Many potential buyers are very interested in how a regular motherboard from the budget class MSI 970A-G43 managed to win over many users. After all, an inexpensive segment of devices has limited functionality and rarely falls into the field of view of advanced users and gamers. The review, testing and owner reviews provided in this article will help the reader to get to know the new product better and find out what is so special about an inexpensive motherboard.
An interesting approach to customers
The fact that the motherboard MSI 970A-G43 belongs to the budget segment is indicated only by the cost of the device (6000 rubles). The remaining factors (form factor, functionality and equipment) are common to all motherboards of a more expensive class. Naturally, any potential buyer will have doubts about the quality of such a unique device, because in order to reduce the cost, the manufacturer cheated and violated the production technology somewhere.
IT professionals believe otherwise, in their reviews they assure that such products must be viewed from a different perspective. All motherboards manufactured at the factory and delivered to world markets have a quality certificate, which means that they are fully functional. The cheaper device could occur as a result of the abandonment of old technologies and unnecessary components. Or vice versa, the manufacturer assembled the motherboard using old parts.
First acquaintance with the device
MSI has always loved to stand out from the competition. On the packages with video cards, the Taiwanese manufacturer places a photo of dragons, and on the box with the motherboard a microcircuit is depicted. Quite a strange approach, because for many buyers it would be more interesting to contemplate a photo of the device itself and its functionality. The box is huge and slightly weighty. Naturally, there are many thoughts before opening about present gifts from the manufacturer himself inside the package.
Components hint at the budget class of the motherboard MSI 970A-G43 ATX. She is very poor and uninteresting. In addition to the device itself, the box contains disks with drivers and software, installation and configuration instructions and a lot of advertising literature in the form of small booklets. In waste paper, the user will also find a protective grill for the interface panel. During installation, you need to be extremely careful with it, since it is made of low-quality metal and has cutting edges that are easy to cut with your fingers.
External overview of the system device
The motherboard is made in ATX format, and this is good news for all users, because in this form factor system devices have the maximum necessary functions and are not without the necessary expansion cards. The large area of brown PCB of the MSI 970A-G43 AM3 contains really many interesting connectors. A large number of electrolytic capacitors is also striking (their presence is one of the criteria that affected the reduction in the cost of the motherboard).
It is worth noting that there are two modifications of this device on the market. The difference between them is only in the marking and appearance of the printed circuit board. So, the more expensive modification has the word Plus in its name and instead of the brown color of the textolite, the manufacturer used black color. Technical characteristics are no different. As the owners note in their reviews, the external beauty of the black motherboard is misleading, since there is practically no marking on it for connecting power cables and additional devices.
Integrated Panel Features
Unlike Intel products, the MSI 970A-G43 SocketAM3 motherboard does not contain embedded video. Marking G43 has nothing to do with integrated graphics - this is a common coincidence. On the back of the device, the user will find two old PS \ 2 interfaces for connecting a keyboard and a pointing device. Also, the manufacturer installed a seven-channel audio system and made 6 outputs for connecting expensive speakers. A large number of USB ports will also appeal to users. True, only two outputs are designed to connect devices with a USB 3.0 interface. The rest have an old USB 2.0 connector. The lack of Thunderbolt, eSATA, FireWire, LPT, and COM ports clearly hint to the owner that the motherboard is from a budget class.
Hint at the gaming segment
Fans of dynamic demanding games managed to notice that on the MSI 970A-G43 motherboard reviewed in this article, there are two PCIex16 slots and CrossFire markings next to them. Yes, a budget representative supports the installation of two discrete graphics cards. And this fact, of course, cannot but please all potential buyers.
True, the manufacturer did strangely with the expansion cards PCIex1 and PCI. When two video adapters are installed, all expansion slots will be blocked by the cooling system of the video adapters. Only one PCIex1 interface will be available to the user, as it is located above all expansion slots. This is a huge disadvantage of this motherboard, and it must be considered when buying a device.
Solid interfaces
The remaining devices are very easy to connect to the motherboard MSI 970A-G43. Owner reviews in the media assure that access to the USB expansion cards , SATA controller and control panel contacts is not blocked by either the video card or its cooling system. And if the control panel and connecting the USB expansion card is a one-time promotion, then many users have to work with SATA ports more often. The manufacturer installed two ordinary SATA III ports near the south bridge chip, and located 4 interfaces at an angle of 90 degrees and placed it on the end of the motherboard. In a computer case, they will be located in the area where the basket for hard magnetic drives is located. The oversized motherboard has no room for an IDE connector. This is a clear flaw, given the fact that modern eSATA and FireWire interfaces are also missing.
Upgrade Support
Any system upgrade always starts with an increase in RAM. All owners of the MSI 970A-G43 motherboard have nothing to worry about, because the manufacturer has installed four DDR3 expansion slots that can work in dual channel mode. The installed bus at the hardware level supports the operability of all existing memory modules on the market , including ultra-fast memory with a clock frequency of 2133 MHz.
But the manufacturer modestly kept silent that the maximum amount of RAM supported by the system should be no more than 32 gigabytes. IT professionals claim that the limitation is more software than hardware. Accordingly, in the future, the manufacturer may release a new BIOS firmware, which will remove the restriction.
Processor support
The MSI 970A-G43 motherboard supports all modern processors on the market. The only drawback that fans of demanding toys should pay attention to is the lack of support for Hyper-Threading technology. In fact, this fact demonstrates to the buyer that the compatibility of some processors with the motherboard is limited, therefore, before purchasing, you need to clarify product information on the manufacturer’s official website.
There are questions for MSI technologists and for installing a crystal cooling system. The SocketAM3 contact area at first glance seems spacious, but many owners in their reviews complain about the impossibility of installing advanced cooling systems. The reason for this is electrolytic capacitors, which do not allow the radiator to fit correctly in the socket socket. There are few options here: change the cooler or solder out the condensers and solder new ones with elongated legs (the tanks can be bent to the side).
Guarantor of stability
Fans of increased system performance need not worry about crashes and damage to the MSI 970A-G43 motherboard. The device’s BIOS not only has a backup system, but is also able to independently adapt to user actions due to intelligent power distribution. To ensure reliable data safety on the BIOS chip, the manufacturer used the M-Flash technology. True, for this you will have to sacrifice one flash drive after purchasing the motherboard, on which you need to write the settings of the basic input-output system. In general, BIOS protection is impeccable and will appeal to all advanced users.
Is there any powder in the flasks?
Boosting in-house performance requires a separate review of the MSI 970A-G43 motherboard. Acceleration, many beginners imagine in the form of a specialized application in which the power of the system increases as a result of moving the sliders up on the control panel. Some users are looking for the same sliders in the underlying I / O system. There is nothing of the kind in this motherboard and it will never be.
Acceleration yourself can be done in just two ways: to increase the voltage of the bus or increase its frequency. In rare cases, you can increase the processor multiplier if this function is not blocked by the manufacturer. The MSI 970A-G43 motherboard provides an increase in performance, but the user performs all the actions at his own risk. The whole problem is that in the BIOS itself there is no built-in utility for testing the system for stability without loading the operating system, there is only monitoring, which does little to help the user during overclocking.
Finally
Budget motherboard MSI 970A-G43 has a rather interesting equipment and functionality. The manufacturer has created a kind of multifunctional device that should interest a wide range of customers. First of all, gamers should pay attention to this product, because in addition to supporting work with two discrete video adapters in CrossFire mode, the board has 4 slots for installing memory modules and is combined with many popular processors. Do not forget about the 6 SATA III connectors and PCIex1 slots, which can be used to install NAND SSD drives.
But for home users and the office segment, the motherboard will be less interesting. The reason for this is the lack of an integrated video adapter and expansion cards for connecting peripherals. Also, mounting an ATX device requires an appropriate case, which is clearly not in the budget segment in the computer market.