Review: MSI A88X-G45 Gaming

by Tarinder Sandhu on 27 February 2014, 15:00

Tags: MSI, AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacbfj

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Conclusion

The MSI A88X-G45 Gaming ticks almost every checkbox we care to think of when evaluating supporting boards for AMD's APUs.

MSI has put renewed focus behind AMD's FM2+ platform by retailing a bevy of high-end boards based on the A88X chipset. Leading the pack is the A88X-G45 Gaming, which ships with Assassin's Creed Liberation HD for a limited time.

The A88X-G45 Gaming ticks almost every checkbox we care to think of when evaluating supporting boards for AMD's APUs. It's well-laid-out, has a slew of decent features, a respectable BIOS and performs well in our benchmarks.

The £95 asking price remains a little higher than the competition, notably the Gigabyte A88X G1.Sniper, which offers nearly as much on the specification count. In contrast to Gigabyte, however, MSI has certainly put more real focus on enthusiast-orientated features and bundled a game.

MSI has all the technical bases covered with the A88X-G45 Gaming motherboard, and it's the one board thus far that we'd recommend for an overclocking-specific APU build.

The Good

Well-laid-out
Looks great
Healthy feature set
Free bundled game
Decent BIOS

The Bad

Price may be a concern

HEXUS.awards


MSI A88X-G45 Gaming (AC Liberation HD Edition)

HEXUS.where2buy

The MSI A88X-G45 Gaming motherboard is currently on pre-order at Overclockers.co.uk.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Is there even a market for a full ATX overclocking enthusiast board when it's for an AMD APU?
nic, but i would somehow reduce the power consumption of motherboards -i guess 300w is not to smart
xslavic
nic, but i would somehow reduce the power consumption of motherboards -i guess 300w is not to smart

Huh? The whole system pulls 90W under 3D load and most of that is going to be the APU, where are you getting 300W mother board power consumption from?
Nice motherboard, just a shame the CPU/APU that goes in it, is such a piece of crap.
Bagpuss
Nice motherboard, just a shame the CPU/APU that goes in it, is such a piece of crap.

For your particular usage an APU might not be up to the task, but for most people it is; especially in small form factors and budget systems.