You know, I'm really starting to think that microATX is the way to go these days. Most people I know don't use anything but a single PCIe slot so all those extra slots are just wasted space. Sure, full size certainly has its place, but micro is really not much of a trade off most of the time and the space savings allows for some nice little powerhouse minicomps.

Why are there not more 790X motherboards? Very few people want to pay for integrated graphics or 4 graphics cards. The 790X with SB750 seems like a perfect chipset, but no one uses it.

Does anyone know if the Phenom II 940 will run at 3.0 GHz on a 790FX board? A few months ago, I read the Phenom II's run 200 MHz slower on non-790GX boards. AMD has been talking about the Dragon Platform (Phenom II, 790GX and 48xx cards) but has anybody tried it on a 790FX, 790X, 770 or 780G motherboard? I want it to run at "stock" speed without overclocking.

For quite some time, it's been difficult to recommend AMD processors that don't have unlocked upper multipliers, and that hasn't changed with Phenom II.

Hmm, that hasn't been my understanding of things. I thought the new phenom II's were more forgiving about changing the FSB. I'd be interested to know how far you can push the FSB on this motherboard.

One correction in page 3:

The cache on i7 is inclusive, that means that the L3 cache stores data that exists in the L2 cache and I think that the L2 cache stores whats in the L1 cache.

Phenom cache is exclusive, it doesn't double store the data in cache. The cache on Phenom II X4 is in fact larger than i7

On page 2, on the table at the very bottom of the page under "Specifics on Specifications", under the Memory row you listed it as only have 2 240-pin DIMM sockets. Based up pictures i assume this is suppsed to be 4 240-pin DIMM sockets.

Edit: Also on page 3, on the Memory Size row, you are missing the 2nd parenthesis for the gigabyte board.

When overclocking with increased voltage and clock speed, does Cool and Quiet still work?
Just because I clock the CPU upto 3.4Ghz doesn't mean I don't want it to drop back down when idle.
Some boards do this, some don't. Which ones?

You know, for a board like this with integrated graphics and HDMI output, the most interesting test (to me) would be playing HD video. To make it more interesting, I'd like to see a test that involved playing HD off a network share, so we could see how much total CPU is used when the integrated peripherals are handling a lot of network traffic and decoding H.264 (or whatever) all at the same time. That's getting to be a relatively common scenario for enthusiasts, isn't it?

Granted, if the machine isn't doing anything else at the time it doesn't matter how much CPU is being used as long as frames aren't being dropped, but it might offer a new way to contrast the mobo implementations.

However, it's worth noting that the Platinum only scores higher than the DS4H in one of RMAA's individual tests, while the Gigabyte board comes out ahead in three.

Very small nitpick here, but the Gigabyte actually beats the MSI board in four of the tests.

Good review, but what a boring motherboard. It's disappointing that MSI couldn't make this thing do anything exciting. Like explode. A few 780G boards would with a high TDP Phenom.

Most articles keep mentioning the fact that there is an upgrade option with Phenom II being AM2 compatible; however, what next (this is probably their last product with AM2 compatibility)? Shouldn't the reviews consider the upgrade options for Core i7/X58 with Westmere in a couple of years too? For someone who is considering a fresh build, I think that is something that should be analyzed too in my opinion, i.e., value add in investing in a fresh mobo and an phenom 2 versus core i7 and x58.

Geoff, why balk at the onboard graphics? I'd understand if it affected performance, but that is not the case. The wonderful thing about having IGP on even high end boards is that when the board is eventually displaced from your main gaming PC, it is still 100% worthy of doing every other task in the world, without having to spend $25 on a bottom shelf video card. Beyond that, some people may not game, but still find the board attractive for other reasons anyway. IGP is a good option!

Otherwise, thank you for the review. It is nice to see a mobo review once in a while.

Almost forgot: Geoff, dearest of all my friends, [/Vlad]
what was the temperature of the processor at idle/load when overclocked like that?

This new product explains why there is yet another BIOS fix for my KA790GX board, which should have Advanced Clock Calibration, but still does not actually function. I've tried placing AMD OverDrive at fault, but I'm not sure either way. Maybe I'll try flashing the new BIOS and checking again, but I've grown pessimistic now. MSI, you lost me because of this board of mine - I guess at least they fixed overclocking, it's shameful to think that this board originally came out with a BIOS incapable of setting a crucial Phenom multiplier.

With that said, if this board works correctly, every function, switch, bells, whistles and doohickies included, then I cheer for the owner.

Of course, as is always the case with overclocking, your mileage—and the actual purity of your sacrifice—may vary.

You might get better results by sacrificing VRock.

/srry, couldn't resist.

I have the DKA790GX non platinum board and it's been a fairly good board. A few gripes though MSI's Live Update software is horrible and really could use some revamping and from what I hear you don't want to try a BIOS update thru it or you could end up with a dead motherboard.

Nice port cluster

I really wouldn't say this is a waste of a motherboard. My friend has this mobo and I'd have to say I rather enjoy the idea of your main graphics card(s) not cooking all the time, and letting hybrid take over for your crossfire rig...also saves you quite a bit on that power bill =D
None the less, great review as always ^.^