MSI Launches the PRO H610M 12VO Motherboard

[TheLostSwede]

For those wondering what happened to the Intel 12VO standard for motherboards, well, it's not dead, but it seems like the motherboard makers have chosen to largely ignore it. However, MSI has just launched a new 12VO motherboard, the PRO H610M 12VO, which is as the model name implies, a H610 based mATX motherboard. MSI is targeting the PRO H610M 12VO towards business computers and it's not hard to see why once you take a closer look at the specs. This is a bare minimum board in every aspect possible, with the chipset covered by the smallest of heatsinks and the VRMs getting none at all.

The board has a mere two DDR5 memory slots, one PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot for an NVMe drive, a single x16 PCIe 4.0 slot and a x1 PCIe 3.0 slot, as well as a second M.2 slot for an optional CNVi or PCIe based Wi-Fi module. There's also four SATA ports, an Intel based Gigabit Ethernet port, two rear USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 port and three audio jacks via an ageing Realtek ALC897 audio chip. Rather unusually for a budget board, MSI went with a DisplayPort 1.4 and an HDMI 2.1 port, although both are limited to 4K 60p output and there's also a VGA port, just in case. MSI only appears to provide one power adapter for SATA drives, which seems to be limited to two SATA power connectors, although there's a second connector on the board, for a second SATA power cable. Overall, not a particularly impressive product, but it does at least keep Intel's 12VO platform alive for another day.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[XL-R8R]

A new power connector(hence the name "12VO"), coupled with subpar/an old standard of audio (ALC897) and a PS2 port included; come on eh?



This product makes zero sense.



MSI need to stop smoking crack.... wheres the rep these days?

 

[8tyone]

A new power connector(hence the name "12VO"), coupled with subpar/an old standard of audio (ALC897) and a PS2 port included; come on eh?



This product makes zero sense.



MSI need to stop smoking crack.... wheres the rep these days?

That ALC892/897 refuses to die. Just checked only MSI's b660 Mag Mortar and above have ALC1200 or better.

 

[ncrs]

A new power connector(hence the name "12VO"), coupled with subpar/an old standard of audio (ALC897) and a PS2 port included; come on eh?



This product makes zero sense.



MSI need to stop smoking crack.... wheres the rep these days?

It's obviously an office PC-type board, hence the legacy connectors like VGA and PS/2 with minimal audio capabilities. Often it doesn't make sense to replace a working set of peripherals, especially since their users can be quite attached to them
Dell has been using 12V-only designs in their OptiPlex series for quite a while, albeit it was not the standardized version last time I looked. This idea is quite far from dead.

 

[looniam]

well, considering what work load 12VO shines at:

i'd suggest H610 is the top of the line chipset for it.

 

[N/A]

Do you really believe that or are we looking at CPU or GPU being stuck on a higher power state or multi-monitor, I'm not sure if this problem has been fixed. The only real benefit is in idle.
Not too many people running I9K and external GPU on a 10 class chipset.
I would give it a chance once they move to mircofit entirely, platinum 1U power supply and ITX of course.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

This is a bare minimum board in every aspect possible

I expected this. The proof of concept to see if it sells, if it doest, you just wont see more of these.

I wonder if its just MSI making one, being a guinea pig for the rest of them.

 

[looniam]

I expected this. The proof of concept to see if it sells, if it doest, you just wont see more of these.

I wonder if its just MSI making one, being a guinea pig for the rest of them.

i think the big deal is how much more the board is (~$100-$120 now) and how much less a 12VO psu will be. FSP released one late last year and i don't see them listed for retail anywhere.

not that that should be surprising but . .750 watts is probably over kill for these entry level (H610 chipset) set ups. i'm sure there are use cases but keep in mind we are talking about 65w TDP chip going in that socket - mostly - so i doubt there will be use for a 450+ watt GPU.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

i think the big deal is how much more the board is (~$100-$120 now) and how much less a 12VO psu will be. FSP released one late last year and i don't see them listed for retail anywhere.

not that that should be surprising but . .750 watts is probably over kill for these entry level (H610 chipset) set ups. i'm sure there are use cases but keep in mind we are talking about 65w TDP chip going in that socket - mostly - so i doubt there will be use for a 450+ watt GPU.

I bet FSP has pallets full of them on a rack.

 

[mplayerMuPDF]

It's obviously an office PC-type board, hence the legacy connectors like VGA and PS/2 with minimal audio capabilities. Often it doesn't make sense to replace a working set of peripherals, especially since their users can be quite attached to them
Dell has been using 12V-only designs in their OptiPlex series for quite a while, albeit it was not the standardized version last time I looked. This idea is quite far from dead.

I am going to use PS/2 for the first time in my life since the USB on my X470 is so unreliable... Glad my motherboard has these "useless" "outdated" connectors...

People need to stop obsessing over how new or fancy the Realtek audio chipset on a motherboard is. It hardly matters for audio quality. The *implementation* by the motherboard OEM is far more important. The sound quality of a fancy ALC1220 can be completely messed up by poor, noisy implementation. My X470GTQ has an "old" ALC887 and yet it sounds perfectly fine to connected to my high quality (tested by audiosciencereview) JDS Labs Atom headphone amp. And while I may not have golden ears or the most expensive headphones ever (Sony MDR-7506), I have also used this setup with a JDS Labs Ol Dac USB DAC with ultra fancy AKM4490 DAC chip so I know what quality sounds like (even if I have not compared them side by side, let alone A/B tested them). Biostar did a good job on this implementation, which they advertise as "A combination of exclusive hardware & software design including "ground-isolation circuit design","an independent audio power"" and "BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Ground ( Golden Line ) is noise-blocking multi-layer PCB design to isolates analog audio signals from digital sources. Unique PCB layout is ideal for exceptional clarity and high fidelity sound." but it basically boils down to avoiding noise/interference leading to degradation of the output of the Realtek sound chip

 

[Mussels]

I am going to use PS/2 for the first time in my life since the USB on my X470 is so unreliable... Glad my motherboard has these "useless" "outdated" connectors...

People need to stop obsessing over how new or fancy the Realtek audio chipset on a motherboard is. It hardly matters for audio quality. The *implementation* by the motherboard OEM is far more important. The sound quality of a fancy ALC1220 can be completely messed up by poor, noisy implementation. My X470GTQ has an "old" ALC887 and yet it sounds perfectly fine to connected to my high quality (tested by audiosciencereview) JDS Labs Atom headphone amp. And while I may not have golden ears or the most expensive headphones ever (Sony MDR-7506), I have also used this setup with a JDS Labs Ol Dac USB DAC with ultra fancy AKM4490 DAC chip so I know what quality sounds like (even if I have not compared them side by side, let alone A/B tested them). Biostar did a good job on this implementation, which they advertise as "A combination of exclusive hardware & software design including "ground-isolation circuit design","an independent audio power"" and "BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Ground ( Golden Line ) is noise-blocking multi-layer PCB design to isolates analog audio signals from digital sources. Unique PCB layout is ideal for exceptional clarity and high fidelity sound." but it basically boils down to avoiding noise/interference leading to degradation of the output of the Realtek sound chip

if you're still experiencing USB issues on x470, you need to raise your SoC voltage and avoid PCI-E risers or PSU power extensions

It was found out ages ago (and then forgotten by almost everyone) that errors from memory or PCI-E lanes causes a controller reset, which shares hardware with the USB controller so they got reset too
my x370 system had this with a 3700x for about a year, until i found out it had a faulty RAM stick that would error above ~35C - fine in memtest, not fine if the GPU and CPU added their heat to the system (or in summer)

 

[mplayerMuPDF]

if you're still experiencing USB issues on x470, you need to raise your SoC voltage and avoid PCI-E risers or PSU power extensions

It was found out ages ago (and then forgotten by almost everyone) that errors from memory or PCI-E lanes causes a controller reset, which shares hardware with the USB controller so they got reset too
my x370 system had this with a 3700x for about a year, until i found out it had a faulty RAM stick that would error above ~35C - fine in memtest, not fine if the GPU and CPU added their heat to the system (or in summer)

I don't know what those are, frankly. My X470GTQ is connected directly to my Seasonic Focus with the cable that came with it. I don't have any PCIe devices connected except for my GPU (low-end Polaris card with 25 W TDP and these issues occur even when the GPU is (practically) idling). I am not overclocking and I don't have an exotic or complicated setup or any low quality parts. The issues occur on boot (or IIRC sometimes after resuming from suspend). Sometimes replugging the device into the same port works, sometimes I need to use another port. It occurs with all types of ports: front USB 3.0, rear motherboard (USB 3.2 whatever) and rear USB 2.0 extension ports (on a Startech card; connected to motherboard header). It seems to occur most often with my USB 2.0 WiFi adapter. It has been a long time (and I was still on the original 2019 UEFI back then) since I have had it occur with my keyboard or mouse (nevertheless since I want at least my keyboard to be 100% reliable I will connect it to the PS/2 port; I just bought a new Cherry G84-5200 that should be arriving next week).

I get messages like this in my dmesg on Linxu when it occurs:

"
[ 6.867623] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[ 22.483627] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[ 22.720649] usb 2-4: new SuperSpeed Gen 1 USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[ 22.747770] usb 2-4: New USB device found, idVendor=8564, idProduct=4000, bcdDevice= 0.3a
[ 22.747772] usb 2-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=4, SerialNumber=5
[ 22.747774] usb 2-4: Product: Transcend
[ 22.747775] usb 2-4: Manufacturer: TS-RDF5
[ 22.747775] usb 2-4: SerialNumber: 000000000037
[ 22.935589] usb 1-3: new high-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[ 28.371622] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[ 43.987624] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[ 44.097130] usb usb1-port3: attempt power cycle
[ 44.575584] usb 1-3: new high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[ 49.375610] usb 1-3: Device not responding to setup address.
[ 54.383667] usb 1-3: Device not responding to setup address.
[ 54.591583] usb 1-3: device not accepting address 4, error -71
[ 54.995577] usb 1-3: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd
[ 59.795730] usb 1-3: Device not responding to setup address.
[ 64.803938] usb 1-3: Device not responding to setup address.
[ 65.011569] usb 1-3: device not accepting address 5, error -71
[ 65.013239] usb usb1-port3: unable to enumerate USB device"

The other day when I saw these messages occuring realtime during boot, I quickly replugged my USB WiFi into the front port to which it was already connected and they immediately stopped occuring and my USB WiFi was working when I reached the (graphical) desktop.

 

[eidairaman1]

That ALC892/897 refuses to die. Just checked only MSI's b660 Mag Mortar and above have ALC1200 or better.

Low end board= low end Sound, Personal System/2 Port is still a necessary port.

A new power connector(hence the name "12VO"), coupled with subpar/an old standard of audio (ALC897) and a PS2 port included; come on eh?



This product makes zero sense.



MSI need to stop smoking crack.... wheres the rep these days?

He quit a long ass time ago.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I expected this. The proof of concept to see if it sells, if it doest, you just wont see more of these.

I wonder if its just MSI making one, being a guinea pig for the rest of them.

Nah, ASRock has made some already.
But this is just sad, they really did the bare minimum and nothing more, except for the display outputs.

 

[Valantar]

A new power connector(hence the name "12VO"), coupled with subpar/an old standard of audio (ALC897) and a PS2 port included; come on eh?



This product makes zero sense.



MSI need to stop smoking crack.... wheres the rep these days?

It's a H610 board, what are you expecting?

IMO this looks like a perfectly fine basis for an office/entry level PC. Should even do fine for gaming with a CPU that isn't overkill for the heatsink-less VRM. IO is fine. VRM looks serviceable, even if it really should have a heatsink. 2x m.2 on a H610 board is nice. And I like seeing the 12VO standard hasn't died immediately, though the prospects for it gaining mainstream adoption are sadly bleak.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

It's a H610 board, what are you expecting?

IMO this looks like a perfectly fine basis for an office/entry level PC. Should even do fine for gaming with a CPU that isn't overkill for the heatsink-less VRM. IO is fine. VRM looks serviceable, even if it really should have a heatsink. 2x m.2 on a H610 board is nice. And I like seeing the 12VO standard hasn't died immediately, though the prospects for it gaining mainstream adoption are sadly bleak.

Used something like this, but copper, for VRMs.