 | | Pros & Cons |  | Easy overclocking | | Touch panel for open-rig operation |  | No USB 3.0 support | | No SATA 6Gbps | | | | The P55-GD80 motherboard from MSI is one of their higher-end products, supporting mainstream Intel Core i5/i7 processors that use the Intel LGA1156 socket. It performs in line with what we expected, offers the features you'd expect and some more pleasantly surprising extras.
The motherboard has a full-ATX form factor to allow for a more spacious layout of onboard connectors. This one comes in black, unlike MSI's usual favourite color (red). The thermals are well taken care of, with a heat-sink for the south-bridge and heat-pipe cooling around the processor socket. LED activity indicators are present all over, including even a small LED display to show error number or processor temperature, and another LED to show the number of power phases (8 at maximum). |
