The motherboard has a narrow PCB, but it has no problems with the layout of on-board elements. The only problem it has is the PCIEx16 slot installed too close to memory slots, so access to memory modules will be hampered by a graphics card. Besides, the Clear CMOS jumper as well as overclocking jumpers are also installed inconveniently -- however, you will hardly use them very often. Owners of old expansion cards will be pleased with on-board expansion slots: the motherboard offers 2 x PCIEx1 (you will have to sacrifice one of them if you install a graphics card with a bulky cooler) and 3 x PCI (all of them are accessible).
The power circuit of the board uses some technological solutions from the list of what MSI employs in its products (it's significantly expanded by the launch of the P43/P45 family). But P43 Neo-F is the cheapest model in the series, so the compromise shifts much to the saving side. As a result, the only components that distinguish this product from its competitors are screened ferrite-core coils and polymeric capacitors from the leading Japanese manufacturers -- but only in the most critical circuits (CPU and memory power circuits). The 3-phase switching voltage regulator of a processor incorporates four field-effect transistors per channel, 4 x 470 uF (16 V) and 9 x 820 uF capacitors. The memory circuit contains 7 x 680 uF and 2 x 470 uF capacitors. All of them are polymeric capacitors (from a noname manufacturer). Other circuits use usual electrolytic capacitors mostly made by United Chemi-Con and Panasonic (good companies).
The chipset comes with a weak cooling system, as in ECS P45T-A motherboard based on the P45 chipset: a small aluminum heatsink on the Northbridge (of a strange shape dictated more by artistic design rather than engineering ideas) and a small pin-fin heatsink on the Southbridge. This cooling system copes with its responsibilities well: under maximum load, heatsinks on both bridges grow hot, but they cool quickly when you switch to Windows desktop. During typical office activities they remain barely warm.
MSI has already launched eight motherboards based on Intel P43/P45. So there is nothing surprising about the fact that you can find similar models. Unexpectedly, there are only two P43-based products. The second motherboard belongs to the advanced Neo3 series. What concerns representatives of P45, we've found a nearly identical motherboard -- P45 Neo. Judging by specifications, chipset is its only difference. That is, considering the above-said, it's no different at all. (Well, the P45-based model supports the 1600 MHz bus a tad more "officially").
Motherboard is sized 305x220 mm (narrow ATX), has six-screw mount. The edges are loose, so installing memory modules is not convenient.
System monitoring (Fintek F71882FG, in BIOS Setup and Windows utilities)
- CPU voltage, +3.3 V, +5 V, +12 V
- RPM of two fans
- CPU and board temperatures (by the corresponding embedded sensors)
- Automatic CPU fan speed control depending on temperature. This system is simplified significantly even compared to the usual design in budget motherboards: only CPU fan speed is controlled, you can adjust only the temperature value, when fan speeds up to maximum, and the fan speed before this threshold (at 12,5% steps).
Unfortunately, as it often happens with new products, MSI software for system monitoring and overclocking does not fully support this motherboard yet. So Dual CoreCenter added nothing to the list of BIOS Setup monitoring parameters, and new GreenPower Center refused to work at all. At the same time, we traditionally use SpeedFan for this purpose, and this program offers a much longer list of parameters monitored by the Fintek chip: rotational speed of all three fans (instead of two). Besides this utility added memory voltage, chipset voltage, and +3.3 V Standby. However, some values are far from true, so you have to introduce corrections, which will hopefully be provided by updated proprietary utilities.
Onboard ports, sockets, and connectors
- Socket 775, supports all modern processors for this socket -- Core 2 Duo/Quad/Extreme, Pentium Dual-Core, and Celeron/Dual-Core with FSB operating at 800-1600 MHz (1600 MHz is not officially supported), including models on Wolfdale/Yorkfield cores; the list of processors tested for compatibility is published on the official web site
- 4 x DDR2 SDRAM DIMM (up to 16 GB of DDR2-667/800 w/o ECC; dual-channel mode is supported even if memory slots are not filled symmetrically); the list of certified modules is published on the official web site
- PCIEx16 (PCI-E 2.0), always works in full-speed mode; the list of graphics cards tested for compatibility is published on the official web site
- 2 x PCIEx1
- 3 x PCI
- Power connectors: standard ATX 2.2 (24 pins, you can use a usual 20-pin connector ATX 2.03), and a 4-pin ATX12V connector for a processor
- 1 x FDD
- IDE (Parallel ATA) based on an additional controller for two ATA133 devices
- 6 x chipset-based SATA-II (Serial ATA II) for 6 x SATA300 devices
- 4 connectors for rear panel brackets with 8 x USB
- Connectors for analog audio ins and outs on the front panel
- 1 x CD/DVD audio connector
- Connector for a bracket with S/PDIF-Out
- TPM connector (Trusted Platform Module, checks authenticity of digital signatures and keys and other encryption/security functions)
- Connector for a Chassis Intrusion sensor
- Undocumented SPI connector
- Three fan headers, one of them is a 4-pin header for a CPU fan, which allows to control its fan speed automatically depending on temperature.
Back panel (left to right, blockwise)
 Click for the isometric view
- PS/2 mouse and keyboard
- 1 x COM and 1 x LPT
- 2 x USB
- 2 x USB and 1 x RJ-45 (Gigabit Ethernet)
- Six analog audio jacks (Line-In, Front, Mic-In, Rear, Center/Sub, Side)
Package contents
- Package: an original box of the standard size
- Papers: User's manual for MSI P45/G45/P43 Neo motherboards, quick installation guide, short HDD Backup guide
- Cables: 1 x SATA (with a power converter for one device) and 1 x ATA66
- Rear I/O shield
- CD with drivers for Windows XP and Vista, HDD Backup on a separate boot CD.
The package does not stand out in size or design. But it looks original: a plain carton with small stickers telling about product highlights. This is a part of MSI's general green campaign. In particular, the company uses recycled paper and soybean paint (based on soybean oil instead of refined oil). The bundle is also modest, which can also be considered a plus from the environmental point of view. No unnecessary cables to recycle.
Most manufacturers abandoned attempts to create and bundle general-purpose software long ago. Their software developers are busy with more useful applications for monitoring, overclocking, BIOS updating, etc. These are truly unique programs for certain motherboards or their families. However, in this case the bundle includes HDD Backup -- a simple program to back up and restore HDD partitions. We tried this program and can tell you that it's an unassuming application (both functionally and visually). It's not even close to popular software from Acronis and others. Such programs are usually flashed onto firmware to be invoked during BIOS setup. We don't see any reasons to add HDD Backup to the boot CD.
Integrated controllers
- Audio, based on the 10-channel (7.1+2) HDA codec Realtek ALC888 (modern Mid-End codec), 7.1-ch audio, front line-ins/outs and S/PDIF-Out jacks (the bundle contains no brackets with S/PDIF)
- Gigabit Ethernet, based on Realtek RTL8111C (PCIEx1), supporting 10/100/1000 Mbps
- IDE, based on JMicron JMB368 (PCIEx1) supporting 2 x ATA133 devices, including full support for CD/DVD drives.
The integrated audio quality was tested in 16 bit 44 kHz mode using RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.0 and the Terratec DMX 6fire sound card:
| Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB |
+0.02, -0.04 |
Excellent |
| Noise level, dB (A) |
-92.8 |
Very good |
| Dynamic range, dB (A) |
92.8 |
Very good |
| THD, % |
0.0011 |
Excellent |
| Harmonic distortion + noise, dB(A) |
-83.4 |
Good |
| Intermodulation distortion + noise, % |
0.0075 |
Excellent |
| Channel crosstalk, dB |
-91.2 |
Excellent |
| IMD at 10 kHz, % |
0.0071 |
Excellent |
General performance: Excellent. The 10-channel audio codec ALC888, used in this motherboard, does not possess additional functions to interest home users (for example, DTS or real-time AC-3 encoding to output audio to S/PDIF). However, the analog output offers very good audio quality, which is even higher than the typical level of all modern motherboards with HDA -- the integrated audio system gets a rare excellent mark for this test.
We also want to note that the IDE controller on this motherboard performs very well (modern Intel chipsets lack such controllers in their Southbridges). It had no problems with detecting an optical drive when booting Windows. It allowed to boot up from a CD, etc.
Settings
| With jumpers and buttons |
Clear CMOS jumper |
|
| Overclocking jumpers |
|
| AMI BIOS 2.61 |
Allows to disable specific CPU functions |
+ |
Hyper-Threading, Execute Disable Bit, EIST |
| Memory timings |
+ |
By SPD, CAS Latency Time, DRAM RAS to CAS Delay, DRAM RAS Precharge, Precharge Delay, TWR, TWTR, TRRD, TRTP, TRFC, 1N/2N Memory Timing |
| Memory frequency selection |
+ |
Auto or a multiplier to the FSB frequency: x1.00, x1.20, x1.25, x1.33, x1.50, x1.60, x1.67, x2.00 |
| Peripheral bus frequency control |
+ |
PCI = Default, 37.3, 42 MHz |
| PCI IRQ manual assignment |
- |
|
| FSB frequency setup |
+ |
from the nominal value to 800 MHz at 1 MHz steps, there is an option of dynamic CPU overclocking |
| CPU multiplier |
+ |
only integer values |
| CPU core voltage control |
+ |
Auto, from -0.4000 to +0.7875 V at 0.0125 V steps |
| Memory voltage control |
+ |
Auto, 1.416-3.324 V at 0.012 V steps |
| Chipset voltage control |
+ |
Northbridge: Auto, 0.740-2.624 V at 0.012 V steps
Southbridge: Auto, 1.5-1.8 V at 0.1 V steps |
| FSB voltage control |
+ |
Auto, 0.90-2.47 V at 0.01 V steps |
We used BIOS 1.3 dated 27.06.08, the latest available BIOS version at the time of our tests. The mentioned BIOS parameters are available in this version, but the viability of non-standard settings hasn't been tested.
The motherboard allows to call up a menu to select a boot device with a certain button during the POST procedure, a convenient way for a once-only boot-up, for example from a CD drive, without making changes in BIOS Setup. In case of a failed overclocking attempt the motherboard automatically starts up with default settings without modifying settings in BIOS Setup, which is very convenient for adjustments.
Even though this is the cheapest model in the new series of motherboards, its BIOS Setup still offers a number of unique features for system overclocking. For example, you can adjust the on-board clock generator (CPU Clock Drive and PCI-E Clock Drive = 700, 800*, 900, 1000 mV; CPU Clock Skew and MCH Clock Skew = Normal, 100-1500 ps), which practically does not happen in BIOS Setup.
Two jumpers are used to choose the base frequency of the CPU bus at startup (then, you can raise this frequency in BIOS Setup). We leave it up to overclockers to decide whether this implementation is justified. Another useful feature is Multi-Step OC Booster, which allows to overclock the system not at startup, but in the process of loading an operating system. So a bad overclocking attempt will require only one reboot and BIOS Setup adjustment instead of relying on the motherboard to register overclocking (by several repeating reboots) and to load safe defaults.
Interestingly, the motherboard offers to adjust frequency of PCI bus, but not PCI Express: it seems that the necessity to overclock PCIEx16 (PCI-E 2.0) is doubtful even for manufacturers of motherboards for overclockers.
And finally, MSI Memory-Z allows to read SPD of the installed memory modules right in BIOS Setup, which may be extremely useful, especially if you work with unknown modules. Unfortunately, the current implementation of this feature is apparently far from perfection: the program displays data of only one profile (probably corresponding to the minimal cycle time with the maximum CAS# latency -- that is the fastest profile), even though SPD may contain several of them. Besides, the program supports EPP and XMP data, but in our case (Corsair CM2X1024-9136C5D) some parameters were displayed as rubbish. We hope that Memory-Z will be improved in the next BIOS versions.
Performance
Testbed configuration
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 GHz, 1066 MHz bus)
- Memory: 2 x 1 GB Corsair CM2X1024-9136C5D (tested in DDR2-800 mode with 4-4-4 timings)
- Graphics card: PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 3870, 512 MB
- HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 (SATA, 7200 rpm)
- Power supply unit: HiPro W460GC31
- OS: Windows XP SP2
We compared MSI P43 Neo-F with several representatives of Intel's latest chipsets.
| Test |
MSI P43 Neo-F (P43) |
ECS P45T-A (P45) |
Biostar TP35D2-A7 SE (P35) |
MSI X48C Platinum (X48) |
| Archiving with 7-Zip, min:sec |
4:17 |
4:17 |
4:16 |
4:19 |
| MPEG4 (XviD) encoding, min:sec |
3:36 |
3:37 |
3:37 |
3:37 |
| FarCry (Low@640x480), fps |
347 |
346 |
346 |
343 |
| FarCry (Highest@1600x1200), fps |
178 |
181 |
179 |
181 |
| Doom 3 (Low@640x480), fps |
208 |
207 |
205 |
203 |
| Doom 3 (Highest@1600x1200), fps |
179 |
179 |
178 |
179 |
As you can easily see, these boards are nearly identical (as it always happens in tests conducted with this configuration according to our test method).
Conclusions
In our opinion, MSI P43 Neo-F is a very good product. It offers a good modern level of convenience and functionality. We can only grumble a little about the lack of FireWire and eSATA, but the widely expandable full ATX form factor makes up for this. In return, the good chipset choice provides support for all the latest processors from Intel, PCI-E 2.0 graphics cards (if you require version 2.0 performance), and cheap DDR2 memory. Besides, the motherboard itself is expected to cost less than $100. Good voltage regulators in the critical circuits, sufficient chipset cooling (without overclocking), and advanced system overclocking options may also attract many users. As a result, it's a successful motherboard with good market prospects. ***
Key tags : MSI P43 Neo-F, Terratec DMX 6fire, RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.0, ASRock, ECS P45T-A |
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