MSI Presents Motherboard with USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps, P55-GD85

Micro-Star International Co., Ltd has been tirelessly working on a motherboard that is able to promise end-users speeds that, until recently, they could rarely see outside of dreaming. The new motherboard from MSI boasts the most recent, high-speed interfaces known as SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0 and not only has support for Intel's latest 32nm processors, but sports a series of features that increase performance through automatic overclocking. The motherboard is dubbed the P55-GD85, uses the MSI Xtreme Speed design concept and is built with DrMOS power supply modules.

The MSI P55-GD85 is intended as “a premium choice of latest full-functional P55 products.” It can house LGA 1156 chips, has four DDR3-2133 memory slots, two SATA 6Gb/s ports, seven SATA 3Gb's ports, an eSATA connector and two PC-Express x16 slots for SLI/CrossFireX setups. The board also has FireWire and dual Gigabit Ethernet for connectivity, as well as two USB 3.0 ports and 7.1 channel audio.

MSI's P55-GD85 is designed with the advanced, automatic overclocking technology known as OC Genie. The motherboard features a special button that, when pressed, automatically adjusts the settings of the CPU, memory and the chipset. This optimization is performed in about a second, after which the general performance will be noticeably improved.

The overclocking capabilities of the card make up only one of its more noteworthy features. The MSI P55-GD85 features both the advanced USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s interfaces. These technologies boast transfer speeds ten times and two times faster, respectively, compared with those of their predecessors. In addition, the use of the PLX PCI-E bridge chip enables even the multiplication of the PCI-E bandwidth and a more effective distribution when utilizing the aforementioned functions (USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s).

The third major feature of the new MSI motherboard is its use of DrMOS power supply modules. A 3-in-1 chipset design enables response times that are four times faster than those of traditional models. This enables a power efficiency of over 90% and the mainboard also boasts the company's high-end SuperPipe design for excellent cooling. This design makes use of a full copper 8mm main heat conduit for all critical mainboard components. The conduit has a diameter 60% larger than that of standard ones.

Already available for pre-order in Europe, the MSI P55-GD85 motherboard has a price tag of only 185 Euro.