FRONTPAGE MSI A88X-G45 Gaming Motherboard Review

Overclockers.com · Mar 10, 2014

We have definitely reviewed our fair share of socket FM2+ motherboards over the past few months, especially since AMD's recent release of the Kaveri APU family. Today, MSI checks in with their latest socket FM2+ A88X chipset motherboard - The A88X-G45 Gaming. MSI has the gaming and overclocking crowd in its cross hairs with the release of this motherboard, and first impressions show a fully loaded offering with many unique enhancements. As you'll see during the review, the board looks absolutely stunning and has many of the high level features gamers and PC enthusiasts look for.

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luminousone11 · Mar 11, 2014

Thanks for the review, Have been very interested in this board.

Is their any visible writing on the voltage regulating transistors, I would love to know more about them.

Lvcoyote · Mar 11, 2014

CPU Power regulation is handled by the ISL6377 VRM. Is that what you're after?

luminousone11 · Mar 11, 2014

I have circled the targets in red, Its actually most likely 2 different chips(generally these are arranged in sets).

The board appears to use a VRM doubler, making it a 8+2(10 phase) and not a 4+2(6 phase) as the VRM controller would suggest.

Lvcoyote · Mar 11, 2014

Yes, I'm pretty sure it does use a doubler but I normally don't count those....LOL. I'll have to pull the heatsinks again to get those numbers for you.

luminousone11 · Mar 11, 2014

Well at the very least, should be descent for overclocking. Was worried when i found that the retail board changed the vrm's from what was shown at CES.

If yea get them numbers I will relay back to yea any information on the chips I can find.

Either way however, excellent job on the review, seeing the board de-heatsinked and the bios screenies have helped me alot of figuring out what way I wanna go on this thing.

Thursday, I will be ordering 7850k and one of these boards most likely. Upgrading(sidegrading?!? =p) from Phenom II 1090t, I plan on experimenting with writing HSA apps as the tools todo that are released.

Suppressor1137 · Mar 15, 2014

This probably has to be one of the coolest looking motherboards out there. Too bad I refuse to buy MSI products after this current motherboard borkiness.

At least it works well for those who still trust msi

luminousone11 · Mar 24, 2014

I got finely received this board a few days ago, and started given her a good once over, and noticed couple of 4c08n power mosfets on the bottom side of the board, seems out of place, and under load they get skin burning hot(I advise not using your fingers to test them hah).

http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/544256/ONSEMI/NTMFS4C08NT1G.html

Also be aware that the firmware is very buggy atm, be wary of the auto option for clock and voltage settings, as these options don't work correctly and will cause the clock and voltage to jump around like crazy, Also quiet and cool doesn't work with default settings, you have to change it from auto to enabled.

TheGoat Eater · Mar 31, 2014

I like the board, unfortunately I have had to take a lot longer testing the board than I would like ( and other items)... Having to limit myself w/ desk time to test as my stress gets to me, couple that with recent health tests and I was to stay on the safe side (ugh) . I did like the board and it seems fairly strong, I am just taking time to get used to AMD still since I have been using Intel for so long.

tuklap · Apr 30, 2014

Lost to few component choices

Seems that competitor Asrock A88x fm2+ extreme6+ has better circuitry choices than of MSI.. :/

Military Class 4 is their pro here..

http://www.reviewstudio.net/940-asr...-for-amd-kaveri-without-emptying-your-pockets

luminousone11 said:
I have circled the targets in red, Its actually most likely 2 different chips(generally these are arranged in sets).

The board appears to use a VRM doubler, making it a 8+2(10 phase) and not a 4+2(6 phase) as the VRM controller would suggest.

I just really hope it is like that.. though their component choices are in question with its price tag..

EarthDog · Apr 30, 2014

LOL, tuklap, "Don't believe the hype".

Johan45 · Apr 30, 2014

Nice write up lvcoyote, I just can't help it, everytime I see the new AMD offerings like the A-10 it makes me wonder when AMD is going to finally get their act together.

EarthDog · Apr 30, 2014

Its together. They made a decision not to compete in the higher end market for whatever reason.

Johan45 · Apr 30, 2014

I can understand the APU but they really need to change the architecture.

tuklap · May 2, 2014

Asrock Mobos additional features

EarthDog said:
LOL, tuklap, "Don't believe the hype".

Well I just hope that the hype is just a hype.. some features really makes sense to me. but understanding Asrock's pricing, i think its just proper not to have those additional features and focus more on what is really needed on the mobos they sold.

I really just don't get it..
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A78M-DG3+/
Why does asrock have these features on other boards while a88x,
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A88X Extreme6+/
supposed to be their high end kaveri platform does no have one??

I can understand the APU but they really need to change the architecture.

They already changed it and it failed. they might have took it within them that it's not like the old times :/

tuklap · May 5, 2014

EarthDog said:
LOL, tuklap, "Don't believe the hype".

Naahhh I'm not with the hype Actually.. MSI Components for this board(A88x-G45 Gaming) seems decent to me but the juice(VRM phase) seems to be short for its title. It should have a minimum 6+2 phase for this case...

@luminousone11
Does their VRM Model say so? that it is a VRM Doubler? But how come the Chokes are only 4?

See Attachment of the Difference in layout of the CES Launch model and their current retail model

Woomack · May 5, 2014

MSI boards are good for gaming but I wouldn't use them for higher overclocking. I had issues with power section on nearly every MSI mobo that I was testing. On my last board at some point phase LEDs were showing that 2 out of 8 phases are working.

If you check all APU boards ( not only MSI ) then you will see that most of them have weak power section or made of cheaper components. I had no chance to overclock any APU on cold but there is not many boards that I would pick for that. I was actually looking for some APU benching board but I wasn't convinced enough to anything that was on the market.

Btw. nice review Dino :thup:

tuklap · May 6, 2014

Woomack said:
MSI boards are good for gaming but I wouldn't use them for higher overclocking. I had issues with power section on nearly every MSI mobo that I was testing. On my last board at some point phase LEDs were showing that 2 out of 8 phases are working.

If you check all APU boards ( not only MSI ) then you will see that most of them have weak power section or made of cheaper components. I had no chance to overclock any APU on cold but there is not many boards that I would pick for that. I was actually looking for some APU benching board but I wasn't convinced enough to anything that was on the market.

Btw. nice review Dino

On the HWBOT site, it seems that the asrock a88x fm2+ extreme6+ is a solid board. it is used to be number one on OC'ing a 6800k using LN2

See link: http://hwbot.org/submission/2438627_cherv_cpu_frequency_a10_6800k_8520.22_mhz

Woomack · May 6, 2014

Yes but it's good only in max CPU clock. Performance of FM2+ board and K CPU isn't good comparing to any Intels in similar price. This supposed to be budget platform so most users are looking for reasonable performance in low price. While picking highest models you already waste your money.
Also all high scores on hwbot were made on free samples ( sponsored etc, usually cherry picked too ). I doubt that anyone would pay for highest board+cpu only to make max clock validation screenshot. I wish to play some with APUs but I don't want to pay for that or when I pay then I want to do something else on that hardware besides 1-2 benchmarks.

tuklap · May 6, 2014

Not bad at all

Woomack said:
Yes but it's good only in max CPU clock. Performance of FM2+ board and K CPU isn't good comparing to any Intels in similar price. This supposed to be budget platform so most users are looking for reasonable performance in low price. While picking highest models you already waste your money.
Also all high scores on hwbot were made on free samples ( sponsored etc, usually cherry picked too ). I doubt that anyone would pay for highest board+cpu only to make max clock validation screenshot. I wish to play some with APUs but I don't want to pay for that or when I pay then I want to do something else on that hardware besides 1-2 benchmarks.

Base on daily usage.. i think kaveri is a good player. I usually convert videos and its somehow fast because of its built in radeon cores...

We can't really feel kaveri now since we don't have HSA yet vailable in the market

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