Onboard Video Tests

We did not discuss the graphics in great detail, but the MSI K9AGM2-FIH uses the ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 GPU. The GPU is essentially an upgraded X700 in order to fully support Vista. The core clock is 400MHz and as explained in the BIOS area, up to 1GB of system memory could be used for the video.

Image quality of the Xpress 1250 graphics controller is very good using the VGA interface, despite being an analog connection. We were effectively able to work at 1920x1200 without any issues and image quality was very solid. Colours were well saturated and the standard sized Segue font was legible. We connected the MSI HDMI cable to an adapter (since we did not have such a connection on our Hitachi wide screen TV) and fired up Windows Media Center.

The TV itself was limited to 1080i or 720p, so we were unable to test the full potential of the interface. Blu-Ray and HD DVD for desktop PC's are not in big supply, so we may revisit this as soon as we can.

Games look nice with the Xpress 1250 graphics controller, and you will be able to enable effects in most games you fire up. However, expect to pay the price. The Xpress 1250 is not something we would recommend for any game post-2005, even at relatively low resolutions. Here's some numbers comparing the AMD 690G to the GeForce 6150 at 640x480 at maximum details.

	Doom 3	Far Cry	UT2004 - BM
MSI K9AGM2-FIH	17.5	24.90	81.73
MSI C51PV	17.9	30.94	91.77

Unreal Tournament 2004, being the oldest of the three games, is quite playable though the resolution is not the preferred one we like to play at. Doom 3 and Far Cry were simply unplayable unless we turned off all the nicer image quality options.

Final Words

The MSI K9AGM2-FIH motherboard had a good showing from a few areas today, but it is not without some shortcomings. That being said, anyone looking to build a HTPC would be well advised to give the MSI K9AGM2-FIH some consideration. For us, the main selling point is going to be the HDCP supported HDMI interface on the motherboard. This will allow for the best potential image quality provided the display that will be used supports 1080p.

We do think a DVI connection in place of the VGA connection would have been a wiser choice since many recent high definition TV sets have both HDMI and VGA. Furthermore, many wide screen computer monitors also have DVI connections as well. However, the VGA image quality was good and we felt comfortable using it for day-to-day use on our Dell 2407 widescreen display. Having a DVI connection just would have given us more options.

Performance was solid, often flip flopping with the GeForce 6150 equipped MSI C51PV. Synthetic benchmarks favoured NVIDIA slightly, and the application and gaming benchmarks ended in the AMD 690G's favour. The results are not far apart though, but we do give the edge to the MSI K9AGM2-FIH motherboard as it was a little faster in the multimedia benchmarks. It's kind of no surprise the onboard video takes a beating when compared to the discreet video, and the results comparing the 690G and GeForce 6150 when using a dedicated video card were close enough that we don't feel either will have a major edge on the other for gaming.

Noise and heat was not an issue, which is an important factor for HTPC applications. Under full load encoding a DVD compatible file, the chipset itself did not get uncomfortably warm. Stability was never in question, and the MSI K9AGM2-FIH motherboard was rock solid throughout all of our tests over the several weeks we've had working on the board. Using the energy efficient AMD AM2 5000+, the CPU fan never spun up to it's maximum speed. The options in the BIOS allows for adjustments here on how much noise you're prepared to deal with, and in this case, noise was not a problem.

The main issue for most enthusiasts will be the lack of BIOS options for overclocking or fine-tuning the performance. There's very little that can be done in the current BIOS revision to squeeze every little bit out of the motherboard. The intended market is not the hard core gamer though so that has to be taken into account. We think there are a lot of positives with the board such as solid stock performance and very good stability. Currently the HDMI is a rather innovative item on the MSI K9AGM2-FIH motherboard, and the silent (or quiet depending on the rest of the cooling) operation makes it an interesting choice for a HTPC. Just add the key peripherals, such as a TV tuner (plus CPU, hard drive, memory... you get the idea), and you'll be all set.

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