MSI 970 Gaming Motherboard Review: Undercutting AM3+ at $100
by Ian Cutress on January 22, 2015 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- MSI
- Vishera
- AM3+
Gaming Performance
F1 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.
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.
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.
Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs is a benchmarking wet dream – a highly complex benchmark that can bring the toughest setup and high resolutions down into single figures. Having an extreme SSAO setting can do that, but at the right settings Sleeping Dogs is highly playable and enjoyable. We run the basic benchmark program laid out in the Adrenaline benchmark tool, and the Xtreme (1920x1080, Maximum) performance setting, noting down the average frame rates and the minimum frame rates.
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Samus - Thursday, January 22, 2015 - link
Not a bad price for such a complete board, even if the chipset is 4 years old.R3MF - Thursday, January 22, 2015 - link
the new asrock 970 fatality board looks better to be frank.no silly atheros 'killer' network cocket with dubious linux support
20Gb/sec m.2 slot
support for 220W CPU's
Ranari - Thursday, January 22, 2015 - link
I'm going to chalk this up as me being a terrible reader, but I was confused reading this review. Does this motherboard support 220W CPUs or not? Or is it limited to just 125W range?silverblue - Thursday, January 22, 2015 - link
Ian pointed this out to AMD; I doubt it does. It does support up to and including the 8370 though if their compatability list is to be believed.I'm not sure who'd want to throw a 220W CPU into any board let alone a 970, though.
FlushedBubblyJock - Sunday, February 15, 2015 - link
I ran a dedicated 10guage Romex line, 30 amper, to my 4.23 Vishy w/ my OC 290X and all was good my killawatt was reading 890wattts but then it tore down my 3000joule clamping voltage surge protector. :-(Luckily I had the fire extinguisher handy just in case.
Killrose - Thursday, January 22, 2015 - link
I beleive MSI is getting 2 x 8 PCI-e for SLI / Crossfire out of the 970 chipset on this motherboard although it is not supported by AMD, is this true?frenzy55 - Wednesday, January 28, 2015 - link
Yes this is true, this mobo supports SLI and Crossfire.failquail - Friday, January 23, 2015 - link
Could be a nice cheap replacement for my current motherboard that is experiencing a slow and painful death.(Asus Crosshair IV formula, AMD 890FX
Current status:
8/12 of the USB2 ports non-functional
USB3 ports dead
RAID controller dead
Jmicron ESATA/SATA extra controller dead
The rest of the board is still going, but i'm unsure how long for...)
Regarding the killer NIC: does this simply function as a standard LAN port if you don't install their software?
tekphnx - Friday, January 23, 2015 - link
Voltage by offset only, and no LLC, on a 'gaming' motherboard, is very disappointing. For $100, this board's other shortcomings could be forgiven, but as it stands, one would do better to stick to a standard 970 board at around $85. As for 990FX, unless someone already owns a 6000 or 8000 series CPU, investing $130+ for a 990FX board on the rather dated AM3+ platform at this point is a pretty foolish move vs. what Intel has to offer.MrFrogSD - Monday, January 26, 2015 - link
As someone who prefers smaller (read mATX) systems, it's been a real disappointment that no one has come out with any decent AM3+ mATX motherboards in the last several years. For those of us with limited space, we're pretty much forced to use FM2 or Intel at lower performance or higher cost.