Aaaah finally .. information is able to be disclosed. Hello all and welcome to the first of a series of P55 motherboards reviews. We have a lot of motherboard articles lined up for you guys alright. As you know and probably have read here on Guru3D.com, Intel launched three new processors. These processors come from the Nehalem family of processors and are classified with the codename 'Lynnfield'. To make some sense out of that, the 1st generation Core i7 processors had codename code-name Bloomfield.
In paper Lynnfield processors are a small step down from that uber-high end Bloomfield based processor architecture.
The three most significant changes can be found in dual-channel memory, locked multipliers and lower TDP. Please read all about that in our Lynnfield processor review. Unfortunately the difference in-between Bloomfield and Lynnfield also entails a socket change, as such the really high-end Bloomfield processors like Core i7 920, 950 and 975 will be based on a Socket LGA 1366 design whereas the new Core i7 870, 860 and Core i5 750 will have to be seated onto Socket 1156. Chipset wise Bloomfield processors are paired with the X58 chipset from Intel, Lynnfield processors however will be paired with P55 chipset based motherboards. Overall the benefit of the P55/Lynnfield combo should be a better price performance ratio. Features wise on the motherboard side it all looks and feels fairly similar.
So to facilitate the new Lynnfield architecture processors Intel has been working on the P55 chipset, this chipset will replace P45. Lynnfield processors feature an integrated memory controller, like current Core i7 processors, and that they're outfitted with 16 lanes of embedded PCI Express connectivity, there's no need to pair the processors with a second chip (Southbridge). Instead, the processor will connect only to the one P55 chip.
So there we are, the first in a series of P55 reviews. The motherboard we'll look into today is the MSI P55-GD80 ... and I can already whisper in your ear that it is an astounding motherboard for the enthusiast PC aficionado, with a healthy taste for performance of course.
MSI's P55-GD80 motherboard will be the flagship P55 motherboard, it oozes with features and performance and stands out alright. Looking back in the history of testing motherboards this editor feels that only very few motherboards really made an impression, motherboards like the initial nForce 680i SLI or more recently the X58 Rampage II Extreme .. and now we'll be adding this motherboard along the same lines as we seem to be very much impressed with it. The P55-GD80 features MSI's "Xtreme Speed" initiative, which boils down to McDonalds's version of super-size me.
Head on over to the next pages please, where we'll startup this review on what is a really snazzy motherboard. Next page please. But first have a peek ...
The P55 PCH - Platform Controller Hub
To understand the product we'll be reviewing today, let's first discuss the heart if it, the P55 PCH. The P55 chipset itself and the Lynnfield processors embargo is finally lifted. The P55 motherboard chipset is just one chip, no more North and Southbridge. Interesting to learn is that the P55 chipset connects to the processor directly through DMI (Direct media interface) interface bus, and that's different from X58 where it connects directly to the QPI link.
X58 = QPI bus LGA1366, 2 QPI links, 3xDDR3, plus power.
P55 = DMI bus, LGA1160/1156, 1 DMI link, 2xDDR3, PCI-E connections, plus power.
The P55 chip has embedded a lot of righteousness in it: we see an all-time first integrated PCIe controller for 16X or two eight-speed PCIe cards, when it comes to input / output capabilities we are talking about support for 14 USB 2.0 ports with integrated USB 2.0 Rate matching hubs, 6 SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports and an integrated Gigabit LAN Ethernet.
The chipset will also supports Integrated Clocking Buffer Through Mode, provides Thermal Sensor Data via SMBUS for discrete Fan Control Solutions and Intel Matrix Storage Technology 9.0. New Intel matrix storage has a new user interface for managing all storage related tasks, support for RAID 0,1,5 and 10, Rapid recover technology.
DDR3 wise 1333 MHz is supported straight out of the box, but running the memory at 1600, 1866 or even 2000+ MHz should be no issue either. Speaking of memory, with the arrival of Core i7 870, 860 and i5 750 Intel made the decision to go back to a dual-channel memory interface. Don't get too worried here; the controller is so much faster than the old limited FSB based controllers. You'll have 64-bit memory wide controllers which are connected directly with the processors silicon. As a result this design brings a bandwidth utilization of as much as 90%, a nice jump from the FSB based 50-60% utilization for sure.
In this review we'll be using a 1600 MHz DDR3 Corsair Dominator memory kit. Corsair provided this kit specifically for this review. It is horribly sweet memory as its arranged as 2x4 = 8 GB of memory.
Meet the MSI P55-GD80 - Hello World!
So my fellow Guru's let's meet and greet the MSI P55-GD80 motherboard. We already stated that this motherboard is MSI's most high-end P55 offering, and it shows off alright, the board is just LOADED with extra features.
Next to the six standard SATA II ports an additional JMicron controller provides two internal and one external SATA ports, and one IDE connector. Two gigabit Ethernet connections, 8-channel audio, Firewire, and 14 USB ports make for the rest of the package. Other specs include support for 4 x DDR3-2133 memory allowing up-to 16GB to be installed, 3 PCIe x16 slots for SLI and CrossfireX (limited to an 8/8/4 setup though), 8 SATA ports, 1 eSATA port, 14 USB 2.0 ports, Dual Gbit/s LAN, 8-channel audio.
And that's really just the regular stuff. The motherboard also uses a 14-phase power circuit with standard solid-state capacitors. This board has a lot of overclock friendly features, such as on-board controls for clock-speeds, clear-CMOS, OC-Genie, a DIP switch to control voltages, and voltage-sensing points that make measuring voltages convenient. Let's talk through some of the most extraordinary ones.
Extraordinary features:
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OC Genie / DirectOC - embedded on the motherboard is a small extra ASIC. It is controlled by a number of buttons. Directly in Windows you can use up/down button to dynamically in- or decrease processor speeds. We tried this and it works really handy. This is marketed as DirectOC, especially handy in overclock competitions where you need to alter things on the fly.
More prominent though is the OC Genie button. If you do not like to overclock yourself or have two left cyber hands, the OC Genie will do that task for you. Before you power on the PC, you press the OC Genie button. Then your motherboard will start overclocking all by itself. Increased voltages, timings, processor and memory speeds .. it does it all and does that well. Example. A Core i7 870 processor at default runs at 2.9 GHz. The OC Genie automatically overclocked it towards 3.7 GHz. We'll show you some examples later on in this article.
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Superpipe -- MSI implemented it's Superpipe cooling onto this motherboard. A completely passive design with nice 8mm thick heatpipes. It will keep the temperatures in very safe ranges, and works out really well even when the system is overclocked massively. It looks great, but best of all .. it doesn't make any noise.
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DrMOS - DrMOS is short for Driver-MOSFET; they differ from standard MOSFETs in that it is a 3-in-1 design with the Driver IC, top MOSFET, and bottom MOSFET all in one package. Because of this 3-in-1 design, transmission distance between components is smaller, electrical noise is reduced and there is less power used. DrMOS has a 1000kHz switching frequency (ie: frequency at which the MOSFETs are switched on & off), which is roughly 4 times faster than traditional MOSFETs. You could say that MSI implemented a server class power design for this motherboard. It has 14 active power phases. This is more efficient, better for overclocking and thus also better for overall stability.
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V-Kit - MSI's new V-Kit concept allowing Voltage monitoring and manipulation.. It was already to be found at their GTX260/275 Lightning series graphics cards, but it is extended towards the motherboards as well. MSI creates voltage measuring points for various voltages used by the motherboards. Also additional V-Switches can be found, allowing further overvolting of CPU VCore, VTT, DDR VCC and P55.
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Debug LEDs - you'll spot two of them. Displaying error cores and processor temperatures.
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APS - notable is that the board has APS, which is short for Active Phase Switching. Much like DES on the Gigabyte motherboards it can en/disable power phases on demand. And that means much better power saving. MSI claims up-to 27% actually. On the motherboard you'll find a series of Power Phase LEDs as well, displaying the active phases.
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BIOS - we'll show it in the review, but expect easy to navigate, understand and advanced BIOS features.
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Three PCie graphics ports - Support for 3x PCie, though arranged in 8x/8x/4x.
But before summing up all features becomes a tad too boring. let's just head on over to the next page where we'll show you everything there is to be seen on on this motherboard. after which we'll show you a couple of overclocking samples followed by a good set of benchmarks.
Gallery - MSI P55-GD80 motherboard
Okay, so most of the following photo's you guys have already been able to see in the sneak preview of this board, same stuff yet now with additional comments and some extra photo's ;)
That's a hot looking feature rich motherboard alright. The one thing that immediately strikes us is that everything on this motherboard seems to be focused at performance, with some very exquisite overclock features.
We received the final retail sample and as such it comes packed with a nice fat product bundle. Among the gear inside the kit you'll find :
- MSI Driver/Utility CD
- SATA cables
- SATA power cable
- USB Bracket
- IDE cable
- V-Check cables
- CrossfireX bridges
- SLI bridges
- Back IO shield
- Manual
- Oh yes, and one fine motherboard :)
So here we have the motherboard itself, it's an impressive and daunting looking motherboard alright. Pricing for this really high-end motherboard will be risibly fair, 200 USD. Some of the more notable features are:
- 4x DDR3-2133OC
- 2x Gb LAN
- 3x PCI-E16
- 8x SATA
- 1x eSATA
- 9xUSB
- S/PDIF
- DrMOS
- OC Geni
- V-Kit
- APS
- SuperPipe
- Winki 2
Continue to MSI P55-GD80 review P.2
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