X-bit labs

Review of MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R Mainboard on i875P Chipset (page 2)

Category: Mainboards

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 06/12/2003 | 01:21 PM ]

Closer Look

First of all, MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R is targeted at any demanding user who wants to build an up-to-date system based on a high-end Intel processor. Of course, such a product must support all modern processors and memory types as well as a number of interfaces and protocols for connection of external devices and equipment.

As for CPUs, you can install any Socket 478 processor into MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R. This mainboard supports CPU buses working at 400, 533 and 800MHz frequencies and Hyper-Threading technology. It is interesting that Intel doesn’t list the support of the older 400MHz bus in the i875P specifications. But as we see, the reason lies in marketing rather than technological realm: a new and expensive chipset just shouldn’t support old and cheap processors. However, MSI took the responsibility to implement this support in its MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R. Although this mainboard will surely accommodate Prescott processors coming out in the fall, it is also friendly to older CPUs on the Willamette core and with 400MHz bus, which are incompatible with the new VRM 10 power supply circuit, according to Intel.

Like any i875P- and even i865-based mainboard, MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R supports up to 4GB of dual-channel DDR SDRAM. DDR266 and DDR333 can be used with 133MHz FSB, while DDR400 is for 200MHz FSB only. there are four DIMM slots onboard: two slots for each memory channel. So, if you want to work in the dual-channel mode, install the modules in pairs (one pair or two pairs). In this case, the modules must have the same capacity and the same number of banks. It is not necessary that you use identical memory modules, but if this is the case, the memory timings are set according to the slowest module. Of course, you can hit the maximum performance only when using identical modules.

Single-channel memory configuration is also available, but the memory subsystem will work slower in this mode, of course.

Graphics companies should rejoice: the new chipsets of the i865 and i875 families bring AGP 8x support into mass mainboards. MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R, of course, supports this graphics interface, too. We should note however that modern graphics cards don’t actually lose in speed when they work in AGP 4x mode. Moreover, the AGP 8x interface will probably have a short lifetime, being a makeshift until the arrival of PCI Express. This is going to happen somewhere in the middle of the next year.

One more nice feature of MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R is a gigabit network controller. It is implemented via Intel PRO/1000CT Gigabit LAN (Intel 82547) chip. It means the network controller is connected to the North Bridge via a dedicated CSA bus with a bandwidth of 2Gbit rather than to the South Bridge across the PCI bus. Thus, the integrated network of this mainboard will work faster than PCI analogs and the PCI bus itself will be less cramped.