MSI 890GXM-G65 AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: It's been a great board. It has everything I need with some room to expand. The only problem I've encountered, is my own fault. The tower I have has USB 3.0 on the front, and failed to notice that this board doesn't have any internal connector for that.

Cons: None

Pros: Well it works and had not problems so far.

Cons: None

Pros: Great board. Never had a problem with it. I was an ASUS guy forever, but after going through three of their boards in three years, I gave MSI a try. Coundn't be happier.

Cons: None!

Other Thoughts: I shopped extensively for a motherboard and found this to be the only one that was just right. However, I had a full size case and the microATX looks a little silly in it.

Pros: I went with this motherboard for my first gaming pc build. I am thus far happy with it. The onboard graphics are enough to impress you for basic computing (word processing, internet browsing, etc.) but don't expect high performance once you start any modern video game. The board comes with easy overclock switches. No messing with the BIOS! The PCI 2.0 x16 slots are 2 expansion bays apart allowing you to install dual high performance GPUs and bridge them. Plenty of interal usb 2.0 expansion available. The board also displays the power status of your cpu. This gives off some extra cool blue light.

While I wouldn't buy this board to upgrade to AM3+ right away, there is a BIOS available that does support the new chipset should you want to upgrade in the future.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I wish we could start seeing internal usb 3.0 connections. Given that this is (or was) and industry standard I'm ok with re-wiring the front usb 3.0 port through the back.

Pros: It's a great board, beautifully laid out , definitely seems like good performance right off the bat. I like the switches on the board for easy over-clocking.

Cons: I was disappointed that the front panel pins aren't labeled on the board. Had to look at the manual for that information. Also, the system fan plug isn't anywhere near the ports in the back,so I've got a wire that I just can't quite tidy up that has to run the diagonal length of the board.

Pros: Beautiful layout, rare Dual PCIe x16 uATX board, solid performance, super reliable, solid capacitors, beautiful black PCB, nice heat sinks on the critical components, excellent BIOS control for the tweakers, BIOS backup.

Cons: 2 Dual slot video cards make the only PCI slot and the PCI 1x slot unusable. It is a uATX board after all. If you want it all, buy an ATX and a big tower.

Other Thoughts: This board has been in service for the entire 18 months since I bought it. MSI has been very pro-active about maintaining the BIOS to keep up with changing environment. Excellent Micro build platform with rarely seen dual PCIe x16 slots AND 4 DIMM slots on a uATX board. Best board I have owned.

Pros: Performed as expected

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: This was a perfect replacement board for an HP Pavillion 1500 series

Pros: Newegg is great to handle DOA's without pain. Firest MOBO had a bad memory slot. Would not post. Second one is a winner all the way.

Cons: If one is coming down the pike I don't see it.

Pros: I bought 3 (only 1 from Newegg) of the 890GXM-G65's almost 2 years ago and have not had a single issue with any of them. One of the 3 MBs didn't recognize the AMD Phenom X6 1055Ts, but after a quick bios flash everything was fine.

Cons: None

Pros: This board puts a lot of ports on a small form factor.

MSI's proprietary BIOS/driver update utility has so far been the saving grace for otherwise mid-1990s update requirements.

Cons: The documentation has no reference on how to flash the BIOS for Windows Vista or 7. The DOS utility for flashing the BIOS requires a series of switches not mentioned or explained in the documentation.

The SATA ports are done "stacked" on top of one another which makes it very hard to do good cable management, especially in a smaller case.

Disabling the onboard video card on the BIOS requires changing from UMA to sideport, rebooting, and then switching from sideport to disabled.

Many of the onboard capacitors were loose on arrival.

The onboard audio has a known issue with the default drivers where playback of MP3/WMA files will stop regardless of disabling enhancements (Windows 7) or the Windows XP equivalent.

Other Thoughts: A motherboard is only as good as its weakest component. This is my eighth build so far and I have never struggled with documentation directly contradicting how hardware/software works. Arguably the most confusing component I have tangled with before.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued MSI Customer,

We would like to apologize for the issue you have experienced with this particular MB. Please email me directly via USUserSupport@msi.com or call us at 1-626-271-1004 Press 1 your MB's serial number and your complete contact information, subject heading "MSI890GXM-G65". I would like to help you get this resolved.

Best Regards,
User Support
MSI Product Support