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At last, MSI has released their SiS745 board.
This is probably the first SiS based Athlon product MSI released into the
market. As in any new products, the initial BIOS are not tuned well enough, thus
performance is slightly lower than the SiS745 reference board. Well this can be
corrected in future BIOS upgrades. When we run at DDR333, the benchmark results
is similar or lower than running at DDR266.
As this board is targeted at the SI market,
there aren't many features on board. There is no RAID, firewire is optional. The
audio codec is meant for 2 channel, not even a 4 or 6 channel audio chip is
used. This greatly reduces the price and make it very affordable for building
systems that needs minimum configuration. Though simple, it does come with the
standard LiveBIOS, PCAlert, FuzzyLogicIII and D-Bracket for monitoring and
updating of the system.
Installation is very straightforward, we did
not encounter any major hiccups so far. In fact, we removed the chipset's
heatsink and replace it with our Socket 7 heatsin/fan + thermal paste in
replacement of the doublesided tape which is not good in conducting of heat.
Overclocking is easy, we are able to POST up to
183Mhz using an AthlonMP1.2G at 7.5x166. We tried to run it at Fast or Turbo
mode, the system can't POST. It only works at Normal CAS 2.5 timings. The 1Mhz
stepping of FSB also makes it a good option for those who wants to squeeze it up
from 150Mhz to 166Mhz.
In conclusion, our feelings of this board is
mixed. It seems to be a board made for the SI but it has overclocking features
which targets the DIY. I would say that this board will appeal to long time
SiS735 users who loves the SiS chipset and likes to overclock it. This is
probably the first board that features 1Mhz FSB and full overclocking features
based on SiS745 chipset.
Priced at SGD188/- or USD102/-. Available now. |
