MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) Pro Reviews

Feature wise, the MSI P67A-GD65 motherboard is well equipped for mainstream PC systems and competitively priced. The MSI P67A-GD65 is also a great LGA1155 'SandyBridge' platform for building a dual-videocard gaming rig as it offers two-way SLI/Crossfire support, plenty of USB 3.0/2.0 and enough SATA II/III to satisfy typical gamer storage needs. Given that the Intel P67 chipset offers the same core features as the newer Intel Z68 chipset, minus a few things of debatable usefulness like onboard graphics and Intel SRT, a board like the MSI P67A-GD65 would seems like a no brainer for the budget minded PC upgrader. Features are easy to add with the MSI P67A-GD65's expansion slots, but raw performance is always going to be CPU and videocard driven. In short, if you can find the MSI P67A-GD65 for cheap, snap it up and lock a couple graphics cards into the P67A-GD65 motherboard!

The MSI P67A-GD65 does well in terms of price, features and performance—while the USB speed is slower than its rivals, we have a fully capable board which delivers a steady overclock and offers a neat UEFI to use—a lot of people will like using this board. MSI decided to put games into the UEFI—it's an odd feature which offers little merit, much like a lot of the packaged software. It's one thing to offer value for money in terms of features—it's another thing to try and shove every bell and whistle, no matter how polished into a package. There's something to be said from a product which is refined and well designed at every corner—but the minute you add in some unrefined extras, it actually lowers the viewpoint of such a product.

The MSI P67A-GD65 motherboard offers a nice collection of features and extras for those looking for a strong mainstream Sandy Bridge performer, but just misses out on landing in the top tier.

MSI has built on its existing technologies, incrementally improving them with newer components and updating to an EFI BIOS. We felt that it had a nice blend of features and price. At the same US$ price as the Intel, the MSI was undoubtedly the board with more features, from voltage check points to its OC Genie II auto-overclocking tool. However, we were unable to set the board to run at our favored memory timings and the performance suffered slightly as a result. The underperforming and sluggish EFI BIOS was another major factor that caused us to lower our standings for this board. In its present state now, we would have taken the older BIOS instead of the new EFI version. Has these issues been ironed out, the board could have grabbed the top spot.

MSI currently has 16 motherboards sporting the P67 chipset, and the P67A-GD65 is definitely sitting in the sweet spot of this group because of its exceptional performance during PC gaming and its ability to perform basic PC operations. My only issue with this board was the clunkiness I felting using the UEFI BIOS. However, I'm sure MSI will make improvements to the next revision of their UEFI BIOS to smooth out these issues. Overall, PC Perspective awards the P67A-GD65 its Silver Award for stepping up its game in our benchmarks and giving us a good overclocking experience.

The P67A GD65 is a good looking board with all of the functions you need, all the latest technologies and some impressive overclocking credentials.

The MSI P67A-GD65 is a rock solid board that has the features needed to make a great motherboard. When we combine the price of the MSI P67A-GD65 with the performance it radiates, it is plain to see that it will satisfy the needs of any gamer or overclocker extremely well!

MSI has spent a lot of time with their new motherboard platform stressing the high quality components they use on the Sandy Bridge platform. Each P67 or H67 motherboard from them will have Military Class II components bringing the Hi-c Caps, Solid Caps and Super Ferrite Chokes to their entire lineup. Most motherboards for the new P67 chipset will have simlar performance scores, but a motherboards feature set is what makes it stand out in the crowd. The GD65 overclocked well with the 1-click overclocking features taking the 2600K to over 4.5GHz. In the end -game, with a ton of great features, good overclocking and an excellent layout the MSI P67A-GD65 is a solid Editors Choice product for the latest Intel CPU lineup.

The MSI P67-GD65 showed to be a top class performer and overclocker. This motherboard is supposed to come in at the $200 price point, and for that much cash, it is a GREAT value. The P67-GD65 is the easiest motherboard in the world to overclock. Simply push the OC Genie II button and you have a 4GHz + Sandy Bridge system without ever looking at a BIOS screen. So simple...and forum troll can do it.

The P67A-GD65 is good but falls short of greatness. Overclocking it is a chore, although MSI tells us it’s addressing this. The price works against it too, and while voltage readout points and on-board power switches are desirable, you won’t use them every day. We’d recommend buying the Asus P8P67 over the GD65.

It's half the price of the top-end Asus Republic of Gamers P67 board but delivers much more than half the performance. It's also got a great feature list, with both new storage interfaces and both-party multi-GPU licensing too. Turboing the high-end Core i7-2600K at only 3.5GHz as a maximum is disappointing, especially when the Foxconn H67S manages the same speeds in a tiny board. The Quick Sync issue is more to do with the P67 platform than necessarily with this board though. The clunky EFI will need some tweaking too.

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 slot (x16/x8 configuration) supporting both SLI and CrossFireX modes, voltage monitoring points, and a high-end voltage regulator circuit.