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Is the MSI 970A-G46 good enough for me?

Tags:
  • Water Cooling
  • MSI
  • AMD
  • CPUs
  • Antec
  • Motherboards
Last response: in Motherboards
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March 15, 2013 9:31:54 AM

Hello,

I burnt out the motherboard VRM on my OEM motherboard with a Phenom II X4 at 4.2ghz. The motherboard max TDP was 95w, and my CPU was running 143w on load. In the process of diagnosing the problem, I broke my CPU pins, so that is also out of action.

I am replacing the broken parts with an MSI 970A-G46 and a FX-6300, which I plan to overclock to 4GHZ (109W) and this motherboard has a max TDP of 125W. Will this motherboard be good for me? I have seen problems with some of these boards, but most people experience VRM failures using OC'd FX-8150's, running at roughly 150w. The motherboard is on a BIG offer, as to why I think this one is okay. I also plan to use my Antec Kuhler 920, which my OEM motherboard didn't supply enough power to, hence no pumping.

Best Regards
Luke

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March 15, 2013 9:53:12 AM

There's a Google docs spreadsheet out there that's blocked at work, but has a lot of VRM and phase information on it. There are a LOT of MSI boards on it that are weak, but I don't recall if that one is on it. I'd stick to Asus, Gigabyte, or (higher-end) ASRock if you're interested in overclocking.
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March 15, 2013 9:58:34 AM

I'm in the UK, and that Gigabyte motherboard is at cheapest £75, while this MSI one is £47 from £68. Will it be good enough for pretty mild overclocking - i.e. 10-15%?
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March 15, 2013 10:00:34 AM

It could also be a Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3, but for my windowed case I prefer the colours of the MSI. Obviously, I will buy the best one, but if both are equal it'll be the MSI.
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March 15, 2013 10:02:47 AM

I have read too many tales of woe involving MSI motherboards to feel comfortable about buying one myself yet, so I don't think it is appropriate for me to recommend one to someone else. Take that for what it's worth; 2nd-hand and 3rd-hand "information," but no direct personal experience with them. If I were the one buying, I'd choose a different board, but ymmv.
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March 15, 2013 10:07:33 AM

So would the much cheaper (RRP) Gigabyte board be better than the MSI, despite the lack of VRM heatsink?
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March 15, 2013 10:25:03 AM


Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3: £75.56 Inc VAT

Pay the Man :lol: 

With good air that FX-6300 will rock. How far do you want to go?

:D 

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March 15, 2013 3:20:19 PM

MSI had VRM issues with their first revision or the 970A-G45 they updated with the G46 which basically added the VRM heatsink and will do dual card at X8 X8. I believe it is fine just as long it is not pushed far above the 125watt tdp.
I RMAed my G45 (had 2 intermittent SATA ports) for a G46 which is now running a phenom II 955 at 3.6GHz, the G45 ran a FX8350 @ 4.4GHz std Vcore (now on a 990FX GD80) for a couple of months before RMA and everything worked fine.
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March 16, 2013 5:14:27 AM

I've ordered the G46, simply due to the fact that I do not plan to go above a 115w TDP, and I also have 2 high performance case fans on my window that shall point right at it. Thanks for all the opinions guys!
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March 29, 2013 11:43:38 PM

Flightsimluke said:
I've ordered the G46, simply due to the fact that I do not plan to go above a 115w TDP, and I also have 2 high performance case fans on my window that shall point right at it. Thanks for all the opinions guys!


I have also bought this motherboard yesterday. So my question is can it support AMD 7770 Sapphire 1GB DDR5 GPU ??
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March 30, 2013 3:07:46 AM

SoumyaHD said:
Flightsimluke said:
I've ordered the G46, simply due to the fact that I do not plan to go above a 115w TDP, and I also have 2 high performance case fans on my window that shall point right at it. Thanks for all the opinions guys!


I have also bought this motherboard yesterday. So my question is can it support AMD 7770 Sapphire 1GB DDR5 GPU ??

Yes it will.
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March 30, 2013 3:22:17 AM

rolli59 said:
SoumyaHD said:
Flightsimluke said:
I've ordered the G46, simply due to the fact that I do not plan to go above a 115w TDP, and I also have 2 high performance case fans on my window that shall point right at it. Thanks for all the opinions guys!


I have also bought this motherboard yesterday. So my question is can it support AMD 7770 Sapphire 1GB DDR5 GPU ??

Yes it will.

Thank You
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