MSI G31M3-F LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Very reliable.
Nice balance of features for an inexpensive mATX board.
Very miserly power usage.
Proved to be a good foundation for a solid value PC.
Worked better with Linux than Vista.
Limited overclocking is possible.

Cons: Intel's Integrated Video stinks.
Advanced features of integrated sound buggy with Vista Drivers (Linux drivers work far better by sticking to 2 channel stereo)
Good temps and power usage at the price of performance.
NOT for major overclocking.
Needed a BIOS upgrade to support 4 Gigs RAM

Other Thoughts: Yes, it could make a foundation power efficient Vista box. But this board really -shines- under Linux, I used a version of Ubuntu 10.04 Server 64-Bit, and the results are like night and day. Using the Linux SoftRAID features, I have a budget box that could keep with with far more expensive systems.

Under Vista, it's a bit sluggish.
Under Linux with RAID0, it can live up to its full potential.

It really is like night and day.

CPU: E7200
RAM: 4 Gigs DDR2800
HDD: 2 x 320 Samsung SATAII in RAID0
DVD: Replaced with Samsung Blu-Ray
Video: GT210
OS: Ubuntu 10.04 Server 64-Bit /w Gnome Desktop & Compiz

Pros: Pretty simple setup, alright layout, and BIOS has some pretty nice features could of been nice with a CPU Voltage control only able to get a Q6600 to 3.0GHz stable because of it but that's more than I need.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Pretty nice board if your the typical user and it does what it needs to do.

Pros: Nice cheap board and I like it.

Cons: You wouldn't believe this, but the poeple at MSI think pc users run Windows Vista.

The driver disc was for a Windows Vista only. NO XP DRIVERS. The drivers were easy to find though, but it was headache! For that 4 eggs

Pros: inexpensive - msi has always been reliable for me.

Cons: only 2 ram slots, max 4gb supported - sata controller 4 can get blocked if your video card take up 2 slots and is more than 8" long

Other Thoughts: i was fearing that i would need another processor to update the bios from v1.1 to v1.2 (based on other reviews). mercifully this board arrived with bios v1.2 already implemented, so that saves me having to buy an older celeron just to get the bios up to date.

Pros: Great mobo for a cheap system.

Cons: not really anything. You get what you pay for and more

Other Thoughts: Running Intel Quad Core Q6600 with it - os loaded great. BIOS is standard. Can overclock fairly easily if you want but a bit finicky.

Pros: 1) Great support from MSI Global
2) You CAN OC E8400

Cons: 1) When I bought this board it was @ BIOS v1.1 (does not support E8400; So I had to manage a BIOS update with a different CPU)

Other Thoughts: With the BIOS v1.2 you cannot OC the E8400 much (2MHz)... However if you contact MSI Global like I have they'll let you use their unreleased version of the BIOS. However, this BIOS update has to be done via a DOS boot-disk... If you do not know how to do a FDD BIOS update you should BACKUP YOUR BIOS!

By the way my other review on this motherboard was 4/5 eggs... I added the last egg because of the OC capabilities.

Pros: Great board....

Cons: 1. When I received the board it was on BIOS 1.1... Therefore my E8400 wouldn't work (needs 1.2). So I had to pop in my P4 (The P4 I had supposedly wasn't a supported version, but worked fine). When I was updating the BIOS at first it said it failed... So I tried 3x and it said it failed... So I tried online Live Update and it succeeded... Pretty scary yah?

2. Cannot overclock for *bleep*... You can adjust everything BUT the voltage... I cannot get my E8400 past 340FSB b/c of the voltage limitation...

Pros: The board is small, compact, and has all your basic needs for an entry level system. I chose MSI because I’ve had good luck with the brand in the past and I REALLY like how their BIOS is setup.

Cons: I feel the power connector is poorly located – directly at the edge of the board an inch or more away from any support when mounted. This causes excessive stress when you’re trying to plug the main power connector in.

I was most disappointed when I opened the box to find only ONE sata cable and not even a floppy cable! I know you’re probably saying WHO uses a floppy any more!? Well in my opinion if the board supports it – the manufacturer should accommodate you with ALL accessories. It just little things like this that tick you off – what a shabby way to save a buck on MSI’s part.

Pros: Easy to setup and load drivers. No problems whatsoever. Tried two different types of DDR2400 memory (Corsair / Kingston) which worked fine.

Cons: Can't think of anything significant.

Other Thoughts: Overclocked a core2-duo E4500 (2.2GHz) to 2.65GHz by increasing the bus speed from 200 to 240 MHz (using stock cooler).

Pros: Great board. Very stable. It hasn't shown any problems whatsoever. Never did run into the E8400 problem.

Cons: Other than Realtek sound drivers sometimes being a pain to setup, none.

Other Thoughts: I bought this board for a friend of mine. He wanted me to build a new PC for him as he entered graduate school, and this board certainly does the job. For someone that mostly does online research and plays games only as intensive as Roller Coaster Tycoon and Team Fortress (board was loaded with a medium-grade ATI 512MB video card), he couldn't ask for anything more.