Question 1

Will this mb be compatible with a x4 860k?

Accepted Answer

You should have no problems with that except you will have to add a video card because of the fact that the x4 does not have a gpu built in to support the on board video

Question 2

Which two dimm slots do I need to use for dual-channel if I am installing 2 8gb sticks?  Does it matter?

Accepted Answer

To do dual channel put a stick in one slot then skip a slot and then insert another. So basically 1 and 3 are a dual channel and 2 and 4 are a dual channel. Sucks cause they don't explain this anywhere. Hope that answers your question

Question 3

what would be a good processor for this board?

Accepted Answer

Any AMD A10 or A8 will be good, depends on your needs really, if its high performance, go with the A10-7870k, or if you dont want to spend that much money the A10-5800k is still pretty good and less than 100 dlls

Question 4

Some A78 chipsets need a BIOS update before using the Kaveri processors... will this work with a Kaveri OOB, or does this motherboard need the BIOS update?

Accepted Answer

I but the same motherboard with AMD A10-7850K Kaveri and work find without updating the Bios .

Question 5

Does this have bluetooth ability?

Accepted Answer

No bluethooth, this is a entry level board, not many bells and whistles. However, Bluethooth adapters are quite cheap and are very easy to use with Windows 10.

Question 6

Can you RAID all 6 of the sata ports into a RAID 10?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Sata 1 thru 6 support RAID 0/1/10

Question 7

I see on this website it says the board can run 2 x8 pci-e slots and the manufacturers website says the second x16 slot is only wired for x4. So how can you run 2 x8 if one is x4 and one is x16? Doesn't make one bit of sense at all...

Accepted Answer

Not sure what your asking on the A78M-E45 V2  Slots, i copied this from the msi support page

• 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot* (PCI_E1 supports up to x16 speed)
• 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slot (PCI_E3 supports up to x4 speed)
• 1 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slot
• 1 x PCI slot
* Only FM2+ processors can support PCIe 3.0

Question 8

Would this mobo support crossfirex? I want to use 2  MSI Radeon R7 370 4GB.

Accepted Answer

I haven't tried it myself; though the description on MSI's website says it ought to.

Question 9

I haven't built a PC from parts in 20 years so excuse the level of ignorance in this question...  I'm not a gamer but want to use this motherboard to build a platform for learning about high-performance GPU programming (not graphics).  I would like to start out with one mid-level GPU and add another later.  Is there anything about the integrated GPU in the APU that would prevent this?  Any recommendations for a mid-level CPU to stick on this board for the purpose I describe?  (In case it isn't clear, I'm not interested in raw performance.  I want to write CUDA and OpenCL code and try different algorithms on the GPU(s).  In other words, it will be a tool for learning.)

Accepted Answer

You could start with a high-level A6 or a low-end A8. That's what I would do in your situation.

Question 10

is the A78 chipset also used on the AM3+ platform?
what exactly does the chipset do?

Accepted Answer

no, not the same chipset. Basically the chipset is the traffic cop for everything that moves thru the MB. In this case, in that the GPU is on the CPU, it acts as a Northbridge for graphics, etc, as that is no longer needed. Better bandwidth and through-put than the GPU being separate on the Northbridge. Eliminates the bottle neck there. There is more to it, but not worth several paragraphs more to explain it.

Questions & Answers