We have no complaints about the PCB design of the mainboard except for the position of the 8-pin 12V ATX connector which is not only in the middle of the PCB but also very close to the CPU socket. Well, most of large CPU coolers are going to mount onto this mainboard without any problems.

The Clear CMOS jumper is designed in an unusual way here. MSI engineers replaced it with a small button which makes it easier to reset BIOS settings. It must have been done on purpose – the engineers foresaw that their mainboard would have to be reset often. Strangely enough, the Clear CMOS button is alone on the mainboard. The developers didn’t add Power On and Reset buttons which are so handy for overclockers.

The mainboard’s back panel is quite a traditional view: PS/2 ports for mouse and keyboard, four USB ports, one FireWire port, a LAN port (RJ-45) with diagnostic LEDs, one eSATA port, five analog audio connectors, coaxial and optical SPDIF outputs, and one parallel port.

There are also onboard headers to connect four more USB ports, one FireWire, a COM port, and the D-Led diagnostic system. This system consists of four LEDs that report how the system is passing the POST.