Quality Control and Power Consumption
Inspecting the motherboard for defects, crooked components, or any poor materials used is something we like to do to help manufacturers keep an eye on what goes out. Fortunately, we couldn’t find any components out of place. The heat sinks, I/O expansion ports, sockets and buttons are all well fastened or secured to the motherboard. Also, if you recall, our voltage monitoring shows us the board is getting the correct voltage needed.
That said, the P67A-GD80 and GD65 actually consume similar amounts of power at idle and load. It was the same when using automated OC Genie II overclocking feature. However, the GD80 consumes slightly more power when taken further. Keep in mind that when using the board’s auxiliary 6-pin PCIE power connector, power consumption may increase by as much as 60 watts when under heavy load with larger graphics cards.
Final Thoughts
We know that the MSI P67A-GD80 offers much better overclocking compared to its GD65 sibling. But, it was a nice surprise seeing 4.8GHz without really doing a whole lot of serious tweaking. Granted, 4.2GHz OC Genie II automation is great. But, all that extra headroom via the BIOS is definitely impressive to say the least. Given the board’s overclocking aggressiveness, would it be too much to ask to program OC Genie II to be a little moer aggressive beyond 4.2GHz? Or at least have an OC Genie II “Overdrive” option?
Overall, performance is very commendable. The GD80 seems to be a very well polished platform right down to the software and onboard features. There is nothing that should shy away any type of user looking for a very worth upgrade. It’s just a little strange that it comes with only six total SATA ports. Yet, you get a lot of extra USB 3.0 which has proven to be fast external expansion option. At the same time, we’d be willing to sacrifice a few USB 3.0 if it got the price well under $200 US. Especially with a barrage of competing Z68 boards hitting the market now.
At a current $199 US price tag, it’s not exactly an expensive board and is only marginally more expensive than the GD65 at around $179 US. Since most of the other boards don’t offer the same level of performance, that extra $20 means enthusiasts will get a good high quality experience from MSI DrMOS. Because of that, the MSI P67A-GD80 motherboard deserves an enthusiastic Futurelooks Recommended Award.
Pros
- Great Performing P67 board
- Overclocks the Core i7-2600K to 4.8GHz with basic tweaks
- Extra clean layout and implemented motherboard
- Commendable motherboard bundled accessories
- OC Genie II always works flawlessly
Cons
- Only 6 SATA ports vs the 8 on GD65
Overall Rating: 9.0 / 10.0
Help Us Improve Our Reviews By Leaving a Comment Below!