MSI Announces Mini-ITX A88XI AC Motherboard

[btarunr]

MSI, a world leader in motherboards, debuts its first AMD FM2+ socket based Mini-ITX motherboard, the MSI A88XI AC. The MSI A88XI AC supports the new AMD Kaveri APU and is FM2 backwards compatible (Richland and Trinity). Equipped with a rich feature set including Intel Dual Band Wireless AC WiFi/Bluetooth and PCIe Gen 3.0 support, the MSI AX88XI AC is the ideal small form factor multimedia, office or gaming solution without compromising on features.

The MSI A88XI AC motherboard features a wide variety of multimedia solutions such as H.264 hardware decoding, support for 4K UHD video, Blu-ray playback and 8-channel HD Audio through HDMI. When combined with today's processors featuring advanced integrated graphics, MSI motherboards support triple display configurations for more efficiency and flexibility of the desktop layout. The MSI A88XI AC motherboard is ready for 4K UHD resolution with support up to 4096 x 2160. 4K UHD and triple display support deliver an amazing experience when watching movies and playing games.



Memory, with AMP & XMP support), four SATA 6Gb/s ports with RAID support, one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, one Mini-PCIe slot, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0 and HDMI 1.4a output. To top it off, the MSI A88XI AC is equipped with an Intel Dual Band Wireless AC WiFi/Bluetooth adapter. All the features packed in a Mini-ITX small form factor make the MSI A88XI AC the ideal motherboard for multimedia, office and gaming use.

The best possible sound quality with USB Audio Power
High quality USB audio devices, such as external DACs, suffer from a weak USB power delivery, highly impacting sound quality. Only MSI USB Audio Power continues to deliver 5V to the USB ports on motherboards, greatly improving sound quality. The USB Audio Power design, which powers all the USB ports independently, offers more stable power and audio signals than traditional solutions. This results in much clearer sound effects with reduced noise, along with improved power stability for the users' extra devices, enjoying an enriched sound presentation.

Get ready for the future with Mantle and TrueAudio
Gain access to the latest technology with the MSI A88XI AC to get a sublime sound experience and more fluid gameplay through more FPS. Mantle helps to achieve better frame rates through the use of an exclusive developed API by AMD. AMD TrueAudio (Kaveri and newer) technology uses the GPU to perform audio calculations. It delivers unprecedented levels of acoustic fidelity and immersion.

Military Class 4: The Most Stable Military Class Components
MSI uses award-winning Military Class 4 components. Military Class 4 is the next step in high quality components. Hi-C CAPs, Solid CAPs, Dark CAPs, together with SFC and Dark Chokes, ensure your PC runs stable under extreme conditions. These key components have all passed military testing ensuring stable operation in the harshest environments. The core of Military Class 4 is based on the essential elements which increase your stability in the worst conditions, featuring humidity protection, high temperature protection, EMI protection and ESD protection.

OC Genie 4, Click BIOS 4 & Command Center
The MSI AX88XI AC motherboard is equipped with many exclusive new technologies, including the one-second overclocking OC Genie 4, the 4th generation of the world's first graphical controlled interface for consumer motherboards Click BIOS 4 and the Command Center software that combines features such as monitoring, tuning and controlling of your hardware. The unprecedented level of flexibility and control offered in MSI's unique hard- and software design puts you in the driver seat of your motherboards configuration.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[dj-electric]

Having only four SATA ports on an A88X board is painful. This begs for 6 ports.

 

[JunkBear]

Having only four SATA ports on an A88X board is painful. This begs for 6 ports.

What's the point of having a Mini-ITX if its for putting that much HDD ? Mini-ITX are made for small form factor cases for people who need small space computer. If you want ot have that much sata ports for hdd then you need more than a Mini-Itx case so whats the point of putting a Mini-ITX mobo inside a big case? Just buy a matx or a full atx. No?

 

[dj-electric]

Not really.

An MITX motherboard could be used for a compact file-server or a super-HTPC
some people prefer a small size motherboard just to have the rest of the case for HDD's ODD's and SSD's.
cases like the Node 304 allows an MITX motherboard with 6 HDD's for example.

 

[micropage7]

Not really.

An MITX motherboard could be used for a compact file-server or a super-HTPC
some people prefer a small size motherboard just to have the rest of the case for HDD's ODD's and SSD's.
cases like the Node 304 allows an MITX motherboard with 6 HDD's for example.

yeah, but since its mini itx its normal to have 4 sata ports, just few boards that put 6 sata ports

 

[TheLostSwede]

Am I the only one finding the Intel Wi-Fi card a bit amusing?

 

[SimpleTECH]

Realtek Gigabit Lan and ALC887?

So far the ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ is the only board with all the features packed in mITX form factor.

 

[Cybrnook]

MSI's Marketing team is using vague, non-specific info to promote the motherboard? :

"Get ready for the future with Mantle and TrueAudio
Gain access to the latest technology with the MSI A88XI AC to get a sublime sound experience and more fluid gameplay through more FPS. Mantle helps to achieve better frame rates through the use of an exclusive developed API by AMD. AMD TrueAudio (Kaveri and newer) technology uses the GPU to perform audio calculations. It delivers unprecedented levels of acoustic fidelity and immersion."

- Has nothing to do with the motherboard?


"The best possible sound quality with USB Audio Power
High quality USB audio devices, such as external DACs, suffer from a weak USB power delivery, highly impacting sound quality. Only MSI USB Audio Power continues to deliver 5V to the USB ports on motherboards, greatly improving sound quality. The USB Audio Power design, which powers all the USB ports independently, offers more stable power and audio signals than traditional solutions. This results in much clearer sound effects with reduced noise, along with improved power stability for the users' extra devices, enjoying an enriched sound presentation."

-Instead of promoting the on-board audio, you brag that USB ports have 5v? Is 5v not the standard?

 

[Medallish]

What's the point of having a Mini-ITX if its for putting that much HDD ? Mini-ITX are made for small form factor cases for people who need small space computer. If you want ot have that much sata ports for hdd then you need more than a Mini-Itx case so whats the point of putting a Mini-ITX mobo inside a big case? Just buy a matx or a full atx. No?

Well depends on the case. For instance my Lian-Li PC-TU200B it has a drive cage with room for 4 HDD's(Hot swap-able) a front E-Sata and space for an ODD which adds up to exactly 6 Sata ports needed. currently I'm using it as a sort of Desktop replacement. But I could definitely see myself using it as a fileserver as my current fileserver doesn't have the best redundancy in case of disk failure. Luckily for someone like me the Asrock FM2A88X-ITX+ has those 6 ports and mSata if you want to dedicate all 6 ports to something interesting.

 

[newtekie1]

Instead of promoting the on-board audio, you brag that USB ports have 5v? Is 5v not the standard?

I think what MSI is trying to say is that most motherboards power all the USB ports off a single 5v ~5A supply. Each port is supposed to be limited to 1.5A, and overall no more than 5A. What this causes is when a high power device, such as an audio DAC, is plugged into one of the ports and it starts to draw an extreme amount of power, and you have other devices plugged in, the voltage of the USB bus can actually drop. This can cause problems, obviously.

But what MSI has done, or claims to have done, is separate each port to its own 5v supply. So if you plug in a high power DAC and it starts to overdraw the USB port, it won't affect any of the other USB ports in the system.

 

[Cybrnook]

I think what MSI is trying to say is that most motherboards power all the USB ports off a single 5v ~5A supply. Each port is supposed to be limited to 1.5A, and overall no more than 5A. What this causes is when a high power device, such as an audio DAC, is plugged into one of the ports and it starts to draw an extreme amount of power, and you have other devices plugged in, the voltage of the USB bus can actually drop. This can cause problems, obviously.

But what MSI has done, or claims to have done, is separate each port to its own 5v supply. So if you plug in a high power DAC and it starts to overdraw the USB port, it won't affect any of the other USB ports in the system.

Yeah, I got that and understand what they are attempting to promote. I am just apathetic that something like that is one of the main highlights of the board. :-( Nice board, all in all. Just trying to spin something new out of nothing really.

 

[TheGuruStud]

Wait, it has crappy intel wireless? HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

This must be a joke. Realtek NIC, but intel wireless... That should be reversed. Or just do marvell NIC and realtek wireless.

 

[las]

Realtek Gigabit Lan and ALC887?

So far the ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ is the only board with all the features packed in mITX form factor.

Well not really. Only 802.11n and HDMI 1.4 is not futureproff. We need ITX boards with HDMI 2.0 asap, since 4K needs this to be able to run at 60 fps or else you will be limited to 24 fps.