Sure, it has some clock tweaking capabilities, but that's not what the GAMING line is for

Mar 7, 2014 08:02 GMT  ·  By

There are many motherboards with overclocking features, but that doesn't mean that they were made for overclocking. That is the case for the MSI GAMING line, but it doesn't seem to have stopped it from scoring a new record.

Pretty much every company that deals in personal computer motherboards has at least one mainboard specifically aimed at overclockers.

It might sound shocking but, for AMD Kaveri accelerated processing units, those mainboards are not the GAMING series.

Then again, AMD is not exactly gunning for performance crowns anymore, so while MSI does have things like Z87 MPOWER (for Intel chips), there wasn't cause to release mainboards for AMD chips that are specifically aimed at overclockers.

Granted, the Z87 MPOWER motherboards are also part of the MSI GAMING series, but they, and those like them, make up a sub-segment, if you wish.

The FM2+ based GAMING motherboards with support for AMD A-Series accelerated processing units are not part of that sub-series.

Yet they were, or the A88X-G45 GAMING was, used to test the limits of the AMD A10-7850K, the best desktop accelerated processing unit that the Sunnyvale, California-based company has up for sale at this time. Its (normal) top clock is 4 GHz.

The overclockers were able to break all previous records for AMD processors accelerated processing units by pushing the chip to 6,137.91 MHz clock speed.

If nothing else, they prove that MSI might have a slightly different view of “gaming” hardware than many of its peers, since there are some expert features that even the top-tier game-oriented hardware shouldn't bother with.

The Military Class 4 set of components, for one (Hi-C CAPs, Solid CAPs, Dark CAPs, SFC, and Dark Chokes), ensures that the computer runs stable even under extreme temperature and load conditions.

The MSI OC Genie software is the other great element, allowing even inexperienced users to optimize their PC, but reaching its full potential only in the hands of someone who knows about voltage regulation modules and all other crevices in a PC and CPU that can be exploited.

Obviously, the ones that scored the new record knew what they were doing, although it's not altogether clear how much stake OC Genie had during the session. Lots of liquid nitrogen was used for sure, though, for cooling.

The high protections against humidity, high temperature, EMI radiation, and ESD contributed to the endurance and, thus, made the record possible.

All in all, there are a lot of things that would justify naming the MSI A88X-G45 GAMING as an overclocking motherboard, but MSI says it's “just” a high-end gaming platform (and sure enough, there are things like Killer LAN, Audio Boost, and USB Audio Power tech that support that claim).

AMD A10-7850K overclocked on MSI Gaming motherboard (2 Images)

MSI A88X-G45 GAMING overclocking the AMD A10-7850K
MSI A88X-G45 GAMING overclocking the AMD A10-7850K
Open gallery