We take a look at MSI’s P67 lineup

Plenty to choose from

YESTERDAY WE TOOK a look at MSI’s H67 boards and today we’ll take a closer look at some of its P67 boards, as although MSI has released details and pictures of some of its upcoming models, we have gotten our hands on some additional pictures and some information about some more models. MSI seems to have pulled out all stops to try and crowd the market with as many different models as possible, although we’re fairly certain that not all models will be on sale everywhere.

We’ll try to keep things brief as no to bore you to death with the details, especially as it’s not too long until we should know the full details of these boards. The most basic model that we’re aware of is the P67S-C43 and it’s a really feature stripped board. It has a single x16 PCI Express slot, three x1 PCI Express slots and three PCI slots. It also features two SATA 6Gbps ports and four SATA 3Gbps ports. Around the back you get a PS/2 port, 10 USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, six analogue audio jacks and optical and coaxial S/PDIF out. Finally it has headers for what appears to be two more USB 2.0 ports and a fairly basic five phase VRM layout.

Moving up one step to the P67A-C43 only one feature has changed, the addition of two USB 3.0 ports around the back. Its bigger sibling is the P67A-C45 and here we’re at least looking at three new additions, two front USB 3.0 ports (in addition to the two rear ones), a rear FireWire port (and a header for a second port) and a pair of heatsinks fitted to the MOSFETs on the VRM. Very small changes indeed between the various models so far, but luckily so are the price differences, at least between the models we’ve been able to find a price for.

Next we have the P67A-GD53 and this is the base for several models (we’re aware of a SKU without USB 3.0 here as well) and if you’re at all looking at something that’ll offer extra features, this is where you’d want to start. We’d expect this to be MSI’s mid-range P67 board and it’s also its first model with a pair of x16 slots. It also has three x1 PCI Express slots and two PCI slots. The P67A-GD53 has the same rear I/O features as the P67A-C43, but the VRM has been upgraded to a seven phase design. This is also the first board to feature onboard power and reset buttons alongside MSI’s OC Genie button. The board also has measurement points for a multimeter.

This is followed by the P67A-GD55 which gains FireWire and a secondary USB 3.0 controller for two front USB 3.0 ports, while most of the other features appear to remain the same. Finally we have the top of the range board as far as we have pictures, which is the P67A-GD65. Here we’re looking at the addition of two SATA 6Gbps controllers, one for two additional internal ports and one for two eSATA ports. Additionally MSI has kitted out the board with a fancier heatsink on the MOSFETs that has a small heapipe running between them and a little plastic retention mechanism around the Voltage point readouts.

We know MSI is planning a P67A-GD80 board as well and judging by the P55-GD80, this model will feature an NF200 chip and support for 3-way SLI, but that’s as far as we’d dare to guess on features. The last and final board from MSI is the Bing Bang Marshall, although it’s not clear if this is the final name of the board or not, but it was leaked a few days ago and features no less than eight PCI Express x1 slots. It’s said to feature a Lucid Hydra chip and it appears to have a very advanced power regulation circuitry. We should find out more about what MSI has coming at CES and we’re still not quite on the clear as to what new features the company will offer, but for those that are interested in a sneak peak of MSI’s new UEFI “Click BIOS” then you can find it here.S|A

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