1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:08,000 Today I'm going to be having a look at a refresh motherboard from MSI. So this is 2 00:00:04,319 --> 00:00:10,400 the P-55A G55. It's going to be very 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:15,200 similar to their previous P-55 boards except for a couple of things. First of 4 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:19,119 all, you've got support for SATA 6 GB per second. And second of all, you've 5 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:22,800 got support for USB 3. This also features their military class concept, 6 00:00:21,039 --> 00:00:28,480 which means you've got top quality components, including icy chokes and 7 00:00:25,039 --> 00:00:31,359 solid caps. So Icy chokes MSI claims run 8 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:36,000 at up to 20° lower than regular chokes and their solid caps they claim has a 9 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:39,040 minimum of a 10year lifetime. So it gives you a long lifetime low 10 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:42,480 temperature which we've covered already as well as high stability and better 11 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:45,600 overclocking. Let's get this board opened right up and have a look at what 12 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:49,840 we find inside. We've got a drivers and utilities DVD. We've got uh a users 13 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:54,800 guide for their hard drive backup software. We've got a quick installation 14 00:00:52,239 --> 00:01:00,800 guide. their users guide for MSI Winky software 15 00:00:58,559 --> 00:01:04,559 control center. So, this is their software for uh system monitoring, 16 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:08,080 overclocking, and power saving. Gives you a quick guide on how to use it. Ooh, 17 00:01:06,159 --> 00:01:13,680 full color and everything. Look at that. I love seeing full color uh manuals and 18 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:17,520 pamphlets. It's just uh it's that those extra little touches. Here's their full 19 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:23,840 user guide, which is in a number of languages. English, Deutsch, France, 20 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:27,439 I don't know how to pronounce Russian. Okay, we've got an IO shield for the 21 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:33,600 back, which clearly labels your USB 3.0 ports. 22 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:36,400 I might point out one SATA cable, uh, 23 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:42,560 Molex to SATA power adapter, and an IDE cable. That is an odd odd 24 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:48,799 load of accessories. I would have expected to see maybe like four SATA 25 00:01:46,079 --> 00:01:53,520 cables and then no Molex to SATA power adapter and no IDE cable. That might 26 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:57,600 have made a little bit more sense. I've actually talked to MSI about that and 27 00:01:55,119 --> 00:02:02,719 they're looking at improving their um their their bundles for future 28 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:06,799 motherboards. So, yeah. How about that? Okay, let's have a 29 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:11,200 look at the board itself. The board itself is awesome looking. Okay, really? Hold on. I should go back to this cable 30 00:02:09,679 --> 00:02:15,680 thing. Realistically, if you're anything like me, look at this. You've got a ton 31 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:19,760 of SATA cables lying around. It doesn't really matter here. I bet I can find 32 00:02:16,959 --> 00:02:23,440 more just in this room. Uh what do we got in here? We got some video cards. We 33 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:28,080 got some more video cards. Got some SSDs. There we go. Two more SATA cables. 34 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:32,800 That was hard. Anyway, yeah, SATA cables are not a big deal, but if you've if it 35 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:35,280 includes them, then great. All right, so let's have a look at the board layout. 36 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:40,239 First of all, you got your eight pin power connector in its ideal location up on the top left hand edge of the board. 37 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:44,400 You've got a nice little heat sink on your voltage regulators. Uh down here, 38 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:48,640 you've got active phase switching power savings. So what this does is it 39 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:53,440 determines how many CPU how many phases of the power delivery system the CPU is 40 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:57,200 actually look using and when the CPU is under heavier load it'll enable more of 41 00:02:55,519 --> 00:03:01,599 them for more stable power and when the CPU is under light load it'll actually 42 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:05,440 disable some for some power savings. So that's a pretty cool feature. Here's 43 00:03:02,959 --> 00:03:08,800 your LG 1156 socket. This is a load socket so you can be assured that it 44 00:03:06,959 --> 00:03:13,519 will make good contact with the pins between uh the motherboard and the pads 45 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:19,840 on the bottom of the CPU. Next, we have dual channel DDR3 memory support up to 46 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:21,200 16 gigs presumably. You've got a 24 pin 47 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:25,920 power connector on the right hand edge of the board exactly where it belongs. 48 00:03:23,519 --> 00:03:31,280 Now, in terms of things that you can plug into this board, we've got six SATA 49 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:35,599 2. And these are actually in a fairly good layout. I saw these ones here and I 50 00:03:33,599 --> 00:03:39,200 kind of went that might be bad. But it's okay because even if you've got a dual 51 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:41,920 slot graphics card here, it's only going to cover up to about here, which is 52 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:46,159 where they're using the right angle connectors. And if you uh need to use 53 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:49,519 these, you definitely can, even with a card installed here and a card installed 54 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:54,080 there. So, that should be fine. And then once again, they've got the two SATA 6 55 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:59,760 GB per second ports also coming right out of the board. And that shouldn't be 56 00:03:56,239 --> 00:04:01,920 a problem either because 57 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:05,120 the second dual slot graphics card would go here and it would be well out of the 58 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:09,360 way of that as well. Here's your IDE port. That's a right angle port because 59 00:04:07,519 --> 00:04:12,640 that would be in the way of a top of a bottom graphics card. And then what else 60 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:18,479 do we have on here? We've got a couple of OC switches. We've got their H clear 61 00:04:15,599 --> 00:04:21,280 SMOS jumper. Then we have a power switch, which is great if you're 62 00:04:19,840 --> 00:04:26,479 benching this board on an open test bench. We've got two front USB headers. 63 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:30,800 We've got our front panel connectors. So that's for your power switch, LEDs, all 64 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:34,560 that good stuff. And then we've also got a floppy connector just in case you 65 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,919 still need one of those. The audio connector is down at the very bottom 66 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:41,120 left of the board uh near the audio chipset which is right here. It's a 67 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:44,960 realtech chipset. Now in terms of expansion, this is one of the things I 68 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:50,560 really like about the way MSI engineers their boards. Instead of leaving a spot 69 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:53,360 here uh like many other manufacturers do 70 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:57,440 and installing only six uh and installing only six expansion slots on 71 00:04:55,280 --> 00:05:01,759 their motherboards, MSI actually puts the extra work into it 72 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,960 does the routing that's necessary to make sure that they can put a slot right 73 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:09,199 at the top. And that means that you can install up to seven expansion cards 74 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:14,400 because really nobody installs seven expansion cards. Very few people. But if 75 00:05:12,479 --> 00:05:19,039 you're installing two dual slot graphics cards, that leaves you with 1 2 3. If 76 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:23,120 you only have six, that leaves you with only two. And lots of people want to 77 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:28,479 install three expansion cards besides their graphics versus two. So there you 78 00:05:25,919 --> 00:05:33,440 go. That is why I'm such a big fan of the way MSI does their boards with seven 79 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:38,320 expansion slots versus only six on many of their competitors. Here's the P-55 80 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:43,280 chipset that is running this particular board. And then let's move around to the 81 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:45,759 back where we will see all of our um 82 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:50,320 input and output on the back panel. So we have optical audio out in a location 83 00:05:47,919 --> 00:05:54,160 that I've never seen it before. But I think the reason they've done this is it 84 00:05:51,840 --> 00:06:01,199 leaves way more room for tons of USB ports. We have a PS2 combo port, eight 85 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:04,880 USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, uh 1 86 00:06:01,199 --> 00:06:06,800 GB Ethernet, and 7.1 audio out. Thank 87 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:14,199 you for checking out my unboxing of the P-55A 88 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:14,199 G55 motherboard from MSI.