MSI A88XM-E35 Motherboard Review: Micro-A88X for $68
by Ian Cutress on April 3, 2014 11:59 AM ESTMSI A88XM-E35 In The Box
Extra contents in a motherboard box can be fun or help reduce the overall cost of a build. Motherboard manufacturers are able to purchase in bulk, meaning that the overall additional cost to the end user should be minimal. However, on a motherboard this inexpensive, we should not hold out for much:
Driver CD
Manual
Rear Panel Guard
Two SATA Cables
It might make sense that users who go for this motherboard might not be using more than two SATA devices, but I would imagine that the self-build community might be looking at three – a boot SSD, a storage HDD and perhaps an optical media drive. I was not expecting more than two SATA cables, but I could hope that in the future four cables becomes the standard.
MSI A88XM-E35 Overclocking
Experience with MSI A88XM-E35
As mentioned in the BIOS and Software sections of this review, MSI has decided that users should not be adjusting the voltage on Kaveri on the A88XM-E35. This is a double edged sword, as there are some users who might want to reduce the voltage in order to remove extra heat from the CPU. As a result the only option we have is to adjust the CPU multiplier or the base clock. Given that we had restart issues at stock frequencies when the power delivery had no additional cooling, anyone overclocking Kaveri on this motherboard should use a good fan pointed at that area.
Methodology:
Our standard overclocking methodology is as follows. We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with PovRay and OCCT to simulate high-end workloads. These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.
For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed. The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed, and the process repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (100ºC+). Our test bed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air.
Manual Overclock:
Due to the voltage limitations, our peak overclock was only 4.0 GHz for all cores:
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frewster - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
The power delivery components are around the CPU socket. That heatsink is for the southbridge.trowe37 - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
Not sure if I am correct but on the first page of the article it lists "1 x USB 3.0 Header2 x USB 3.0 Headers", however looking at the motherboard shouldn't it be "2 x USB 2.0 Headers"?
popej - Friday, April 4, 2014 - link
Isn't ALC887 7.1 channel chip?loimlo - Saturday, April 12, 2014 - link
Thanks Ian. It's refreshing to see budget MB reviews. Hope to see more H81/B85, A85/A88 boards' reviews. It's the boards that people purchase/use most, but get reviewed least.Questor - Saturday, April 12, 2014 - link
I would like to see these smaller form factor boards with more PCI-express 4x type slots, rather than the PCI slot. This MSI board is perfect in every way for an upcoming build, except for the PCI slot. It's the deal breaker.Good review, thanks for your hard work.
joe15 - Wednesday, July 2, 2014 - link
Do you know if it works fine with Ubuntu?lateuser - Monday, September 18, 2017 - link
I know I am late, but may I know what is the ideal temperature for this board? Mine averages 113 centigrade, and it appears as read in speccy, which gets me worried.