MSI FM2-A55M-E33 FM2 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Pros: Cheap, light, quality is good,

Cons: none at this time

Other Thoughts: good board for simple user, a few expansion ports but i does the job.

Pros: - None

Cons: - None

Pros: My previous review indicated it was a good board once you can figure out how to get XP Pro installed.

Cons: You must search the CD to find SATA drivers and create a slipstream XP disc with the SP3 and the drivers, or you will not get the HDD to be recognized and/or Windows will fail the install.

Other Thoughts: When I wrote my previous review, I got a rude rebuke reply from MSI telling me it is not fair to write a con against their board because I didn't know how to trick the board into working with XP. Well, drop dead MSI...probably the last board I purchase with your name on it. Buck up and deal with a little criticism OR put complete instructions in the manual for each OS!!!!!!

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Ed,

FDD ports have been removed for a long long time and this was not the first motherboard without it.
This product was certified to run WinXP using IDE mode therefore there are no reported issues like what you had reported.
It's a common sense to use IDE mode for WinXP unless you are expert enough to know how to integrate the AHCI driver onto your XP cab using slipstreaming method. And slipstream is not a regular method.

Best Regards,
MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com

Pros: I built a budget HTPC pairing the MoBo with a AMD A4 5300 APU and Kingston Blue Hyper 8G, no performance complains so far, it handles pretty much any media playing app. and all the other common tasks (Browsing, Email, Streaming, ETC) Excellent MoBo for my purposes.

Cons: Once running this MoBo rocks, getting there is tricky. I tried 4 times with Windows 8 installation, everything worked great until that I tried to update the chipset firmware using MSI software from their site, after installing the SW Win 8 hangs forever, if you hit restart button BAM! OS will be corrupted without fix... Do yourself a favor, after install Win 8 go to the AMD site and install their tool to see your configuration, execute it and they will point to the right chipset firmware and where to get it. After I did that everything went fine.

Pros: If you are using a newer OS, then this board is very nice. The bios is great to work with. But read the cons...

Cons: If you are using XP, as the board says it can do, remember that you cannot use a SATA drive. Oh but wait, how do you get an OS onto a drive? You cannot use AHCI and must use IDE setting. You need to slipstream a CD with SP3 on it and the MSI SATA drivers from their CD, that is hard to locate on the CD. Once you figure that out which is not in the manual, but was vaguely referenced in my new HDD manual, then no more vague meaning blue screens after the XP splash screen.

The reason for this is because the board does not have a Floppy connection that is needed to load SATA drivers, per XP Pro.

Finally, the manual is in the bios or online, and you need it to install onboard USB/AUDIO/CASE connections. Thanks for making the first contact with the board a pain.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

FDD ports have been removed for a long long time and this was not the first motherboard without it.
It's a common sense to use IDE mode for WinXP unless you are expert enough to know how to integrate the AHCI driver onto your XP cab.
However, the con should not be justified as a con toward this product.

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with our tech support team directly at 626.271.1004 for assistance during regular business hours from M to F, 9am to 6pm Pacific Time.
Or you can email us at usreview@msi.com, thank you.

Best Regards,
MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com

Pros: -click bios
-good value
-hdmi

Cons: -the overclocking is kind of limited in the bios

Other Thoughts: good value but overclocking could be better but for 50 bucks its a good buy

Pros: FM2 support, Price, solid capacitors.

Cons: Not a very good overclocker, doesn't recognize my 1866mhz ram.

Other Thoughts: Just wanted to do some MILD overclocking, seems I have to practically overclock it to get it to see my ram at the correct speed (without success). Auto overclock (OC Genie II) sent this mobo into shock a few times, had to clear the CMOS on several occasions. In short, just install it, and leave it, don't play around with the settings too much, or overclock it or you'll be calling it daddy before the night is up!!!!!

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the issues that you are having with this product.
DDR3-1866MHz is the highest speed by FM2 processors and our BIOS offers the memory frequency adjustment, and even though this function is located under Overclocking menu but it's not really overclocking.
Additionally, your memory needs to be JEDEC-compliant in order to run at 1866MHz without any adjustment in the Overclocking section.

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with our tech support team directly at 626.271.1004 for assistance during regular business hours from M to F, 9am to 6pm Pacific Time.
Or you can email us at usreview@msi.com, thank you.

Best Regards,
MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com

Pros: Cheap and small, a very basic board.

Cons: I guess the cons are that its really cheap and basic. I built this for a really cheap living room pc, just to download and play tv shows and for streaming. I wish it had surround sound capability besides hdmi, like optical or digital out. Or, more rear Usb ports for an external sound card at least. Besides that its ok, but its beyond bare bones. It does work though, besides that.

Other Thoughts: My problems with it are mainly that i made the wrong choice, but its cost made it hard to say no.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the issues that you are having with this product.
Even though this product is entry-level but we always provide active support for it, see below for the latest BIOS vA.5.
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/FM2-A55M-E33.html#/?div=BIOS

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with our tech support team directly at 626.271.1004 for assistance during regular business hours from M to F, 9am to 6pm Pacific Time.
Or you can email us at usreview@msi.com, thank you.

Best Regards,
MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com

Pros: Good price. Just needed a simple mobo for a netflix and movie downloader/player machine. It does its job and works perfectly fine in that aspect

Cons: The problem was that while the construction of the mobo was good the stand offs and screws it came with were very bad. The threads did not mesh properly. I took off 2 eggs for this because most other people don't have a stockpile of parts like i do and i was able to just use some other stand offs and screws i had around. Don't cheap out on the little things MSI. I can't recommend this mobo because of that.

Other Thoughts: I have a Z77 motherboard and a GTX Lightning which i love both to death. Usually MSI is really good. Don't let this deter you from other MSI products.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the issues that you are having with this product.
This is clearly an installation issue since you needed to correct screw with the standoffs.
For your information, all motherboard manufacturers do not supply any chassis accessories such as screws and standoffs which are in fact supplied by your chassis manufacturer.
All mounting holes on the motherboards are standard design which cannot be misaligned.

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with our tech support team directly at 626.271.1004 for assistance during regular business hours from M to F, 9am to 6pm Pacific Time.
Or you can email us at usreview@msi.com, thank you.

Best Regards,
MSI Review Team | usreview@msi.com

Pros: Reliable
Has HDMI
Supports 1866 MHz RAM
Cheap

Cons: Only has 1 fan plugin

Other Thoughts: Good bang for buck