Hardware MSI 785GM-E65 Motherboard Review

We check out MSI's tasty looking micro-ATX 785G motherboard to see if it's as good as the Asus, ECS and Gigabyte alternatives in performance, overclocking and general loveliness when it comes to Socket AM3

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2010/01/19/msi-785gm-e65/1

 

Just to say that the various MSI 785 boards do seem very good on power. When I built my HTPC just before Christmas, various sites posted similar power figures to the figures here - i.e. that MSI was best and ASUS could be as much as 10-15w higher.

A 10w power saving is probably close to irrelevant for most people on this site, but if you're looking for a low power HTPC board and want to go AMD, these are worth a look. There are other MSI 785g boards that are lower spec but £20-30 cheaper that are fine for HTPC use.

 

Wow!! If this really has got 128GB of GDDR3 I *have* to get it!!!!

 

lol

 

Yup!

 

Nice board but I think the next 'big thing' will not be M-ATX but M-ITX boards

 

MSI sure have been working hard haven't they?

Ever since their 790FX-GD70 they haven't really gone too bad.

 

MSI Motherboards disable APS right away when I try to undervolt the processor. So I have a choice between APS or undervolting. (at least with latest bioses)

IF I do undervolt the processors, the power savings more with a large margin compared to APS!

I asked to support, they told me to contact the local distributor about this problem. I know that the local distributor cant help obviously to this technical problem (if they even reply!)

So a totally useless feature, they can better remove this failed feature from the motherboards perhaps?

Therefore APS does not function better than similar features from other brands, I dont know how the other brands function exactly though....

So the tests made on this board is sort of useless, one must compare power savings through undervolting (besides this method also allows cooler operation) with the APS function or both turned on (not on MSI motherboards obviously)

 

When I mentioned that MSI's APS (Active Phase Switching) does not function properly in their forum, I was threated by administrators to keep it quiet. They removed all the posts related to in which situations APS does not function which is when you try to undervolt the processor (or basically change anything in that section of the BIOS I believe) for further power savings!

In addition to that, earlier BIOS versions allowed APS to function even when the processor was undervolted, overclocked or overvolted. As a coincidence, the samples they send to testing/reviewing sites had this feature working fine.

As a matter of fact, one can simply gain more power savings by undervolting the processor compared to using APS (and that can be done practically on any board!)

All considered, APS is a marketing gimmick only and you shouldnt fall for that!

Message I got at MSI forum from an admin:
------------------------------------------------------------
Author: Bas

APS does'n work when you undervolt.
Open another topic about this and find yourself removed from the forum.
If you have a problem with this talk to MSI, there is nothing we users can do.
As you posted bashing towards MSI your topic was locked.
Opening another as you just did is considered you don't obey the rules.

We do not allow such behavior in the forum.
------------------------------------------------------------

 

With respect though, very, very few people bother to undervolt and the degree of undervolting is greatly variable between each CPU you buy. Most people won't bother, and for them APS does something at least, and it doesn't require extra software like Gigabyte boards do, so it is a genuine feature that you can choose to use if you like.

You can't rule out APS wasn't removed from everything but stock CPUs because of reliability and compatibility. OK, that's not ideal by a long stretch but if tons of people start complaining that their motherboards fall over when they change stuff with APS on, its a business decision just to remove the feature on a cheap motherboard. Both over and undervolting cannot be quantified by MSI, and are not warranted by AMD either. If undervolting works better for you, great, just do that instead and turn off APS. Did MSI remove undervolting?

Frankly if you're that concerned about power, buy Intel.

With regards to your posts - as admin here I can sympathise with MSI to some degree. Like now, you've just signed up to post your personal grievances in a year old thread. That's not joining in with the community, you just signed up because you're angry it doesn't do the thing you specifically want it to. Are you going round the internet posting this on every forum and every review about the 785GM-E65?

Not only that, MSI doesn't even sell this board any more and we didn't even give it a good review to begin with.

EDIT: And in fact, you were told here: http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=143793.0 it's not even the same motherboard. Bas is just an admin, there's no way to tell if he actually works and represents MSI officially. Most moderators on here don't work for bit-tech either. Yes, it's arguably heavy handed that he closed the thread but you did get your answer: it can no longer be done, and there's nothing other than MSI BIOS team can do to help.

EDIT2: You've picked the 890FX board too - that's hardly the lowest power option to start with! It's built for overclockers and performance users to APS isn't exactly high on its priority list. If you were using the 785G-E65, which is designed for lower power use, then sure I would sympathise more.