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MSI 865PE Neo2-PLS (2004)
August 18, 2004 |
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I Love my MSI |
Rating:
90%
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| by: ReverendXero ( February 05, 2005 ) |
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Experience: 7 Months - 1 Year | » Pros | | |
Neat-o brite colors make setup a snap and window case ready.
Memory slots and such placed with fore-thought and not in the way of eachother.
D.O.T./PAT makes this thing rumble past even most i875 boards.
BIOS options rule (v3.7 at time of posting)
comes with round IDE cables, SATA cables, and plethora of other goodies.
for $125.00 US or less? SICK!
| » Cons | | |
No Raid.
I wish Core Cell would quit screeming saying that my CPU fan was spinning to slowly...It is spinning fine says Speed Fan. Grrrrrr. **Update** Set this to user mode and adjust to suit.
I wish the intel Gigabitpro 10/100/1000 integrated Ethernet adapter had made the evolution from the 845PE Neo2. I don't care much for RealTek.
***UPDATE***
Fried the Board on Jan. 28 2005 after adding a Prescott core chip.
Theory: I ran the board at 533MHz FSB for a long time, I then jumped it up to the 800MHz FSB and boom. I am thinking that the IC's in the chipset had been "tempered", and after the frequency increse, things started snapping in there.
| » Review | | |
This thing is blistering fast.
My rig-
Gainward Geforce 6800Ultra/2600 (Read my review on that too!)
P4 3.06"B"Ghz HT Enabled @3.22Ghz* under load
This Motherboard (MSI 865PE NEO2-PLS)
1024MB DDR400 @ 333* (In Dual-Channel 2x512)
WD 120GB IDE HD 8MB cache 7200rpm
I/O Magic DVD+/-RW
Creative Sound Blaster Live 5.1
WinXP Pro SP2
3dMARK05: 4118 (Shareware)
3dMARK03: 12029 (Shareware)
3dMARK01: 17105 (Shareware)
Doom3 Demo1 1280x1024 High textures 4xaa 8xaf: 64.9 fps
Has SATA support (2 ports) so SATA users will get even more performance than me!
Has default BIOS options for up to DDR533!
I haven't seen hardware sites review MSI boards as much since the 845PE MAX2, when D.O.T. arrived.
* D.O.T. or Dynamic Overclocking Technology *
This little feature in the BIOS is pretty sweet. I have mine set to Captain, the top end being Colonel. When the processor hits 100% load, the D.O.T. will start to overclock the processor to the limit of the selected level. Colonel being somewhere around a default 15% OC. I haven't been that brave.
BIOS Options are pretty granular. AGP, CPU/FSB , Memory, Voltage can all be set independently or linked. I am seeing better scores on my rig than I am seeing on most i875P based boards. For half the price. Live Update program can update BIOS from Windows. No floppy required.
This board can support Northwood and Prescott cores up to the highest processor speeds made for the Socket478 which I think is 3.6Ghz including the EE. 400/533/800 FSB supported by default.
Every MSI mobo I have used has performed 100% out of the box... The first time. The boards come with a nifty little toy called an S-Bracket. This is a little slot plate that contains USB/Firewire ports as well as 4 LED lights that can be used to diagnose any hardware related problems. The paterns are explained in the manual. I have never had to consult said chapter in said manual. Also comes with the full array of cables, IDE(Round/Wrapprd), Floppy, and SATA.
Integrated Digital Audio port as well as onboard sound (5.1 from what I've read, and 7.1 capable).
-5% for the use of the RealTek Ethernet.
-5% for no raid (on mine at least).
This board is like a kick ass sundae with nutz but no whipped cream and no cherry. |
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90%
