MSI Intros the A320 Grenade Socket AM4 Motherboard

[btarunr]

MSI today introduced the A320 Grenade, an entry-level yet gaming-grade socket AM4 motherboard based on AMD's basic A320 chipset. Built in the narrow micro-ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. A simple 5-phase VRM conditions power for the AM4 SoC. The socket is wired to a pair of DDR4 DIMM slots, and a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. Two PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slots make for the rest of the expansion area.

Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gbps ports, from which two are wired to the SoC, and one 32 Gbps M.2 slot. USB connectivity includes four USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear panel, two via headers). Gigabit Ethernet (driven by Realtek RTL8111H controller) and 6-channel HD audio (Realtek ALC887 CODEC), make for the rest of it. We expect it to be priced around the $75 mark.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[peche]

entry-level yet gaming-grade

 

[Atnevon]

MSi what do you have...for me?

(sings Bruno Mars in head)

 

[TheLaughingMan]

is the Grenade name a reference to it be small but powerful? Because I would expect an ITX board for that. Maybe this should be the MSI Sidearm.

 

[Static~Charge]

is the Grenade name a reference to it be small but powerful? Because I would expect an ITX board for that. Maybe this should be the MSI Sidearm.

More like the "MSI Pop Gun". It's decent enough for a basic machine, but I wouldn't classify it as "entry-level gaming" (unless we're talking something like Angry Birds...).

 

[erocker]

Grenade is a bad word to give any product. Grenades blow up. I don't want to blow up a motherboard... or toaster, or whatever. Seriously, no one should be paid or compensated in any way for naming this motherboard.

 

[TXST Guardian]

These boards are definitely for eSport pc's. I would never stick one of these boards in one of my own builds.

on a side note, When will someone make a decent matx AM4 board!? I'd love to see an X370 platform mATX. This is the only reason I have yet to go AMD.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

These boards are definitely for eSport pc's. I would never stick one of these boards in one of my own builds.

on a side note, When will someone make a decent matx AM4 board!? I'd love to see an X370 platform mATX. This is the only reason I have yet to go AMD.

There are plenty of B350 boards. The only thing you would lose would be Nvidia SLI support. What are you waiting for that you would get from the X370?

 

[TXST Guardian]

There are plenty of B350 boards. The only thing you would lose would be Nvidia SLI support. What are you waiting for that you would get from the X370?

SLI lol

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

With that name I am expecting teh well known msi implementation of nikos mosfets for the cpu vrm.

 

[cdawall]

Grenade is a bad word to give any product. Grenades blow up. I don't want to blow up a motherboard... or toaster, or whatever. Seriously, no one should be paid or compensated in any way for naming this motherboard.

I mean we are talking about MSI...

Remember the krait edition 970? That is on fire

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

I mean we are talking about MSI...

Remember the krait edition 970? That is on fire

Nikos mosfet power

 

[natr0n]

If imbeciles kill a board without using active cooling such as placing a fucking fan on vrm its some how the companies fault forever.

Fuck your logic

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

If imbeciles kill a board without using active cooling such as placing a fucking fan on vrm its some how the companies fault forever.

Fuck your logic

On a more serious note, Nikos mosfets are known for being cheap, bad and hot (very high internal resistance) and somehow MSI keeps on using them for the cpu vrm. You can check the threads on overclock.net...

 

[-The_Mask-]

If imbeciles kill a board without using active cooling such as placing a fucking fan on vrm its some how the companies fault forever.

Fuck your logic

I guess you, just like MSI, haven't heard off over current and over temp protection.

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

I bet that this is using Nikos... Even their top of the line X370 does...

For the CPU power delivery section, six NIKOS PowerPAK PK616BA and twelve NIKOS PowerPAK PK632BA are combined. The SOC section gets four PK616BA MOSFETs and four PK632BA.

MSI’s power delivery system seems a little light for a flagship, overclocking-geared design. ASRock and ASUS offer higher total phase counts on their competitors while also using efficient Texas Instrument NexFET power blocks (MOSFETs).

Source:
http://www.kitguru.net/components/m...-xpower-gaming-titanium-motherboard-review/3/

It is a shame really to cheap out on the vrm on a flagship board like this...

 

[Mistral]

I like my motherboards non-exploding....

 

[owen10578]

SLI lol

Same here waiting for SLI mATX X370 boards. So that I can crossfire. Lol.

 

[cdawall]

If imbeciles kill a board without using active cooling such as placing a fucking fan on vrm its some how the companies fault forever.

Fuck your logic

It has a stock cpu...shouldn't need active cooling.

 

[AsRock]

Grenade is a bad word to give any product. Grenades blow up. I don't want to blow up a motherboard... or toaster, or whatever. Seriously, no one should be paid or compensated in any way for naming this motherboard.

Yes some one needs to be fired and who ever else agreed with this naming.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Grenade is a bad word to give any product. Grenades blow up. I don't want to blow up a motherboard... or toaster, or whatever. Seriously, no one should be paid or compensated in any way for naming this motherboard.

I always made the same ideas about Supernova PSU lineup.

 

[ixi]

MSi what do you have...for me?

(sings Bruno Mars in head)

These branding names are epic, haha.

 

[ShurikN]

I bet that this is using Nikos... Even their top of the line X370 does...

For the CPU power delivery section, six NIKOS PowerPAK PK616BA and twelve NIKOS PowerPAK PK632BA are combined. The SOC section gets four PK616BA MOSFETs and four PK632BA.

MSI’s power delivery system seems a little light for a flagship, overclocking-geared design. ASRock and ASUS offer higher total phase counts on their competitors while also using efficient Texas Instrument NexFET power blocks (MOSFETs).

Source:
http://www.kitguru.net/components/m...-xpower-gaming-titanium-motherboard-review/3/

It is a shame really to cheap out on the vrm on a flagship board like this...

Hmmm... it looks like MSI is the AM4 board to avoid.

 

[RMX]

I like the design, if the price is right However, with RYZEN 7/5 I would prefer B350 since these babies beg for some proper overclocking.