Benchmarks: power consumption and overclocking
At HEXUS, we've reviewed the FX-8350 in the past so we know that it's capable of somewhere between 4.6 to 4.8GHz with reasonable voltages. Using 4.6GHz and 1.47V the MSI 970 Gaming holds the FX-8350 stable and delivers a nice boost in performance of 10 per cent or so. The MSI 970 Gaming uses a 6+2-phase VRM which is perfectly capable of powering even the most power-hungry AM3+ chips, the FX-9590 is the case in point.
The FX-8350 is a power-hungry chip so energy consumption is quite high at idle and load, particularly when overclocking. Relative to the more barebones Gigabyte 970A-DS3P the MSI 970 Gaming consumes about 10~30W more, likely due to the extra bells and whistles in the audio, networking and VRM departments.