MSI P67A-GD65 LGA1155 Chipset Motherboard Review @ [H]

:eek: Kyle where can you be found tomorrow so I can kick you in the balls :D

Don't feel bad Guru3d did not mention this in their review either. I guess I can always keep this MB for my son's SB single card build in the spring if I cannot fit my two 570's on it.
 
So is there any solution to this that doesn't require bending/snapping the motherboards pins? I'm really not comfortable doing that for a number of reasons:

1. I'm not entirely sure I trust my self to do it correctly and not fuck up.

2. I don't want to void the warranty on the motherboard unless it's unavoidable.

3. I sell practically ever single computer part (and most other electronic components for that matter) after I'm done using them/or have upgraded and doing this to the pins can't help the resale value of this board.

What is Fry's policy on returning motherboards? I've put the board into my PC and am using the computer as I type this right now, some of the accessories's plastic wrapping's have been cut open but other than that the board is in brand new condition.
 
Here is my experience with this board.
I purchased it yesterday at N-SEE-EYE-EX(Canada) along with 2500K & Muskin 8GB 1333MHz.

I Installed everything and powered on just to fine out that I wasn't getting any video signal. Double checked my Radeon 4890 to my now previous computer and it is working fine. I tried pressing the CMOS reset button from the back of the board and upon reboot I got a blinking blue LED light below the PCIe16x. Which indicates that primary BIOS have failed and system started to auto reboot? recover? itself? than I noticed a faster blinking, which indicates Secondary BIOS failure. Few seconds later it seems to power off and on itself and I get a solid blue LED on indicating both Primary & Secondary BIOS failure.
So I went back to ++++ and got a over the counter exchange, came home and reinstalled everything. This time,,, I get a solid blue LED ON right away!
How unlucky am I to have a back to back BIOS failed motherboard? Bad match of boards @ ++++? Who knows.
Time time service support at the store powered it on to test it himself to see that it wouldn't not post as I have experienced. Blue Solid LED still on, tech installed different brand of DDR3 and system posted! yet the blue solid led still is on. Took my Muskin DDR3 and tested on different system and it posted too.
So I said the hell with MSI, I am not taking any more chances and took home a Asus P8P67 Pro (seems like a slight downgrade, feature wise). This board actually have a bunch of diagnostic LED lights onboard. So I processed to isntalled CPU, RAM & GPU to test it... OMG!!! Should I be wearing a clean underwear now or what? System would not post again! But atleast I found out what is wrong by looking at the diagnostic LED. It seems that Mushkin Enhanced Silverline Stiletto 8GB 2X4GB PC3-10666 is not compatible with Sandy Bridge.
So I went back to the freaking store for the 3rd time and exchanged the RAM to G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333. Which on the label said to be designed for Sandy Bridge.
Finally system is alive and watched my first post.

Auto overclock gave me a 4.2GHz @ 1.25v.
Max OC i tested and is testing seems to be 4.6GHz @ 1.4v
anything higher fail to boot OS.

Overclocking sandy bridge could not get any easier... it's like back to Pentium 2 days. but instead of FSB, it's Multiplaier.

I think i should have spent that extra $100 and bought a 2600K instead. Oh well.
 
XXGG said:
..It seems that Mushkin Enhanced Silverline Stiletto 8GB 2X4GB PC3-10666 is not compatible with Sandy Bridge. So I went back to the freaking store for the 3rd time and exchanged the RAM to G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333. Which on the label said to be designed for Sandy Bridge. Finally system is alive and watched my first post..
Click to expand...

So did you settle for the Asus or did you go back to the MSI board?
 
Was thinking of getting this board. Kind of wondering now, I plan to crossfire 2 6950, will I have trouble connecting the front panel? Seems like a headache I don't want :(
 
Mine arrives tomorrow. I will take some pics of how bad it is and post them so all can see before they buy this board for sli/crossfire use.
 
msi gd55
5ghz

jife3n.jpg
 
So, what was the final verdict on the memory placement: Black or blue?

Manual says dimm 1 and 3, in other words blue but hardware secrets says black:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/MSI-P67A-GD65-Motherboard/1142/3

"The first and third sockets are black, while the second and fourth are blue. In order to achieve the maximum performance you should install two or four memory modules in order to enable dual-channel architecture. When only two modules are used, install them in the black sockets, otherwise your computer won’t turn on."
 
Last edited:
Does this board support GPT installing for Windows 7 x64? I can't find any information at all in the manual.
 
Ok for all those wondering if running SLI/CrossFire will inter fear with the pin connectors JPF1 & JPF2. Here are my findings: (I am running x2 EVGA GTX 570 cards in SLI)

JPF1 = HDD Led,Reset Switch, Power Led & Power Switch

JPF2 = Suspend Led, Power Led, attachable mobo speaker

I have a Cooler Master HAF-X case and it only uses the connectors for the JPF1. I think that most cases are the same. Now with that said I connected the pin connectors from my case directly to the JPF1 pins on the mother board. I did not use the the adapter that came with the mother board. If I had use it then yes the lower GPU card would have been in the way. But by connecting them directly I experienced no problems. It is close but nothing to worry about. I did not have to bend any pins or cut or mod anything for this to work.

I really see no use for theJPF2 connector pins unless you just have to use the speaker thing that comes with the mother board or if you just have to have a suspend led.

I have some pics that I will post up as soon as I get them off my camera.
 
Big G said:
Ok for all those wondering if running SLI/CrossFire will inter fear with the pin connectors JPF1 & JPF2. Here are my findings: (I am running x2 EVGA GTX 570 cards in SLI)

JPF1 = HDD Led,Reset Switch, Power Led & Power Switch

JPF2 = Suspend Led, Power Led, attachable mobo speaker

I have a Cooler Master HAF-X case and it only uses the connectors for the JPF1. I think that most cases are the same. Now with that said I connected the pin connectors from my case directly to the JPF1 pins on the mother board. I did not use the the adapter that came with the mother board. If I had use it then yes the lower GPU card would have been in the way. But by connecting them directly I experienced no problems. It is close but nothing to worry about. I did not have to bend any pins or cut or mod anything for this to work.

I really see no use for theJPF2 connector pins unless you just have to use the speaker thing that comes with the mother board or if you just have to have a suspend led.

I have some pics that I will post up as soon as I get them off my camera.
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks for the info, still on my list then :p
 
I cannot get the power button and reset to work on my case. THe only way I can turn on and reset and by the buttons on the MB. WTF!!! Anyone experience this or did I miss an earlier post?
 
Hey just figured out something by accident with this board. While I have been OCing I noticed my BUS speed was sitting at 99.8 instead of 100. Well just now I noticed that SPREAD SPECTRUM was ENABLED. So I disabled the spread spectrum and now when I open CPU-Z the BUS is listed at 100.0 on the mark. :)
 
Big G...where did you find that setting? I can't seem to find it. Also what version of the BIOS do you have...I have 1.4.
 
Sorry about that. I am running BIOS V1.7B4 (beta). I got it off the MSI forums, it had been posted by a mod. I used the MSI forum BIOS flash tool. Not sure If I am allowed to link the info on these forums but if you look around in the MSI forum under OC & Modding you will locate a few posts on the new G55 and G65 boards. This is where I got my Bios. I think they are up to Beta V1.8Bx now.

Just to let you know I had a lot of issues with BIOS 1.4. The unstable Buss was one issue and the bigger issue is the manual CPU voltage changes would not stick. You would up the core volts in the bios and they would save but when you ran Prime95 to test the OC the volts would stay at stock. The V1.7B4 Bios fixed both issues as well as added a lot more features to play with.
 
Big G said:
Sorry about that. I am running BIOS V1.7B4 (beta). I got it off the MSI forums, it had been posted by a mod. I used the MSI forum BIOS flash tool. Not sure If I am allowed to link the info on these forums but if you look around in the MSI forum under OC & Modding you will locate a few posts on the new G55 and G65 boards. This is where I got my Bios. I think they are up to Beta V1.8Bx now.
Click to expand...
You have to register with the MSI Forums before you can D/L Beta BIOS.
 
Got the board last night, bios is 1.5 (sticker on the board says 1.4 unless I'm reading it wrong). I decided not to update the bios to start off. I made several changes, saved, and began my OS install (Win 7, x64). Every time the starting windows logo appeared, the whole system would lock up. I tried adjusting a few simple bios settings, each time I had no issue saving and exiting. Finally when nothing was working, I cleared the CMOS, powered back on and went into the bios (screen confirmed bios was cleared). I loaded the optimized defaults then hit save/exit which locked up the bios. A quick reset and I ignored the bios this time, windows loaded fine, fully patched, no issues at all. So here I am now, OS is working well, PC is stable but I can't make any adjustments to the bios without it locking up when I hit save and exit (have to do a hard reset which of course kills all your changes). There's a 6 page thread on the MSI forums with no fix yet. I've updated to several different versions (currently at 1.70) but still no luck. I'm not ready to toss the board yet as it seems all the manufactures are having some quirks right now but just keep this mind for this particular board.
 
Well I didn't do anything at first. I specifically did NOT update my bios as I wasn't having any problems. I had to clear my CMOS to get it to boot into the OS. After clearing the CMOS is when the bug appeared. From that point on, I tried the bios updates hoping for a fix, but no luck thus far.
 
Re-seat your CPU and test your RAM and make sure it has the correct settings in the bios. Let us know if that fixes anything.
 
No luck, RAM tests good after running all night. Re-seated everything, even tried running with 1 stick of RAM, CPU, HD, and video card only (bare min). Everything is fine until I try to save any changes I make in the BIOS/UEFI. According to the MSI forums if I were to downgrade to 1.4, the save bug goes away. Unfortunately they didn't add support for my video card until 1.5 so I'm stuck. As I said, the system is fully functional and stable in the OS, I just can't do anything in the UEFI.
 
Are you supposed to put 2x memory in the left most slots or the right most? Blue/black I believe.
 
According to the manual, slots 1 and 3 are the correct placement for 2 sticks (the blue slots). I did try with just one stick in slot 1 though to completely rule out a memory placement issue but no dice.
 
If your flashing your bios DO NOT use the easy bios update thing that comes built in with the mother board. This is know to cause the save issues like your having. The sugested way to flash is to use the USB stick method. They refer to it as the MSI Fourm Bios Tool.
 
I used the USB patch stick method from the forums. I never use the easy bios or any other method like from within windows, etc..
 
Hey.. those of you who have this board.. Are you happy with your purchase? ..I was looking at getting the MSI P67A-GD80 when it comes out but after reading Newegg's feedback section on this mobo, a lot of the peeps aren't too happy with it. Even Newegg has it listed as a deactivated item right now. I know Kyle gave it a Gold Award when he reviewed it. What gives?
 
I hate it to be honest. I love the features and the price but the issue giving some people hell is the UEFI save bug. I can't make ANY changes in my UEFI, none, nothing....as soon as I hit save and exit, the bios locks up. That's the issue with this board right now. You'll find it on the MSI forums and in the newegg comments.
 
LOVE IT!! Best mobo I have had in a long time. Since this is a fresh launch I can accept a few issues with the new boards and it seems all the mobo companys are having some sort of issue or another.

The no save bug SUCKS but I thinks its only a smal percent thats effected. I wonder for those that are reading and have this issue did you install CC2 or did you do a complete install of the entire driver/utility disk that came with your board? I wonder if CC2 or another utility is causing this no save bios issue. I personally only installed the drivers that I needed and nothing else. Also CC2 was not even on my CD so it didnt get installed.
 
I only installed the drivers (tossed the disk in the trash and used the newest ones). That said, I think there's finally a fix! http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=144484.280 I'm at work so I don't won't be able to test it out but it's looking good. If the save bug is fixed, I have no issues with this board (OK one, there is no AUTO setting in the bios for the CPU fan, only %'s).
 
officermartinez said:
Hey.. those of you who have this board.. Are you happy with your purchase? ..I was looking at getting the MSI P67A-GD80 when it comes out but after reading Newegg's feedback section on this mobo, a lot of the peeps aren't too happy with it. Even Newegg has it listed as a deactivated item right now. I know Kyle gave it a Gold Award when he reviewed it. What gives?
Click to expand...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130553

It's not deactivated.

I'm happy with it. Even using bios 1.4 and it works well.
 
officermartinez said:
Hey.. those of you who have this board.. Are you happy with your purchase? ..I was looking at getting the MSI P67A-GD80 when it comes out but after reading Newegg's feedback section on this mobo, a lot of the peeps aren't too happy with it. Even Newegg has it listed as a deactivated item right now. I know Kyle gave it a Gold Award when he reviewed it. What gives?
Click to expand...


I haven't had so much as a hiccup with my board. Love it.

Easy to Overclock and, once you get used to UEFI, it's pretty damn easy to do what you need to do in BIOS. (little clunkier than I'd prefer, but overall a much improved experience over normal "BIOS")
 
I flashed my UEFI with the newest beta version, 1.8b10 and the save freeze is gone! That was my only complaint (it was a huge issue for me since I couldn't do anything in the UEFI at all) with this board. I'm a happy camper again. My Mionix Naos 5000 doesn't work in the UEFI but that's nothing I'd ding the board over.
 
Anyone interested in this board need to ignore the reviews at newegg. Board has been rock.solid since the 1.7 bios update(for me) and I think if you don't know how to to update a bios then you really shouldn't be building a fairly sophisticated comp anyway. It amazes the 'tech' ability ratings in those reviews ....really??
 
The reviews at newegg are dead on if you're talking about the bios save bug. Try not to make such a foolish statement to justify your purchase. Go look at the MSI forums and read the posts from the official MSI support reps. There was a save bug and everyone affected by it could NOT save any changes in the UEFI. Here, I'll link if for you since it sounds like finding it might be beyond your abilities. http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=144484.msg1080586#msg1080586
 
Awesome.. Newegg HAD it deactivated but I guess it was reinstated and is now back in stock. I've been following this thread like crazy. This board is probably going to give me almost identical results at the MSI P67A-GD80 (if MSI ever decides to release it). At the moment, it's a toss up with MSI and the Gigabyte UD7 (I need tri-sli x16, x8, x8 capabilities).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top