Hi all. First let me state that I'm pretty clueless about motherboards. Originally I was going to opt for an Asus p8p67 Pro, for an i5 2500k SB build im planning Then I ended up looking at these two motherboards instead in an effort to keep within my chosen (limited!) budget: The Asus P8P67 (not pro) http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p8p67-intel-p67-express-s-1155-pci-e-20-(x16)-ddr3-2200(oc)-sata-6gb-s-sata-raid-atx Or the MSI P67A-GD55 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-p67a-gd55-intel-p67-express-s-1155-pci-e-20-(x16)-ddr3-1333-1600-2133-sata-3gb-s-raid-atx I know most people seem to say go Asus, but the MSI board has SLI and Crossfire, where the Asus doesnt. I do intend to run a dual GPU in the future. I also intend to overclock. Are there any other major differences that give one of the two boards and advantage? Or should I try and stretch to a more expensive board (eg P8P67 pro?), although i'd rather not have to. Are there any other boards I should be considering at the £125ish price range? I know about the SB issues, but Im happy enough to buy now and swap out when the recall happens. Thanks
I read in my custom pc issue 90 and they test the p8p67 against the more expensive p67a-gd65, the biggest point was that the bios was poorly designed, which might make it difficult experience overclocking, although they said that msi was trying to address it, so hopefully in later bios versions they may be easier to navigate, if you intended to run dual gpu's I'd say go with the msi board :]
+ 1 for ASUS P8P67 Pro Mine just arrived the other day and I don't regret spending the few extra bucks on the pro version. They include a lot of nice accessories with the ASUS board like an SLI bridge, 4 x SATA cables (2 6Gb/s) with right angled connectors, tons of USB 3.0, bluetooth. I think I will be learning to utilize all of its power for some time to come. Seriously impressed and can't believe that the board by itself is almost as heavy as my much-older board with giant copper heatsink attached.
More layers and '2oz' copper PCBs, plus, more components overall than older boards. It all adds up. Just make sure you update to the latest BIOS with all the refinements in it!
Hey you have the same board right? When mine arrived the box/anti-static bag were unsealed - is that normal? Is there usually a sticker over the RAM slots or anything to ensure nobody has used/tampered with their boards?
The anti-static bag usually has a lick of tape on it but the boxes are always unsealed. Sometimes they have stickers, sometimes not. I can't remember about the Pro tbh
You cannot really go wrong with Gigabyte, MSI or Asus. I went with Asus because it tends to be the same price - just keep an eye out on scans today only deals, the Pro board along with Sandy Bridge is usually a combo deal daily, all you need to do is wait till it is 2500k instead of i7 2600k. In the past Asus and Gigabyte have been the better boards for Overclocking. As for MicrosoftPersons question - usually the bag is sealed with a little bit of tape but I would not be overly concerned that yours was not, the box is never sealed. There is not usually any tape over the RAM slots (certainly not on the Asus Pro). As long as the CPU socket ha its plastic covering on that's all that really matters
