Like most experienced builders when it comes time to buy a motherboard for either a customer’s build or own, we are brand agnostic and use whatever we feel is the best option. This gives us the freedom to choose the best value motherboard that we can trust to stake our reputation on. Because it is our reputation on the line we are extremely picky and conservative in what boards we trust.
At the value end of the spectrum we expect there to be issues with motherboards – as price is the prime consideration. However, that doesn’t mean we will tolerate utter garbage either, as there is a massive difference between being ‘low cost’ and being ‘cheap’. While the MSI 970 SLI KRAIT edition may be inexpensive we would never call it a cheap board. In fact the MSI 970A SLI KRAIT Edition is a pretty good value board that we could easily see using in future low cost builds. Please do not get us wrong, this motherboard is certainly no XPower in the overclocking department, nor is it a MPower in the list of included features, it is not even a Gaming board in the components MSI has used; rather this is a decent board with some very nice features at a very, very reasonable price.
As we saw throughout testing the SLI Krait does make sense for entry level builds as the difference in price between it and the next step up is nearly the difference in price between an 8320e and an 8350 processor. More importantly, the combination of MSI 970 SLI Krait plus AMD 8320e allows consumers the luxury of getting even more gaming horsepower without increasing their budget nor making any large sacrifices in performance. In fact we think the SLI Krait is tailor made for 95w TDP processors like the AMD 8320e, and mid-level video cards like the R9 280X and GeForce GTX 960.
Please do not get us wrong, it is not perfect, it is not without flaws, but overall it’s a good board at a great price. The reason MSI was able to do this is they have basically taken their already great value 970 Gaming motherboard, swapped out a few higher priced components for more value orientated versions, included USB 3.1 support and used a different color scheme. Considering the 970 Gaming clocks in at about $110 whereas the 970 SLI Krait costs only $80 the question becomes whether or not saving thirty dollars and gaining USB 3.1 is worth the loss of the ALC1150 codec, KillerNIC, and lower-end VRM.
On the surface a 5+1 power subsystem is a touch on the low side for power hungry AMD CPUs but once again when paired with reasonable TDP processors like the FX-8320e we don’t see it being much of a problem. If you plan on heavy overclocking obviously the 970 SLI KRAIT is not optimal for your needs as it is not meant for anything beyond basic overclocking. Given the price difference and intended customer we don’t think this is an issue. The same goes for loss of the KillerNIC – as we would never choose one board over the other because of it.
For most consumers the only real loss is the ALC1150 controller. Put simply this is easily one of the best onboard ‘soundcard’ controllers you can buy – and why it is found on motherboards that cost a lot more than what the MSI 970 KRAIT cost. This is not to say the ALC887 is bad per say, rather it is just not as good as what the MSI 970 Gaming comes with. On the positive side the onboard sound controller is still electronically separated from the rest of the motherboard and will provide sound quality that rivals what came with top of the line motherboards from two years ago. Personally we think USB 3.1 more than makes up for this tradeoff but it would come down to case by case scenarios on which way we would go.
As long as you are aware of these issues and your particular criteria match the SLI KRAIT’s strong suit the end result will be one heck of a good gaming and general purpose system that will not cost you a fortune. Honestly, when paired with two 960 video cards and a FX-8320E the 970 SLI KRAIT will provide you with years of gaming enjoyment without breaking the bank.
