Intel P35 / X38 Motherboards Roundup
MSI P35 Platinum (Intel P35; DDR2)
In MSI's assortment of motherboards based on P35, the model P35 Platinum takes a top ranking and is a competitor to Gigabyte P35-DQ6, Foxconn MARS, and the ASUS P5K Premium, Deluxe, -E/WiFi product line.
This motherboard stands out for its original system for cooling the chipset, the power components of the CPU's power converter and the memory subsystem.
Apart from the two PCI Express x16 slots, the board uses two PCI Express x1 and two PCI slots.
The remaining expansion options include 6 Serial ATA II links (supported by ICH9R) plus one more Serial ATA II link (due to the additional RAID controller Marvell 88SE6111), 1 Parallel ATA link (again the same Marvell 88SE6111), a Gigabit LAN controller, support for the Firewire (2 ports), USB 2.0 (12 ports), as well as integrated 8-channel audio (ALC888T).
Except the massive block with 4 USB 2.0 ports, the configuration of the rear panel is quite customary: LPT and COM ports are missing, with the SerialATA ports provided for external devices. We also note one Firewire port and an optical SP-DIF output. By the way, the motherboard supports one COM port with a matching bracket.
Now a few words on MSI's proprietary technologies. First off, it is the D-LED diagnostic system: there are 4 LEDs installed on the D-Bracket (plugged in to the JDB1 connector). The combinations of flashing LEDs denote respective POST stages, so in case of a boot-up failure the user can pinpoint it (with the user's manual on hands).
Besides,the D-LED is backed up with eight red and green LEDs whose combinations are also explained in the user's manual.
The engineers at MSI have also installed a LED near each expansion slot. It signals to the presence and normal functioning of the installed video card.
The board's BIOS is based on AMI BIOS version. The section in charge of memory operation settings offers the following kit of timings:
The board displays the current temperatures for the processor and the system, voltage, as well as rotational speeds of all the three fans. Besides, the CPU cooler and the cooler plugged in to SYSFAN1 is able adjusting the rotational speeds depending on the temperature of the CPU and the system.
As regards the overclocking tools, the FSB speed is adjustable within 200 to 500 MHz, and the CPU voltage can be raised by +0.7875V, on the memory - to 2.6V, on the north bridge - to 1.625V, on the south bridge - to 1.8V, and on the FSB bus - to 1.55V.
In practice, the board showed middling results - a stable operation at FSB=480 MHz.
Pros:
- High stability and good performance level;
- Two PCI Express x16 slots;
- Support for SerialATA II /RAID ( 7 lines; ICH7R + JMB361);
- Support for one P-ATA line (Marvell 88SE6111);
- Integrated 8-channel audio and (Gigabit Ethernet) LAN controller;
- Support for USB2.0 (12 ports) and IEEE-1394 (Firewire, 2 ports);
- A wide selection of MSI's proprietary utilities (Dual CoreCenter, LiveUpdate, DigiCell, D.O.T., etc.);
Cons:
The board's specific features:
- Good results for CPU overclocking; not bad overclocking tools;
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