Computex 2014 - Day 2

Computex 2014 - MSI

As with the other main motherboard manufacturers, MSI didn't have too much that was new on show this year, as the launch of the Intel 9-Series saw a slew of releases from all of them just a few weeks ago.


Nevertheless, one thing that caught our eye was an X99 motherboard prototype – it's unnamed as of yet and isn't a finalised design, but naturally it supports the upcoming Haswell Extreme CPUs and DDR4 memory. The massive LGA2011 socket is flanked by 4 DIMM slots on either side so users can install up to 64GB. It's not worth commenting on much else given the early design stage, but this along with the ASRock motherboards has certainly whet our appetite – we're hungry to see what everyone produces for X99, as it's been a long time coming.


The next thing we saw was what MSI was claiming as the world's first USB 3.1 capable motherboard – it's a Z97 motherboard though again it is yet to be christened. The USB 3.1 standard enables 10Gbps transfer speeds (a theoretical maximum, of course), and is backwards compatible with the older standards too. MSI told us that it may decide to refresh some of its current SKUs with the new standard, though nothing has been confirmed – think it's a good idea?

While the main motherboard manufacturers each have their own lines of gaming and overclocking-focussed motherboards, energy saving is rarely a hot topic. However, MSI is now introducing an Eco range of motherboards focussed on just that, and this time we actually have some product names (though again the design and specifications cannot be considered final).


Three motherboards were on display using a selection of the lower-end Intel 8 and 9-series chipsets: the H81M Eco, the B85M Eco and the H97M Eco – AMD Eco motherboards were conspicuously absent, though we wouldn't be surprised to see an Eco Socket FM2+ motherboard at some point. The prototype H97M Eco is particularly striking with its bright white PCB. We actually found ourselves rather drawn to it, if only because it stands out as something different from the sea of black PCBs we're used to – how well do you think it works?


The Eco motherboards will come with power management software that enables the quick enabling and disabling of certain onboard components. Such control reveals how focussed MSI is here on power and energy saving. Naturally, the control afforded is within reason – users won't be able to disable every single fan, for example, or system critical components.


The last bit of motherboard-related news from MSI is that it is revisiting the AMD FX platform, giving it the Gaming series treatment for the first time with its socket AM3+ 970 Gaming motherboard. It's good to see this platform getting a bit more attention, as it's often left out of the spotlight. The 970 Gaming features a host of MSI's regular Gaming features, including Audio Boost 2, Killer LAN, Military Class 4 components and OC Genie 4. There are also two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots, six SATA 6Gbps ports and 4 USB 3 ones. Pricing was not disclosed.