The MSI A88X-G45 GAMING, one of MSI's new AMD FM2+ based GAMING motherboards, recently broke the CPU Frequency overclocking record for the AMD A10-7850K processor by validating a smashing 6137.91 MHz clock speed. Most impressive, considering the fact that the record was set on an MSI GAMING motherboard instead of a dedicated overclocking model. It goes to show that MSI GAMING motherboards are not only full of GAMING galore, they also inherited plenty of OC DNA from MSI's Overclocking products.

MSI expanded its entry-level socket LGA1155 motherboard lineup with the B75MA-G43, featuring Intel Small Business Advantage. The micro-ATX board is positioned to be a notch below the B75MA-G45. It features a simpler 5-phase CPU VRM. The CPU socket, which supports 32 nm "Sandy Bridge" and 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" processors, is wired to four DIMM slots, supporting up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, and a PCI-Express 3.0 x16. Other expansion slots include a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to PCH), and two legacy PCI.

Storage connectivity on the B75MA-G43 includes one SATA 6 Gb/s, and five SATA 3 Gb/s ports. The chipset gives out four USB 3.0 ports, two of which are given out by a standard header, and two at the rear panel. Display connectivity includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, PS/2 combo, LPT and COM (by headers), and a number of USB 2.0/1.1 ports make for the rest of it. The B75MA-G43 is expected to be priced under $60.

Weak market demand, a market saturated with low-cost PCs, and intra-brand competition has reportedly led to first-tier motherboard vendors such as ASUS and Gigabyte to suffer overstock of their Intel 4-series chipset motherboard inventories. The Intel 4-series chipset is the fourth generation of desktop chipsets for LGA-775 processors. It includes popular models such as P45, P43, the mainstream G45, G43 and G41, and others that include Q45, B45 and B43. Motherboards made by leading companies have had less than expected market demand. Earlier in September last year, when ASUS announced price-cuts for its 4-series motherboards, reported back then to make them "competitive", sources tell DigiTimes that the company was already facing swelling inventories.

As a result of this, the biggest loser seems to be ASUS, with a swelling inventory of 6~7 million units, valued at around $180 million, followed by Gigabyte holding an inventory worth around $130 million, which are quickly depreciating in value as the market gets closer to the launch of Intel's 5-series chipsets and the Ibex-Peak platform. With Intel planning to stick to its launch-schedule for its newest platform, motherboard vendors can only hope for Intel to reconsider its plans, delay its launch, and allow the inventories to get digested.

Although presentations that are internal to companies never make it to the public scene, some of those presentations are interesting, to say the least. Computer hardware manufacturers spread around an area as saturated as Taiwan, China, Malaysia, etc., get so involved into aggressive competition that in more occassions than one they get carried away. Internal presentations are the ones manufacturers such as ASUSTek, MSI and Gigabyte share with their potential customers in channel vendors, OEMs, and the likes. One such presentation by MSI, a particular slide of which, has become an example of how far competition has taken the manufacturers.

It's been a few weeks since Intel launched its latest chipset with integrated graphics, the Intel G45. Among other things, Intel claimed this chipset accelerated HD video formats such as Blu-ray, where the integrated graphics logic is supposed to off-load the CPU of processing the video. Such as it is, Intel's integrated graphics processors (IGP) have been hugely reliant on the CPU for its functions.

Aaron Brezenski, a product engineer for Intel at its Chandler, Arizona US facility. In his recent blog entry (read here), he writes about the G45 not exactly achieving what it set out for, in other words, it was "still imperfect". He mentions about AMD hosting a demo booth where it was publicly demonstrated that a G45 based notebook made by HP failed to accelerate Blu-ray playback, the processor tipped 100% load throughout the playback which isn't what G45 is intended to bring about.

GIGABYTE UNITED INC., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards today launched the new GIGABYTE EG45 Series motherboard - GA-EG45M-DS2H. Featuring the most secure, green and high performing integrated graphics solution on the market and powered by the latest Intel G45 Express chipset with Intel GMA X4500HD graphics core, the GIGABYTE EG45 Series delivers extensive high-definition video and audio capabilities to enable the latest high-definition digital multimedia systems. The GIGABYTE GA-EG45M-DS2H supports the powerful and energy efficient Intel 45nm Core2 Quad processors and features the new Intel G45 chipset. At the heart of the Intel G45 Express chipset is the Intel X4500HD graphics media accelerator, which features several unique innovations including more Execution Units for enhanced 3D performance breaking 1100+ scores on 3DMark 06 benchmark and Intel Clear Video Technology for sharper images and precise color control. The G45 chipset also supports smoother HD video playback, and includes support for Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats, thanks to built-in hardware video decode acceleration.

The GA-EG45M-DS2H is equipped with several unique GIGABYTE features including Ultra Durable 2 design, the fundamental building block of GIGABYTE motherboards, Dynamic Energy Saver Advanced, GIGABYTE's Ultra TPM, and a host of other features that not only maximize performance and energy efficiency, but also provide the highest levels of data security.