MSI P55-GD85 Motherboard

Main Specifications

MSI P55-GD85 motherboard main features are:

• Socket: 1156.
• Chipset: Intel P55 Express.
• Super I/O: Fintek F71889
• Parallel ATA: One ATA-133 port controlled by a JMicron JMB363 chip
• Serial ATA: Seven SATA-300 ports, six controlled by the chipset (RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10) and one controlled by a JMicron JMB363 chip. Two SATA-600 ports controlled by a Marvell 88SE9128 chip (RAID 0 and 1).
• External SATA: One controlled by the JMicron JMB363 chip, port shared with a USB 2.0 port.
• USB: 12 USB 2.0 ports, six soldered on the motherboard and six available through three headers on the motherboard. The motherboard comes with one I/O bracket containing two USB ports. Two USB 3.0 ports controlled by a NEC μPD720200 chip.
• FireWire (IEEE 1394): Two ports controlled by a VIA VT6315 chip, one standard-sized soldered on the rear panel and one available through a header. The board doesn’t come with an I/O bracket to use this second port.
• On-board audio: Produced by the chipset together with a Realtek ALC889 codec (eight channels, 24-bit resolution, up to 192 kHz sampling rate for both the inputs and outputs, 104 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the inputs and 108 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the outputs). On-board coaxial and optical SPDIF outputs.
• On-board LAN: Two Gigabit Ethernet ports controlled by two RTL8111DL chips, each one connected to the system through a PCI Express x1 lane.
• Buzzer: No.
• Power supply required: EPS12V
• Slots: Two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (working at x8 when two video cards are installed), two PCI Express x1 slots and two standard PCI slots.
• Memory: Four DDR3-DIMM sockets (up to 16 GB up to DDR3-2133 through overclocking).
• Number of CDs/DVDs provided: One.
• Programs included: Norton Internet Security 2010 (60-day trial), motherboard drivers and utilities.
• Extra features: External clear CMOS button, Winki, DrMOS voltage regulator circuit, APS (Active Phase Switching), OC Genie with “+” and “-“ buttons and probes for monitoring CPU, memory and chipset voltages with a multimeter.
• More Information: https://www.msicomputer.com
• Average price in the US*: USD 230.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this First Look article.