MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 Motherboard Review

Conclusion

We must admit, the MSI 790FX-GD70 has left us with a very positive impression.

Beginning with physical aspects of the board, we’d have to say that the overall layout of the GD70 is very good. Considering that it is stacked with expansion slots, MSI did a great job of keeping most connectors and components out of the way. The chipset position and large passive cooling solution is also top-notch. Not only does it look great, it is actually very functional and kept the toasty components nice and cool.

From an overclocker’s perspective, the GD70 is an excellent board. Not only can the latest 1.5b1 BIOS release unlock both X2 550 and X3 720 processors, but it can also provide plenty of juice and stability to take them to their limits. Buyers with “standard edition” Phenom II processors will also be pleased to know that reference clock frequencies beyond 300MHz are very realistic with the GD70. Our memory overlocking experiences were not pleasant, but this has more to do with physical limitations of Phenom II processors than the board or memory modules themselves.

Other enthusiast features, such as the “OC Dial” are extremely handy. We can’t tell you how much easier that little dial made our overclocking tests. Along with the convenience switches and labeled voltage read points, the GD70 is a great bench-board. It would have been nice to see these labeled voltage points moved along the edge of the board and away from heatpipes and other obstructions, but we’re not going to complain as most boards don’t include this feature at all.

Although a great feature that works well, the “Active Phase Switching” seems a little out of place on the GD70. A fair bit of extra “tech” was added to this board to make that feature work, and we can’t help but feel that it belongs on a “less enthusiast targeted” motherboard. A total savings of 3W at idle on a higher-end 790FX based motherboard that’ll be packed with power hungry video cards seems just a little unnecessary. We’d much rather see this feature implemented on 790GX based boards and other HTPC type products in exchange for a lower price tag. None the less, it certainly doesn’t hurt and the feature works seamlessly.

The final strong point the GD70 has going for it is its value. Now although we have been calling this board a “higher end” model throughout this review, its reasonable $200CDN price tag makes it a whole lot of board for not a whole lot of money. To be perfectly honest, we would have expected a board of this stature to price in at least fifty dollars higher.

Overall, we were impressed with the MSI 790FX-GD70 and we’re pleased to award it with Hardware Canucks’ “DAM GOOD” award!



Pros:

- Four PCI-E 16X Slots! (8x/8x/8x/8x bandwidth)
- Good physical layout
- Oversize and functional passive cooling solution
- 8 SATA, eSATA and and seven USB 2.0 ports
- Excellent bus-overclocking headroom
- Very feature rich BIOS with 13 individual voltage adjustments
- OC Dial feature and convenience switches
- Stable voltage output
- Can unlock X2/X3 disabled cores
- Fair price


Cons:

- Bottom PCI-E 16X slot only accepts single-slot cards in most enclosures
- Included software on utility CD is buggy. Definitely be sure to download the latest versions from MSI’s website.

Our thanks to MSI for making this review possible!