MSI 770-C45: specifications, user manual, overview and reviews

The inexpensive representative in the advanced motherboard market, the MSI 770-C45 chipset, attracts not only gamers, but also users who want to create a real multimedia center at home. The fact that this is one of the few motherboards in the segment of computer components, which has a huge functionality and is able to cope with any problems. In this article, the reader will become more familiar with the popular device: characteristics, instructions, review and feedback will provide complete information on the MSI 770-C45 chip.

Positioning in the world market

It's rather strange to see a full-featured gaming solution in the budget segment. This is exactly what the manufacturer did with the motherboard supporting the installation of a large amount of RAM and a lot of expansion cards. Apparently, in the company MSI, technologists came to this conclusion for a reason. This explains the low cost of the MSI 770-C45 chip on the domestic market (within 6,000 rubles).

In any case, no one can deprive the system board of gaming capabilities, so the choice and purchase, as always, remain with the buyer. The main thing is to understand what this wonderful multi-function device is capable of and whether it makes sense to give money for it.

Very attractive features

At the first acquaintance with the device, in the field of view of the buyer the attractive advertising on the display of packing in which the motherboard MSI 770-C45 is delivered gets. Characteristics of the power supply system the manufacturer decided to place on top of the device image - in the production of sipa only solid capacitors were used. This is great news for all enthusiasts who like to use CPU overclocking in work or games. Hence, apparently, and a three-year manufacturer's warranty.

Form factor ATX allows you to place on the motherboard a large number of slots and expansion cards and, as practice shows, MSI's technology has coped well with the task. The board is provided with everything necessary, and, as the owners note in their reviews, the device represents the intersection of several generations of system devices.

Multi-Platform Support

The MSI 770-C45 motherboard is designed for the AM3 socket and is designed for installation of AMD Athlon II / Phenom II processors supporting HyperTransport technology and multiple cores. When examining the appearance of the system device, it seems that the manufacturer was more concerned not with supporting the processors, but with installing a cooling system for them. The socket of the socket is huge, there is not one battery on its surface.

Even around the nest, technologists left several centimeters of free space. You can put any cooler and quietly deal with overclocking the processor. Between the socket and the interface panel the manufacturer has placed all the power elements and voltage distribution distributors. In their responses, many owners recommend (in case of overclocking) to install a passive radiator for better cooling. Since this is the only dead zone on the motherboard, which is not cooled by the air circulation in the system unit.

Expansion cards for multimedia fans

It's safe to say that the MSI 770-C45 motherboard, reviewed in this article, is one of the few on the market that has three full-fledged and always available PCI interfaces. Apparently, the technologists of the company guessed that someone might need 3 interfaces. Connector for installation of video adapter PCIex16 the manufacturer placed under the north bridge, and expansion cards - under the southern one. Accordingly, even the installation of a powerful video game accelerator with a three-level cooling system will not block the PCI interfaces.

Otherwise, within the walls of the company, technologists came with PCIex1 expansion cards. They were identified separately, from two sides, from the PCIex16 interface. That is, after installing the video card, one port will be unavailable. A very strange approach to the user, given that there is no integrated graphics on the motherboard - the 100% slot will be closed.

Upgrade with minimal costs

Great news awaits users who prefer to improve the performance of the gaming system from year to year by adding RAM modules. Four full-function DDR3 slots with dual-channel support have MSI 770-C45 motherboard. The instruction, supplied with the device, recommends the owner to use chips that operate at a frequency not exceeding 1333 MHz. However, many owners in their reviews claim that the board supports a frequency of 1600 MHz.

Another strange device also does not appeal to users. The manufacturer stated that the maximum amount of RAM that is supported at the controller level is 16 gigabytes, but many users claim that their platform is free to work with 32 GB. Many owners claim that such changes are peculiar to updating the BIOS platform.

Hard drives

There is also a weak link in the motherboard MSI 770-C45. Performance characteristics of hard disks can brake the entire system. The fact is that the device has an old SATA II interface. Six separate ports, an integrated RAID controller and support for creating arrays of all levels can not improve the situation with the speed of work. For many gaming enthusiasts, only installing SSD memory in the PCIex1 slot will solve the problem with the bandwidth of the drive.

A pleasant moment for users who switched to a new platform from outdated PCs was the IDE interface. You can connect not only your favorite optical drive, but also an old hard drive with personal documents and multimedia content. After looking at the board, the owner will also find the FDD port for connecting the magnetic drive. This is clearly a bust, because the floppy disappeared in the last millennium.

A decent platform integration

Let MSI 770-C45 do not have a built-in graphics core on the motherboard, but the manufacturer tried to provide the device with all the interfaces that are always in demand by many users. PS / 2 interfaces for keyboard and mouse will definitely please users, because USB-manipulators are still a wonder to many computer owners. And once we talked about USB, there are 6 of them on the motherboard (though they are all of the old format USB 2.0).

Music lovers do not have to worry about sound quality - 7-channel system with built-in receiver and DVD-audio support will allow you to enjoy high-quality sound with a decent audio system. There is a COM-port on the motherboard. Many owners of the old technology (synthesizer, UPS, MFU) this port is not enough in the work with modern computers.

Gameplay and overclocking

The manufacturer recommends using motherboards MSI 770-C45 to use processors with a heat release of up to 110 watts. This strangeness is caused by the fact that the power control elements and the north bridge do not have a decent cooling. In the media there are many ready-made solutions for installing active cooling for heating elements and, as practice shows, the improvement allows installing processors with a heat release of 165 watts.

With the overclocking of the processor and the memory chips, it's not so simple - you can only make a difference with 33 MHz increments. And in the BIOS of the motherboard there is no "sandbox" (the environment for testing without rebooting the computer). There is no spare BIOS on the system board either. That is, in other words, overclocking can bring the motherboard into an inoperative state.

Finally

The MSI 770-C45 motherboard will appeal to those users who after the acquisition will not improve performance by overclocking. The device is functional, supports many platforms and is adapted to expansion, but overclocking is the weak point of this board.