14 DAY TRIAL // Advanced Micro Devices may not have released the Kaveri series of accelerated processing units yet, but that doesn't mean that motherboard makers, like Micro-Star International, are going to delay their own activities.
Case in point, MSI has formally launched the A88X-G43 motherboard, powered by the A88X chipset, obviously enough.
Since the goal was to “provide consumers with the highest quality and most stable products,” the company pulled out all the stops.
And we're not just talking about the support for 3+1 screen Eyefinity and 4K displays (3840 x 2560 pixels via HDMI 1.4).
What we mean is that MSI implemented its Military Class 4 components, which are solid capacitors, high-quality chokes, etc. Essentially, the company took pains to render the A88X-G43 capable of passing MIL-STD-810G “to ensure stable operation under the harshest conditions.”
Add to that the OC Genie 4, which not only has on-second overclocking but comes with two-stage performance settings, and you have everything you need for a high-end AMD PC.
That said, the MSI A88X-G43 boasts two PCI Express 3.0 slots, four DDR3 dual-channel memory slots (RAM), a bunch of USB ports and headers, and all the SATA 6.0/3.0 Gbps ports one could ever need.
Furthermore, MSI tossed in Click BIOS 4 (the 4th generation of the world's first graphical BIOS interface) and its Control Center software (combines monitoring, tuning and remote controlling functionality).
Now it falls to prospective buyers to actually choose an AMD-powered system over an Intel one. Given the new things introduced during AMD's Hawaii launch event, there is definitely more incentive for it than before. If nothing else, MSI timed the launch of its product well.
We'll leave it to said buyers to decide whether they prefer the newcomer over the other FM2/FM2+ platforms though. We imagine that retailers will have a say too, since prices often vary regardless of what the makers want. Speaking of which, we don't know the tag of this MSI platform.