MSI 890FXA-GD70 Review
Introduction and Technical Specs
Published: 18th June 2010 | Source: MSI | Price: £163.44 |
Introduction
Recently we took a look at an offering from MSI of a mATX motherboard that utilises all the latest technology as well as having on-board graphics. It was nearly all things to all men and we were very impressed.
Today we're looking at the top of the MSI 890 model range, the GD70. Very similar to the G65, nonetheless this is more aimed at those who want a full-sized and fully featured board.
It certainly isn't a board that wants for lastability, as with Hi-c CAP with Tantalum cores used around the CPU socket. Ferrite core "Icy" chokes and more normal Aluminium core solid CAPs there definitely shouldn't be any heat or reliability issues in long-term usage. Hopefully all this pukka power circuitry will also ensure lots of stability and better overclocking.
However I don't want to spoil the forthcoming attractions, so let's take a look at the technical specifications before we move on to the main event.
Technical Specifications
Direct from the MSI website to your eyes...
| Socket | AM3 |
|---|---|
| CPU (Max Support) | Phenom II |
| AM3 CPU Ready | Y |
| FSB/Hyper Transport | up to 5200MT/s |
| Chipset | AMD® RD890+SB850 |
| DDR2 Memory | N/A |
| DDR3 Memory | DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600*/1800*/2133*(OC) |
| Memory Channel | Dual |
| DIMM Slots | 4 |
| Max Memory (GB) | 16 |
| PCI-Ex16 | 5 |
| PCI-E Gen | Gen2 (2x16, 2x8, 1x4) |
| PCI-Ex4 | N/A |
| PCI-Ex1 | 1 |
| PCI | 1 |
| IDE | 1 |
| SATAIII | 6 |
| SATAII | 1 |
| RAID | 0/1/5/10 |
| LAN | 10/100/1000*2 |
| TPM | 1 |
| USB 3.0 ports (Rear) | 2 |
| USB 2.0 ports (Rear) | 6 |
| Audio ports (Rear) | 6+Coaxial SPDIF/Optical SPDIF |
| Serial ports (Rear) | N/A |
| Parallel ports (Rear) | N/A |
| 1394 ports (Rear) | N/A |
| eSATA | 1 |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| DrMOS | Y |
| APS | Y |
| CrossFire | Y |
| Hybrid CrossFire | N/A |
| D-LED2 | N/A |
| Green Power Genie | Y |
So we know roughly what we're getting in terms of hardware and features. So let's actually have a look at the GD70 in the flesh.
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