MSI chose to integrate the following device ports into the P55-GD80: 6 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable) on the Intel P55 controller; 2 SATA II ports (RAID 0 and 1) on the JMicron JMB322 controller; 1 e-SATA port on the JMicron JMB363 controller; 13 USB 2.0 capable ports (7 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; integrated power, system reset, green power, and CMOS reset buttons; OC Genie and base clock overclocking control buttons; 2-digit LED diagnostic display; 1-digit LED CPU MOSFET power phase display; and PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports in the rear panel.
Main Specifications Overview:
Detailed Mainboard Specification List:
Packaging
For the P55-GD80, MSI chose a simple box art design, with reflective flames on the left side of the box front. To the right of the flames on a white background, the supported technologies are very clearly shown. MSI chose to bundle the following accessories with the P55-GD80 board: a ribbon IDE cable; locking connector SATA drive cables and dual headed power cables; SATA to e-SATA converter cables with power connection bundle in a rear panel bracket assembly; 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 into the motherboard headers. You simply plug in the appropriate connector cables into the header block, and then plug the block into the appropriate motherboard header. It makes for a much easier install for those typically hard to reach header areas.
Board Layout
The P55-GD80’s board design and layout is nothing short of a masterpiece, with its overall appeal as good as its functional placement of components. There are no tight areas on the board, with even the seemingly crowded CPU socket area designed with clearance for even the bigger CPU coolers. Furthermore, MSI seemed to have every hotspot on the board covered by a good sized heat sink, all interconnected by an intricate heat pipe system. While there was no clearly defined serial number on the board, the board’s revision is clearly silk-screened to the surface in between the secondary PCI-Express x16 slots and PCI slot 1. The board revision used in testing was a 1.1 version. For the board’s capacitors, MSI chose to use all high quality solid-state aluminum capacitors.
The CPU socket area is clear of any obstructions, with the surrounding cooling mechanism placed far enough out and all close in power circuitry being of the low profile sort. The CPU cooler is held to the chip by the 4-hole LGA1156 design. Note that the onboard unified chipset is located behind the PCI-Express x16 slots, further freeing space for the CPU socket and power circuitry. To the upper left of the CPU socket are the SYSFAN3 header and the CPU power phase LED. This LED indicates what power phase mode the CPU circuitry is currently working in, with valid values from 1 to 8. To the upper right of the CPU socket is the 8-pin ATX12V power connector, with the CPUFAN header to the lower right of the socket. Notice that the heat pipe connecting the sinks on top of the CPU power circuitry is larger in diameter than normal, designed by MSI for better heat transfer and dissipation for these critical components.
The 4 integrated DDR3 memory slots are located directly below the CPU socket, with Dual Channel memory mode active with DIMMs in like colored slots. Directly below the DIMM slots are the 24-pin ATX power connector, the V-Switch jumper block, a voltage checkpoint block, the Green Power Genie connection header (JSMB1), and the SYSFAN2 header. The V-Switch jumper block is used to enable enhanced voltages settings in the BIOS for the CPU, CPU Vtt, DRAM, and PCH voltages. The voltage checkpoint block gives easy access to check specific board voltages using a multi-meter.
Unlike most other Intel based boards, the P55 chipset is a single chipset solution, containing both Northbridge and Southbridge functionality. The P55 chipset itself is located underneath a low profile cooler just under the PCI-Express x16 slots. The cooler acts as a termination point for the onboard heat pipe cooling solution. Just below the chipset are the SYSFAN1 and chassis intrusion headers, the IDE port and the 8 onboard SATA 2 ports. The SATA 2 ports colored blue are the JMicron controlled ports, while those colored black are the P55 controlled ports. The front panel header, split between 2 physical header blocks, is located in the lower left corner of the board. Just above the front panel header are the touch sensitive power, reset, and green power buttons, the base clock adjustment buttons, the 2-digit diagnostic LED, the OC Genie activation button, and the CMOS reset button. The onboard USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 headers are just above the touch buttons along the board’s edge. The provided power, reset, and green power buttons are actually silkscreen images on the board, with sensors imbedded by the button images to detect button interaction. 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 P55-GD80 has a total of 3 PCI-Express x16 slots, 2 PCI Express x1 slots, and 2 PCI slots. The CMOS battery is just below PCI slot 1, with the SYSFAN4 and Trusted Platform Module headers just above it. The onboard USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, S/PDIF, CD_IN, and front panel audio headers are located along the outside edge of the tertiary PCI-Express x16 slot.
The P55-GD80 comes standard with the following rear panel ports: 2 PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports; 7 USB 2.0 ports; 2 Realtek GigE Ethernet ports; 1 e-SATA 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. The application itself is divided into 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 Green Power area is divided in 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 3 areas, Mainboard, LED, and MOSFET Temp. 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 all status LEDs on the board, providing the capability to enable or disable each LED individually. The MOSFET Temp screen shows real-time temperature statistics for the phased CPU power MOSFETS.
BIOS
MSI chose to base the P55-GD80’s BIOS on the popular Phoenix AWARD BIOS template, with the BIOS version used in testing being A7581 V1.1.
Pressing the F4 function key from within the default BIOS screen spawns the CPU Spec window. This window displays statistics on the currently active processor, including physical speed, multiplier, and cache settings, as well as information about the various technologies supported by the active processor. Hitting the F5 function key spawns the Memory-Z window containing manufacturer specified SPD memory timing settings for the system DRAM modules on a per channel basis.
The System Information submenu, accessed via link from the Standard CMOS Features menu, displays read-only information about the current BIOS revision, CPU, and memory related settings.
The Advance BIOS Features menu contains various boot related settings, including boot device access order and the PCI Latency Timer setting. The Boot Sequence submenu lists the system boot device access order, with properly detected USB 2.0 devices listed as viable selection from the pull down menu.
The Integrated Peripherals menu contains configuration settings for the onboard integrated devices, including the USB 2.0 ports, the Realtek LAN controllers, the JMicron RAID controller, and the Realtek HD audio controller. The On-Chip ATA Devices submenu contains configuration settings for the P55 RAID controller. Note that the Intel RAID boot BIOS will only show on startup with drives connected to the onboard P55 chipset’s SATA 2 ports and the BIOS RAID Mode option set to RAID.
The H/W Monitor menu shows real-time status on BIOS monitored fan speeds, temperatures, and voltages. In addition, the various onboard fan headers can be set for static speed operation, with additional temperature based dynamic control available for the CPU fan header. The Dr.Mos Temperature submenu contains real-time temperature read outs for all CPU phase and CPU Vtt power MOSFETs.
The Green Power menu contains real-time power statistics on board devices, as well as settings for controlling the power phase settings for the board subsystems. The Motherboard LED Control controls the operation of the onboard subsystem monitor LEDs, while the Touch Power Panel setting enables the use of the onboard silk-screen power, reset, and green power buttons.
The Cell Menu screen is a centralized location housing submenus and settings for configuring the board performance and overclocking related settings. At the very top of the menu are real-time stats on the configured CPU, memory, and QPI bus speeds. The Active Processor setting controls how many physical processors on the CPU die are currently active, with options available to disable all but one to leaving all enabled. With the Intel SpeedStep setting enabled (shown as Intel EIST), the Intel Turbo Boost setting option becomes visible. This Turbo Boost option allows for the use a multiplier +1 over the default CPU multiplier when enabled. So if your CPU base multiplier is 20x, enabling this setting gives you access to a 21X multiplier setting. The Adjust CPU Base Frequency (MHz) setting controls the board’s base clock speed, with a 600MHz maximum settable. The OC Stepping option controls the BIOS assisted base clock speed overclocking mechanism, which can be configured for stepped type overclocking of the board’s base clock starting at the speed set via the Adjust CPU Base Frequency (MHz) setting. The Adjust CPU Ratio option controls the CPU multiplier, with the maximum value determined by the current CPU in use. The read-only Adjusted CPU Frequency (MHz) setting shows the physical CPU speed based on the selections made via the Adjust CPU Base Frequency (MHz) and Adjust CPU Ratio settings. The OC Genie Button Operation setting enables the use of the onboard OC Genie button, which dynamically overclocks the system when the button is pressed. The Base Clock Button option enables the use of the + and - base clock adjustment buttons on the board, allowing for on-demand 1MHz incremental increase or decrease of the current base clock speed.
The CPU Specifications submenu contains statistics on the currently active processor, including physical speed, multiplier, and cache settings. The CPU Technology Support submenu contains information about the various technologies which the currently active processor supports. The CPU Feature submenu contains all user configurable internal CPU settings, including: Intel SpeedStep (Intel IEST), idle C-state support, enhanced Halt state support (C1E Support), CPU current draw protection support (OverSpeed Protection), Execute Disable Bit support, CPUID maxval support, and Intel virtualization technology.
The Memory-Z submenu contains a series of submenus, with 1 submenu listed per DRAM module installed in to the system. Each individual Memory SPD Information submenu contains statistics on manufacturer recommending memory timing and speed settings, which are instituted by the BIOS when the DRAM Timing Mode setting is left in Auto mode.
Setting the DRAM Timing Mode setting to Manual enables access to the manual memory timing settings within the Advanced DRAM Configuration submenu. The Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P) setting controls BIOS assisted advanced memory controller configuration, with the operational mode set via the Extreme Memory Profile Mode setting. The Memory Ratio option controls the physical memory speed through the use of ratios spanning the range of 3 to 5. The physical memory speed, based on the settings selected thru the Adjust CPU Base Frequency (MHz) and Memory Ratio options, displays under the Adjusted DRAM Frequency (MHz) setting. The QPI Ratio option sets the base speed of the QuickPath Interconnect bus, which is similar in function to the HyperTransport bus found on other boards. The QPI Frequency settings shown vary based on the selected base clock frequency setting selected, set via static ratio settings. The physical QPI bus speed is displayed under the Adjusted QPI Frequency (MHz) option. The Adjust PCI-E Frequency (MHz) setting controls the base PCI bus speed, with a maximum speed setting of 190MHz.
The Advanced DRAM Configuration submenu contains the following manually settable memory timing options: command rate (CH1 1T/2T Memory Timing); CAS latency; RAS to CAS delay (tRCD); RAS precharge delay (tRP); active to precharge delay (tRAS); row refresh cycle delay (tRFC); write recovery delay (tWR); write to read delay (tWTR); RAS to RAS delay (tRRD); read to precharge delay (tRTP), and four activate window delay (tFAW).
The Load-Line Calibration setting allows for BIOS oversight of the CPU vDroop voltage when enabled. The CPU base voltage is determined via the CPU Voltage (V) setting with a maximum 2.20V allowed. The CPU PLL Voltage (V) option controls the CPU power regulation circuitry voltage, with a 2.292V ceiling. The P55 chipset voltage is split between 2 settings, the PCH 1.8(V) setting with a maximum voltage of 2.60V, and the PCH 1.05(V) setting with a 1.964V maximum. The DRAM Voltage (V) setting controls the DRAM module base voltage, with a 2.63V maximum settable. The DDR_VREF_CA and DDR_VREF_DA options configure the control and data reference voltages for the in use modules on a per channel basis. For those configurable options, the values shown automatically scale with the configured base DRAM voltage with a maximum value of 1.179 settable at maximum voltage settings.
The ClockGen Tuner submenu contains voltage settings for the device specific driving clock. The CPU Amplitude Control setting controls the CPU base clock driving control voltage, with a 1000mV maximum setting allowed. Likewise, the PCI Express Amplitude control sets the PCI Express bus clock driving control voltage also with a 1000mV maximum setting.
The M-Flash menu allows for direct BIOS updating and archiving. The current BIOS can be archived to a named file on an attached USB drive, or can be updated from a file on an attached USB drive.
The Overclocking Profile menu allows for the storage of up to 6 full BIOS images, with all BIOS settings captured as configured at the time of profile creation. The actual profile management functions are housed in the Overclocking Profile submenus, number 1 thru 6. The submenu settings allow for custom naming of profiles, creation, loading, and profile setting deletion. The OC Retry option in the main menu sets the number of times the system will attempt to initialize with the current BIOS settings before reverting to a safe mode type boot up.
Subsystem Testing
NOTE: For all Subsystem Testing, an Intel LGA 1156 Core i5 750 CPU with the board base clock running at 133MHz and 2 x 2GB DDR3 memory modules running at 1333MHz were used in subsystem testing.
Audio - Subjective Listening
One of the easiest ways to determine the quality of the audio subsystem is via a subjective sound test. Ideally, a sound test requires audio covering the entire spectrum, from subtle to intense. For this test, I chose to listen to the Lacuna Coil album Shallow Life.
The audio listening experience was enjoyable, with no discernable distortion detected.
Audio - Microphone Port Testing
The MIC-IN input was tested using our standard Labtec Desk Mic 524 testing microphone. Spoken words were recorded and played back using Microsoft Sound Recorder, with the Microphone Boost option disabled and enabled. The Microphone Boost option is found within the Advanced menu under the Microphone section within the Volume Control menu.
While there was no detected distortion in either case, overall voice pickup and audibility was much better with the Microphone Boost option enabled.
Drive Performance
To adequately test the capabilities of the on board USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 connections, we chose to use an ACOMDATA HD060U2FE-72-USB 2.0/FireWire HDD connected to both ports. SATA drive tests were performed using Samsung 40GB SATA II hard drives on the SATA headers. The SATA drives were used for testing in a RAID 0 16k block size configuration and in standalone mode on both the Intel P55 and JMicron controllers. All drive benchmarks were done using the open source Iometer program
The results I witnessed during this test were definitely peculiar when compared with past performances from other chipsets and boards. The Intel P55 chipset based SATA RAID 0 array matched performance with the standalone SATA drives on both controllers, with the JMicron based RAID 0 array performing at levels barely above the IEEE 1394 based driver. However, the JMicron array’s mediocre performance was most likely due to the lack of block size tuning in the array setup utility. The external drives performed as expected, both on par with one another. In all cases, the CPU utilization remained below 1% during all tests.
Network Utilization Tests
Hagel Technologies’ DU Meter software was used in conjunction with Windows Task Manager to measure the performance of the Realtek GigE NICs. Note that it was found in testing that both NICs performed on par with one another. DU meter was used to measure bandwidth, with Windows Task Manager to monitor the CPU utilization on the test system. For the test itself, a 750MB archive file containing various sized .WMA audio files for the large file transfer test and a 750MB worth of various sized .WMA audio files for the small files transfer test were used in conjunction with an integrated Gigabit NIC on the host system and a crossover cable to connect the host system to the test system. A crossover cable was used to rule out any possible bandwidth losses due to hub or switch passage.
Realtek GigE controller
The large files transfer tests performed better than expected, with the download speeds besting that of upload by almost 20 MB/s at an amazing 49 MB/s average speed. The CPU utilization remained under 5% for the duration of both tests.
The small file transfer results were equally impressive, with the download and upload speeds almost identical, both coming in at about a 27 MB/s average speed. Again, the CPU utilization remained below 5% for the duration of the testing performed.
Synthetic Performance Testing
Test Systems
The following system configurations were used for the system benchmark graphs, as well as all graphs listed under the Application and Gaming Benchmarks sections:
Graphs are labeled as follows: Motherboard - CPU Clock - Memory Type
Note that all results above were obtained running the installed memory in Dual Channel mode for all systems with the exception of the Intel X58 based board which ran in Triple Channel mode.
At stock speeds, the P55-GD80 easily matched performance with the other P55 based board, but remained woefully behind the X58 based board even in an overclocked capacity. Take these results with a grain of salt though. At similar speeds, the P55-GD80 displays about two thirds of the performance of the x58, which is where it should be given the dual versus triple channel memory mode difference.
Here we see the P55-GD80 again performing on par with the other P55 based board at stock speeds, with its overclocked performance coming in much closer to the similarly clocked X58 based board.
In an impressive should of strength, the overclocked P55-GD80 managed to close the gap with the X58 based board, with the board running on par to the other P55 based system at stock speeds. The board is showing strong, and running exactly as expected.
The P55-GDF80 again manages to match performance with the other P55 based system at stock speeds, with its overclocked version coming in between the X58 and stock speed runs.
Multimedia Benchmarks
Outside of gaming and encoding, there are few applications on the desktop that will push our systems to their limits, this especially becomes apparent when we start talking about multi-core processors that are now the norm. Some multi-thread aware encoding and editor applications are starting to reach into all available threads and truly utilize the processing power of these multi-core CPUs.
The benchmarks below all represent very real world situations just like you would run into at home while encoding video from your camcorder - or while using a picture or video editing program - or while encoding music for your iPod - or encoding a DVD for saving it to your hard drive to allow you easier access to the content. Also we have included WinRAR, a very popular zipping used by many when sending files or posting for download.
We have simply timed our various tests on the different systems and supplied you with the amount of time it took for the system to fully build the file. Scratch disks were used properly as well as making sure we were not bumping into any IO bottlenecks elsewhere.
Graphs are labeled as follows: Motherboard - CPU Type & Clock Speed - Memory Speed
The P55-GD80 starts the multimedia benchmarking out strong, matching performance with the competitors both at stock and overclocked speeds. The board’s definitely well designed, and built to perform.
The P55-GD80 continues its performance streak, again performing well against the CPU speed competitive class boards. Solid performance in this test indicates a strong memory subsystem, given WinRAR’s memory intensive nature.
At stock speeds, the P55-GD80 has no problem keeping up with its P55 challenger. It does slide a bit behind the more powerful X58 based board at its overclocked speed, but only by a small margin at best. Surely we are seeing some HyperThreading advantages here with the Core i7.
The P55-GD80 wraps up it multimedia benchmarking on a high note, performing well against the two other Intel boards at both stock and overclocked speeds. And again in this heavily threaded application we see HyperThreading give and edge to the Core i7.
Gaming Benchmarks
As always, these benchmarks in no way represent real-world gameplay. They are all run at very low resolutions to try our best to remove the video card as a bottleneck. I will not hesitate to say that anyone spouting these types of framerate measurements as a true measuring tool in today’s climate is not servicing your needs or telling you the real truth.
The gaming tests below have been put together to focus on the processor power exhibited by each system. All the tests below consist of custom time demos built with stressing the CPU in mind. So much specialized coding comes into the programming now a days we suggest that looking at gaming performance by using real-world gameplay is the only sure way to know what you are going to get with a specific game. Our Real World Gameplay CPU Scaling would be a great place to start.
Graphs are labeled as follows: Motherboard - CPU Type & Clock Speed - Memory Speed
While the P55-GD80 performs as expected at stock speeds in comparison to the other P55 based board, it does fall a bit behind the X58 board at overclocked speeds in this heavily threaded gaming benchmark, likely due to its lack of HyperThreading.
No surprise here, the P55-GD80 performs as expected in comparison to the other systems. The GPU bound nature of this benchmark makes it good for measuring overall system operational health.
The P55-GD80 manages a comeback in this test, managing to match performance at stock speeds and close the gap considerably with the X58 based board at overclocked speeds.
Again, the P55-GD80 comes in with surprisingly strong performance in overclocked mode, staying on the heels of its X58 based big brother. At stock speeds, its performance remains consistent with the other P55 based system.
The P55-GD80 closes out the gaming benchmarks with a show of strength, again managing to match performance with its competition at both stock and overclock speed settings.
Overclocking
The P55-GD80 definitely wants to go fast, and seems to handle all the voltage you want to throw at it without issue. Getting the board to boot the CPU at or above 4.0GHz was a bit tricky, but doable after some careful tweaking and lots of patience. The highest I was able to get the board stable was at 4.3GHz with a 1720MHz memory speed and a 215MHz base clock. However, stability at these speeds was elusive at best, with Prime95 crashing on 2 or more cores after a few hours time. Bringing down the base clock to 210MHz and the CPU speed down to 4.0GHz helped with the stability, but I was still getting Prime95 crashes on one or more cores after the 7 to 8 hour mark. Note that the above 2 overclocks were done with RAID mode enabled on the Intel P55 controller, and required massive voltage going through the chipset to achieve - a 2.3V PCH 1.8(V) voltage, and a 1.454V PCH 1.05(V) voltage. The CPU voltage required was between 1.5-1.6V for the base voltage and 1.65-1.7V for the VTT voltage, higher than I would’ve liked. I did manage to get the board to stabilize rather superbly at a 4.0GHz speed, with a 1600MHz memory speed and a 200MHz base clock, after setting the P55 SATA controller to IDE mode. The system remained stable for well over a day without issue. The voltages required were a bit less as well, with a CPU voltage of 1.475V, a CPU VTT voltage of 1.567V, a PCH 1.8(V) voltage of 2.20V and a PCI 1.05(V) voltage of 1.304V.
I’ve included screenshots below of the various overclocking experiments performed:
4.3GHz CPU speed with 1720MHz memory speed and 215MHz base clock
4.0GHz CPU speed with 1680MHz memory speed and 210MHz base clock
4.0GHz CPU speed with 1600MHz memory speed and 200MHz base clock
Conclusion
Morry's Thoughts:
I have one word for this board - Awesome. The board looks stellar, with its black and chrome blue colors, and the design of the board is one of the most solid designs I’ve seen. The amount of voltage I tormented the board with while overclocking in itself speaks volumes, given the fact that the board did not spontaneously combust and kept trouping along without issue. MSI packed it full of features as well.
The one disturbing issue I had with the board was its dismal RAID 0 array performance. Hopefully it is just an implementation issue in the RAID BIOS itself, given the P55 chipset’s relative immaturity at this point. The fact that enabling RAID mode on the P55 chipset affected overclocking performance was a bit disconcerting for me as well.
All in all, a great board with some great features, a strong design, dashing looks, and superb performance all around. The issues seen are most likely due to the immaturity of the P55 RAID BIOS, rather than a true hardware related issue I would think. The P55-GD80 is definitely one to keep an eye on, and put on the short list should you be looking to make the jump in to the LGA 1156 arena.
Kyle's Thoughts:
I spent a lot of time with the MSI P55-GD80. To start with complaints, I did have one issue that MSI could not or did not replicate. I had some issues getting the board to boot off of any drive. In order to boot the Windows 7 DVD or flash drive, I had to fully power down the board, then turn it on and try to book the first pass. If I reset or corrected something in the BIOS, the board would not boot off the DVD or flash drive. That took a while to diagnose. Probably just a BIOS fluke with my board though and again, MSI was not seeing the same issue.
We had no problems running our Patriot Memory at 1600MHz with no issues or tweaks. As is common with some boards, we had to move the RAM to slots 2 and 4, rather than 1 and 3 to get the board to POST. The GD-80 POSTED fine with 4x2GB of Patriot Memory populating all four slots at 1600MHz and was perfectly stable. Patriot has reported 2000MHz+ DDR3 speeds on this particular board in its own labs.
We have seen "overclocking tools" for years, but you know it and I know it; they suck. Well, MSI’s OC Genie has changed that. While it is not going to give you edge of the envelope overclocks, it is far from shabby. Simply power the GD80 down, depress the OC Genie button physically mounted on the motherboard, and turn the board on and watch in amazement. In 11 seconds, the GD80 OC Genie took my retail purchased Core i5-750 processor from a stock speed of 2.66GHz to 3.5GHz with a RAM speed in the 1300 range if I remember correctly (forgot to write that down). To 3.5GHz with the push of ONE BUTTON! And it was rock solid. There have been a lot of companies attempt this simple overclocking aspect, but none have done it as well as MSI has. It is also worth noting here that when we turned OC Genie off, many of our voltages did stay elevated. I would suggest clearing the BIOS or using a preset when turning OC Genie off to make sure everything is where you want it. OC Genie turns off the Turbo feature as well and does not turn back on without a BIOS reset or profile launch.
Overclocking by hand got very nice results as you have seen above with Morry’s excellent results. My results pretty much mirrored his. I was able to overclock the Core i5-750 to 3.371GHz (168MHz BCLK) with fully stock settings; all I did was increase the BCLK. I did get the board to POST at 4.4GHz but at that point I corrupted the OS.
As I like to do, I incubated the GD80 to see if we could kill it. It is always fun to see how a new motherboard reacts to being stressed in a hot environment. The MSI P55-GD80 left me totally impressed. After incubation we were able to get the ambient temperature up to 47C fairly easily. After running our full CPU, GPU, and RAM Torture Test for 44 hours the board was perfectly stable. At this point I insulated it a bit more; that brought the ambient temperature up to 58C. I held the GD80 at 58C ambient temperature for another 43 hours and it was still rock solid. (Yes, 87 hours total.)
The touch sensitive buttons seem a little gimmicky up front, but I have to say I really liked using them. These buttons just made things easier on the test bench. Here again is another look at our MSI P55-GD80 motherboard preview. We are expecting the GD80 to sell for around the $230 mark although we have not seen any pricing in the wild yet. Provantage is showing $213, but has no stock currently. So you might keep your eyes on that link.
The Bottom Line
MSI has built good motherboards for years, but it has been a long time since it built a great motherboard. The P55-GD80 breaks that trend. From what we have seen with our GD-80 and a retail Core i5-750, the MSI P55-GD80 fits our expectations of a great motherboard. Great features, great overclocking, great stability, all in a cleanly laid out package that promises to be a good value. We have no problem suggesting the MSI P55-GD80 go to the top of your short list of P55 motherboards to purchase.
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