Where do MSI motherboards stand? Any good?

[Shephard]

sort of.

the price just seems really good. $130 after tax and free shipping. I don't see many others with that price besides the Gigabyte.

It has pretty much everything the Asrock Extreme 4 has except 2 less usb 3.0 ports (no need), esata (no need), debug led (don't care), etc.

It can crossfire and sli and looks to be good quality. it got good reviews.

I am considering the Gigabyte as well. But you can only crossfire, not sli. Less power phase, but then there are conflicting arguments - it matters, no it doesn't matter. I have a Gigabyte board right now so I know its good.

[Zenmervolt]

I've had solid experiences with MSI, though this thread has me a bit concerned...

MSI K8T NEO-FSR - No problems running basically 24/7 for 4 years (2005 - 2009), replaced as an upgrade.

MSI K9A2 Platinum - No problems, but got in at the tail end of the AM2+ and wanted to upgrade, so it was only in service for a year (2009 - 2010) until I replaced it as an upgrade.

MSI 790FX-GD70 - Currently in service (2010 - current) and haven't had any difficulties with it at all.

That said, I'm not the heaviest user; I don't overclock and while I muck about with photography as a hobby I'm not doing much that spikes resource usage to 100% for any meaningful amounts of time. I mean, I still run a Radeon 4870 and find it perfectly adequate for what I do.

It's worth noting too that none of these three boards have been "budget" boards and it's possible that MSI's lower-tier motherboards are less reliable. My general rule has been to favor slightly older "high-end" components over newer but "mid-tier" or "low-tier" products (e.g. a 4870 over a 4950, etc.) which seems to have worked well for me.

ZV

[Shephard]

There is only 1 left available online. Not sure if I should jump or if anyone says anything on Gigabyte. A few days ago it was at 7 forever.

It says 'more on the way' but the deal could be over. How long do amazon deals last?

[UNhooked]

MSI's are a hit or miss. I personally build mostly with Gigabyte, Asrock, Biostar and sometime eVGA (Good HW but bad Bios etc)

I avoided Asus for the longest time due incompatibility with certain memory module. But my latest Asus X79 works fine and has been nothing but a joy to work with.

[Deders]

To sum up what I've said before, I would recommend MSI as a mid range with plenty of features product that can't quite reach the big boys in terms of tweak-ability but will give you a reliable system with plenty of tweaking and overclocking options if you can't quite afford to buy Asus/Gigabyte.

My current system is clocked at a very stable 3800, any more and the power usage would outweigh the benefit from extra MHz so they do strike the perfect balance for realistic use. TBH the only game I need to overclock beyond stock to play smoothly is Arkham City, and that is only if I want to have Physx (which is designed for a 2nd card to play on high) play on high on one card.

[Shephard]

well I order it. I was looking at the wrong page it doesn't say more on the way. My understanding with amazon is if it says out of stock, it is discontinued for good. The Asrock Extreme4 has bee out of stock forever on Amazon.ca

I will report back when I get board. Hopefully no problems. Apparently there is away around that voltage offset. you can turbo overclock or something so it doesn't suck a lot of power all the time and idles.

I just need ram now.

[Maximilian]

I just returned an MSI board because it dosent do voltage offset (mentioned earlier in this thread). It was an X79A GD65 8D, it has dual bios, many power phases, supports 128GB of RAM (wow), something called OC genie and a bunch of other features but it dosent do voltage offset. Apparently none of their high end boards can do it.

That just annoys me that they add all the extra crap and miss something basic for a high end board. I dont want my chip at a constant 1.4v, i dont want to rely on auto either as that feeds it too much voltage and im not buying a board like that to run the thing at stock!

I thought to myself "im getting a higher end MSI board for less money, beating all those asus/gigabyte sheep gj max hurr hurr hurr!"

Silly me for going against the grain... in future i will be far more inclined to buy asus/gigabyte or whatever is popular because theres a fecking reason its popular and it wont omit what IMO is a basic feature in a high end overclocking board. I saw on MSI's forum one of the moderators explaining that enthusiasts didnt want to use offset as its "confusing" to calculate the correct voltage So that stupid ass omission was by design. Tells me a lot about MSI...

/rant

Ah well live and learn, not a huge deal anyways as its still within the return window and i picked up a P9X79 PRO for a similar price. My old x58 asus did not disappoint, heres hoping this one will be just as good

[Shephard]

I can still cancel the order but I don't see this voltage thing being a big deal?

apparently you do the manual oc and it will stay at whatever you clock it to.

or you can do turbo oc and it will drop ghz when idle which seems good.

what is the big deal?

[Maximilian]

Originally Posted by Shephard

I can still cancel the order but I don't see this voltage thing being a big deal?

apparently you do the manual oc and it will stay at whatever you clock it to.

or you can do turbo oc and it will drop ghz when idle which seems good.

what is the big deal?

If its not a big deal to you, go wild

It was a dealbreaker for me though.

[Shephard]

Originally Posted by Maximilian

If its not a big deal to you, go wild

It was a dealbreaker for me though.

why explain.

I have 3570k and want to overclock it the best I can on air cooling. I want this computer to last as long my last ones - 5+ years.

[2is]

Originally Posted by Shephard

why explain.

I have 3570k and want to overclock it the best I can on air cooling. I want this computer to last as long my last ones - 5+ years.

It's been explained. As I said, you had your mind made up even before you asked the question. A lot of people recommended against it, you questioned the argument and ordered it anyway. Why continue the charade by asking questions that have already been answered and wasting everyone's time including your own?

If you wanted to OC the best you can and last 5+ years, you'd have purchased a board that would have offered you the best chance to achieve that goal. You didn't. You chose the board that was cheaper. Which is fine, my only beef is you ask a question and outline what you want. You get recommendations, you ignore it, then ask why... again. Doesn't make sense.

[UNhooked]

unsubbed

[Shephard]

Originally Posted by 2is

It's been explained. As I said, you had your mind made up even before you asked the question. A lot of people recommended against it, you questioned the argument and ordered it anyway. Why continue the charade by asking questions that have already been answered and wasting everyone's time including your own?

If you wanted to OC the best you can and last 5+ years, you'd have purchased a board that would have offered you the best chance you achieve that goal. You didn't. You chose the board that was cheaper. Which is fine, my only beef is you ask a question and outline what you want. You get recommendations, you ignore it, then ask why... again. Doesn't make sense.

to be fair my original post it was about msi gd65 and msi boards in general. then I bumped it when I saw msi gd55 on sale.

I don't understand this voltage offset and why it's so important. it seems like the people who have the boards do fine and the reviews on the board get 5/5 for overclocking.

no one said much on the gigabyte board so what am I suppose to do?

[2is]

Post #74 answered that question the first time you asked it.

[Shephard]

Originally Posted by 2is

Post #74 answered that question the first time you asked it.

I know but I was looking at some posts on overclock and I think if you do something called turbo oc it will still go down and idle. it's just if you do it that way you can only do like 4.2ghz vs 4.7 or something.

if someone can tell me more about the Gigabyte board I will buy it. It only ha 4pin cpu connector. Does that matter or no? Will it overclock as good?

[2is]

We are talking about voltage, not clock speeds. MSI= Voltage stays at peak even if clock speed/cpu load is low. Other boards = voltage also gets lowered with frequency/load

The CPU pin connector doesn't mean anything. One just has a cool factor, a single 4pin has more than enough power capacity for an i5 or an i7. I have a D3H with a 2500k @ 4.5GHz. I like the board, the via audio chipset isn't adequate, but not great. Not as good as on my Asus

[2is]

I meant to say the Via audio IS adequate.

[Shephard]

what the my post didn't go through.

Ok I understand what you say 2is but I read on the MSI board you can turbo oc - don't quote me on that I don't know what it means. Apparently you oc, but not as high and it when computer is idling the ghz will go down. does the voltage not go down either?

so the cpu is going to wear faster? What if it's under the recommended Intel voltage?

I like the Gigabyte board but it can't SLI. it also has no power/reset switch.

the next board up is really expensive.

what other boards should I consider.

[Deders]

The MSI allows you to use Turbo as part of your overclock, so my board is clocked at 3600 but processor can reach 3800

TBH I thought all boards could do that.

[Shephard]

here is quote from MSI forums. What do you think 2is?

The problem is that these MSI boards don't have Offset voltage. We can partly get around this by leaving the vcore on auto. This lets the mobo reduce and apply volts as it deems necessary (I'm seeing a range of 0.91v-1.23v approx). Luckily the automatic voltage profile is over generous with voltage (you don't need 1.23v to run 2 cores @ 3.8) which means than we can get extra performance out of the cpu without actually needing to manually alter the vcore.

In order to do this:
1. Set your BIOS to default.
2. Enter over-clock settings.
3. Leave EIST and Vcore on Enabled/auto.
4. Make sure Intel Turbo boost and Enhanced Turbo Boost are enabled.
5. Enter CPU features at the bottom of the OC settings menu.
6. Scroll down and find the "x-core limit". Treat these as your CPU multiplier. Set them all the same.

Chances are that you will get to x42 and that will be as high as you can go. The automatic profile does have an upper limit (I'm seeing 1.226v) so you won't get as high as you will on a fixed voltage.

Hey presto you now have a CPU that idles with 1.6GHz @ 0.91v and loads to ~4.2GHz @ 1.23v. If you need anymore power then load up you fixed voltage OC.

[Rvenger]

Originally Posted by Shephard

here is quote from MSI forums. What do you think 2is?

Good luck. MSI is constantly changing their UEFI bios and that option was not even on mine. I tried everything. Turbo overclocking, using their "offset" function which does not do anything, setting voltage to auto and watch Vcore peak to 1.45v which is out of spec for my CPU. Flashed to different versions of Bios. Nothing works. I owned 3 other MSI boards and ran into the same issue. I even asked my sources as well and they know there is no option.

http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=162565.0
http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=145933.0


Go ahead and buy one, but when your CPU just spews unnecessary heat in your case from having fixed voltage, or your overclocks are requiring higher voltage due to long term degradation you can't say I didn't warn you.





EDIT: I figure I would give you an example just because I am a nice guy.

Asrock FM2A75 PRO4
A8-5600k @ 4.0ghz
**Voltage set at 1.3875**

Idle 1400mhz Vcore 0.91v
Load 4000mhz Vcore 1.31v - 1.38v (Vdroop set)

Temps w/ Hyper 212+: Idle 28c Load 45c


MSI FM2-A85XA-G65
A8-5600k @ 4.0ghz
**Voltage set at 1.3875**

Idle 1400mhz Vcore 1.38v
Load 4000mhz Vcore 1.38v - 1.45v (Why is the Vcore overshooting so high with vdroop disabled??)

Temps w/ Hyper 212+: Idle 37c Load 51c

[Shephard]

ok well I woke up and it was shipped. I thought it wasn't done until Monday.

Amazon has free shipping back. What board can you recommend me in the same price?

$130-140 max after taxes and shipping.

thanks

[Rvenger]

Asrock Z77 Extreme 4
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
Biostar TZ77XE4

[fustercluck]

I like my MSI mobo ok so far (Z77A) but who knows, it could stop working in less than a year, with the luck i have with computer parts it most likely will. Not planning to overclock so can't speak on the abilities of that. Boot up is slower than I would like, it hangs for a few seconds on bootup with some screen that just shows an "A2" in the bottom right corner. I wonder if there is anything I can do to speed up the boot up process.

I've had really bad luck with ASrock boards but it's all a crapshoot really.

ps: does anyone else see a page 5 on this thread but it's not actually there? :p

[dma0991]

Originally Posted by fustercluck

Boot up is slower than I would like, it hangs for a few seconds on bootup with some screen that just shows an "A2" in the bottom right corner. I wonder if there is anything I can do to speed up the boot up process.

I think its a design choice as to whether to halt it before the splash screen or during the splash screen. Every motherboard needs time to POST. The more features you cram into the motherboard, the longer it will take but it also depends if the manufacturer chooses to initialize every single component.

If you've used the first revision of the MSI BIOS, A2 which mine did used to have, it will show that there are no PCIE 3.0 devices. Personally, I'd prefer the A2 at the corner which isn't related to the BIOS version but the status of the checking. It matches with my POST 80 display on my motherboard.

For a slightly faster boot time, you could always turn off the splash screen. That should save you about < 0.5 seconds.