MSI Announces New Full FM2+ Military Class 4 Motherboards

By Jane McEntegart
published

MSI's got a new family of FM2+ mobos.

MSI today announced a new line of FM2+ Military Class 4 motherboards. These new boards feature the new AMD A88X/A78/A55 chipset and FM2+ socket and support both the new FM2 Trinity and Richland APUs as well as AMD's newly announced upcoming Kaveri APUs.

Components are MSI's new Military Class 4 components, which the company says have all been certified to seven MIL-STD-810G tests. MSI is promising stable operation under harsh conditions as a result of this certification. The new cards are also equipped with OC Genie 4, Click BIOS 4, and Control Center for monitoring, tuning and remote control functionality.

There are currently two models of A88X up on MSI's website: the A88XM-E35 and the A88X-G43. The former packs support for DDR3 1066/1333/1600/1866/2133*(*OC), dual memory channel, 2 x DIMM slots (max 32 GB), 1 x PCI Express x16, 1 x PCI Express x1, 1 x PCI, 6 x SATA III, RAID 0/1/5/10, LAN 10/100/1000*1, 4 x USB 3.0, 8 x USB 2.0, VGA, HDMI, DVI and DX11.1.

The A88XM-G43 packs support for DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333 MHz memory, dual memory channel, 4 x DIMM slots (max 64 GB), 2 x PCI Express x16, 3 x PCI Express x1, 2 x PCI, 8 x SATA III, RAID 0/1/5/10, LAN 10/100/1000*1, 4 x USB 3.0, 10 x USB 2.0, VGA, HDMI, DVI, and DX 11.

AMD has one model of the A78 online also, the A78M-E35. This packs support for DDR3 1066/1333/1600/1866/2133*(*OC), dual channel memory, 2 x DIMM slots (max 32 GB), 1 x PCI Express x16, 1 x PCI Express x1, 1 x PCI, 6 x SATA III, RAID 0/1/5/10, LAN 10/100/1000*1, 4 x USB 3.0, 8 x USB 2.0, VGA, HDMI, DVI, and DX11.1.

Though MSI currently only has three models listed on its website, this new FM2+ family will eventually house nine boards. No word on pricing just yet.

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Jane McEntegart
6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Lord Captivus
    I looks like they assume/know the new APUs will have a big market.
    Reply
  • f-14
    well the american military has pointedly said it wasn't low power equipment, it is one of their major problems.

    there's alot of money to be had if you can prove your system is worthy to the americans, the rest of the world takes notice and interest.
    Reply
  • bmwman91
    "Military Class" lol

    Saying "tested to MIL-STD-810G" means very little. MIL-STD-810G is a giant document that establishes test PROCEDURE, and suggested test limits for many cases. You could use ESTI 300-019-2-3/-7, IEC 60068-XX or ISO procedures and still hit the same level of quality / robustness and in fact, the limits for many tests are nearly identical across these documents (free-fall drops, temp & humidity, thermal shock, etc). MIL-STD-810G is freely available online, and the document title is "DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TEST METHOD STANDARD - ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING CONSIDERATIONS AND LABORATORY TESTS".

    A big appeal of MIL-STD-810G is that it is FREE, whereas you have to pay for the ETSI, IEC and ISO specs. I've dealt with a lot of this on a daily basis at work for the better part of a decade, so take it from me that saying "MIL-STD-810G compliant" is mainly a marketing tactic, and if anything it means that MSI saved ~$1000 by not having to buy ETSI / IEC documents lol.
    Reply
  • falchard
    I really like MSI products because they tend to go where no one else thinks is worth it. Like taking a budget oriented processor socket and stuffing 2 full PCI-e x16 lanes on it and allowing the user to volt it up so far it will cause a fire.
    I really like how MSI capacitors look. They are square shaped with beveled edges and look very durable. However, the square shape probably is not the best shape for a capacitor. A sphere or a cylinder would probably work more optimally. With that said, the space MSI's capacitors take on the board and there overall shape is very aesthetically pleasing and they look well built.
    Personally, I don't think whatever grade capacitor matters since I have not had a capacitor failure in a decade.
    Reply
  • rolli59
    Lets hope that we do not have melting military VRM issues like some other boards from them!
    Reply
  • kyle382
    zomg japanese made, military grade, gold plated tit parade. TAKE MY MONIES PLZ NOW
    Reply