHz which is a good overclock and plenty fast enough for most people, but considering the Gigabyte UD7 and ASUS Maximus IV both have in-BIOS 4.6 GHz options it's quite disappointing to see something so conservative.
It might however be to do with the mid-range nature of the board itself as despite some hefty voltage and plenty of tweaking we couldn't get it stable at all past 4.7 GHz. It was pretty "all or nothing". Whereas with the LGA1366 and P55s you had a gradual slope of stability from fully stable down to a suicide shot, this either worked or it didn't.
This screenshot was taken prior to tuning the voltage for stability and in the end we ran at 1.45v to keep our 4.69 GHz overclock.
The BIOS still feels fairly rough around the edges. Despite using the very latest one from MSI there were still some issues to overcome.
One of the more "fun" ones was when first using the OC Genie it kept giving the "overclock failed" beeps. Much faffing about later we discovered that if you manually set your RAM speed prior to using the OC Genie button it gets... well let's be kind and say it becomes rather hopeful about the potential speed your processor will achieve.
If you leave everything on auto this goes away, but nonetheless it's quite fun to see it attempt a 25 GHz overclock. If only the damn thing had booted to CPUz I think we'd have had the world record well into the next decade.
Most Recent Comments
I am pretty disappointed by the results of this board. I expected it to be a great board at that price level. Well maybe next time MSI.
lol. 28.8Ghz. 
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by PCTwin
lol. 28.8Ghz. |
So perhaps the truly brilliant OC Genie will be the solution to the poor stock performance?
If it works as good as it does on my P55-GD65 then weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I finally thought MSI was going good in the mobo section yet this is pretty disappointing to me
EDIT i must be fair i also hear people using it and its perfectly fine,
i guess my luck comes in again....
I feel crushed I read in all these other sites about how awesome it was, but after seeing this I feel bitterly disappointed as well as being confused how it fared to badly here.
EDIT: Quite a few people seem to get 4.2GHz clock, so I guess MSI is being extremely conservative, in case someone got a half completed chip or something.
I read in all these other sites about how awesome it was, but after seeing this I feel bitterly disappointed as well as being confused how it fared to badly here. EDIT: Quite a few people seem to get 4.2GHz clock, so I guess MSI is being extremely conservative, in case someone got a half completed chip or something.
Speaking personally rather than as an OC3D Reviewer, MSI were my manufacturer of last year. Their AM3 and 1156 boards were insanely good so trust me when I say I'm as disappointed as you all were.
We have to review as we find, and it was just a bit.. meh.
We have to review as we find, and it was just a bit.. meh.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Zeals
I feel crushed I read in all these other sites about how awesome it was, but after seeing this I feel bitterly disappointed as well as being confused how it fared to badly here. EDIT: Quite a few people seem to get 4.2GHz clock, so I guess MSI is being extremely conservative, in case someone got a half completed chip or something. |
The board isnt 'bad' just that it isnt a great as it should have been.
Thanks for another great review.
Real dissapointment on the results, I had this at top of my list for my new system. Gues i'm gonna have to wait untill another midrange board gets a good (overclock)review.
Or untill MSI can make the 28 GHZ work
Real dissapointment on the results, I had this at top of my list for my new system. Gues i'm gonna have to wait untill another midrange board gets a good (overclock)review.
Or untill MSI can make the 28 GHZ work
just to play devils advocate here, was you expecting greatness as standard on all msi boards based on last years findings?
its a lower end board so lesser results are to be expected vs some of the others. im happy you was honest and open about your findings but i got the feeling as i read it you was harsh on it because you expected more.
imo (and thats all it is) is i think people are wanting ocing to get too easy, it used to be about soldering bits on to pcb and fiddling with jumpers, then it all went into the bios and now we have fancy gui and 1 button ocing. pfft kids today dont know they are born xD
also, long live pci!! my xfi still kicks arse
its a lower end board so lesser results are to be expected vs some of the others. im happy you was honest and open about your findings but i got the feeling as i read it you was harsh on it because you expected more.
imo (and thats all it is) is i think people are wanting ocing to get too easy, it used to be about soldering bits on to pcb and fiddling with jumpers, then it all went into the bios and now we have fancy gui and 1 button ocing. pfft kids today dont know they are born xD
also, long live pci!! my xfi still kicks arse
Yes indeed we were expecting greatness, but we aren't harsh on something just because we expected it to be good.
The results are what they are, and then we review based upon that. In this case although the overclocked results were disappointing if the stock benchmarks had held out we'd have happily accepted it as being potentially great and possibly hindered by the flaky BIOS.
As it is either our test CPU is abysmal, or the MSI just doesn't perform as well as the other boards we've tested. Sure one button overclocking is nice, but if a 4.2GHz overclock gives the same results as a stock chip on other motherboards, it's tough to come to any conclusion other than poor performance.
We always make sure we consider each product on its merits, and not against what has gone before. Otherwise you end up in this hell-hole of "well I remember when a 486DX2-66 was brilliant" (personally my first PC was a 386-SX16).
The results are what they are, and then we review based upon that. In this case although the overclocked results were disappointing if the stock benchmarks had held out we'd have happily accepted it as being potentially great and possibly hindered by the flaky BIOS.
As it is either our test CPU is abysmal, or the MSI just doesn't perform as well as the other boards we've tested. Sure one button overclocking is nice, but if a 4.2GHz overclock gives the same results as a stock chip on other motherboards, it's tough to come to any conclusion other than poor performance.
We always make sure we consider each product on its merits, and not against what has gone before. Otherwise you end up in this hell-hole of "well I remember when a 486DX2-66 was brilliant"
(personally my first PC was a 386-SX16).Quote:
|
Originally Posted by marsey99
just to play devils advocate here, was you expecting greatness as standard on all msi boards based on last years findings? its a lower end board so lesser results are to be expected vs some of the others. im happy you was honest and open about your findings but i got the feeling as i read it you was harsh on it because you expected more. imo (and thats all it is) is i think people are wanting ocing to get too easy, it used to be about soldering bits on to pcb and fiddling with jumpers, then it all went into the bios and now we have fancy gui and 1 button ocing. pfft kids today dont know they are born xD also, long live pci!! my xfi still kicks arse |
also don't think Tom was expecting more...
The results are strange to say the least. I don't think any of the other reviews I read showed similar results. Maybe you just got a bad sample? O.o
Tbh I think an improved bios would to the board a world of good.
Tbh I think an improved bios would to the board a world of good.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by killablade
The results are strange to say the least. I don't think any of the other reviews I read showed similar results. Maybe you just got a bad sample? O.o Tbh I think an improved bios would to the board a world of good. |
I'm running this board now and can confirm that they are still ironing out the EFI BIOS as the one it shipped with (1.4 I think) was garbage.. They are now officially up to 1.6 I believe but there are plenty of other beta versions out there which make a massive differnce. All the single click and double click crapness is gone from the BIOS with the BIOS I'm running.
Haven't had a proper chance to overclock yet but I did a very quick run in at 4.5 GHz at 1.2v which went in ok before I updated the BIOS again. This new one is meant to overclock much much better.
I'll happily run a test or two again afterwards and post them in this thread with the BIOS I'm running if anyone is interested as my setup is practically the same. Running a 570 along with 4GB of 2133MHz memory.
Oh yeah, at £140 maybe not great value but I got it when the VAT back deal was going so got it for £110.
Oooo yeah one last thing... No dissin the PCI! I've still got my Xfi which I have no need or want to replace... The sound is fantastic so as long as boards support it, I'll use it
Haven't had a proper chance to overclock yet but I did a very quick run in at 4.5 GHz at 1.2v which went in ok before I updated the BIOS again. This new one is meant to overclock much much better.
I'll happily run a test or two again afterwards and post them in this thread with the BIOS I'm running if anyone is interested as my setup is practically the same. Running a 570 along with 4GB of 2133MHz memory.
Oh yeah, at £140 maybe not great value but I got it when the VAT back deal was going so got it for £110.
Oooo yeah one last thing... No dissin the PCI! I've still got my Xfi which I have no need or want to replace... The sound is fantastic so as long as boards support it, I'll use it
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Bungral
I'm running this board now and can confirm that they are still ironing out the EFI BIOS as the one it shipped with (1.4 I think) was garbage.. They are now officially up to 1.6 I believe but there are plenty of other beta versions out there which make a massive differnce. All the single click and double click crapness is gone from the BIOS with the BIOS I'm running. Haven't had a proper chance to overclock yet but I did a very quick run in at 4.5 GHz at 1.2v which went in ok before I updated the BIOS again. This new one is meant to overclock much much better. I'll happily run a test or two again afterwards and post them in this thread with the BIOS I'm running if anyone is interested as my setup is practically the same. Running a 570 along with 4GB of 2133MHz memory. Oh yeah, at £140 maybe not great value but I got it when the VAT back deal was going so got it for £110. Oooo yeah one last thing... No dissin the PCI! I've still got my Xfi which I have no need or want to replace... The sound is fantastic so as long as boards support it, I'll use it |
)No probs.. I'll probably look to do it maybe on Thursday as I'm working late all this week. If not then Sunday night.
Any pref as to the benchies you want to see??
Any pref as to the benchies you want to see??
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Bungral
No probs.. I'll probably look to do it maybe on Thursday as I'm working late all this week. If not then Sunday night. Any pref as to the benchies you want to see?? |
I'll see what I can do when I get the time 
@Bungral, would love to see your results but there is no rush in light of the big new on Intel yesterday (chipset issues) 
But hey maybe MSI will take the time waiting on Intel to improve this board
@ OC3D do you guys know any intresting inside facts on the Intel issues ?
But hey maybe MSI will take the time waiting on Intel to improve this board
@ OC3D do you guys know any intresting inside facts on the Intel issues ?
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by THD
@Bungral, would love to see your results but there is no rush in light of the big new on Intel yesterday (chipset issues) But hey maybe MSI will take the time waiting on Intel to improve this board @ OC3D do you guys know any intresting inside facts on the Intel issues ? |
So right now if you have a Sandy Bridge motherboard, plug the devices into the SATA III ports, however if you have too many devices, make sure high traffic and more important devices are in the SATA III ports, but it's best minimalize use. In all likelihood a mass recall would probably be initiated.
CSS Valid
Continue Reading