FRONTPAGE MSI A88X-G45 Gaming Motherboard Review

Sadly if you have discrete GPU then i3 4330 is beating A10 7850K ( which is highest APU ) in nearly everything and is also cheaper, uses less power and generates less heat.

Regarding MSI board, how high is max CPU voltage in BIOS ?
ASRock Extreme 6 has probably highest voltage that's why all are using it for benching.
When I sell some hardware then I will think about APU or maybe something else.

For what it is or is not worth, that is a 4+2 phase board using a 4+2 phase controller built specifically for AMD APUs. No doublers are used.

You can tell the final number of phases by counting inductors.
You can tell if it's using a doubler or not by counting OCP inputs or gate outputs on the controller chip and comparing to how many inductors there are.
In this case, 4+2 and 4+2.
Two MOSFETs per side per phase (two high side, two low side, for each phase) is pretty generous.

The review is correct.

VRM phases down graded.. why ow why MSI..??

Woomack said:

Sadly if you have discrete GPU then i3 4330 is beating A10 7850K ( which is highest APU ) in nearly everything and is also cheaper, uses less power and generates less heat.

Regarding MSI board, how high is max CPU voltage in BIOS ?
ASRock Extreme 6 has probably highest voltage that's why all are using it for benching.
When I sell some hardware then I will think about APU or maybe something else.

Click to expand...

Yeah... with it's 8+2 configuration it has the highest possible APU power delivery in the market today.. althoug they say that it's not really a true 8+2 but 4+2(with doubler on the 4 drivers) as stated on this review site http://www.reviewstudio.net/940-asr...-for-amd-kaveri-without-emptying-your-pockets

For what it is or is not worth, that is a 4+2 phase board using a 4+2 phase controller built specifically for AMD APUs. No doublers are used.

You can tell the final number of phases by counting inductors.
You can tell if it's using a doubler or not by counting OCP inputs or gate outputs on the controller chip and comparing to how many inductors there are.
In this case, 4+2 and 4+2.
Two MOSFETs per side per phase (two high side, two low side, for each phase) is pretty generous.

The review is correct.

Click to expand...

Sooo... inductors.. hmmma re these the Black cubes on the board or soo called Chokes?? Yes I can see only 6 of it..

basing on the commercial retail pic.. 4 on the Left side of apu socket then two on the top..

but they say that it could be using VRM doublers making it an 8+2 power phase as launched during CES.. i really don't know why they revert back to 4+2..8+2 is sure a real deal to me for OCing...

Marketing vs cost vs effectiveness.
8+2 is wonderful marketing, but costs significantly more and may not increase performance at all, depending on the designs used.

Chokes and inductors are two names for the same basic piece. I use "choke" in the terms that make the most sense to me, as a ferrite ring on a cable to reduce EMI, and I use "inductor" in power related usages as that seems to be the industry standard.

Cost Effectiveness..

Bobnova said:

Marketing vs cost vs effectiveness.
8+2 is wonderful marketing, but costs significantly more and may not increase performance at all, depending on the designs used.

Chokes and inductors are two names for the same basic piece. I use "choke" in the terms that make the most sense to me, as a ferrite ring on a cable to reduce EMI, and I use "inductor" in power related usages as that seems to be the industry standard.

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Soo what do you think about this board over all?
I have the Asrock mobo and I was thinking of switching to the MSI one.
8+2 is a good VRM count but i don't think i'll be able to utilize that much phase because to utilize that, I think i have to go subzero...
or does it add up to it's stability?
I was really looking for an in-depth roundups off all a88x boards..

I saw from the other website but they didn't show my board up against those...

maybe i'm into the looks of MSI's board but i really want to have stability and compatibility too and I was not sure if it will offer me the same stability as what my Asrock board has...

by the way, my Asrock board is very flexible that it somehow suffers from warping. is this such case as to other mother boards?

Do you have an MSI a88x-g45 gaming board?

I don't have any APU stuff at all.
The power bits look pretty well designed though, should be functional enough.

Most motherboards come warped and are easily warped these days.

Warping Issue

Bobnova said:

I don't have any APU stuff at all.
The power bits look pretty well designed though, should be functional enough.

Most motherboards come warped and are easily warped these days.

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Ahh I see.. looking at my sig, you can tell that i jumped in the APU hype and tried it out... works fine for me.

regarding Motherboard warping, if that is the case then maybe its fine for me. I was pretty worried because my system is on a flatbed test bench setup and with an MSI R9 290X Lightning sitting on top of my board that is flexible, I was a lil' bit worried. Yes I have all the stand-offs holes occupied with plastic ones but flexibility is really bothering me..

Also, i think MSI's choice of IC's are pretty poor in my opinion.

they should have choose some IR stuffs...

I'd like to see the part numbers on the MOSFETs so I could check out a datasheet. There are plenty of MOSFETs in that package that are on par with IR's stuff or better.

The actual controller is built specifically for APUs, so I'm fine with that. IR does make fantastic controllers (they bought CHiL, who bought Volterra, who are the creators of many of the truly hardcore controllers around these days, and could be said to be the first company to make a truly hardcore VRM setup), but Intersil has made quite a few excellent controllers as well.

Part Numbers

Bobnova said:

I'd like to see the part numbers on the MOSFETs so I could check out a datasheet. There are plenty of MOSFETs in that package that are on par with IR's stuff or better.

The actual controller is built specifically for APUs, so I'm fine with that. IR does make fantastic controllers (they bought CHiL, who bought Volterra, who are the creators of many of the truly hardcore controllers around these days, and could be said to be the first company to make a truly hardcore VRM setup), but Intersil has made quite a few excellent controllers as well.

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On MSI A88x G45 Gaming they use these IC's:
MOSFETS: 4c08n
Drivers: ?
VRM Controller: ISL6377
PWM Controller: ?
PCIE Switches: PI3PCIE3412ZHE
Super I/O: F71878AD
Reference: http://www.overclockers.com/msi-a88x-g45-gaming-motherboard-review

On Asrock A88x Extreme6+ They used these IC's:
MOSFETS: AP92U03GMT-HF-3 and AP4034GMT-HF-3
Drivers: 4- IR3598 and 2- CHL8510
VRM Controller: ?
PWM Controller: IR3565A
PCIE Switches: HD3SS3415
Super I/O: NCT6779D
Reference: http://www.reviewstudio.net/940-asr...-for-amd-kaveri-without-emptying-your-pockets

Correct me if i'm wrong with the categories I placed the IC's

The 4c08n MOSFETs are good for 52 amps in theory, four of those per phase ought to do it.

Better??

Bobnova said:

The 4c08n MOSFETs are good for 52 amps in theory, four of those per phase ought to do it.

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Can you please educate me as this could be a defining moment for me

Can you please make a slightly simple comparison of the two?

If some years ago boards had much weaker power section and wattage was nearly the same then I see no reason why now there could be any issues with new boards. There can be only if you push 1.7V+ for longer and won't keep good cooling for power section.
For sure MSI improved their boards in last years ( at least these higher series ).

Going back to that ASRock Extreme 6 I meant it has max ~2V CPU while other boards or even Extreme 4 have limit to about ~1.7V.
I was looking at the prices and performance comparison and it looks like good option for benching can be 6790K as it's faster than 7850K but is also cheaper and has no cold bugs near -50*C.

Answered

Woomack said:

If some years ago boards had much weaker power section and wattage was nearly the same then I see no reason why now there could be any issues with new boards. There can be only if you push 1.7V+ for longer and won't keep good cooling for power section.
For sure MSI improved their boards in last years ( at least these higher series ).

Going back to that ASRock Extreme 6 I meant it has max ~2V CPU while other boards or even Extreme 4 have limit to about ~1.7V.
I was looking at the prices and performance comparison and it looks like good option for benching can be 6790K as it's faster than 7850K but is also cheaper and has no cold bugs near -50*C.

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I see.. at all clears up to me... Thanks!! ^_^

Will be watching for this board in he coming days..

2V?? would that be handled by the APU it self???