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The arrival of the new chipsets from the i875 and i865 families catalyzed some changes in the mainboard market. These chipsets were launched to unleash the power of the sweetest pair: Pentium 4 processors with 800MHz bus and dual-channel DDR SDRAM memory configuration. No wonder every respectable mainboard maker has already announced new products based on these chipsets. For today, i875/i865 based products have reached adulthood and left all children’s diseases behind as the manufacturers have already eliminated most bugs. So, we are going to announce our own series: reviews of mainboards based on i875 and i865 chipsets.
The first mainboard like that to enter our test lab was MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R. As the name tells, it is based on the most expensive i875P chipset. This mainboard has already appeared in stores, and that is why we decided to review it among the first.
The manufacturer positions MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R as a flagship of their Pentium 4 product line. MSI emphasizes the big number of integrated controllers, extensive overclocking opportunities and rich accessories set. But what can MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R show in practice? Let’s check it out!
Specifications
MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R | |
Supported processors | Intel Pentium 4/Celeron (800/533/400MHz FSB, Hyper-Threading, Socket 478) |
Chipset | Intel 875P |
FSB frequencies | 100-500MHz (with 1MHz increment) |
Overclocking friendly fucntions | Adjustable Vcore, Vmem and Vagp |
Memory | 4 DDR DIMM slots for dual-/single-channel DDR400/DDR333/DDR266 SDRAM |
AGP slot | AGP 8x |
Expansion slots (PCI/ACR/CNR) | 5/0/0 |
USB 2.0 ports | 8 (6 on the back panel) |
IEEE1394 ports | 3 (VIA VT6306 controller) |
ATA-100/133 | 2 ATA-100 channels |
Serial ATA-150 | 2 SerialATA-150 channels (via ICH5R, with RAID support) |
Integrated IDE RAID controller | Promise PDC20378 |
Integrated sound | Six-channel AC97 codec: Analog Devices AD1980 |
Integrated network | Intel PRO/1000CT Gigabit LAN |
Additional features | CoreCell |
BIOS | AMI BIOS 3.31a |
Form-factor | ATX, 305mm x 244mm |
MSI 875P Neo may come in several flavors, differing in availability of some integrated features. So far, we’ve seen two variants of this mainboard:
- MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R (full-feature version);
- MSI 875P Neo-LSR (a version with a 10/100Mbit network controller and without IEEE1394 and additional IDE RAID controllers).
These two variants quite naturally cost different money: the full version costs $190 today, the simpler one - $150. This is a nice fact, considering that the i875P chipset itself costs more than all the integrated stuff (over $50).
The accessories coming with MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R are really numerous:
- CD disk and two floppies with a standard set of drivers and utilities;
- Bundled software CD with Photoshop Album SE, WinDVD 4, WinRip 2, Virtual Drive 7, RestoreIT! 3 and Media Ring;
- Four Serial ATA cables and two power adapters for Serial ATA hard disk drives;
- One round aerodynamic ATA-133 cable;
- FDD cable;
- D-Bracket 2 with a four-LED diagnostic system and a pair of additional USB 2.0 ports;
- Bracket with a coaxial and SPDIF outs;
- Bracket with three IEEE1394 ports;
- User’s manual and RAID-array manual.
