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MSI 975X Platinum Review
[Abstract]
IntroductionAbout a month ago, we took a good look at the Gigabyte GA-GI975X motherboard, boasting an elaborate cooling solution. More importantly, it was one of the first motherboards out in v...
[Content] PCDigitalMobileGame
Introduction
About a month ago, we took a good look at the Gigabyte GA-GI975X motherboard, boasting an elaborate cooling solution. More importantly, it was one of the first motherboards out in volume to feature Intel's 975X Express chipset. Although the chipset was more or less clandestinely launched, it marked Intel's official foray into the world of dual graphics technology and awarded Intel fans who have waited long and hard for such chipset support. For those requiring a little recap, the Intel 975X Express is a minor refresh of the enthusiast-level 955X Express chipset that enables configurable PCI Express lanes so that it can properly work in dual PCI Express x8 mode. However, since NVIDIA refuses to allow SLI operation on all but their own chipsets, this is good news for ATI fans as they now more or less have an exclusive chipset for the CrossFire platform with system performance that can be banked on.
Today, we'll have the opportunity to review another 975X Express based motherboard, this time around, it is MSI's 975X Platinum. Unlike Gigabyte's fancy approach, the 975X Platinum is a more down to earth motherboard. While you may not notice much of a difference up from its predecessor (MSI 955X Platinum), there is enough cause to get excited about. Before we begin though, note that the board we received from MSI looked like a retail PCB. However, it was still running on a beta BIOS revision. The board also arrived in a bare box without any packaging, so the peripheral bundle listed below is based on information gleamed from MSI's website and may change in the retail box packaging.
The MSI 975X Platinum motherboard. |
MSI 975X Platinum bundled accessories:-
2 x SATA data cables
1 x SATA power converter cable (dual plugs)
1 x rounded 80-conductor Ultra ATA data cable
1 x rounded floppy drive data cable
IEEE 1394a (2 ports) bracket
USB 2.0 (2 ports) and MSI D-Bracket 2
I/O shield
Driver CD
Quick user's guide
MSI 975X Platinum Technical Specifications
| CPU Support | - Supports 90nm LGA775processor package
- Supports Intel PentiumProcessor Extreme Edition
- Supports Intel PentiumD Smithfield processors
- Supports Intel Pentium4 / Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors
- Intel Hyper-ThreadingTechnology ready
| | Chipset | - Northbridge: Intel975X Express
- 800 /1066MHz front side bus
- PCI Express x16graphics
- Southbridge: IntelICH7R
- Intel HighDefinition Audio
- Supports six PCI Express x1 lanes
- Supports up toeight USB 2.0 ports
- Supports four SATAII ports (with RAID 0 and 1capabilities)
- Single-channelUltra ATA-100 IDE port
| | Memory | - Supports fourunbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 SDRAM
- Supports DDR2-677/533 dual channel memory architecture
| | Storage | - Intel ICH7R Southbridge
- 1?x Ultra ATA33/66/100 (data transfer rate up to100MB/sec.)
- 4 x SATA II(Serial ATA II 3.0Gbps interface)
- Intel Matrix Storage Technology
- Supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5
- JMicron JMB361 PCIe storage controller
- 1?x Ultra ATA33/66/100/133 (data transfer rate up to133MB/sec.)
- 1 x SATA II (Serial ATA II 3.0Gbps interface)
| | Audio | - Intel High Definition Audio (Azalia)
- Realtek ALC883 HD Audio CODEC
- Coaxial, Optical S/PDIF out
| | Networking | - Broadcom BCM5751PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
| | IEEE 1394 (FireWire) | - VIA Networking VT6308P FireWire controller
- 2 x 1394a ports @ 400 Mbps speed
| | I/O Interface | - 1 x Floppy connector
- 2?x Ultra ATA IDE connectors
- 5?x SATA connectors
- 8?x USB 2.0 ports (4 x rear, 2 x header, 2x bracket)
- 2?x IEEE 1394a ports (1 x rear, 1 x bracket)
- 1?x RJ45 LAN port
- 1 x Optical S/PDIF Output
- 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output
- 8-Channel Audio I/O ports
- 1 x CD-IN
- 1 x 9-pin serial port
- 1 x parallel port (SPP/EPP/ECP)
| | Expansion Slots | - 2?x PCIe x16 slots,PCI Express Bus specification v1.0acompliant
- 2?x PCIe x1 slots, PCIExpress Bus specification v1.0acompliant
- 2?x 32-bit PCI slots,PCI 2.3 compliant
| | Special Features | - MSI CoreCell
- MSI D.O.T. Express
- MSI Live Update 3
| | PCB | - ATX Form Factor, 12"x9.6"(30.5cm x 24.4cm)
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Rear I/O featuring PS/2 keyboard and mouse, Parallel and Serial ports, with USB, FireWire, LAN and analog plus digital audio output. |
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