AMD's latest chipset gets a premium makeover from the team at MSI. AMD's release of the Kaveri-based Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) has given motherboard manufacturers license to promote a range of FM2+ boards. This new socket, which remains backwards compatible with FM2, is the ideal, and only, candidate for the new slew of APUs using Steamroller cores and GCN graphics. Got a 7-series APU? You'll need an FM2+ board.

Headlining the FM2+ socket is the A88X chipset, and MSI takes it on with eight motherboards that, between them, use full-ATX, micro-ATX and mini-ITX form factors. The best of the bunch is the A88X-G45 Gaming board that's due in retail in a few days priced at £95. The UK market will receive the special edition bundle that includes Assassin's Creed Liberation HD, which is worth up to £15 on its own.