This past September AMD introduced a refresh of their FX CPUs that included a few new more power efficient CPUs along with a major pricing restructure to update the lineup. While I had the chance to test out most of the lineup there were a few that weren’t included. Recently AMD sent over one of the CPUs that I missed the FX-8320E. With the FX-8320E being a budget focused gaming CPU AMD also sent along with it a motherboard that matched its low price point and gaming focus, the 970 Gaming from MSI. Paired together you can get them for just a few dollars more than an i5-4670K with no motherboard or any of the 2011 socket CPUs. With 8 cores and a turbo clock speed of 4 GHz it should still be performer, but of course there really is only one way to find out, let’s check it out.
Product Name: AMD FX-8320E and MSI 970 Gaming Motherboard
Review Samples Provided by: AMD
Written by: Wes
Pictures by: Wes
AMD FX-8320E Specifications |
|
x86 Piledriver Cores |
8 |
Core Clock |
Up to 3.2/4.0GHz |
L2 Cache |
8MB |
Shared L3 Cache |
8MB |
Memory Support |
Up to 1866MHz w/ AMP |
Typical TDP |
95W |
Motherboard Socket |
AM3+ |
Chipset Compatibility |
990FX, 990X, 980G, 970 |
Unlocked CPU Multiplier |
Yes |
Price |
$146.99 |
MSI 970 Gaming Motherboard Specifications |
|
CPU |
Supports AMD®FXTM/ Phenom™ II/ Athlon™ II and Sempron™ processors for the AM3/ AM3+ socket |
Hyper Transport Bus |
HyperTransport 3.0 supporting speed up to 4.8GT/s |
Chipset |
AMD® 970 and SB950 Chipset |
Main Memory |
-4 x DDR3 memory slots supporting up to 32GB -Supports DDR3 2133(OC)/ 1866/ 1600/ 1333/ 1066 MHz -Dual channel memory architecture |
Slots |
2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots - PCI_E2 supports up to PCIe 2.0 x16 speed - PCI_E4 supports up to PCIe 2.0 x8 speed 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots 2 x PCI slots |
Multi-GPU |
Supports 2-Way AMD® CrossFire™ Technology* Supports 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ Technology* |
On-Board SATA |
AMD SB950 Chipset - 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports - Supports RAID 0, RAID1, RAID5 and RAID 10 |
USB |
AMD® SB950 Chipset - 14x USB 2.0 ports (8 ports on the back panel, 6 ports available through the internal USB 2.0 connectors) VIA VL806 Chipset - 4 x USB 3.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB 3.0 connector)* * These USB 3.0 ports do not support M-Flash recovery function. |
Audio |
Realtek® ALC1150 Codec |
LAN |
Killer E2205 Gigabit LAN controller |
Internal I/O Connectors |
-1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector -1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector -6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors -3 x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 6 USB 2.0 ports) -1 x USB 3.0 connector -1 x 4-pin CPU fan connector -2 x 4-pin system fan connectors -2 x 3-pin system fan connectors -1 x Front panel audio connector -2 x System panel connectors -1 x Chassis Intrusion connector -1 x TPM module connector -1 x Serial port connector -1 x S/PDIF-Out connector -1 x Clear CMOS jumper -1 x Slow mode booting switch |
Back Panel I/O Ports |
- 1 x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse combo port - 8 x USB 2.0 ports - 2 x USB 3.0 ports - 1 x Optical S/PDIF-Out connector - 1 x LAN (RJ45) port - 6 x OFC audio jacks |
BIOS |
-The motherboard BIOS provides "Plug & Play" BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically. -The motherboard provides a Desktop Management Interface(DMI) function which records your motherboard specifications. |
Dimension |
12 in. x 9.6 in. (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm) ATX Form Factor |
Mounting |
9 mounting holes |