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MSI lets slip AMD 790FX mobo

RD790 real-world moniker revealed

Motherboard maker MSI has pipped its rivals to the post and unveiled its first chipset based on AMD's as yet unannounced 790FX chipset - better known as the RD790.

MSI's K9A2 Platinum supports Socket AM2 and Socket AM2+ processors, including the upcoming four-core Phenom range of CPUs. Four DIMM slots allow up to 8GB of 1066MHz DDR 2 memory in dual-channel configuration to be added.

MSI K9A2 Platinum
MSI's K9A2 Platinum: AMD's 790FX chipset on board

The board has a pair of PCI Express x16 slots of CrossFire-connected graphics cards, and two more PCIe x8 slots to allow four x8 graphics cards to be installed, if multi-monitor gaming is your thing. A pair of PCI slots and an PCIe x1 slot complete the board's opportunities for add-ins.

The K9A2 has six 3Gbps SATA slots capable of hosting drives in RAID 0, 1, 5 and 0+1 configurations. There are ten USB 2.0 ports, a pair of Firewire connectors and a single Gigabit Ethernet port.

The chipset's components receive passive cooling from the K9A2's array of heatpipe-connected heatsinks.

MSI didn't say when the K9A2 Premium will go on sale, or how much it's likely to cost.

Latest Comments

Re: iPod

4th, 5th, 6th?! Touch!!!!

Bah Humbug! If it ain't got FireWire it's not a proper iPod!

So that unfortunatly limits my chooses to the first Three Generations then.

How the heck need a Color Screen and Movies + Wi-Fi on there DAP?!

Turn the thing on and stick it in your Coat Pocket and be done with it...

...Speaking of Coats... Where did I leave mine?!?!

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Re: go PCI-E?

**Sory for the doubble post Plese feel free to meld this in w/the last One**

Going PCIe could be an option, IF I WAS NOT LIMITED TO DVB-**T**.

Sadly A DVB-T Tuner would be about as useful to me as a useless thing.

Sadly I'm just a wee bit out of the Signal Rage of DTT Freeview, seeing as I live here in Germany, and have almost no interest in the platform, as I have more of a taste in Pay-TV.

Is Sky really ~that bad?!~ granted I'd take the BBC over most things certainly over the ARD ANYDAY OF THE WEEK!

But, I still think the US Systems' the best model in the World...

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Passive Cooling?

Is that chipset/regulator heatpipe passively cooled? I hope there isn't a fan hiding behind that round MSI logo... I've had to replace those things on customer's boards before when they get filled with dust and the bearings go.

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re: iPod

Also bear in mind that the latest ones only sync over USB anyway; you can only use Firewire as a fancy charger with a 5th or 6th Gen.

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go PCI-E?

> I'm looking into building a HTPC with 1x 1394a (for the iPod),

As Steve Foster said. It has onboard Firewire, so you won't need one. At worse case, a Sonnet Allegro Express FW400 will probably do fine (what I have in my HTPC, not wanting to waste a PCI slot on the mach).

> 1x DVB-C and 2x DVB-S2 all PCI Cards of course.

Using two Lifeview FlyTV Express X1 MST-STA² and using either one of the remaining two PCI slots for your DVB-C tuner should do nicely (although I admit, I find that Lifeview makes great hardware, but the software's crap as hell). Although I'd either do as most suggest and pick a different motherboard that fits your need, or wait until cablecard comes out (hoping that by then, PCI-e tuner cards will probably be more common in the market).

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