MSI 890FXA GD70 Motherboard review

MSI clearly don't get enough credit as our testing shows today. Their 890 FXA GD70 motherboard blasted through all our testing, coming out on top, or always close to the top. It also shows just how damn good the 890FX chipset is. There are no graphics compromises with fully supported x16 dual mode and you can even set up a x8/x8/x8/x8 system if you are feeling like breaking some benchmark records. Right now video cards aren't really saturating the bus but you can be sure this will happen in the not too distant future. Enthusiast users are also getting native SATA 6GB/s transfer rates for up to six devices in Raid 0,1,5 and 10 modes.

The MSI 890FXA-GD70 has a really good PCB layout with a strong range of features and we like DrMos because it delivers the goods. We are pleased to also see core unlocking available as you can sometimes bring a disabled core of a Phenom X3 back to life – who doesn't like free performance gains like this?

Attention to detail is also first class with OC Genie overclock dial and Reset/Clear/Power CMOS buttons built into the PCB.  USB 3.0 is also supported thanks to the NEC D720200F1 controller which offers 2 ports capable of 4.8GB/s data transfer and while this standard has been slow to catch on, you can be assured in the latter part of 2010 and 2011 it will take a hold in the enthusiast sector.

With a price around £160-170 in the UK, it certainly isn't a cheap motherboard, but you certainly get value for money with a versatile featureset combined with high levels of performance, both at reference and overclocked speeds.

KitGuru says: One of the finest AMD motherboards we have had the pleasure to play with.

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