Packaging & Accessories:3 out of 5
MSI has covered off all the bases with the 970 SLI Krait, and while nothing stands out as being excellent, neither does anything standout out for being sub optimal. Basically it’s an inexpensive motherboard and comes with an accessory list to match its rock bottom price.
Layout & Aesthetics: 14 out of 15
Honestly this motherboard looks better than some boards that cost two and even three times as much. Mix in a good layout to the PCIe slots and MSI did get it mostly right. Sadly having two of the SATA ports be the old, old school vertical style was disappointing. This and a few other missteps keep the KRAIT from scoring even higher.
Build Quality & Warranty: 15 out of 20
MSI has given this board a three warranty and that is pretty typical for motherboards today – i.e. nothing great, nothing terrible. The build quality is also decent, but with few noteworthy issues. The largest of which is the power delivery subsystem. Yes this is an inexpensive motherboard, and yes it does use Dark Chokes and Dark Caps…but at its heart it is an Analog controlled design that has only 4+1 phases and uses ‘old school’ separate high side / low side MOSFETS. AMD CPU’s are power hungry and an analog 4+1 phase VRM does limit the overclocking abilities of this KRAIT.
BIOS & Software: 17 out of 20
Considering this board is so inexpensive we really have little to complain about on the BIOS and software side of the equation. Honestly this BIOS may not be comparable to say a MPOWER or XPOWER, but it is bloody good for boards costing under $100!
Special Features: 15 out of 20
The main claim to fame of this motherboard is its USB 3.1 abilities, its SLI & Crossfire friendly PCIe layout, and its anemic asking price. Counter-balancing these above average features is the fact that its chipsets are ancient and you don’t get x16/x16 SLI abilities. Overall, its hard to get past that low asking price and while you may feel differently we think its ‘special features’ is pretty darn good for its price range.
Value: 17 out of 20
This board is choke full of value. Yes, it is lacking in the chipset department. Yes it is lacking in the overclocking department. Yes it even lacks 16/16 abilities. But none of that really matters much for budget consumers. As we saw this board plus a small cut on the CPU side means you can get monster levels of PC gaming performance, while still getting very reasonable daily performance. That to us is all thanks to the fact that this board is so inexpensive without being cheap.
Final Score: 81 out of 100
This board constantly surprised us and has made us re-evaluate exactly what it takes to be a good value. Outside of certain groups, like overclocking or audio enthusiasts, its blend of features and price are double-take worthy. It does go without saying that if you can afford a $200 motherboard you should, but if you are on a tight budget it plus a small cut on the CPU allows for one heck of a system.
