X-bit labs

MSI to Sell AMD Athlon XP, AMD Athlon 64 Based Barebones.

Category: Mobile

by Anton Shilov

[ 12/05/2003 | 04:55 AM ]

Despite of being announced, MSI MEGA 400 PC barebone for AMD Athlon XP microprocessors has never made it into the market. Micro Star International is currently selling small form-factor personal computers for Intel Pentium 4 processors, but, as a report from an Asian media suggests, next year the company may offer barebones for AMD’s 32-bit and 64-bit microprocessors.

According to DigiTimes, MSI’s MEGA 180, currently on display at the IT Month exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, is a combination of PC, stereo, MP3 player and DVD/VCD player. The new barebone from MSI is powered by an NVIDIA nForce2 chipset. Additionally, the company offers a remote control, speakers, wireless mouse and keyboard and an AM/FM antenna specially crafted for the MEGA PC. The novelty will be available in January at $380 price-point.

MSI’s MEGA 400 – a product that has never been available widely – was based on VIA KM400, supported AMD Athlon XP CPUs, up to 2GB of PC2100, PC2700 or PC3200 memory, had integrated graphics core, 5.1 integrated audio-solution, 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet, 6 USB 2.0 ports, 1 PCI, an AGP 8x slot and was meant to be equipped with 200W power supply.

In the Q2 2004 MSI is said to release its barebone for AMD’s 64-bit Athlon 64 CPUs. There are no details about the product at this time.

In an attempt to sell more barebones, MSI supplied them to some of its OEM customers, who then resold the product under their brands. No surprise that the majority of OEMs preferred barebones for Intel processors, while products for AMD chips vanished into oblivion.

The market of SFF barebones is growing, but not too rapidly to satisfy the manufacturers of such products. In fact, adding more options into the lineup may indicate MSI’s plans to expand its presence in the market. Given MSI’s cautious attitude towards barebones this year, its intentions are serious enough and do have ground.