- Intel P43
- Core 2 Duo / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Quad
- DDR2 1066(O.C) / 800
MSI P43 Neo3-F
11/11/2008
This review is from: MSI P43 Neo3-F LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
Pros:
Affordable, and feature rich for the price. Good entry gaming board with potential to shine.
2.0 PCI Express x16, supports Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium, Max 16 GB RAM, 8 SATA ports.
Ir recognized my PNY XLR8 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 RAM perfectly down to the correct timing. Was pleased to see that.
Cons:
Putting in any wide PCI Express x16 graphics card covers the only PCI Express x1 slot, real smooth, not! At least it would have been better to switch positions with a PCI slot or out right remove one to make it usable.
Firmware v1.3 incorrectly placed a 9x multiplier on my E8500 rather than it's 9.5x. I installed MSI Live Update & it repeatably failed at various stages of scanning and installing updates. I had to go "old school" and make a DOS boot disk in order to update the BIOS. I had no 3.5" floppy drive so I ran Virtual Floppy Drive, then boot98se.exe to create a source disk for HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool to make a bootable DOS USB flash drive.
Also MSI Dual Core Center runs fine for and hour before it decides to alarm the fact that "system fan 1" is at zero RPM, there isn't one there. I have one one on the "sys fan 2" connection. "Sys fan 2" is on the back of the board and "Sys fan 1" is on the front. Why it does this, I don't know.
Overall Review:
I'd have given it a 5 despite the expansion slot positions were it not for the firmware/software issues. Have a CPU with a 9.5x multiplier get BIOS v1.5
CPU-Z says the Northbridge is a P45 and the Southbridge is an ICH10R rather than the labeled P43/ICH10 maybe a P45 Neo BIOS could be flashed muhahaha!
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- Jason B.
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Verified Owner
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Owned For:
1 day to 1 week
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