Hardware MSI P67A-GD53 (B3) Review

The GD53 looks like a bargain for £109, but will its performance match its potential?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2011/05/26/msi-p67a-gd53-b3-review/1

 

Heard good things about this mobo and this review backs it up, looks excellent! Great price too

 

How is it that MSI's really come to making excellent boards in recent years, reviews backs this up, you really want to like them, but you still end up with Asus or Gigabyte?

 

Actually this board seems so good I think I might get one just for the sake of it - I can sell my P55-GD65 & i5-750 to my brother, so I could step up to i5-2500k for a very little money.

Very tempting, indeed.

 

Basically all the boards have the same performance (by a point or 2) no matter what gimmick is on the boards. Seeing the benchmarks from the last couple of months that compare same chipset mobo's it doesn't make any sense anymore to benchmark a motherboard performance it is depending on what processor, memory or HD you have connected to it. Unless you have exactly the same build as the test setup, getting the same benchmark result would be rather impossible.

Should we shift to board layout and feature set comparison instead of benching. What is your thought about this?

 

It might still be good to know if a board performs notably well, or poor. But as performance generally is so consistent among similar boards on the same platform (i.e. 1155, P67) it could perhaps open up for testing more boards, instead of doing tests that reveal differences within 1% on only a few.
Perhaps then to focus more on comparing performance between platforms, what with AMD's new offerings coming up and all, socket 2011 later this year and so on.

 

Couldn't agree more - with motherboard reviews, unless it's a new chipset that hasn't been through Bit-Tech's bench before, I always just scan through the benchmarks looking for any anomalies - generally the boards perform so similarly that stock performance isn't a factor for me. I'm far more interested in feature set, stability, stable overclock (so long as the same CPU is used in each board tested...), power consumption and price.

 

Interesting comments about motherboard testing.
Similar performance within a point or so does not make the difference for me between boards, I am more interested in the things mclean007 and the others mentioned,
I particularly like how MSI's power regulation turned out in the tests, I will be giving this board serious consideration for my 1155 build

 

me too...not to my brother, but to someone else lol....

bit-tech...

i know you guys work hard, but one thought. i would love to see the review include a mobo a step up from the same company. i know you can just look for the review and compare, but it would be nice to see it in the same graphs...just a thought...

 

Benchmarking specific functions (SATA performance, PCI-e, Memory subsystem) is still useful to confirm whether the board in question has any shortcomings.

I agree though with more focus being put on connectivity / expansion though as in general if the motherboard is good its performance should match its relevant competitors.

 

5Ghz. Is it just me or does that sound really cool?

 

If you know certain chipsets all have the same benchmarks, then yes ... features like ferrite chokes and which SATA6 chipsets are used, are more important than a 1% variance in benchmarks. The throughput performance is important, if the board varies its chips, after all. OC capability is important. Layout is important, as some HSF's are large enough to block DIMM slots if there isn't enough space on the board.

 

Next on my shopping list, Can't go wrong for that price...

 

I appreciate that CPC reviews are looking at the Nth degree of difference in performance but when I read the Sabertooth P67 review I got the feeling that the reviewer just didn't like the board, I assume because they don't like the "thermal armour" which is, I admit, a bit of a Marmite moment. Personally I love it which is why I bought one. I am coming to the conclusion that Custom PC reviews are not as objective as they could be.

 

Well, I always end up with an Asus because MSI boards are out of stock when I order and I'm impatient.

This begs out for me to grab one I must admit though... out of stock or not!

 

I see what you did there.

 

Looks like an excellent board for that price. Added to my potential shopping list.

 

I don't get it - I prefer the Asus P8P67 Pro.

 

I know this is awhile late but I found this article http://www.naijiu.org/msi-p67a-gd53-b3-for-military-class/.
It has pretty much the same wording as this review. I think they took it from here. Not a site I have ever been too, or would trust.
By the way... I got the board awhile back after this review. I think the bios could be better, but it had everything I needed. Good board.

 

Thats pretty lame, just copying someone else's review. Plus they havent done any of the leg work, so why would you trust them?

thats pretty pathetic IMO.