MSI Unveils 970A SLI Krait Edition Motherboard Featuring USB 3.1
MSI had one of the first USB 3.1-supported motherboards in the market, so it's no surprise that the company is continuing the trend of adding USB 3.1 ports to its new motherboards. The company bills the 970A SLI Krait Edition motherboard as the first AMD-based motherboard to support the brand-new USB 3.1 port.
The black-and-white 970A has an AM3+ socket with an AMD 970 and SB950 chipset. Multi-GPU users can utilize the two white PCIe 2.0 x16 lanes for an SLI or CrossFire configuration. The dual-channel, DDR3 memory supports up 32 GB of 2133 MHz RAM.
For storage, the motherboard has six SATA III (6 Gbps) slots and supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10. Along with six audio ports, it features a smorgasbord of USB ports with the two new USB 3.1 ports in the rear, two USB 3.0 ports in the front, and support for a total of 12 USB 2.0 ports split between the front and rear. A PS/2 keyboard port, LAN port, and PS/2 mouse combo port round out the rear I/O.
What's interesting is that even with all of these USB ports, none of them sports the new USB Type-C connector, which we've seen on both of the new Asus and ASRock set of motherboards.
MSI has yet to release a price and release date for the board. However, this is a sign that USB 3.1 is adopted more on the latest motherboards. Our initial USB 3.1 test in January showed that the new USB version predictably outperforms its predecessors.
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Rexly Peñaflorida is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering topics such as computer hardware, video games, and general technology news.
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Jeremy Kincaid Who'd have thought we'd see new standards implemented on a 970 chipset mb in 2015.Reply -
MasterDell ReplyWhy the sudden interest of reviewing the 970 chipset?
Because history is important ;)
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Beastshaw ReplyWhy the sudden interest of reviving the 970 chipset?
It is because they have found a nice niche in the market. Before they released their 970 Gaming Motherboard there were no performance options for the 970 chipset. Shortly after seeing MSI's success, ASRock also decided to jump in and recently released a premium 970 board that even included M.2. These boards have been outselling nearly all other 970 boards combined on Newegg recently.
Links:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130790&cm_re=msi_970_gaming-_-13-130-790-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157577&cm_re=970_performance-_-13-157-577-_-Product
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rolli59 Reply
Gigabyte 970UD3 and UD3P have been on the market for a long time and why not do it with the 990FX chipset instead.15552929 said:Why the sudden interest of reviving the 970 chipset?
It is because they have found a nice niche in the market. Before they released their 970 Gaming Motherboard there were no performance options for the 970 chipset. Shortly after seeing MSI's success, ASRock also decided to jump in and recently released a premium 970 board that even included M.2. These boards have been outselling nearly all other 970 boards combined on Newegg recently.
Links:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130790&cm_re=msi_970_gaming-_-13-130-790-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157577&cm_re=970_performance-_-13-157-577-_-Product
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Narcissistic_Martyr If it has 8+2 phase power (which it appears to) and is around the price of the UD3/UD3P I guess it'll get my recommendation for people whose AM3 motherboard broke or who are dead set on an AMD build.Reply