MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 Motherboard Review

Test Setup and Methodologies

AMD Testing Configuration:

• AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition (3.1GHz) – 0922APMW Stepping
• Noctua NH-U12P Heatsink with 1600RPM Scythe S-FLEX
• MSI 790FX-GD70 Motherboard (790FX+SB750)
• 2x2048 OCZ Platinum “Low Voltage” DDR3, 1600MHz @ 7-7-7 rated
• Western Digital 320GB SATA2 Hard Drive (WD3200AAKS, 7200RPM)
• Palit Nvidia GTX260 (896MB, 192SP)
• Corsair TX750 Power Supply
• Pioneer Optical Drive

OS/Driver Configuration:

For our testing today, we’ll be using Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Edition. Although Vista brings some interesting performance enhancing features to the table – like SuperFetch for example – these features can cause inconsistencies in benchmark results. Some reviewers prefer to 'train' their systems to make the most of these features, but we have disabled them to ensure a higher degree of predictability. Other 'scheduled' or unnecessary background tasks have also been disabled (as listed below).

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit), Service Pack 1
Nvidia Drivers: 186.18
OS Disabled Features: “SuperFetch”, “Windows Search” service, Windows Defender, Windows Sidebar, Scheduled Defragmentation, System Restore Services and UAC.
OS Performance Features Enabled: “High Performance” power management profile is enabled (except for power consumption testing). This prevents the system from reducing CPU frequency at the operating system level and also prevents HDD spin-down and other events that may impact benchmark results.

Without further ado, let’s see how this thing overclocks!