Hardware MSI A75MA-G55 Review

Is the A75MA a good home for a FM1 processor or are you better off looking elsewhere?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2011/08/19/msi-a75ma-g55-review/1

 

So it's genuinely a great motherboard to base an impressive system on, but I'm wondering why it didn't receive a higher overall score? What is it being compared to?

 

Let's get this right - whole point of Liano is that it's low cost bang for buck. So why two PCI-E long slots? Liano doesn't make sense the moment you add a discrete graphics card, let alone two. If this was a m-itx board for the same money, or had a built in DVB-T dual tuner. Maybe more than 2 memory slots is too much bearing in mind that if you populate all 4 the memory has to run slower, which down clocks the graphics...

 

tony your complaining about adding features?

 

I got this one, with the A8-3850, to top it off I use the stock cooler too (I know, blasphemy) and the fun fact is, it runs decently...
currently am using this as my main rig, till something new from intel comes out...
also, the GPU is a tad crap... gives me 30fps on medium setting on League of Legends...
but hey, it's a decent setup considering I only spent about 200 euros on APU + mobo

 

Was eyeing this board for a build a few days ago. The six SATA6 ports were what made me contemplate it. Nice to see it's a good performer.

 

I got it as well, but I havent been that impressed by it, I find it to be a bit dicey. Overclocking is pretty much a no go for me, and when I put it into sleep mode, it wakes it self up. etc, just a bunch of small niggles.

 

I'm toying with the idea of building one of these as a gift for someone, but the cooler issue is bugging me: Is the FM1 socket compatible with AM3 coolers do you know? (Or anyone else...)

From what I gather I think they are, but I can't seem to find out definitively.

 

They are John!

I too am using the stock cooler, but I have turned it wayy down in the bios and you could definitely live with it.

 

@Autti

No, just product "fit" - why not put 6 16x pci-e slots on the board? because it'll never be used - like the 1Gb of ram on a HD 4550 card, suckers the suckers...

but

I would like better features for the segment - like the DVB-T card I mentioned...

 

Excellent, cheers for that! I'm thinking of building one for my niece for her coursework (she just got admitted to Cambridge!) an extra £15-20ish for it to be really quiet would probably be worth it...

 

Not too bothered about overclocking this myself, but sleep mode issues are a concern. I don't like systems waking themselves up for no apparent reason. Have you made sure things like Wake On LAN are off?

Hopefully the little niggles will be fixed in BIOS updates before I get around to buying this.

 

Its only wake on usb that is on.

And dont get me started on bios updates! You are only able to download bios updates with MSI Liveupdate 5.0

The dealbreaker is, whenever I install Liveupdate, my system BSOD's after 2-5 minutes. consistently! I have uninstalled it, and now there is no stability issues! I would personally buy what gigabyte has on offer.

 

You need to install LiveUpdate to download BIOS updates?

Fail, MSI, fail. Way to not cater to the exthusiast, who has an ingrained (and well deserved) dislike of these sort of system monitor/update programs provided by the manufacturer...

 

I really cannot understand the main appeal of these. You are very limited in future upgrades, why not just an AM3+ board? And if you want a media centre then an Intel is a much better choice, much lower power and the built in graphics are fine for most things. Just think these FM1 chips are a dead end for whoever buys them.

 

If you add a low end and gpu then it makes the discrete gpu better.

 

congrats to your niece, the funny thing is, my case's coolers are more noisy than the stock one on this baby