MSI 760GMA-P34 review
This compact micro-ATX AM3+ board has great performance and a good layout, but its limited expansion slots and SATA3 ports won't be for everyone
Specifications
AM3+, microATX, AMD 760G chipset, supports: FX, Phenom II, Athlon II, Sempron
You don’t have to install a graphics card, as the AMD 690G chipset has built-in Radeon HD 3000 graphics, with both VGA and DVI outputs. The graphics chip’s not well suited to games, but fine for general Windows tasks and for playing video.
The 760GMA-P34 can’t hold much RAM, as its pair of DDR3 memory slots has a maximum capacity of just 16GB. This will be plenty for most users, but bear in mind that it will only support modules with default speeds up to 1,333MHz. It is possible to overclock them up to 1,866MHz in the BIOS, but we found that the BIOS was very old-fashioned and fiddly to use if you don’t know what you’re looking for.
We were pleased with the 760GMA-P34’s performance, as it scored 88 overall when we ran our multimedia benchmarks using an AMD FX-8350 processor and 4GB of RAM. This is exactly what we’d expect to see from this setup.
The MSI 760GMA-P34 is a decent AM3+ board with good performance, but if you want a few more SATA3 ports and expansion slots, the £10 more expensive Gigabyte 970A-DS3P is a better buy, although you’ll need to use it with an external graphics card.
Basic Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Rating | *** |
| Processor socket | AM3+ |
| Form factor | microATX |
| Size | 243x228mm |
| Processor support | FX, Phenom II, Athlon II, Sempron |
| Processor external bus | 100MHz |
| Chipset north bridge | AMD 760G |
| Chipset south bridge | AMD SB710 |
| Passively-cooled north bridge | yes |
| Integrated graphics | No |
| Supported memory type | DDR3 |
| Maximum memory speed | PC3-14928 |
| Memory slots | 2 |
| Maximum memory | 16GB |
| Dual-channel support | yes |
Buying Information | |
| Price | £39 |
| Supplier | http://www.scan.co.uk |
| Details | www.giga-byte.com |
Internal Ports | |
| Power connectors | 1x 24-pin ATX, 1x 4-pin ATX |
| PCI-E x16 slots | 1 |
| Dual graphics architecture | Hybrid CrossFireX |
| PCI-E x4 slots | 0 |
| PCI-E x1 slots | 1 |
| PCI slots | 1 |
| Fan headers | 2 |
| Floppy ports | 0 |
| IDE ports | 0 |
| Serial ATA ports | 6 |
| RAID chipset (max disks) | AMD SB710 (RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD) |
Features | |
| Wired network ports | 1x 10/100/1000 |
| Sound (ports) | Realtek ALC887 (3x analogue out) |
| USB2 ports / headers | 6/6 |
| Firewire ports / headers | 0/0 |
| Legacy ports | 2x PS/2 |
| Other ports | VGA, DVI-D |
| Cables included | 2x SATA |
| Brackets included | none |
| Software included | none |
Setup and Overclocking | |
| Voltage adjustment | CPU/RAM/Chipset |
| CPU clock max adjustment | 6,500MHz |
