OC3D Review: MSI P55-GD80 Motherboard

[JN]

"P55 Motherboards are starting to appear and for our first review of a retail board we have MSI's flagship motherboard, the extreme performance P55-GD80. See how it performs inside" - by w3bbo

MSI P55-GD80 Motherboard

 

[PeterStoba]

I'll say it before, and I'll say it again. This is one of the best looking boards I've seen!

That's a nice clock from it too.

 

[Rastalovich]

It's a good mobo with a good review.

£178 is something for the 'con' section for me tbh.

For some reason, since i7, it appears the standard is to have the level of mobos at around £30-50 more expensive than they probably should be.

This could however be the result of 775 mobos just not going away. And if they're at "reasonable" prices, it tends to suggest the manufacturers feel they can "get away with charging" that much more as it's "new technology".

I personally think this is bllx however when the jump between the 2 isn't great.

 

[tonpal]

I think Rastalovich has a good point. For £180 you can pick up a mid range X58 board that might not have as many bells and whistles as the P55-GD80 but does have the advantage of 32 PCI-E connectors. Granted for it to make a difference you would need to be running Crosfire/SLI with a 24 inch monitor but the sort of people who this board targets it is quite reasonable to expect they may be running this sort of hardware.

 

[w3bbo]

I agreee to a certain extent about the price and mentioned in the review that the board should be priced around £20-30 cheaper. However, this is new technology, albeit slightly inferior in certain sectors to older X58 chipsets and because of that the price is inflated accordingly. I couldn't really put the price as a 'con' as it is pretty much inline with what other manufacturers are charging for a flagship P55 motherboard.

The jump between the two technologies is indeed nothing to shout from the rooftops about but the performance difference is there. How much you value that extra performance will depend alot on how much of an investment you see a PC as.

As always guys I appreciate constructive criticism and feedback, these are afterall - reviews for YOU!:worship:

 

[VonBlade]

Only really the same thing I always moan about W3bbo. Solitary performance figures are nice, but a comparison with a same speed X58 i7 system would be lovely.

Would triple-channel make that much difference with it's superior bandwidth?

Given the tiny price difference between this mobo and a 860 and a P6T and a 920D0 which is the better buy?

All those kind of things. Especially important when it's a new generation of hardware and so most people would be buying the bulk of a new system.

Even, because it's equal in dual-channelness to the AMD Phenom IIs, a AMD comparison.

I'm just a comparison whore. I love to know what the best system would be for the same money. Most online comparisons are strange things like a stock i5 vs a i7 975E vs a X2 250. Let's equal the clocks, equal the RAM and run the battery of tests. That way it's clear which is the best for general use, gaming use, productivity etc.

But, as per usual, a fantastic review. Truly droolworthy looking mobo. About the only mobo that comes close in looks is the Asus Maximus III.

 

[Rastalovich]

Memory I've always considered as much of a muchness between ddr2/ddr3 triple and dual.

Benchmarking u get the obvious champions. And if ur using the types of creative apps constantly in the day, like for work or something, u'll notice the difference I'd imagine.

Last mobo I got for gaming, which in fairness I had the means to get whatever 775 that was out there, I went ddr2.