As if roller coaster heatsink wasn't enough... Now they have memory lover and a lego box lookalike packaging LOL! Seriously, what were they thinking?
ROFL THE FIRST 8 SLOT MOTHERBOARD . Bullshit... some server board have even more than 8 slots of memory rofl
That would be quite a feat. Even if it's possible, I think there would be a lot of timing and power issues since DDR2 and DDR3 have different throughput, timings and voltages.
Seriously, MSI is one of the worst motherboard makers around @ the moment. When you can't write solid, overclockable, self-recoverable BIOS, what do you do? you throw in rubbish like cirbalbalaboldbvb pipe copper heatsink, very confusing power saving feature (DrMOS that offers Greenpower, XpressCool, RapidBoost.. all managed by Core Center utility and requires a Greenpower Genie daughter card to work ). I mean, who would reintroduce FSB jumpers in year 2008!? MSI. unbelievable. the P45 plat & diamond werent very stable when all 4 dimms were populated, so why even bother with 8 dimms? In short, they are the HTC of motherboard. flashy style over anything else.
At least with HTC you can cook your own ROM. Not with MSI. In fact I feel that MSI is more similar to Mac.
Usability is limited. That's the thing that puts me off. It's a good product, no doubt, but seriously overpriced for its features included. HTC also has its own problems, but they make excellent hardwares. Software side, they are still better than most others WM phones, but still not up to iPhone usability. Okok, off topic.
well, the issue here is, MSI wants the us to believe their mobos are as good as those made by asus/gigabyte, which isn;t the case. they are going backward in term of getting a product that an enthusiast would like to buy. hybrid cooler? overkill northbridge passive heatsink? green power design? what's next? I bet would be the incorporation of an embedded linux os, or probably TPM-support. you can't find a handy, built-in BIOS flashing utility in the BIOS, you are required to mess around with jumpers to get the n.strap right, overclockability is just hopeless, and most samples sent out are loaded with beta BIOS. jeezz. Even Biostar is making better stuff than them.
I think MSI never make solid products from the beginning. I had experience with MSI since the ALI Aladdin 5 chipset (MS5169 if I remember correctly), and KT3 Pro. That 5169 board was crap. KT3 Pro was OK, but nothing really special. Actually I also have bad experiences with Asus board too. From 925X to A8V Deluxe.
I haven't bought an MSI board since the athlon xp era. No I've never had a positive experience with them ever. My experience with Asus' high end boards (on both 775 and AM2) has been massively positive. With gigabyte I find their high end boards somewhat lacking in a way (they're still okay) but their midrange products are extremely good value (namely the P31/EP31-DS3L), overclock well and are rock solid.
the high-end K8 stuff by MSI was quite solid. the diamond and plat series. apart from that, can't really recall any good experience with MSI boards.
