MSI 790GX-G65 ATX Motherboard Review

Overclocking Results

I originally tested this motherboard using liquid nitrogen but ran into a myriad of problems. AMD’s Phenom II gained a lot of acclaim due to its ability to run at -196 Celsius and colder. However, not all AM2+ and AM3 motherboards are capable of operating at these temperatures. I’m not certain if a BIOS fix will work but this board locks up at -137 Celsius, every single time. So, instead of wasting liquid nitrogen I swapped over to my cascade and found the board to be incredibly stable under the cascade.

Please disregard the cascade, it is currently undergoing tuning and is unfinished.

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This is currently the fastest result for Super Pi 32M with the AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition, shaving a full minute off the previous fastest time. On aircooling this board performed like every other AM2+/AM3 board I’ve worked with, with 1.4v the CPU maxes at 3.8GHz with multiplier overclocking and maxes at 264MHz HT.

Editor’s Note: This is the same exact motherboard that Chris used to win second place in the Toms Hardware AMD Virtual Overclocking Contest! This is a great overclocking board as you can tell!