ads
ads
Most of computer lovers a little bit confused with the latest MSI P67A-GD65 Motherboard because the package offered it’s exactly the same with the old one. The different is there is a small logo infront of the case shows that it carry the latest Sandy Brigde technology installed then the previous. The MSI P67A-GD65 supports these new processors in the new Intel 1155 socket. The MSI P67A-GD65 comes to market with a very reasonable price of only $179.99 which is a very solid price point to be at! The MSI P67A-GD65 has a lot of great features so we are going to dive right in.Packaging
MSI chose to package the P67A-GF65 in a box with a straight forward artistic design, simply pointing out the technological support and design strengths of the board on a white reflective background. MSI includes the following accessories in with the board itself: locking connector SATA drive cables and power cables; a 2-way NVIDIA SLI connector; a rear panel bracket containing USB 3.0 ports; extension plugs for the USB and front panel headers; voltage check point cables; and the normal complement of manuals and drivers discs.
The header
extension plugs allow for an easy interface for connecting in to the motherboard headers. You simply plug in the appropriate connector cables in to the header block, and then plug the block in to the appropriate motherboard header. It makes for a much easier install for those typically hard to reach header areas. The voltage check point cables allow for a female plug in which to connect a volt-meter cable in order to measure voltage readings from the onboard voltage points.
If at first glance from the packaging, no visible difference.
After observing carefully, it turns out a new package that came to the lab Jagat Review is the latest version that uses a new stepping of the chipset Cougar Point is Stepping B3.
The label next to the packaging gives the explanation that this motherboard uses B3 Stepping. Other specifications exactly the same as the old motherboard.
Board Layout
The P67A-GD65 features an clean design, with adequate space provided around all the normally tight areas on a feature rich board such as this. MSI chose to passively cool the CPU power circuitry and the chipset as well. The board revision is located to the right of the primary PCI-Express x16 slot, with a 2.0 version used in testing. The serial is not found on the board’s surface, but rather on a white sticker on the outside of the box. For the board’s power regulation needs, MSI designed the P67A-GD65 using high quality polymer solid-electrolyte capacitors and Ferrite core chokes.
MSI did a masterful job with the layout of the CPU socket area, with adequate space provided for the use of even the larger CPU coolers.
The components used in close proximity to the socket itself are of a low profile type, in order to better alleviate any space contention issues. The CPU cooler is held in place using the standard LGA1156 style design, allowing for use of existing LGA1156 style coolers with the board. To the upper left of the socket is the SYSFAN1 header, while the 8 pin ATX12V power connector is to the upper right of the socket. The CPUFAN header is to the lower right of the CPU socket, just above the memory slots.
The integrated DDR3 memory slots are located directly below the CPU socket, arranged in a bi-colored array. Dual channel memory mode activates with like modules seated in same colored slots, with the blue colored slots being the primary set. To the lower left of the memory slots is the SYSFAN2 header, with the 24 pin ATX power connector, SYSFAN3 and SYSFAN4 headers, and the Voltage Check Point block located directly beneath the memory slots. The Voltage Check Point block gives easy access to check specific board voltages using a multi-meter.
The Intel P67 chipset is located below the primary and secondary PCI-Express x16 slots, cooled by a passive low profile heat sink. The onboard SATA ports are directly below the chipset, with the black ports being the SATA II 3Gb/s ports, and the white ports being the SATA III 6Gb/s ports. The white ports to the lower right of the chipset are controlled by the chipset integrated controller, while the white ports to the lower left of the chipset are controlled by the Marvell SE9128 controller. To the left of the SATA ports are the dual
front panel headers and the OC Genie, Reset and Power buttons. The OC Genie button activates the board’s dynamic overclocking mechanism. To the left of the chipset are the chassis intrusion header, the serial port header, the Trust Module device header, the USB 2.0 port header, and the IEEE 1394 device port header. The header labeled JSPI1 is used by MSI for internal debugging and testing purposes.
The P67A-GD65 contains a total of 7 ports: 2 PCI-Express x16 slots, 3 PCI-Express x1 slots, and 2 PCI slots. The USB 3.0 device port header, the S/PDIF output header, the CD_IN header, and the front panel audio
header are located along the outer edge of PCI slot 2.
MSI chose to integrate the following ports/devices in to the P67A-GD65′s rear panel assembly: a PS/2 keyboard/mouse port; 8 USB 2.0 ports; 2 USB 3.0 ports (blue colored USB style ports); 1 IEEE 1394 port; 1 Realtek GigE Ethernet port; 2 e-SATA 3Gb/s ports; CMOS reset button; and 6 analogue and S/PDIF optical and RCA component audio output port.
When juxtaposed, the two motherboard looks identical. The difference can only be seen if you look carefully.
The new motherboard has been labeled to distinguish it from the old motherboard.
What use is the motherboard Ver B3 Stepping 2:01.
Another difference is the lack of writing again on the NEC chipset USB3. While still using the same chipset, NEC posts eliminated in connection with the acquisition of NEC by Renasas.
On-Board Peripherals
The Intel P67 chipset is a single-chip solution, and is also known as PCH (Platform Controller Hub). This chip supports two SATA-600 ports and four SATA-300 ports, supporting RAID (0, 1, 5 and 10). The manufacturer added two additional SATA-600 ports, using a Marvel 88SE9128 controller, which supports RAID 0 and 1. These two extra ports are labeled “SATA7_8” and we think the manufacturer could have a different color to identify them. All SATA ports are located on the motherboard edge, rotated 90º, so video cards won’t block them.
This motherboard has 10 USB 2.0 ports, eight soldered on the rear panel and two available though one header located on the motherboard.
It also has four USB 3.0 ports controlled by two NEC μPD720200 chips, two soldered on the rear panel of the motherboard and two available thru a header on the motherboard (the product comes with an I/O bracket for you to use these ports). Two FireWire (IEEE1394) ports are available, one soldered on the motherboard rear panel and one available through a header. They are controlled by a VIA VT6308P chip.
The P65A-GD65 comes with eight-channel audio, generated by the chipset using a Realtek ALC892 codec. Unfortunately Realtek doesn’t publish technical specifications for this codec at their website. The portrayed motherboard comes with on-board optical and coaxial SPDIF connectors, and you can either route digital audio to your video card to have digital audio in the HDMI connector using the available “JSP1” header. The analog audio jacks are completely independent, so you won’t “kill” the mic in or the line in jack when installing a set of 7.1 analog speakers.The portrayed motherboard has one Gigabit Ethernet port, controlled by a Realtek RTL8111E chip, which are connected to the system using PCI Express x1 lanes and thus not presenting any potential performance issues.
Slots
The MSI P67A-GD65 comes with two PCI Express x16 slots, which are controlled by the CPU, not the chipset. The first slot works at x16 when only one video card is installed, but both slots drop to x8 when two video cards are used. They support both SLI and CrossFireX modes.
If you install a dual-slot video card in the first PCI Express x16 slot you will “kill” one of the PCI Express x1 slots, while if you install a dual-slot video card in the second PCI Express x16 slot you will “kill” one of the standard PCI slots.
It is important to understand that the P67A-GD65 has two slots between the two PCI Express x16 slots, meaning that you can install a video card that occupies three slots and still install a second video card in the second PCI Express x16 slot. There are two slots between the second PCI Express x16 slot and the motherboard edge, meaning that you can also install a video card that uses three slots in the second PCI
Express x16 slot while still using a standard seven-slot case.The motherboard has two PCI Express x1 located between the two PCI Express x16 slots and two standard PCI slots. It is important to understand that the P67 and H67 chipsets don’t support standard PCI slots anymore, and the PCI slot is provided by an ASMedia ASM1083 bridge chip.
Memory Support
Intel socket 1155 CPUs have an embedded memory controller, meaning that it is the processor and not the chipset that defines what memory technologies and the maximum amount of memory you can have. The
motherboard, however, may have a limitation on how much memory you can have installed. The integrated memory controller from socket 1155 processors will support only DDR3 memories up to 1,333 MHz under
dual-channel architecture, but MSI says the P67A-GD65 supports memory up to 2,133 MHz through overclocking.
The MSI P67A-GD65 has four memory sockets and, since currently DDR3 memory modules can be found in capacities up to 4 GB, you can have up to 16 GB with this motherboard, if you use four 4 GB modules. The
first and third sockets are black, while the second and fourth are blue. In order to achieve the maximum performance you should install two or four memory modules in order to enable dual-channel architecture. When only two modules are used, install them in the black sockets, otherwise your computer won’t turn on.
The main features of the MSI P67A-GD65 include:
• Socket: 1155
• Chipset: Intel P67
• Super I/O: Fintek F71889AD
• Parallel ATA: None
• Serial ATA: Four SATA-300 and two SATA-600 ports controlled by the chipset (RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10), two additional SATA-600 ports controlled by a Marvell 88SE9128 chip (RAID 0 and 1)
• External SATA: Two eSATA-300 ports controlled by a JMicron JMB362 chip
• USB 2.0: 10 USB 2.0 ports, eight soldered on the motherboard rear panel and two available through one header on the motherboard
• USB 3.0: Four ports controlled by two NEC μPD720200 chips, two soldered on the motherboard rear panel and two available on a motherboard header
• Firewire (IEEE 1394): Two ports controlled by a VIA VT6308P chip, soldered on the motherboard rear panel and one available on a motherboard header
• On-board video: No
• On-board audio: Produced by the chipset together with a Realtek ALC892 codec (eight channels, no further technical information is provided), on-board coaxial and optical SPDIF outputs
• On-board LAN: One Gigabit Ethernet port controlled by a Realtek RTL8111E chip
• Buzzer: No
• Infrared interface: No
• Power supply required: EPS12V
• Slots: Two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (the first one working at x16 when one video card is installed, both working at x8 when two video cards are installed, supporting SLI and CrossFireX), two PCI Express x1 slots, and two standard PCI slots (ASMedia ADM1083 chip)
• Memory: Four DDR3-DIMM sockets (up to 16 GB up to DDR3-2133)
• Fan connectors: One four-pin connector for the CPU cooler and three three-pin connector for an auxiliary fan
• Extra Features: Serial port, OC Genie II, dual BIOS, Active Phase Switching with monitoring LEDs
• Number of CDs/DVDs provided: One
• Programs included: Norton Internet Security (OEM version)
The MSI P67A-GD65 will be a good option for users looking for a high-quality mid-range socket 1155 motherboard with lots of features.
Its highlights include four SATA-600 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, automatic overclocking by simply pushing a button (“OC Genie II”), dual BIOS, two PCI Express x16 slots (x16 or x8/x8 configuration) supporting both SLI and CrossFireX modes, voltage monitoring points, and a high-end voltage regulator circuit.
0 comments