MSI FM2-A75IA-E53 FM2 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX AMD Motherboard

Pros: Works, good amount of bios options that allow you to enable/disable individual hardware, including wireless LAN and bluetooth. I haven't run across these options until this board, but this is also my first UEFI BIOS.

Cons: I initially ran into freezing issues when trying to save in BIOS. I got around this by hitting F10 instead of trying to click on the "save and exit" option. It would be nice if MSI allowed sysfan speeds to change based on motherboard temperatures, instead of only allowing for a fixed speed. This is worth taking off an egg in my opinion.

Other Thoughts: Many people have mentioned that the CPU runs at full load in BIOS. This is true of every AMD board I have owned, and I don't think it is a "BIOS bug", but just the way AMD hardware behaves. I have seen this on AM3 processors with 790FX and 880G northbridges as well.

Pros: Very small, USB 3.0, built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, good UEFI BIOS. There's a lot to like about this board.

Cons: Extremely small. If you're looking to add a lot to your machine, don't get a mini-ITX, period. It does have that cooling problem while in the BIOS that others have described, but you don't exactly sit in the BIOS for a long time, do you?

Other Thoughts: I bought this for a mid-low end desktop replacement casemod. I've got it stuffed into a Barbie Beetle right now for my wife and it works perfectly. I know most people use it for HTPC builds, but it's been a great desktop replacement so far.

Pros: - I don't use WiFi or Bluetooth, but it's nice to have it if needed. WiFi speed tested fine.
- HDMI out
- Support for 1866 RAM although I had to manually set the timings to get it to recognize it at full speed. Using G.SKILL Sniper Series (F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR)
- ClickBIOS is cool
- Initially was way too loud because the fans were running at 100% all the time. Once I adjusted the Smart Fan Control in the BIOS settings, the computer is barely audible while idle.
- USB 3.0

Cons: - No DVI out
- The RAM slots are very close to the CPU slot although I was still able to fit a Coolermaster 212 heatsink, there's only about 2cm of clearance from the RAM to the heatsink. I wish the RAM slots and SATA ports/headers had each others positions on the board.
- The WiFi antenna seems a bit flimsy, but the magnet mounts they put on them were a nice touch.

Other Thoughts: The first one I received was DOA and wouldn't POST. MSI sent me a refurbished replacement which made me nervous at first, but I've had no issues with it thus far including none of the HDMI issues, power management issues, and issues with restarting mentioned in some of these reviews. I'm running firmware rev 1.3

Pros: - Built in WiFi
- Built in Bluetooth
- SATA 3 support
- USB 3.0 Support
- HDMI Output (Issues, see below)
- SPDIF Optical Audio Output

Cons: - This board supports newer FM2 socket APUs, but uses the old A75 chipset (introduced with FM1) instead of the A85 which has normally been paired with FM2 APUs. I knew this before buying, but still...it doesn't make sense.

- The RAM slots are very close to the processor socket. You may have clearance issues with larger CPU coolers. Check your dimensions!

- RAM Slots are not your average double-clasp style. A single clasp design; You have to wedge in one side, and press down on the other side to lock in to place. You literally are pressing down on the RAM notch/bump at an angle, causing some major seating frustration. (Took me over ten minutes to get both sticks seated, and yes...I was using compatible RAM.)

- The stock BIOS kept locking up each time I was trying to "Save and Quit." This issue resolved itself after a day...don't know what caused the issue, or what fixed the issue.

- The board has issues with restarting. Regardless of how a restart is initiated (by BIOS option, by OS option, or by physically hitting the reset button on my case) the board will power cycle but then fail to post. Regular power off / power on works fine.

-On board HDMI audio output cuts out intermittently. I'm truly upset about this issue, as I used this board for an HTPC build. I ended up using the optical SPDIF output. Still, I'd like to use one cord, not two.

Other Thoughts: I haven't, and will not be overclocking on this board. Neither enough room to install a nice CPU cooler, nor do I have the need (Its just an HTPC, not a gaming rig.)

Pros: Wifi
Bluetooth
USB 3.0
SATA III 6 Gb/s
Overclocks ram well (2133 MHz @ 1.65v 9-11-10-28-2T)
Came with an extender for the wifi antenna
OC Fail settings - Tell it when to revert to stock after OC Failure

Cons: Bios has a serious heat bug/problem, causes the system to run at full load in the bios (Verified with a kill a watt meter, the bios pulls 145 watts from the wall, same as the OS under a stress test). Temperatures in the bios reached 60 Celsius in the bios and only went down slightly after getting an aftermarket cooler (Both coolers with the CPU fan at 100%). Contacted MSI about this and they said the next update would fix it, it didn't.

Claims to have a bunch of overclocking options but in reality without voltage control it doesn’t, as seen by a simple 100 MHz OC failing (Only the memory and the GPU will actually overclock) The GPU also does not have voltage control.

Every so often the system wouldn't post or show anything on the screen when turned on, only fixed by holding the power button and turning it back on again. Pulling the plug and plugging it back in only repeated the problem.

The CMOS battery configuration is terrible, it's harder to replace and quite difficult to remove and plug back it. They should've used a vertical CMOS battery holder like other mITX boards use.

The wifi antenna connection is very cheap and falls off very easily.

The live update software is quite bad.

Other Thoughts: This was my first MSI board and after all of this, it's my last.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the issues that you are having with this product.
This board is a mini ITX board therefore its overclocking potential is definitely limited compared to ATX form factor boards.
Try and use the standard non OC settings for awhile and see if the system would still have that intermittent no POST issue.
Please kindly contact us at usreview@msi.com with more details on the bugs and we can check it out other to see if we can patch them.

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: Extremely small. Well laid out. Built in wifi / bluetooth.

Cons: Extremely small!!! But that's not the devices fault, in fact its supposed to be. But it can be difficult to get it all connected with it being so small.

Other Thoughts: I put this in a very small Apex case and the cpu fan is unfortunately partially blocked by the PSU. If building within a tight case, consider budgeting a corsair or cooler master water cooled heatsink device so you don't have to worry about the CPU's air flow. They can be picked up for around $60.

Pros: integrated wifi
integrated bluetooth
eSATA
mini-itx FM2 AMD (not many available)
USB 2.0 and 3.0
When it was working it was pretty solid.

Cons: video was unreliable. Could not guarantee getting anything to display on bootup. Fails to post some of the time. From a cold start the EFI menu showed the CPU and system board at 40C and continued climbing to above 60C. lm-sensors under Linux reported a more realistic 33C. Sending this one back. I really had high hopes for this one.

Other Thoughts: Bought this board for a new Linux home server. The specs are great and everything worked with Ubuntu 12.04 out of the box. Unfortunately, it was too unstable/unpredictable to continue using.

Pros: This is a great board, has a good layout with lots of room for a CPU cooler. I put an H80I on it without any problems. USB plugs are in a better place than the Asrock boards. Bios is easy to use and MSI software is great

Cons: None so far

Pros: Wifi, bluetooth, USB 3.0, HDMI, Optical out

Cons: Not an A85. Could use 1 more fan connector

Other Thoughts: I'm very pleased with this board. Was kind of shocked when I saw just how small it really is. Yeah, its an mITX, but it was my first experience with one. I'm sold.

Got this for a budget HTPC build and its easily the most expensive piece of hardware in the entire system. I've been building my own, family, and friends' PC's for a few years now, and while this wasn't the easiest board to work with its definetly been the most rewarding. Any issues I had while putting this together were do the size of the form factor and the restrictions of the case - coupled with never having used an mITX board before this.

I was looking at this and the A85 AsRock board and what ultimately made me settle on this was the built in WiFi and the bluetooth. Plus it was a little cheaper, when trying to keep everything under 300 a few bucks here on the board and a few saved on the wifi makes a decent dent in the total cost. I would recommend this to anyone in the same situation.

Pros: An excellent buy for an APU mini ITX form factor: compact size, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, easy to use BIOS interface, good for the money. My Hyper 212 evo fits barely over the ram and has room for a xfired Sapphire HD 6670 Ultimate DDR5

Cons: none so far, wish there were more mobo options for ITX though