MSI K9AGM2-FIH AMD Motherboard

Reviews: Hardware

Motherboards | Power Supplies | Memory | Systems | Video Cards

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Max Slowik
Beth
MSI
Nov. 26, 2007

Specifications

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Introduction

I've extolled the many features and benefits of AMDs 690 chipset, and have gone on at length about why it's such a cool platform for a computer: it draws almost no power, uses silent, passive cooling, has exceptional video-out (and unparalleled video acceleration), and, personally, I put it into service whenever possible.

And I've said that my favorite, and, in all likelihood, the best 690G motherboard is the GA-MA69GM-S2H. So what about the others was wrong? MSI usually designs innovative hardware with good software support and unusual, sometimes exceptional features. But their K9AGM2-FIH is an unfortunate exception to the rule.

The K9AGM2-FIH is still a decent-performing, good-looking motherboard, but, in the end, it breaks no ground and makes mistakes that cause its mundanity. It serves as an example for what not to do by a company that has so often done things better than the rest.

Board Layout

This motherboard nods in consent to legacy connections: there's a floppy connection (at the front edge, which is good) and it has a parallel printer port on the back panel. There's also FireWire support above two of the USB ports, and a gigabit Ethernet jack above the other two. The back panel has full analog support for the somewhat-dated Realtek ALC883 chipset, six 3.5mm jacks, but no other audio-out connectors.

The four (3Gb/s, single, RAID 0, 1, 10) SATA connections are at the bottom front corner of the motherboard, near the three USB headers and the color-coded front panel header, and are controlled by an ATI SB600 Southbridge. So far so good, right? The main power connector is also near the edge, although it blocks the IDE connector, and the 4-pin CPU aux is right at the center of the board, which is about the only universally-despised location on the motherboard.

It's situated just behind the tall, narrow Northbridge heatsink, which obstructs the clipping mechanisms of most CPU heatsinks. Even the stock AMD heatsink is in tight quarters. Near the CPU are the only two fan headers, one 3- and the other 4-pin. Ironically, the heatsink would leave plenty of room if it were rotated 180 degrees, because one side is shorter than the other. There is risk in doing this modification after the fact because there are no pads under the heatsink; it's held level by thermal epoxy, which, once broken, lolls around like a bobblehead. After I finished my testing with this board I tilted the heatsink, cracked the chipset, and, as they say, it was all over but the crying.

In case you ever needed to reset the BIOS (which probably will never happen as there are no overclocking options), this board uses a vertical battery arrangement (not a jumper) that is squeezed between the RAM slots and the main power connector, so it's frustratingly inaccessible.

And adding insult to injury: two RAM slots, and no hope for upgrading.

Bundle

The K9AGM2-FIH comes with a driver and utility CD, one floppy and one IDE cable, two SATA cables, one 4-pin Molex-to-SATA power adapter, a quick-start guide, and a poster with layout highlights to help with the setup.

The poster is one of the things MSI does that I wish other companies would do. Even just a photo on the back of the manual would be nice, specifically for the front-panel header, because it's such a pain to incorrectly connect all those little wires.

The other nice thing would be the MSI Update utility, which is probably the best of its kind. Channeling the awesome power of the Internet, the utility updates all the drivers with a click (well, a few clicks). But the thing that separates the MSI Update from the rest is its universality: not only does it update the drivers for the motherboard and all MSI hardware in the computer (so, like, the motherboard and the video card, right?), but it also updates the BIOS of the components. It's the simplest and fastest way I've ever seen to keep all that stuff up-to-date.

But that's it for the bundle. Just a step above OEM.

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Page 1: Introduction, Board Layout & Bundle
Page 2: System Configuration & Benchmarks
Page 3: Overclocking & Conclusion

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