MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 Motherboard Review

A Closer Look at the MSI 790FX-GD70 pg.2


The GD70’s passive cooling system does not stop at oversize 790FX/MOSFET heatsink. An attractive dark-nickel plated heatpipe protrudes from the bottom of the heatsink to a small, flat heatsink covering the SB750 southbridge. The heatpipe appears to make good contact with both heatsinks. A nice polished “msi” logo is visible on the southbridge heatsink and overall, we must say that the GD70 cooler is a nice looking piece of aluminum.


Starting from left to right, we have the Realtek ALC889 7.1+2-channel High Definition Audio CODEC, which is a pretty full-featured CODEC appropriate given the GD70’s price tag. To the right we have a pair of gigabit LAN controllers, which run on the PCI-Express bus. Both are Realtek RTL8111DL models. Realtek
Realtek



Moving on, we see that MSI opted to use a Fintek F71889F I/O controller rather than the common ITE based controllers. This controller is responsible for hardware monitoring, fan speed management and other related tasks. We were able to confirm that 3rd party applications such as “Hardware Monitor” by CPUID do indeed recognize this I/O controller without an issue.

Close to the two blue SATA ports, we also find a JMicron JMB322 storage controller. As mentioned earlier, the two blue ports are controlled by this onboard controller as opposed to the SB750 chipset. The E-SATA port found on the rear I/O Panel is also controlled by the JMB322 while IDE control is left up to the SB750 southbridge.


The rear panel looks pretty typical for a higher end board, with both optical and coaxial digital audio outputs, E-SATA port and 1397 firewire. Dual gigabit Ethernet ports and no fewer than seven USB 2.0 ports are also present on the rear I/O panel. Those who are big fans of their old Microsoft Natural keyboards and refuse to upgrade will be pleased to find both PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports on the GD70.


At the rear of the GD70, we find a pretty standard – albeit cheaper plastic type – AMD backplate. This is good news for those wishing to use aftermarket heatsinks. The socket area is clear and free of protruding pins that may cause issues as well. Although the plastic backplate gets the job done, we can’t help but wish that MSI included the standard insulated metal backplate found on many higher end boards. It simply provides better support than the plastic type and given the higher price of the GD70, we would have expected to see it included.

One great higher quality feature that helps to make up for the plastic backplate is the screw-and-washer mounting system for the board heatsinks. We can’t tell you how much it drives us nuts when heavy duty cooling systems use plastic spring-loaded push-pin mounts. The scews not only provide a much better mount, but they are also so much easier to remove if you plan to install some heavy-duty aftermarket cooling.