Introduction

When MSI announced the use of the LucidLogix Hydra chip for their Intel P55 series boards it created quite a stir. People thought that this would be the death of the SLI and Crossfire wars. But there was also controversy, as the first retail motherboard to support it was delayed and even the demos shown at CES had some glitches that needed to be sorted out.

Even the results from the market were mixed. Some said it was great, while others did not feel the same. Still, the product was in the market and selling. But again, it was for the Intel side of the house and AMD fans were still stuck with nothing but Crossfire as a multi-GPU option. At least that was the case until this month; MSI has announced their $139.99 (at Newegg) 870A Fuzion motherboard. This board is the first board to allow for a dual NVIDIA option on an AMD based platform. Will this new addition to the AMD market bring in the gamers? It certainly has a great price point; now we hope to find out about its performance, but not all in one spot.

Today we are going to look at the board itself and what it brings to the table without Fuzion. So let's dive in and see what MSI has given you to build your first dual NVIDIA GPU system with an AMD Phenom II x6 at the wheel.