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The MSI board is supplied in a huge box with a very cool ‘big bang' concept, with shattering surfaces exploding outwards.
The box is a gatefold design which opens from the right and it contains a plethora of information on all the component technology encorporated into the design. This would be information overload for many users in a store, but it is nice to see a company trying to get across all the benefits their product will bring to the customer.
The main box opens to reveal two smaller boxes inside, one containing the motherboard and the other containing all the extras.
There are manuals, overclocking guides, driver discs, european versions of the manual as well as installation guides. They have left no rock unturned.
We think this is one of the most comprehensive bundles we have seen in our labs to date. There are enough cables to build several systems, and there are various SLI connectors to cover a multitude of configurations.
There is a THX certified sound card supplied (Quantum Wave) as well which slots onto the motherboard, just above the first graphics card slot and MSI also supply an OC Dashboard unit which we will look at later.
Sometimes we dont see enough SATA cables included with some motherboard bundles, but we certainly can't say the same for MSI. They also include converters to help with a system configuration.
A USB2 expansion slot bracket as well as another for eSATA. We are very impressed with this bundle, it has even put the ASUS boards we have looked at recently to shame.
bugger me with a bargepole, thats bloody impressive.
MSi really are pulling out all the stops recently to get seen in high end circles. I think its working !
Looks like a mega product again from MSI. price is high but I expected that after reading the review.
Love the design, they look to have covered everything from design to connectivity. the OC genie is a great idea and I was surprised to hear it worked well, thats a bit of a shocker.
Very good review Zardon, thank you.
That bundle is crazy good, so much in it, no wonder it costs so much. Seems a good price I think its cheaper than the asus rampage board just released.
Seems to be low stock levels of this everywhere, must be popular or a low build rate for MSI.
hard to get in some parts of the world, so ive heard, yah.
They need to realise a board like this for the 1156 platform also. that platform has such crappy boards throughout the ranges.
Good review and I was interested to see the power drain was lower than competiting products. thats always a good sign.
MSI are underrated in the motherboard market, but I love to see them creating these products to go head to head with ASUS and the top level players on the market right now. This looks to be better than the Ramage from what ive seen on kitguru and other review sites.
Its a really good looking board, I hate all the ordinary capacitors we normally see around the CPU socket, but those HIc capacitors are a huge selling point, for me anyway.
I think AMD motherboards are better equipped, but this one really helps Intel 1366 buyers. so much on it and a great variety of high quality components onboard.
I currently own a gigabyte board which i love, but I want to move to 1366, I think this would be top of my list, its well priced considering the quality throughout.
Its impresive, but I feel ASUS still have the quality edge. the rampage board is the cream of the crop.
@ Derek, normally I would agree, but I cant see there being any better 1366 motherboard on the market right now. MSI are really doing their homework before releasing these products.
excellent, really excellent. way out of my price range, but I can dream
MSI rock, they really do, I loved the review of the R5870 card on kitguru last month. all their changes arent just for show or talk,. they really make a difference
Very good product, the price isnt as bad as I thought, I had surmissed it would be £320.
No real weaknesses indeed. even the sata ports are in the right places. so many makers (yes im looking at you intel), put sata ports right under a long graphics card which is useless, even with a 90 degree designed connector.