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WarrantyBeyond any applicable Newegg return policy, this item is warranted independently by the product's Manufacturer or a Third party. Below is a summary provided for convenience only and may not be accurate or current.
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This review is from: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: it's beautiful as far as motherboards go. awesome board for a 95 watt cpu. good audio. plenty of usb options. room for add on cards. looks beefy. runs x8 in both pcie x16 slots in crossfire x. [x8 on both slots is more than enough for 1920 x 1080 single monitor gaming set ups]
Cons: weeeeaak 6+2 vrm's for 125 watt cpu's. perhaps plug and play stock settings will be fine for bigger wattage cpu's but i don't recommend any overclocking. 1.4v really pushes the vrm's with 125 watt cpus. the vrm's start around 80 c with prime 95 but slowly climb into the 90's or higher if you allow it.[ i don't recommend]
Other Thoughts: the vrm's started oozing goo after long periods of prime95 with my 8350 at stock settings. this should not happen with a board of this caliber. i think it would rip a 6300 or any other 95 watt cpu up, but i don't recommend this board for bigger cpu's unless running at stock and have adequate cooling. preferably an extra spot fan aimed at the vrm heatsink.
i hate to admit it but i bought this board because of it's looks. it is the nicest looking amd board i've seen to date in it's price range. don't let the beefy looks decept you. this is an above average 970 chipset board with a weak 6+2 vrm setup that needs extra cooling with the slightest overclock. i even tried my older 125 watt 965 phenom ii BE and it brought it to it's knees with prime95 anytime 1.4 volts was approached. stick with 95 watt cpu's and this will be a great board for you. the x8 dual slot pcie lanes is nice for a 970 which makes me believe it's possibly a 980g or something actually, but with two nice graphics cards in crossfire and an 8350 or comparable cpus at stock settings one might ask why overclock anyway? i dunno i just like to know i can take my cpu i spent alot of money for a little bit farther for future proofing to save a little money in the long run. this game can get expensive if you let it.
good luck with this board if you get it. mine may have been a lemon. i'm not sure. i'm not going to chance wasting more money / time and newegg's money / time ordering another to see if it would perform better. if you want to go with a big cpu but yet stay with the 970 chipsets get the gigabyte board with the 8+2 vrms'. i'd say it can take some pushing. otherwise get one of the better 990fx boards that have atleast 10+2 vrm setups.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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10/18/2014 12:33:09 PM
Tech Level: 4/5
Ownership: 4/5
Verified Owner
Rating: 5/5Not bad!
This review is from: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: Cheap, 9 series, looks cool, overclocks well, nice audio, plenty of usb's, 5 fan headers, UEFI BIOS.
Cons: Northbridge can get hot when overclocked, voltage settings are set with an offset, not with setting the voltages. So if your cpu is at 1.100v and you want to turn it up, it shows +0.01000, +0.02000 +0.03000 ect. You kinda have to calculate it. BIOS takes a little getting use to. The plugs on the bottom of the board aren't labeled properly. You have to read the manual to figure out which plug goes to which. You can figure out the audio and usb's, but for power, reset, hdd light ect, you really can't tell.
Other Thoughts: Overall, very good board for the price. Wish it had some extra features like buttons for cmos clear, mem test, or dual bios. 8320E over clocked to 4.5Ghz on 1.46v without changing the core clock. Maybe it can go higher? Northbridge is idling at 45c with overclock. Gaming gets it to about 55. Prime 95 gets it higher so I will be getting a spot cooler.
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Big Jake
10/13/2014 5:40:44 PM
Tech Level: 4/5
Ownership: 4/5
Verified Owner
Rating: 4/5Pretty Nice AMD Gaming Board
This review is from: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: Board works well and looks nice. Arrived in perfect condition +1 Newegg.
Cons: This is more of a software issue than an issue with the board. SoundBlaster software does not play nice with windows 8.1. Sound works fine using windows drivers. I just feel like I paid for something that is not 100% functioning -1 egg. Other than that this is a great mobo.
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TomB
10/13/2014 5:24:57 PM
Tech Level: 5/5
Ownership: 3/5
Verified Owner
Rating: 5/5MSI 970 Gaming MB
This review is from: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: Everything on this board was more than I really expected. It went in nice the extras were great, and they put out a high quality board. I have been impressed with how easily everything went. One of the easiest builds I have ever done. Thank you MSI
Cons: There were none
Other Thoughts: This really is a nice board for the money you pay, and I will be buying and recommending it to those who want a nice board.
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Sergio75
10/13/2014 4:00:53 PM
Tech Level: 4/5
Ownership: 4/5
Verified Owner
Rating: 5/5Great motherboard for occasional gamer
This review is from: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: I own 2 motherboards of this kind and i am very satisfied of the characteristics i got for a very reasonable price. Everything works very well including the integrated sound card and NIC. This is my favorite mobo for building mid-range gaming computers.
Cons: None so far...
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N/A
10/9/2014 6:58:33 PM
Tech Level: 5/5
Ownership: 2/5
Rating: 4/5FANTASTIC
This review is from: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: PRICE.. This is a Big MB SLI and CF for 100$ Fired wright up have a 6 core I still use HD 60$ for ONE TB You BET. Really Good Sound and the sound area Lights UP in Red 1/3 of the area looks cool. The 2 PCI are low on the bottom so watch size of card it's tight.
Cons: WHY 4 because I had the same problem with the lan drive it would not work. I played with it for HOURS then decided to look here for a Clue there it was ..THANK YOU. Download Killer 64 and it now works ??
Other Thoughts: All the PC's I have done and have never ran into this problem if it wasn't for this site I would have given up. 6 hours and NO Internet. Like I said this BABY is BIG and the lights are really COOL. Later put an 8 core in this.
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Conan Of Rottingham
10/8/2014 10:42:56 PM
Tech Level: 3/5
Ownership: 3/5
Verified Owner
Rating: 5/5970 Gaming Board
This review is from: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: Looks sweet! Works like a champ! I am happy.
Cons: Killer LAN would not work at first using auto install disc on Win7 x64bit
see below.......
Other Thoughts: Killer Lan Issues. If you are using Win7 and can't get KillerLAN to work.... and the Auto install disc says successful, but still no LAN up and running? Try using the device manager in windows 7 and update the drivers manually using the included disc. I found a folder that only had XP32bit and XP64bit drivers for KillerLan on the disc...so I tried the XP64bit drivers and it worked on Win7x64bit..... now I have the LAN working fine on Win7x64bit
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tom
10/4/2014 6:31:22 AM
Tech Level: 2/5
Ownership: 2/5
Verified Owner
Rating: 2/5sata 3's
This review is from: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: Looks awesome
Cons: Cannot get data ports to recognize hard drive or CD drive its telling me to locate drivers making it unable to install windows on my new build
Manufacturer Response:
Dear Valued Customer, Based on the symptom you reported many reasons can cause the situation like this, please do not hesitate to contact us directly by email at usreview@msi.com or by phone at 626.271.1004 M-F, 6AM to 6PM PST. We will be more than happy to assist you.
Best Regards, MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com
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Tom J
10/2/2014 12:28:15 PM
Tech Level: 4/5
Ownership: 4/5
Verified Owner
Rating: 5/5Error with voltage reading not fault of board!
This review is from: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: It turns out that I needn't have worried about overclocking with "surprise" voltage - the higher-than-expected voltage I found upon checking with CPU-Z was merely an error with that version of the software (fixed with the latest version, 1.70+), not the board itself. I wanted to make sure to adjust my review! My FX-8320 is still running just fine at 4.6 GHz, and seems to run better at 4.7 on this board than on a 990FX board that it is normally in.
The board itself has performed flawlessly. The upgraded sound is a really nice feature...it makes it difficult to use boards without it!
For the curious, I tested the 970 Gaming with a Phenom II x2 555 I had sitting around. This board unlocked the x2 555 to a full quad core, overclocked and stable at 3.9 GHz. The VRMs on this board are great!
Cons: Would still love to be able to manually enter a static voltage :)
Other Thoughts: I'm beginning to prefer this board over a M5A99FX Pro R2 that I have - while some of the power controls of the other board are nice, the MSI 970 Gaming strikes a nice balance between outright overclocking performance and features like enhanced audio. This is quickly becoming my favorite AM3+ board, and definitely the best in its price range for someone like me.
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AndrewMT
9/30/2014 1:31:47 PM
Tech Level: 4/5
Ownership: 3/5
Verified Owner
Rating: 4/5Entry level board with entry level issues...
This review is from: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros: The price is great at under $100, it looks great in a side-view case, VRM/Mosfet/Northbridge Heatsinks are robust (see cons), SLI capable.
Cons: The VRM and northbridge heatsinks REQUIRE airflow from a down firing fan on the CPU. Under load, with either liquid cooling or a back-to-front CPU fan the VRM's WILL overheat and your CPU will throttle to lower the heat. I use this board with an AMD FX8350 at stock speeds and ran into issues with heat when transcoding. A couple Antec Spot Cool fans I had kicking around worked wonders.
Other Thoughts: Remember this is an entry level gaming motherboard, no matter how sexy it looks. Thermal levels need to be addressed to keep it running at full speed for extended periods of time. The SLI runs X16 X8, which may come into play if you are deciding to purchase this.
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