The package bundle is pretty nice, nothing necessary is missing, besides, there is a couple of pleasing trifles in it. I think you will agree that it is very nice to have a bracket for the rear case panel, two SerialATA cables a FDD cable and a round UltraATA cable and two user’s manuals: one for the mainboard and one for the SerialATA controller integrated on it, and a CD-disk with the drivers and additional software. Also, there is a panel with the USB ports on it and a D-LED diagnostic system, with the explanations for all LED combinations listed in the user’s manual. One of the USB ports is covered with a film warning that you shouldn’t use it when the Bluetooth-module is used: “do not remove when using Bluetooth”. This whole thing is called D-Bracket 2. Besides, the package also includes a sound panel for the case rear called S-Bracket, which features S/PDIF and additional audio outputs. I am going to talk more about it later in this review.

At first let’s have a look at the mainboard ports panel:

As we see, there is nothing strange there, only except 4 USB ports instead of traditional two on other mainboards. I think this is a very smart solution, because devices with USB interface get more and more popular today. That is why 2 USB ports are very often insufficient for the users’ needs. And taking into account the additional panel with USB-ports included into the mainboard package we get the total of 6 USB ports, which is a definite advantage of this product.

As for other mainboard features, we could hardly call them remarkable or rich especially from the today’s point of view. First of all, we were very upset to see not integrated network onboard, especially since only a lazy manufacturer doesn’t integrate network onto his products today. Even the reference SiS746FX mainboard, which we will also use in our comparative testing today, features onboard LAN. Maybe MSI wanted to make this solution as inexpensive as possible, as the additional Ethernet controller costs some money. However, if this is the case, then I can’t understand why they integrated the Bluetooth controller, which is also not a free piece of hardware. And to tell the truth, I doubt that Bluetooth is more demanded today than Ethernet.

As I have already said, the mainboard we are reviewing today has no FireWire controller. This MSI’s move certainly makes a lot of sense, because peripheral devices with FireWire interface are pretty expensive and those users who have enough money to afford them, will definitely be able to get a more sophisticated mainboard.