MSI P67A-GD80 (B3) Pro Reviews

I think there are no mainboards without advantages (except for the defective ones, of course). And despite several downsides, MSI P67A-GD80 (B3) has quite a few indisputable advantages of its own. Let me start by saying that it comes with an extremely extensive accessories bundle, which is a very pleasing fact, even though a few questions still arise. And additional bracket with two USB 3.0 ports is definitely a plus, but I think that a mainboard that already has six USB 3.0 ports on the back panel, could better use a similar bracket for the front of the system case. Yes, it has great component layout. Superb functionality and support of all contemporary interfaces are also an advantage. The unique feature that makes MSI P67A-GD80 (B3) mainboard stand out is the ten USB 3.0 ports it provides. Even MSI Click BIOS has a lot of great features to offer.

We would rate the design of the GD80 a close second, behind the Fatal1ty board in terms of looks. Its black and blue color motif is classic, and the heat sink designs are done just right. We also witnessed a couple of performance wins for MSI during our testing. In Cinebench 11.5, the board hit 53.09 FPS with and had the highest read test in CrystalDiskMark at 130 MB/s. Otherwise, the GD80 hung tight with the rest of the group, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

MSI has built another very good, if not great series GD80 motherboard. Its Achilles heel is the BIOS and Control Center software. These two aspects of the P67A-GD80 are simply horrible. These are not unusable, but these need to be fixed. The P67A-GD80 is a solid Silver Editor's Choice motherboard if the BIOS and Control Center FUBARs where not so evident, but these are. If easy overclocking is your desire, MSI surely still does OC Genie right! Click the button and off you go with a solid overclock quickly and quietly...and you never had to touch the Click..ity BIOS.

Overall, PC Perspective awards the P67A-GD80 its Gold Award for its exceptional overclocking prowess and solid results performing a plethora of PC operations and tasks.