MSI, AMD 890GX and Core Unlocking

Performance Assessment and Conclusion

Clearly things have improved greatly for MSI, with the unlocked and overclocked results setting a new pace in all tests. That fourth core really comes in handy, boosting results in both image editing and video encoding. We tried to test Crysis but unfortunately the game simply refused to run under any settings - overclocked/stock or otherwise, with no amount of debugging and reinstalling would fix before we ran out of time.

The extra performance the update brings points out just how worthwhile core-unlocking is, but ironically, the fact that core-unlocking is so handy means we'd still buy the Asus M4A89GTD. Both boards are within a few pounds of each other, but the quirky nature of the MSI's beta BIOS means the Asus is the better bet.

That said, MSI has certainly improved the board and it's now worth considering providing you have some patience. It's also the only micro-ATX 890GX currently available so if you want the best value board for real CrossFire (785G doesn't count because usually second x16 PCI-E slots are electrically x4) then this is now a real option.

Another good thing about this update to the 890GXM-G65 is that despite previously saying it would require a PCB revision change, MSI has managed to update the board without one - this means that there's no need to wait for old revisions to leave the channel before buying.

We applaud MSI's BIOS hack ingenuity. As far as we know the hack requires MSI to use old or modified EC codes from previous AMD southbridges, as AMD has not provided them to unlock each CPU individually. As it stands MSI has most bases covered with its internally confirmed list of supported CPUs:

• Phenom II X3 710, 720, 740
  
• Phenom II X2 550, 555
  
• Athlon II X3 440, 445,
  
• Sempron 140

As for the 890GX chipset itself, it seems most motherboard manufacturers - MSI included - are concentrating their engineering efforts on the more expensive 890FX. It's somewhat strange, considering the best AMD CPUs are sub-£100, but we were told that other than very budget AMD boards the most popular have been "expensive" overclocking ones focused 790FX's, with the AM3 versions of 790GX or 790X seeing little movement off the shelves. If anything, this little experiment shows that core unlocking is a good feature, and that ingenuity is alive and well in the BIOS departments of the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers.