Hey everyone, got this board a while ago and have been testing and using the board as a HTPC board in my main rig
I have been using this board for light gaming and watching HD content on my 1080P tv, mainly MKV 1080P files… I was using integrated 4290 graphics first but at my wanting to play games on my monitor and tv with more eye candy I picked up what I think is the best price to performance gpu today (5770) I got two as I couldn’t pass up the deal that put two of them at $188 for two new cards so that is why I am using them, and they will output audio which is a plus.
am digging this board as a good base for a htpc setup due to it being rock solid and allowing me to easily unlock extra cores… It has to be said I think I have a quirky main OS as it won’t boot with 4 cores enabled into the win 7 Ultimate 64-bit that I use for my main OS, oddly enough it only lets me use 3 cores. I can boot into a standard windows 7 32-bit Premium install from my OCZ Agility with all 4 cores no problem – even at 4.2GHz as you can see 
This board supports core unlocking for AMD chips, with the ability to activate the cores you want – though “core 1″ is unable to be deselected, which I think is a safety feature to prevent trying to boot without a core selected. The ease of use couldn’t be easier, all you need to do is in BIOS select “enable” next to the “Unlock CPU Core” option. Save and exit to unlock the CPU – though I have encountered where I need to press F1 after the reboot and then go into BIOS again and set your custom values or enable OC Genie.
*If you encounter problems with your custom OC profile in conjunction with unlocking cores* Do the following: Change Adjust CPU-NB Ratio setting from “Auto” to “x8”. Change HT Link Speed setting from “Auto” to “x8”. This is a temporary work around as the BIOS becomes more refined
Overall this board seems to be a very solid HTPC board with its Military Class concept with high quality components. With the inclusion of SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0 this will be a board that is equipped for new tech, not to mention being 6 core CPU ready.
I have been having great experience with the on-board audio, as I have it hooked up to my receiver with an optical connection for use when I am using my monitor, the sound is good enough for me. When I output to my TV I have been using the audio through the tv speakers, with the audio output going through the 5770.
A feature I really like is the 4 internal ports for USB, nice for hooking up all the premium HTPC case extras… A CMOS clear button would have been nice but the feature for a HTPC board isn’t necessary, just for people like me that love to tweak everything its a bit hectic to clear it with jumper every time.
HTPC setup: MSI 890GXM-G65 AMD 555 BE - Stock cooler and Scythe Mugen II Visiontek 5770 1GB x2 cards in Crossfire Thermaltake DH202 with VFD display and remote WD Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB DDR3 1600 AX3U1600GB2G9-2G and Dom GTs LITE-ON 4X BD-ROM Model iHOS104-08 Corsair HX650W Modular PSU Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
displays: Viewsonic VA1912wb Insignia 1080P 120Hz 32" TV
I will show my results from testing 4 cores at 3.6GHz and 4.2GHz on air – each test super pi 1m and 32m, everest, pifast, and lastly wprime (though I forgot to test at 4.2GHz)
Stock setup with optimized defaults
OC Genie and all cores enabled
1m w/ 4 cores at 3.6GHz
1m w/ 4 cores at 4.2GHz
32m w/ 4 cores at 3.6GHz
32m w/ 4 cores at 4.2GHz
everest w/ 4 cores at 3.6GHz mem @ 1600 7-7-7-20 1N
pifast w/ 4 cores at 3.6GHz
pifast w/ 4 cores at 4.2GHz
wprime w/ 4 cores at 3.6GHz
