MSI A88XM-E35 Motherboard Review: Micro-A88X for $68
by Ian Cutress on April 3, 2014 11:59 AM ESTF1 2013
First up is F1 2013 by Codemasters. I am a big Formula 1 fan in my spare time, and nothing makes me happier than carving up the field in a Caterham, waving to the Red Bulls as I drive by (because I play on easy and take shortcuts). F1 2013 uses the EGO Engine, and like other Codemasters games ends up being very playable on old hardware quite easily. In order to beef up the benchmark a bit, we devised the following scenario for the benchmark mode: one lap of Spa-Francorchamps in the heavy wet, the benchmark follows Jenson Button in the McLaren who starts on the grid in 22nd place, with the field made up of 11 Williams cars, 5 Marussia and 5 Caterham in that order. This puts emphasis on the CPU to handle the AI in the wet, and allows for a good amount of overtaking during the automated benchmark. We test at 1920x1080 on Ultra graphical settings.
| F1 2013, 1080p Max | ||
| NVIDIA | AMD | |
| Average Frame Rates | ||
| Minimum Frame Rates | ||
Bioshock Infinite
Bioshock Infinite was Zero Punctuation’s Game of the Year for 2013, uses the Unreal Engine 3, and is designed to scale with both cores and graphical prowess. We test the benchmark using the Adrenaline benchmark tool and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
| Bioshock Infinite, 1080p Max | ||
| NVIDIA | AMD | |
| Average Frame Rates | ||
| Minimum Frame Rates | ||
Tomb Raider
The next benchmark in our test is Tomb Raider. Tomb Raider is an AMD optimized game, lauded for its use of TressFX creating dynamic hair to increase the immersion in game. Tomb Raider uses a modified version of the Crystal Engine, and enjoys raw horsepower. We test the benchmark using the Adrenaline benchmark tool and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
| Tomb Raider, 1080p Max | ||
| NVIDIA | AMD | |
| Average Frame Rates | ||
| Minimum Frame Rates | ||
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khanov - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
Also, PS/2 is interrupt-driven, USB requires the CPU to poll the ports. The effect of polling is to use/waste CPU cycles checking if the mouse has moved or a key has been pressed.Interrupt-driven I/O is superior, as it does not waste CPU cycles. The CPU only services the interrupt handler (keyboard/mouse code) when you press a key or move the mouse.
It may be 2014, but PS/2 is a better way to connect both mouse and keyboard than USB. I wish all vendors put both PS/2 ports on all motherboards.
frewster - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
I seriously doubt any computer from this decade or even the past decade is noticeably slowed down by polling the USB ports.boot318 - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
I agree. He should just state that he wants the connections, because otherwise, they should be dead.Powerlurker - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
My assumption is that PS2 ports are still used in industrial computing. They are also a little bit cheaper. Last I checked, HP would cut about $5 or so off the price if you went with a PS2 keyboard over USB. If you're a corporate purchasing agent buying 1000 systems, that's an nontrivial amount of cash with practically no downside.dananski - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
N-key rollover is why I'd want ps2, but more likely it's that if they're buying a budget board, they might be reusing a really old keyboard.sfuzzz - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - link
It was an half-joke. No, I think the real reasons are that the PS/2 controller is integrated and fully functional on all chipsets and PS/2 keyboards are guaranteed to always work, especially on BIOS. Call it a failsafe solutionVoldenuit - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
Thank you for reviewing a motherboard with a price that's not 3-digits, Ian!LucinaHSacco - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
So how about an AMD Kaveri-supporting A88X motherboard priced at just £40? That would surely get some attention, right? The MSI A88XM-E35 is that board and we have it under the spotlight today. http://is.gd/mGuvSUSquattingDog - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
Ian, it is "bear that in mind" eg to keep in mind, not "bare that in mind" (naked in mind?! Hate to nitpick but this is at least the second article on this site I've seen it in.Also as other commenters have mentioned what is going on with the overheating of the VRMs? Specific chips or revisions only if all new chips are causing this?
zodiacsoulmate - Thursday, April 3, 2014 - link
The first thing I noticed when taking the motherboard out of the anti-static bag was the lack of a power delivery heatsink.What heatsink is that???????????
Isn't it the little blue thing on the mobo?