MSI P55-GD80 LGA1156 Motherboard Review Comment Thread

[MAC]

It took a little longer than expected, but we have just posted our second P55 motherboard review, featuring the MSI P55-GD80. As a direct competitor to the ASUS P7P55D Deluxe, EVGA P55 FTW, and Gigabyte P55-UD5, this motherboard faces some tough challengers. Can it distinguish itself from the pack? Read the review to find out.

MSI P55-GD80 LGA1156 Motherboard Review

[ayah]

Thanks for the review! I dislike that page of marketing hype though since it isn't all fact.

[bojangles]

Those OC Genie buttons really have no other place to go other than beside the RAM slots. I mean, they're in the ALMOST perfect location for dual card setups, but you can't really place them near the RAM slots if there's all those capacitors up there. They should tweak the board's layout a bit and then it there will be tons of room. I see a little bit of room for the RAM's mosfets/chokes/caps where it says "Optimized Dual Channel DDR3". There should be enough room for the lower installation kits to still work.

Other than that, pretty sweet board. OC Genie really does sound like it works, if it actually did attempt proper overclocking rather than just taking previous working voltages/clocks.

[MpG]

Nice review. Honestly, I think in your conclusion, you were majoring a little much on the minors. I suppose it depends on who's using the board - as someone who would be manually setting things, I consider most of those cons to be non-issues, with the exception of the LLC. The Tri-SLI especially - the P55 has no business running a tri-SLI setup, with the arguable exception of a folding rig, which isn't really a scenario where access to the bottom mobo edge is much of an issue anyway.

Really, for $219, everything seems stable and it's got a nice batch of features (i.e. actual voltage readout points) that you used to have to spent over $400 to get. If I wasn't so happy with my own X58 rig, this is the kind of thing I'd be looking at closely. MSI has seriously pulled their head out of their ass from their older days.

[Soultribunal]

I hope that MSI gets their RMA process sorted out before I'd consider one of these.
However that being said it is a really nice board that is feature rich for a reasonable price.

Good Review, good unit.

ST

[MAC]

Originally Posted by MpG

Nice review. Honestly, I think in your conclusion, you were majoring a little much on the minors.

You're right, I was tough, but only because the flaws give us that slight 'rushed to market' feeling that we don't like. It's not yet as polished as competing motherboards, but I think the last paragraph in the conclusion sums things up nicely and is favourable towards the P55-GD80.

[aristhrottle]

Great review! I'm thinking of getting a P55 platform and am considering this motherboard.

One quick note: you mention in your review that the board is "chalk full" of features. I do believe the correct phrase is "chock-full".

[lemonlime]

Good review, MAC

It is unfortunate, but MSI usually seems a little behind when it comes to BIOS development lately. People want a fully functioning board out of the box, and its unfortunate that they have to wait for BIOS fixes and software updates for it to work correctly. I saw similar issues with the 790FX-GD70.

[miggs78]

Originally Posted by MpG

Nice review. Honestly, I think in your conclusion, you were majoring a little much on the minors. I suppose it depends on who's using the board - as someone who would be manually setting things, I consider most of those cons to be non-issues, with the exception of the LLC. The Tri-SLI especially - the P55 has no business running a tri-SLI setup, with the arguable exception of a folding rig, which isn't really a scenario where access to the bottom mobo edge is much of an issue anyway.

Really, for $219, everything seems stable and it's got a nice batch of features (i.e. actual voltage readout points) that you used to have to spent over $400 to get. If I wasn't so happy with my own X58 rig, this is the kind of thing I'd be looking at closely. MSI has seriously pulled their head out of their ass from their older days.

Absolutely agree with this, I really have to... MSI have pulled off a really good board, with a proper BIOS upgrade, working software, and if they make an improve support, this will be one of the top P55 boards around...

[zsamz_]

good review
nice package
convinced me not to buy 1 lol
i had a p55-ud4p for a few days had much better performance but lol always in reboot loop after power off
msi has never been too good in bios develepment imho