MSI NF750-G55 Motherboard Review

MSI NF750-G55

UK Price (as reviewed): £73.98 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $99.99 (ex. Tax)

The end of the line is never a happy one, and this could be the last performance Nvidia chipset we ever review. That's not to mean MSI has out the box made a defunct product though, as the AM3 socket bolted to an nForce 750a single chip MCP provides a single x16 PCI-Express 2.0 link (switchable to two x8) as well as all the usual southbridge connections.

Nvidia chipsets are still the only way to get SLI with an AMD CPU, and with not too many budget boards offering the latest AM3 support, MSI is one of a few. With its bargain price, attractive looks and more popular SLI market support: is this the AM3 motherboard to buy? Let's find out!

MSI NF750-G55 Features

• Support for socket 938 AM3 CPUs including Phenom II and Athlon II series.
  
• Nvidia nForce 750a SLI MCP including Hybrid SLI support
  
• Four 240-pin DDR3 memory slots supporting 1,066 and 1,333MHz DIMMs, with DDR3 1600(O.C.) overclocking support for up to 16GB in total
  
• Two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot (1x16 or 2x8)
  
• Two PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slot
  
• One PCI slot
  
• Realtek ALC889 7.1 channel high-definition audio codec
  
• One Realtek RTL811CL PCI-Express Gigabit LAN
  
• Six SATA 3Gbps supporting RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD
  
• One IDE port
  
• Twelve USB 2.0 ports (six rear I/O, six pin-outs)

The slim box and little contents are a familiar sight with budget motherboards, but with just a single SATA cable and IDE it's slim pickings. The manual is, as usual, pretty good, and includes an install disk buried within the pages, although be wary that MSI has started pushing Norton Utilities on it - we don't want that clogging our fresh new systems, thank you.