MSI Announces First AMD Motherboard with USB 3.1, the 970A SLI Krait Edition

[btarunr]

MSI, world leading in motherboard technology, is proud to announce world's first USB 3.1 featured AMD motherboard, the classy black & white 970A SLI Krait Edition. Delivering blazing fast USB performance, up to 2 times faster than USB 3.0, the new 970A SLI Krait Edition motherboard offers two USB 3.1 ports, which are fully backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices. Copying files from your external hard disk or USB pen drive will be faster than ever. Offering reliable and fast Gigabit LAN together with Nvidia SLI and AMD CrossFire support for enthusiasts looking to pair up multiple graphics cards, the new classy black & white 970A SLI Krait Edition motherboard is a testament of quality. Military Class 4 provides all the stability you need through carefully selected and thoroughly tested components and materials.

"AMD and MSI strive to deliver innovation and great products that provide cutting edge features and capabilities for all users," said Darren Grasby, AMD Corporate VP, Global Channel Sales. "We are very excited to partner with MSI on the launch of the new USB 3.1 powered 970A SLI Krait Edition Motherboard - a highly optimized, feature-rich platform that unleashes the full potential of AMD processors in a powerful solution that also delivers great value and customer experience." The 970A SLI Krait Edition motherboard perfectly caters to those AMD fans who are looking for something different in terms of design and latest specification, but desire nothing but the best in terms of features and power.



USB 3.1: Two Times Faster than USB 3.0
USB 3.1 allows for speeds up to 10 Gbps, doubling the speed compared to USB 3.0 and 20x faster than legacy USB 2.0. USB 3.1 is even faster than SATAIII! Transferring your favorite games, albums and movies over USB has never been faster.

Optimized for multiple graphics cards
The MSI 970A SLI Krait Edition motherboard supports multi-GPU and with enough space for an optimal airflow when using multiple graphics cards. That way, there is no need to worry about heat issues, while enjoying the best graphics jumping off from your monitor when running an Nvidia SLI or AMD CrossFire gaming setup.

Where Krait meets AMD
The 970A SLI Krait Edition motherboard is now ready for AMD fans who have been waiting for something special and packed with features. The 970A SLI Krait Edition motherboard is continuing the black & white bloodline with an even more impressive and massive appearance. Now presenting even more black & white highlights, featuring USB 3.1 and support for multi-GPU configurations make the 970A SLI Krait Edition motherboard another excellent addition to the black & white family.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Uplink10]

They should have put more wires into USB 2.0 Type A so we wouldn`t need to release new USB 3.1 Type A connector.

Back on the topic:

offers two USB 3.1 ports

Only two, where is the logic in that? If they do not want to put more ports they should wait for Intel 100 series chipset.

Also, PCI ports are totally unacceptable!

 

[Starlord]

Great looking board!

They should have put more wires into USB 2.0 Type A so we wouldn`t need to release new USB 3.1 Type A connector.

Back on the topic:



Only two, where is the logic in that? If they do not want to put more ports they should wait for Intel 100 series chipset.

Also, PCI ports are totally unacceptable!

Wait whut? So you are suggesting doing nothing for the people currently in the market for an AMD or Intel motherboard upgrade? I think it's great motherboard vendors already make USB 3.1 available to us all. At least makes you not miss out on it if you are currently building a PC.

 

[xkche]

Only two, where is the logic in that?

New in town?, the same happened with USB 3.0: 2 first, next 4, and later 6-8 in chipset.


Nice Mobo. Time to come back to AMD? >, DX12 is boosting the AMD products?

 

[Parn]

What's happening with this sudden burst of new AM3+ motherboards based on 3+ years old chipsets? Gigabyte released a few last week, now MSI. I guess Asus and AsRock will follow suit soon.

Now back onto this particular board where does the USB 3.1 chip get its bandwidth from? I believe even if all the remaining PCI-E 2.0 lanes (22 total minus 16 for the graphics card) from the northbridge are wired to the USB ports, they will not be enough to provide 10Gbps.

 

[btarunr]

What's happening with this sudden burst of new AM3+ motherboards based on 3+ years old chipsets? Gigabyte released a few last week, now MSI. I guess Asus and AsRock will follow suit soon.

Now back onto this particular board where does the USB 3.1 chip get its bandwidth from? I believe even if all the remaining PCI-E 2.0 lanes (22 total minus 16 for the graphics card) from the northbridge are wired to the USB ports, they will not be enough to provide 10Gbps.

This isn't the last. You should see the 990FXA Gaming 7 (USB 3.1, Killer NIC, M.2 x4, high-end onboard audio, etc.).

 

[Sony Xperia S]

SLI edition? Do I understand it well?

Sometimes I think that AMD fully deserves its destiny, and if some day nvidia doesn't go bankrupt, it will be AMD.

 

[Frick]

What's happening with this sudden burst of new AM3+ motherboards based on 3+ years old chipsets? Gigabyte released a few last week, now MSI. I guess Asus and AsRock will follow suit soon.

Was thinking the same thing. Hopefully it means some sort of CPU release.

 

[Sony Xperia S]

Was thinking the same thing. Hopefully it means some sort of CPU release.

Doesn't necessarily mean that. What could AMD launch when they multiple times repeated that they stop releasing new FX processors?

Might be some kind of support for old FX customers who have working CPUs but broken old motherboards.

In any case, it could be nice to launch Excavator in FX form but nah....

Why don't they just buy some 14 nm wafers from Intel? How does Apple buy manufacturing capacity from Samsung?

 

[buildzoid]

That VRM must be MSI's ticket into making fireworks from now on. A 4+1 phase AM3+ board. This better be on of the cheapest 970 boards around and have a hard limit on Vcore voltage at 1.425V.

 

[Jorge]

Some people mistakenly believe that they need the hyped newest tech because they have failed to do their homework and understand the tech. Just like people who falsely believe they need PCIe 3.0, when PCIe 2.1 is not saturated or DDR4 when DDR3 is not saturated, some folks feel they need USB 3.1. While a very limited number of consumers would see any diff between USB 2/3 or 3.1, a few might. This is mostly ad hype not a real tech advantage for 99.99% of the world.

The reason mobo makers are releasing new AM3+ mobos is to increase sales in a down market. AMD's Zen won't be available until some time in 2016 and that's a long ways off for mobo vendors only able to essentially sell low cost/profit AMD FM2 mobos now. Obviously with Intel predicting slow sales, every possible revenue stream is needed to keep mobo makers afloat.

 

[D.Crepit]

Kinda short on SATA ports isn't it?

And, of course, they still can't seem to do
dual GigaBit LAN ports.

AMD really needs to refresh their chipsets.

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Could release a Phenom III

 

[xorbe]

Yeah I am confused about the sudden burst of motherboard releases. I think the rumor mill would have had some hint about a new am3+ cpu if there was one?

 

[Chaitanya]

Yeah I am confused about the sudden burst of motherboard releases. I think the rumor mill would have had some hint about a new am3+ cpu if there was one?

Even I don't think there will be any new AM3+ CPU release from AMD. But by introducing boards with new technology support at low ends seems like a good way to keep the company earning profits. Also if AMD were to release new CPUs for this platform I would expect that AMD also would re-introduce these 970,990X and 990FX chipsets with new smaller fabrication node and integrated USB 3 hubs rather than much older 65nM fab node.

 

[Caring1]

As I previously mentioned in another thread, I think it is due to a speculated increase in interest in AMD FX CPU's with their multi cores, and the increase in performance brought about by DX12 and Windows 10.
If multi core Processors are better utilized, then obviously the brand with the price advantage will win.

 

[costeakai]

What's happening with this sudden burst of new AM3+ motherboards based on 3+ years old chipsets? Gigabyte released a few last week, now MSI. I guess Asus and AsRock will follow suit soon.

Now back onto this particular board where does the USB 3.1 chip get its bandwidth from? I believe even if all the remaining PCI-E 2.0 lanes (22 total minus 16 for the graphics card) from the northbridge are wired to the USB ports, they will not be enough to provide 10Gbps.

it's all about the new DX12 CPU-multicore capabilities , where the 8-core FX cpus compete on equal footing with core-I5 & core-I7 in multithreaded DX12 gaming. the new and newly-redesigned games for DX12 should start coming in by the end of 2015 ...

 

[Parn]

it's all about the new DX12 CPU-multicore capabilities , where the 8-core FX cpus compete on equal footing with core-I5 & core-I7 in multithreaded DX12 gaming. the new and newly-redesigned games for DX12 should start coming in by the end of 2015 ...

I'm aware of the multithread capability of DX12.

The truth is gamers who care about DX12 most likely already have systems based on the latest unlocked i5/i7 with 290/290X or 900 series graphics cards. Do you really believe these people will bother switching to a FX platform if DX12 cannot make a FX-8000 25-30% faster than an i7?

 

[NC37]

I'm aware of the multithread capability of DX12.

The truth is gamers who care about DX12 most likely already have systems based on the latest unlocked i5/i7 with 290/290X or 900 series graphics cards. Do you really believe these people will bother switching to a FX platform if DX12 cannot make a FX-8000 25-30% faster than an i7?

Depends on how well the numbers are. If FX starts heavily trumping i7s in encoding on DX12, which they kept pace with back when released, then there is a market for them. I bought FX, part cause the cost was better than Intel but also because of video encoding performance which I do a bit of. Getting i7 or better than i7 level encodes for half the price is nice.

So yeah, if it got a speed bump that large...now you are looking at old FX chips keeping pace with newer i7s. Yeah the difference will be in mere seconds but when you crunch a lot of video, those seconds add up. Take into account how much more economical the FX is, got something that could actually make Intel run some sales.

Granted the performance level may not be that high. I'm not gonna hold my breath. Either way competition is not a bad thing. Specially if it gives this stagnant market a kick in the rear.

 

[hojnikb]

What's happening with this sudden burst of new AM3+ motherboards based on 3+ years old chipsets? Gigabyte released a few last week, now MSI. I guess Asus and AsRock will follow suit soon.

Now back onto this particular board where does the USB 3.1 chip get its bandwidth from? I believe even if all the remaining PCI-E 2.0 lanes (22 total minus 16 for the graphics card) from the northbridge are wired to the USB ports, they will not be enough to provide 10Gbps.

They are probobly sitting on a bunch of 970 chipset stock and have to move that somehow.

New boards with "new" features are one way to do it