MSI A88X-G45 Gaming Review

by Ian Cutress on 8/11/2014 8:00 AM EST
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  • purplestater - Monday, August 11, 2014 - link

    This really makes me want to build another computer that I don't need and can't afford.
  • PHlipMoD3 - Monday, August 11, 2014 - link

    So, the A10 7850K beats an i7 4960X in 2 gaming benchmarks, and not a word is said about that in the article apart from "The MSI motehrboard takes the lead in CoH2 comfortably."

    Seems fishy to me, same card, more CPU bottleneck on the A10, and yet it beats a 4960X in gaming? Shenanigans.
  • tim851 - Monday, August 11, 2014 - link

    The games in which the A10 comes out on top are not CPU bottlenecked, but clearly limited by GPU performance. A victory there is likely a statistical fluke.
  • PHlipMoD3 - Monday, August 11, 2014 - link

    I still find it quite a weird victory, even taking into account the GPU-limited state of BF4. CoH is also a CPU heavy title, and AMD seems to do well in it more often. I would like to have seen a comparison between the 9590 and the A10 in this case, instead of the more limited benches and comparisons in this article / review.

    I know its a motherboard review specifically, but more comparison points can't hurt.
  • Ian Cutress - Monday, August 11, 2014 - link

    I just removed my CoH2 results: with it being on steam and requiring an online connection to initialise first on a new system, it of course downloads updates. It would seem CoH2 had a large update that I didn't see download which has affected the frame rates quite considerably: up to 15% with an A10. I am seeing this with the motherboards I have on the test bed, and is essentially nullifying all my previous results compared to the latest.
  • DrMrLordX - Tuesday, August 12, 2014 - link

    Is the latest CoH2 update showing any speed improvements on the 4960x or other Intel processors? I understand if the new software version skews current results to the point that they are no longer comparable to older benchmark runs, but at the same time, this sort of stinks for the 7850k. AMD won a benchmark? Pull it, it has to be a fluke!

    If the 4960x gained nothing from the update, then, guess what: the 7850k is actually the faster chip for CoH2.
  • Anonymous Blowhard - Monday, August 11, 2014 - link

    > why would a user purchase such an APU and then disable access by adding a discrete GPU?

    Because they're a complete pillock.

    Now, if someone were to purchase a cheap-as-chips FM2 Athlon X4 750K, OC the living daylights out of it, and pair that with a dGPU ... well, then they'd be a savvy budget gamer, now wouldn't they?
  • iTzSnypah - Monday, August 11, 2014 - link

    Well if AMD releases a Kaveri based Athlon X4 then maybe. Currently a G3458+H81 board is cheaper and blows a 750K/760K out of the water gaming, especially once you overclock the Pentium.
  • StrangerGuy - Thursday, August 14, 2014 - link

    Exactly, who in the right mind would buy this $120 mobo given the Pentium AE and a H81 board is the same price? By the time you put a FM2 CPU/APU into that thing you could have well easily got a discrete card for budget gaming purposes. Of course they will be AMD tryhards deriding the AE being "loldualcore" while conveniently ignoring being massively GPU limited with AMD CPU is a universally FAR worse experience.
  • Phartindust - Thursday, August 14, 2014 - link

    Wrong question. The right question is why would anybody purchase an APU and NOT crossfire it with an appropriate AMD GPU? Putting a Nvidia gpu with an AMD APU makes no sense at all
  • loimlo - Saturday, August 16, 2014 - link

    Kudos to Anandtech & MSI for bringing up low-end/mid-end motherboards reviews. I bought a MSI A88XM-E35 for friend's web surfing after reading its review on Anand.

    Just a suggestion. MSI Z97 PC Mate seems to be a perfect mate for G3258. Maybe worth a review ??
  • ZYXZ - Thursday, September 11, 2014 - link

    Ao meu entender este teste é falho e desfavorável a MSI A88X-G45. Ele teria que incluir também o teste com duas placas de vídeo R7 250X DDR3 XFX em 3X crossfire hybrid para poder tirar o máximo poder gráfico do sistema proposto pela AMD atualmente.

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