Quick Preview of MSI 990FXA-GD80 Motherboard

[gzhil]

So here it is - MSI 990FXA-GD80. The chipset 990FX is actually not new and it is a rebranded 890FX chip with a minor change to support version 3.1 for the HyperTransport Bus. One good thing also is that this board now supports NVIDIA SLI  So good news for those AMD fanboys out there who wanted to go for a NVIDIA SLI, 3-Way or Quad-SLI setup. Aside from SLI , you will still able to do Crossfire in 2, 3 and 4-Way configurations.

Let us talk about now some hefty features of the MSI board. With the OC Genie Button that MSI introduced before which is just for pure auto overclocking of processors. Now with the same button, it can both unlock and overclock AMD processors  (Way to go MSI!!!) . MSI also started a new marketing campaign which states “CERTIFIED MILITARY STANDARDS” on their high end motherboard boxes which you will see later. This Military Standard “MIL-STED-810G” consists of 7 tests including temperature, pressure, humidity, vibration and shock tests. This is why MSI implemented board components like Super Ferrite Chokes, Solid Capacitors and Hi-C Capacitors to withstand these tests.

For the rest of the features I will just enumerate them below.
• Super-Charger – charges USB devices quickly
• Lossless Audio – better HD audio playback
• APS “Active Phase Switching” – help saving energy on MSI boards.
• Winki 3 - free Linux-based O/S

Main Specifications

•CPU – AMD AM3/AM3+ Processors
•Chipset – AMD 990FX / SB950
•BIOS – EFI AMI Bios
• Memory – 4x DDR3 DIMMS max 32GB
•Expansion Slots – 4x PCIE 2.0 x16 (1 x16, 1 x8, 1 x4)
•SATA – 6x SATA 6gb/s Ports, 2x eSATA 3G ports
•USB- 8x USB 2.0, 4x USB 3.0

Box

Back side of the box. Some information about the features of the board





So far, MSI did a good job for the box design. Very informative, it has a tendency to make any possible mobo buyer to purchase their board hehehe



Bundled accessories


The board has a very nice and clean layout. Chipset heatsinks are silver and blue which I really like.



The Easy Buttons – OC Genie, Power and Reset. Check out the THX plate and underneath it is the Realtek Audio Chip


SATA 6GB/s ports and this is the first MSI board that I saw a USB 3.0 Front Panel Header which has the same orientation with the SATA Ports. Another point for MSI




Complete I/O Terminal Ports. USB 2.0/3.0, Firewire, SPDIF, ESATA and 2x PS2 Ports-YEHEY!!!!

I will test the board once I get a hold of the new AM3+ processor. Hope it will be a beast

[XRL8]

Old mounting bracket though.Wonder why they went this way.2x PS2 is good, however such mainboard should have 2xLan.

[duron]

since it's military grade could pass a 7G @ 1.95V @ prime test?

mmmmm what is good is a 2X LAN again?

[TheBlueChanell]

Looks like a good board, I've read a couple of places [H] included that the Bios was a bit poor. I'm sure it will be resolved as MSI had excellent support for both my 790FX-GD70 and 890GX-GD65.

I wish MSI would go with a true Black PCB as opposed to Brown.

[Baam]

Newegg has the board in stock.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130600

[PatRaceTin]

2 voltage option was missing from bios compare to 890FXA-GD70 something like VDDA

[Mafio]

anyone have a picture of the naked PWM of this board ?
how does it behaves with Elpida Hyper based memory ?

thanks alot

[Halk]

Has anyone got a hold of this board yet? According to the product manual there are 4 system fan headers in addition to CPU header. There look to be controls in the BIOS to set each system fan to a percentage speed.

I'd like to know if they can be set independently.
What's the range of settings, lowest is?
Does MSI have software which can manage them in Windows so they'll ramp up when the PC gets hot etc?

Thanks if anyone can answer that!

[Mafio]

Has anyone got a hold of this board yet? According to the product manual there are 4 system fan headers in addition to CPU header. There look to be controls in the BIOS to set each system fan to a percentage speed.

I'd like to know if they can be set independently.
What's the range of settings, lowest is?
Does MSI have software which can manage them in Windows so they'll ramp up when the PC gets hot etc?

Thanks if anyone can answer that!

for each of the four sys fan you can set 50, 75 or 100% in the bios.
dunno about software control in windows, i got the board 1 hour ago.

[Halk]

Thanks very much Mafio!

[ah_khoo]

Does MSI have software which can manage them in Windows so they'll ramp up when the PC gets hot etc?

Thanks if anyone can answer that!

if i'm not mistaken, u can control it using Control Center in windows. will double check tonite.

this is what i managed so far.

[Mafio]

ah_khoo, where do you get that beta bios?
i'm kinda noob of AMD and MSI.

[ah_khoo]

i got it from a friend whom gotten it from "insider" mate...

I'm kinda new to MSI too.

[ah_khoo]

here are some attempts i had earlier on:

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?ac...ost&id=2305453

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?ac...ost&id=2305460

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?ac...ost&id=2305467

[Mafio]

dunno if i had the worst 955 BE ever made or what else but i can't pass 1650 mhz with all of my DDR3.
i've the feeling that this mobo doesn't like Elpida Hyper and micron.

[ah_khoo]

I'd like to know if they can be set independently.
What's the range of settings, lowest is?
Does MSI have software which can manage them in Windows so they'll ramp up when the PC gets hot etc?

Thanks if anyone can answer that!

yes they can, u can set the percentage of each fan (50%, 75% or 100%) in windows using control centre.

dunno if i had the worst 955 BE ever made or what else but i can't pass 1650 mhz with all of my DDR3.
i've the feeling that this mobo doesn't like Elpida Hyper and micron.

i have yet to try any deneb on this board (since i don't have one), but so far d 1100t is playin nice with d bbse sticks in team xtreme lv.

my latest attempt here:

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?ac...ost&id=2318137

[chew*]

Any bios been released to address issues with this board getting passed the 2 hour mark in prime 95 yet?

[ah_khoo]

do you mean d board having issue with getting pass 2 hours in p95 sir? if so i think i have a screenshot showing p95 running more than 2 hours. lemme check when i reach home, will update accordingly tonite.

good to see u posting again...

[chew*]

Yah if you could, It doesn't have to be anything crazy ram or speed wise, stock is fine if you can post up a 3 hour even better. Trying to determine if i lost my marbles, my bios is an issue or my board is really fubarred.

I can explain the why after I guess. My board could have been a fluke.

I plan on sticking around like I said to help with the AMD stuff until after BD goes live but other than that yah not doing much else.

[ah_khoo]

Yah if you could, It doesn't have to be anything crazy ram or speed wise, stock is fine if you can post up a 3 hour even better. Trying to determine if i lost my marbles, my bios is an issue or my board is really fubarred.

I can explain the why after I guess. My board could have been a fluke.

I plan on sticking around like I said to help with the AMD stuff until after BD goes live but other than that yah not doing much else.

sure sir. if i'm not mistaken, d screeny shows > 3 hours showing ram running 1600 @ 6-7-6 or something like that.

btw, which BIOS ur using when u did d testing? I didn't try d initial one, once i get d board i flashed it w/ 2nd released BIOS rite away, then this beta BIOS which i gotten from a friend.

thx for stickin around even for a 'lil bit longer...

[chew*]

First Bios board came with.

Mafio not sure if you needed these shots. I actually took these a while ago.

MSI shifted away from the renesas mosfet drivers and has opted for fairchild mosfet drivers. The two driver fets at the far left are CPU/NB IIRC, the other 8 are dedicated to cpu power.



Close up of the driver fets.



Measure points soldered in, left to right CPU_NB, VCore, Vmem. Common ground used at motherboard mounting closest to socket.



The only voltage to be concerned with is Vmem. 1.60ish = 1.65 measured. The rest are fairly spot on idle and load.

Also MSI has hidden measure points all over there boards.

[Mafio]

thanks chew for the pics.

strange behaviour here with 32M, using affinity to core 2, 3 or 4 gives near to 1 MINUTE higher time respect to core 1

core 1 :: 17m 18s



core 2, 3 or 4 :: 18m 7s

[ah_khoo]

thanks chew for the pics.

strange behaviour here with 32M, using affinity to core 2, 3 or 4 gives near to 1 MINUTE higher time respect to core 1

core 1 :: 17m 18s



core 2, 3 or 4 :: 18m 7s

U mite wanna check the individual clocks on each core. i have a friend whose on unlockable x4 b55 n gd65 having problem with getting all cores run at d same clock. From his observation, he found out only core 0 is running at oc'ed speed, d rest are on stock.

[almighty15]

After my 790FX GD70 and I contacted MSI for anr RMA and after MONTHS of waiting I never heard a single peep from them, So I tossed it in the bin and got a Crosshair 4 Extreme.

I'll never buy MSI again.

[Halk]

yes they can, u can set the percentage of each fan (50%, 75% or 100%) in windows using control centre.
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I really appreciate you getting back to me on this! I do have another question though.... can MSI's software be set to automatically manage the settings for those fans - in a similar way to the way Asus manages CPU and Chassis, or Afterburner can control GPU fans?