We tested the Bulldozer: FX-8150 and three 990FX motherboards on the test bench

MSI 990FXA-GD80 (ver 2.2)

This minute has finally come: we were able to welcome an AMD MSI motherboard to the editorial office, as well as the manufacturer's most powerful model, the MSI 990FXA-GD80 (ver 2.2). As its name suggests, it is, of course, an AMD 990FX / SB950-based solution, and the GD80 is meant to indicate the highest equipment and best technical implementation. The printed circuit board, which fits into the ranks of the ATX standard, is 30,5 cm long and 24,4 cm wide, so it is no problem to install it in a normal ATX hut. It has now become almost common for manufacturers to build on a mid-range black PCB, which is no different for the 990FXA-GD80. Of course, this doesn’t have too much practical significance, but it gives the eye a nice, sophisticated look, especially with details.

Power is supplied by the standard 24-pin and 8-pin auxiliary power connectors. Around the AM3 + socket - which accommodates AMD FX, Phenom II X6 / X4 / X3 / X2, Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 and Sempron CPU processors - we find the power section, which is worth mentioning four things. The first is that the board works with a 10 + 2 phase power supply. The second is a technology called Active Phase Switching. It is not difficult to translate, it certainly means active phase switching, which in practice means that the unused phases and the related components are switched off in case of idle, in other words the phase switching is in accordance with the load.

This is not a new thing, we have seen similar things elsewhere, but it is important to emphasize that MSI is not a software solution, the control is fully automatic, hardware based, the thing is done by a special IC chip. This is not useless, as it increases efficiency and, as consumption decreases with use, it also results in long-term savings (the blue LED bar next to the socket on the motherboard informs about the current load and the number of phases in use).

The third thing is DrMOS. Anyone who has been a bit in the picture with MSI motherboards lately has definitely met DrMOS, as the company has been using this solution on their motherboards for a long time, all the way back to P45. DrMOS stands for Driver-MOSFET, a power supply component.

The essence of the technology is that the driver IC required for control and the upper and lower MOSFETs are housed in a single chip, a case. One of its important virtues is the increase in switching frequency, which, according to the manufacturer's data, means four times the speed compared to a conventional MOSFET, which results in a significant improvement in the stability in voltage regulation. It retains its stability and efficiency not only under general conditions, but also in the case of hard tuning. The fourth thing is Military Class II, which deserves a little more words and applies not only to the PWM area, but to the entire motherboard. A few paragraphs up, you could also read about a motherboard that was built on components that also met military standards. In the case of MSI, it is practically the same. Military Class II, as its name suggests, is already the second revision, but the point is in the details, that is, in the parts.

Hi-c CAP

The soul of Hi-c capacitors is tantalum, which is the 73rd element of the periodic table, and is a rather rare, off-white, shiny metal. Its melting point is very high, 3017 ° C. Due to its high chemical resistance, chemical devices and electrodes are made of tantalum. It is used to make dental drills, analytical balance weights, cathodes of X-ray tubes, fountain pen tips. Because it fits well with tissues, it is used to make aids that remain inside the body, such as supporting bones. It is also widely used mainly for capacitors in mobile phones and other electronic equipment, as shown in the attached figure. As a result, the Hi-c capacitor is estimated to have an eight times longer life than a conventional solid electrolyte capacitor.

SFC

SFC (Super Ferrit Choke) covers a specially designed iron core coil. The coil contains an iron core whose permeability has been significantly increased. Compared to conventional coils, the SFC works at a temperature 35 ° C lower. Of course, this also has a small positive effect on heat production and stability.

Solid CAP

Solid CAP, the solid electrolytic capacitor, is the starting point for the Military Class series. These models no longer include conventional electrolytic capacitors, all conduits are at least Solid CAP, but where needed, Hi-c capacitors are placed there. This way we no longer have to worry about exploding, bulging capacitors, these types of conductors fail in a negligible number, with a nominal life of 10 years.

From these components, Military Class II is formed, and in the package we also find a certificate that guarantees the authenticity of these parameters. A thick, nickel-plated aluminum rib has been placed in the PWM area, and the connection is provided by a thick, flattened copper heat pipe to the rib on the north bridge, which is also nickel-plated. Of course, there was a bit of attention to the ribs as well, we can read Military Class II and OC Genie II on a 1-1 blue plate, which are two defining features of today’s MSI cards. The rib is the same material and style on the south side of the SB950 south bridge, of course its shape is flattened so as not to prevent the installation of long video cards. Here you will find the MSI brand.

As is common with ATX standard AM3 + boards, this model also features four DIMM sockets that, of course, accept DDR3 modules up to 2133 MHz with a maximum capacity of 32 GB. In use, dual-channel is supported. The colors are also distinguished by the colors, one channel is marked in blue and the other in black.

Let's look at the SATA section. At the edge of the PCB, we find six ports rotated, all coming from the SB950 South Bridge and supporting the latest 3.0 standard. If you fly across the opposite edge of the printed circuit board with a light gesture, you may also come across the gigabit LAN controller, which is a Realtek 8111E instance, as we have seen many times, a popular chip. You can also see a THX sticker in the corner, below which is the audio controller, which is a Realtek ALC 892 chip, and this is not our first encounter. It provides up to 8 channels with jack detection, Azalia 1.0 and Vista Premium support.

We are not left without things worth mentioning in the lower part of the motherboard, the most characteristic of which are the three physical control buttons. The functions of "reset" and "power" are clear, but OC Genie hides excitement. MSI 990FXA-GD80 has OC Genie II support. There are two ways to achieve this. One is the already mentioned button, pressing which results in a one-time and immediate tuning. Therefore, those who do not feel enough routine and courage for manual tuning can safely ask for the help of the OC Genie button. The other way is, of course, access through the BIOS.

Speaking of BIOS, I'd like to interrupt the train of thought here. MSI also uses UEFI BIOS, i.e. the entire environment is graphics-based. MSI shaped this a little on its own face and gave its work the name Click BIOS. This model is already equipped with Click BIOS II. This resulted in a very simple and clear, transparent graphic interface, which can be controlled not only with a mouse, but also with a touch screen. The interface looks almost the same as under Windows, the individual operations can be performed even by dragging the mouse, using the "drag & drop" method. Of course, we get full access to all the capabilities of the motherboard, including monitoring and high-level tuning. OC Genie II functions can be accessed from Click BIOS II.

Below, in the remaining area, we find the pin terminals, with a focus on USB. The first is marked in red, which means that the buckles connected to this terminal have a Super Charger function. You have a good idea of ​​what this means, quick and easy charging of our devices, even when the machine is switched off. The other (black) is a simple USB 2.0 port.

This model has four full-width PCI Express rails, so even the 4-way CFX can be installed. The first two slots can operate in ×16 mode, the third in ×8 mode, and the fourth in ×4 mode. In addition to the four "long" rails, we also get two short ones with ×1 speed, as well as a traditional PCI rail. A diagnostic display is located under the rib of the southern bridge, which consists of two seven-segment displays. Its task is usual, i.e. communicating possible errors with the help of error codes. Most of the motherboard has been completed, only the back section remains to be described:

The line is opened by two PS/2 connectors for the mouse and keyboard. These are followed by a small microswitch, which tuners will be happy to receive, because it is a "CMOS Clear" button. This is followed by coaxial and optical digital outputs. The next column starts with a FireWire, then two USB 2.0 ports can be observed below and next to it, the bottom two of which can also be used as eSATA ports. The next two columns are very similar, as they both contain four USB sockets, with an RJ45 gigabit ethernet port on the top of the first. The dog is buried with the USBs, because the black ones are only 2.0, while the blue ones are 3.0. The line is completed - as always - by the jack analog audio connectors.

Key features summarized:

• It builds on the latest AMD 990FX chipset
• Outstanding stability thanks to Military Class II
• OC Genie II: Overdrive in the simplest way: significant extra power at the touch of a button
• Support for 3-way SLI and 4-way CrossFireX
• Support for USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb / s standards
• THX TruStudio PRO: a provider of quality sound

Specification table:

MSI 990FXA-GD80 gallery: