The MSI P965 Platinum is an LGA775 processor based motherboard using Intel’s P965 chipset that supports up to a 1066MHz front side bus. The 4 DDR2 DIMM sockets support up to 8GB of RAM (4GB if using DDR2-800). Support for up to 7 SATAII drives is provide by the ICH8R South Bridge and JMicron JMB361 chip with the 6 controlled by the ICH8R supporting RAID modes 0, 1, 5 and 10.
Two PCI-E x16 (electrically 1 x16 and 1 x4), 2 PCI-E x1 and 2 PCI slots provide plenty of expandability. The onboard gigabit LAN, 8 (4 back panel and 4 internal header) USB 2.0 ports and the 2 (1 back panel and 1 internal header) FireWire ports, and 8 channel audio with coax and optical SPDIF outs mean you don’t need to expand if you don’t want to.
Intel P965+ICH8R ChipsetThe Intel P965 Express Chipset incorporates Intel Fast Memory Access technology to significantly increase overall system performance by optimizing available bandwidth and reduction of memory access latency. Up to dual-channel DDR2 800 memory is supported by the P965 chipset to provide up to 12.8 GB/s peak memory bandwidth for greater platform performance and memory flexibility. The ICH8R also features SATA 3Gb/s with Intel Matrix Storage Technology support, High-Speed USB 2.0 and HD Audio support.
Intel Core 2 Processor SupportThis motherboard supports next-generation LGA 775 Intel Core 2 processors, including the Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme. With new Intel Core microarchitecture technology, the Intel Core 2 processors are considered some of the most powerful and energy-efficient CPUs in the world.
Dual PCI Express x16 SlotsWith dual PCI Express x16 slots (at 16X and 4X respectively), extend your desktop with dual video out solutions on a single motherboard!
Serial ATA with RAIDThe revolutionary Serial ATA interface provides scalable performance for storage devices. SATA technology enables easy-to-install, high-performance and low-power hard drives. Six SATA ports from ICH8R support RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 array functions for better performance, enhanced data security, and flexible capacity upgrades.
Gigabit Ethernet ConnectivityThe MSI P965 Platinum features a fast Gigabit network interface for high-speed LAN connections at up to 1000Mb/s data transfer rates with NV Firewall to ward off malicious attacks. Gigabit LAN is ideal for supercharged seamless streaming of Internet audio and video content.