i have an opportunity to test MSI AM3 8series highest motherboard in the line, 890FXA-GD70, thanks to MSI Malaysia and Sanko for this. plus Verdict lending me Gskill Pi
this is not a review or what..this is what i think i want to share.
i refrain myself not to call this a review since this is what i got from few days playing..not reviewing.
plus i not remember any small details like how much v this, v that (accept that been shown on screen) subtimings and any other.so enjoy reading.



Testbed
CPU - PhenomII 555BE
MoBo - MSI 890FXA- GD70
Ram - Gskill Pi 1600mhz @ 6-8-6
PSU - Enermax Liberty 620w
Bios - 25/11/2010
Cooler - CM Hyper 212+ | 2x Artic Cooling F12 |

can take my chip stable at 4ghz ..well this is not a huge task for any FX board.even mid line board able to do this with no prob. higher clock might be possible, but when i think the price (vcore)that has to be paid for small increment of speed , i take 4ghz with lowest volt anyway.
as per AOD, 1.4v was set, but then the volt probe measured 1.408v but this is a small matter. not bothering me at all.



i attached the HWmonitor ss on purpose.. to monitor the vcore sway. common vdroop happening here..not a problem for me.
as for the memory tab, i donno why i include





manage to get 402mhz HTT.. well.. this speed is not possible for 24/7 since max bootable HTT is 345mhz in my case. to gain that speed, i push all the way from 345 up to 402 by turning the OC dial knob.. not a good method cuz the so slow

definitely this is not a good result. i encounter many problem in ram ocing.. user problem most probably plus i hardly have time figuring out what is limiting the speed
if using 1600 divider, i cant get this system to boot at cl7 and below.
if using 1333 divider, cl6 and below is not possible.
and when u using low divider like 800, cl8 and above is not possible.

then i been force to use timing as above to do the test, with 1333 divider. as for vdimm and vIMC, i dont find the lowest, because my point is to get this thing run as fast as it could, around 1.65v - 1.7v.



loosening the timing not helping much. tried using 1600 divider on these timings, but the result more or less the same.

Personal thought.

i have very less experience with MSI, so these will words from a noob.

Bios wise
bios is very rich, i like the voltages part. alot of voltages can be adjusted.

the one that i like the most is the vcore. there are 2 option for vcore, cpu controlled - CPU VDD* and motherboard controlled -CPU VOLTAGE*. i like playing with the CPU VDD because it giving me more stable vcore. so 1 + for this

But CPU VDD given is not enough (max 1.55v for BE, 1.35v for non-BE), have to add with CPU VOLTAGE instead. the main problem is, if messing up with CPU VOLTAGE, the voltage gone weird.
let say
CPU VDD = 1.55 , CPU VOLTAGE = auto the output is 1.56~
CPU VDD = auto , CPU VOLTAGE = 1.56 the output is 1.47~
and even worse if going high.
CPU VDD = auto , CPU VOLTAGE = 1.90 the output is 1.71~

for ram timing, it is rich. but unfortunately no drive strength option in this bios revision im using. less 1 thing to play with.

Ram wise
im abit disappointed with my results on ram oc. i wonder this board or me that having the problem.
1600 divider can use only CL8 and above
1333 divider can use CL7 - 11
1066 divider can use CL5 - 11
800 divider can use CL4 - 7
CL12 is not usable at any divider.
if need some high clock / tight timing, u cant even get it boot by setting through bios. not the system refuse to enter windows because of unstable, but refuse to boot at all. so the only option is to make it trough windows. that only practical for people that oc for fun, not for daily usage.

Misc

Here, voltages that AOD allows to tweak in win mode. very helpful to me since i play alot with vIMC and vDIMM. All voltages above are adjustable. +1 for this and as usual, AOD setting is not permanent, reboot and all gone.

Bug
as i stated earlier, the ram,ram divider and timing got bug..explained.
the other bug found is when u change to 250-300HTT in bios, ur system will encounter shutdown (just like unlocking cores).
eg. current HTT is 249. you change to 250 ( or any other value within 250 and 300) the system will shutdown
same goes to 301 to 300.
but if 250 change to 300, no shutdown will happen..
this really troubles me since if u have an unstable clock for benching, it will not boot at all..kekeke

This post has been edited by kuntawakaw: Jan 12 2011, 05:32 PM

reserve one more

nice review there, really weird bug though

again..
this is not a review

yes. weird. i flashed to the latest official bios, also same thing happend.
i donno my rams cause this or what, but i tried with various ram..all end up same result.

but somehow this board is quite good if only u plan to do some casual oc on proc only..just ram oc abit messed up

Cant increase the htt in OS?

in bios..max is 345
but to push up to 400..i increase in OS..
i dont use AOD for that cuz AOD is slow when applying..so i turn the OC dial Knob..hope that clear