Last Friday, the last day of Q1, low-cost AM5 boards for Ryzen 7000 processors based on the low-end A620 chipset were released by all the manufacturers in a coordinated fashion (we’ve put together an overview of the models here), but AMD itself didn’t make any announcements at first, so we didn’t have exact specs. These have been published now and include one surprising thing which makes the A620 better than expected. Read more “A620 chipset specs in detail: a PCIe Gen4 uplink surprise”
Power supplies with support for the latest ATX 3.0 standard are slowly increasing in numbers and we will make some order among them – by pointing out the “better” and “worse” models. Based on this, you will then be able to choose the one that you consider to be more advantageous with regard to the price and to the use case. We’ll start lightly, with a brief analysis of the 850-watt A850G, by MSI. Read more “MSI MPG A850G: One of the first ATX 3.0 PSUs in detail”
In the last few days, inexpensive A620 chipset-based AM5 motherboards for Ryzen 7000 started leaking. We’ve already seen photos of one model and it seems that AMD has timed the unveiling and release for the last day of March (maybe they wanted to formally make it before the end of the first quarter). And now, boards with this chipset were launched from all the usual manufacturers, with the cheapest ones going as low as $85. Read more “Cheap A620 AM5 boards are out, starting at $85. Here’s the models”
After the GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards, which wasn’t to many people’s taste due to the higher price, Nvidia has released a significantly cheaper GPU for the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. The performance versus the RTX 4080 is admittedly noticeably weaker, but percentage-wise not by as much as the roughly two-thirds lower price of the RTX 4070 Ti. In our tests, we analyze MSI’s non-reference design from the top-of-the-line Suprim series. Read more “MSI RTX 4070 Ti Suprim X 12G: Band-aid for the “too pricey 4080””
The higher price of motherboards is one of the main topics around desktop PCs. Especially in the context of the AMD platform. However, if you decide to build your rig on DDR5 memory with the vision of a longer life expectancy, the B650 Tomahawk WiFi, in comparison to similarly equipped motherboards with Intel chipsets, is rather higher on the “price” scales and with a more attractive price/value ratio. Read more “MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WiFi: The cheapest of the decent ones”
We haven’t tested modern motherboards for AMD platforms so far and all attention has been paid to boards with Intel chipsets. That will change now, at least for a while – more AMD X670(E) and B650(E) boards will be added to the tests, but the bar will be set high. We’re starting with MSI’s top-of-the-line MEG X670E Ace motherboard, which won’t be beaten by any other board “just like that”. Read more “MSI MEG X670E Ace: A truly extreme motherboard that… has it all”
From Olympus back to ordinary mortals. Though the GeForce RTX 4080s are quite a bit weaker than the RTX 4090s, they’re also significantly more power-efficient and cheaper. And their performance still exceeds the top models of previous generations of Nvidia and AMD gaming GPUs. In addition, MSI’s most powerful model – the Suprim X – pushes the GPU clock speeds very high, while efficiency is still top-notch. Read more “MSI RTX 4080 16GB Suprim X: Ada Lovelace with GPU near 3 GHz”
The topic of “undersized” 12VHPWR power connectors for GeForce RTX 4090 is very popular lately. However, it will not apply to the more low-power RTX 4080 graphics cards. Before a complete analysis of MSI’s model – Suprim X – we first focused on the temperature of its 16-pin, and it must be said that everything is alright, with a large temperature headroom. Here, in short, the state of the matter will not change. Read more “Tested: 12VHPWR adapter on the RTX 4080 Suprim X won’t melt”
Monitors usually offer a very similar and rather unremarkable design in black or grey. Gaming models are trying to break out of this stereotype, with various red elements or RGB lighting. However, the world of professional monitors is virtually black and white, and MSI thought it would bring some colour to this environment, and not a grey one, but an “Ultramarine” one at that. That’s a colour particularly associated with Renaissance artwork. Read more “Bit of a “different” monitor. MSI Modern MD272QP Ultramarine”
MSI’s Titans have always represented the absolute most you can get in a laptop. Over time, however, they’ve been shrinking in size (and hand-in-hand with that, weight) in a way that the new GT77 Titan is actually a fairly compact laptop already. Inside it, though, is the most powerful mobile graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and a Core i9-12900HX processor. Loud noise and high temperatures? Read more “MSI Titan GT77: Extreme performance, smaller then ever”
The MEG CoreLiquid S360 currently represents the top of MSI’s liquid AIO cooler lineup. What sets it apart from most coolers in this category is the large LCD display above the pump block, and the supplied MEG Silent Gale P12 fans, which are some of the best on the market. What we have here is therefore a promise of an attractive design as well as solid cooling effectiveness. The big question is whether this cooler can justify its very high price tag. Read more “MSI MEG CoreLiquid S360 – You won’t hear it coming”
In addition to the global price drop on all graphics cards, MSI is now also reducing the MSRP of the RTX 3050 Ventus 2X (OC) from its lowest range. The phrase “affordable graphics card” thus takes on a new spin, and if you’ve read somewhere that the performance characteristics of Ventus graphics cards aren’t worth much, forget it. We certainly don’t see it that way, and few RTX 3050s for this money can boast a more functionally attractive design. Read more “Cheap and now even cheaper RTX 3050 – MSI Ventus 2X 8G OC”
MSI’s second cheapest motherboard with the Intel Z690 chipset costs significantly less compared to the higher-end Tomahawk DDR4. The difference in features is small. And perhaps too small, as the specifications artificially downgrade some components. The power delivery is less efficient and the heatsinks are more modest, but the roughly 80 EUR saved is almost as much as the cost of upgrading from a Core i5-12600K to a Core i7-12700K(F). Read more “Better than on paper. Low-cost “OC” mobo MSI Pro Z690-A DDR4″
At first glance, it’s the same board as the last tested Z690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 with one difference, that it supports the newer DDR5 memory standard. That’s how the Z690 Tomahawk WiFi is profiled, but looks are deceiving. A detailed analysis shows that there are some differences, including ones in design. Whether it’s for better or for worse is something you’ll learn exclusively from our measurements. Read more “MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi: DDR5 support, OC and decent VRM”
From the B660 motherboard tests, we now move on to Z690. These are always better equipped at least at the chipset level. One of the main advantages is the ability to manually overclock processors with an open multiplier. The Tomahawk DDR4 seems to be an option that has a well prepared VRM for such performance boosts while still keeping to an affordable price. The important thing though is what kind of board it is from an overall perspective. Read more “MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4: Top chipset for mid price”
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