Msi p35 neo ms 7360 cpu supported. MSI P35 Neo and MSI P35 Neo Combo - motherboards based on Intel P35 chipset

In this article, we propose to take a look at another more budget option, designed for fans of overclocking and productive systems with modern processors - the MSI P35 NEO motherboard.

Note that when a FireWire controller is installed on this motherboard, the index F is added to the model name, and its name looks like MSI P35 NEO-F.

MSI P35 NEO motherboard specification:

Manufacturer
North bridge
South bridge
CPU socket
Supported processors	Intel Core 2 Quad-Core / Core 2 Duo / Pentium / Celeron Intel Yorkfield, Wolfdale
System bus, MHz	1333/1066/800 MHz
Memory used	DDR2 800/667 MHz
Memory support	4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM dual channel architecture up to 8GB
Expansion slots	1 x PCI-E x16 3 x PCI-E x1 2 x PCI 2.2
Disk subsystem	ICH9 Southbridge supports: 4 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb / s The optional Marvell 88SE6111 controller supports: 1 x Ultra DMA 133/100/66 1 x Serial ATA 3.0 Gb / s
Sound subsystem	Realtek ALC888 8-channel audio codec High Definition Audio
LAN support	RTL 8111B network controller (10/100/1000 Mbit)
	24-pin ATX power connector 4 pin ATX12V power connector
Cooling	Aluminum radiators on the north and south bridge
Fan connectors	1 x CPU 2 x case fans
External I / O ports	2 x PS / 2 ports for keyboard and mouse 4 x USB 2.0 / 1.1 ports 1 x LPT 1 x COM 1 x LAN (RJ45) 8-channel audio output
Internal I / O ports	8 x USB 1 x Floppy disk 5 x SATA 1 x IDE 1 x CD input 1 x S / PDIF out System Panel Connector
Overclocking capabilities	Changing the frequency: FSB, PCI-Express, memory. Changing the voltage on: processor, memory, FSB bus, PCI-E, north bridge.
Equipment	1 x SATA cable 1 x SATA power adapter 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable Instruction and poster 2 x CD with drivers Adapter kit I / O panel blank
Form factor Dimensions, mm	ATX 305 x 220
Products webpage	The new BIOS version for MSI P35 NEO2-FR / FIR can be downloaded from the official page. The drivers for the motherboard can be downloaded from the official website.

MSI P35 NEO motherboard is packed in a small cardboard box, decorated in MSI style. The package notes the availability of support for 1333 MHz system bus and 45 nm processors.

MSI P35 NEO motherboard package includes:

• two CD-ROMs with drivers for Windows Vista and Windows XP;
• user manual and installation instructions,
• loop UltraDMA 133/100/66;
• Serial ATA ribbon cable;
• I / O panel blank;
• SATA power adapter.

Motherboards MSI P35 NEO have a fairly good layout - power connectors and ports are located mainly along the edge of the PCB. Although there are drawbacks - an FDD connector is located under the PCI slots in a not entirely favorable position, and an inserted video card will interfere with the opening of the latches of the green RAM slots. When upgrading a computer, perhaps many users would like to have three PCI slots instead of the two existing ones, so we will also note this fact as a small drawback of the MSI P35 NEO. Also not pleased with the lack of polymer capacitors, which are quite "fashionable" at the present time. It is worth noting that MSI releases the MSI P35 Neo Combo on such a PCB, which supports both types of DDR2 and DDR3 memory, and the MSI G33 Neo with integrated graphics.

A relatively large, but not very high aluminum radiator is used to cool the north bridge. The cooler on the south bridge has a much smaller size.

Since several sets of logic can be used to fill the PCB of the MSI P35 NEO motherboard, there are empty spaces for two more SATA connectors, which are installed when using the Intel ICH9R south bridge, and there is also a place reserved for the FireWire controller. In our case, the MSI P35 NEO uses the Intel ICH9 chip, which supports four SATA II ports without the possibility of creating RAID arrays. To ensure the operation of the IDE port and one more SATA, an additional Marvell 88SE6111 controller is used.

For ease of connection, the eight internal USB ports and the system panel connector are color-coded.

MSI P35 NEO motherboard has only two PCI slots, three PCIE x1 and one PCIE x16 slot. Of the controllers integrated on the board, one can note a gigabit network card based on RTL 8111B, an eight-channel Realtek ALC888 audio codec, the front panel connector of which supports connections in HDA and AC'97 formats.

The processor power regulator for the MSI P35 NEO motherboard is only three-channel, but this fact is not surprising for a motherboard of this class.

The rear panel contains the following ports: two PS / 2 for keyboard and mouse, four USB connectors, COM and LPT ports, an RJ45 connector for network connections and connectors for 8-channel audio.

The MSI P35 NEO motherboard has three fan headers, one of which is a 4-pin for a CPU cooler, and the rest for case fans are 3-pin. All connectors are located in different parts of the board, making it easier to choose where to connect.

MSI P35 NEO motherboard uses BIOS on AMI code with a lot of customization. Almost all overclocking settings are located in a separate section of the Cell Menu.

Settings required for overclocking:

Parameter	Menu name	Range
Processor technology	EIST, CPUID MaxVal, Execute Bit
Proprietary Intelligent Overclocking Technology		1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 %
CPU multiplier	Adjust CPU Ratio
System bus frequency	Adjust CPU FSB Frequency
PCI Express bus frequency	Adjust PCI-E Frequency
Dividers for memory	FSB / Memory Frequency	1:1.25; 1:1.5; 1:1.67; 1:1.2; 1:1; 1:1.2; 1:1.6;
Memory timings		CAS, RAS to CAS, RAS Precharge, RAS Act to Prechar, tRFC, tWR, TWTR, TRRD, tRTP
CPU voltage
Voltage on memory modules
FSB bus voltage
Northbridge tension		1.25 - 1.65V
Voltage at I / O controller
South bridge voltage

The BIOS has the ability to activate the proprietary D.O.T. automatic overclocking technology. (Dynamic Overclocking Technology), with which you can overclock the processor from 1% to 15%.

There are seven dividers to set the memory frequency, with which you can best set the frequency during overclocking.

As usual, it is possible to adjust the timings and sub-timings of the RAM, but you can notice the absence of the 1T / 2T Memory Timing setting, which changes the decoding time of commands.

Wide ranges of voltage settings will make it possible to increase the stability of the system during overclocking. In addition, the critical value levels are shown very conveniently to help less experienced users navigate.

In the Hardware Monitor window, you can monitor:

• temperature of the processor and motherboard;
• rotational speed of the processor cooler and two case fans;
• voltage on power lines 3.3V, 5V, 12V, 5V SB and the processor core.

In the "CPU Smart FAN Target" item, you can enable the function of automatic control of the rotation speed of the processor cooler.

The MSI P35 NEO motherboard was able to run with a system bus frequency of 530 MHz. Considering the wide range of settings in the BIOS, one can assume very good overclocking capabilities of processors with its help.

Testing the audio path based on the Realtek ALC888 codec

Overall Results (RightMark Audio Analyzer)

Performance testing

The following hardware was used to test the capabilities of the motherboards.

CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (LGA775, 1.86 GHz, L2 2 MB)
	Thermaltake Sonic Tower (CL-P0071) + Akasa AK-183-L2B 120 mm
RAM	2x DDR2-800 1024 MB PQI PC6400
Video card	EVGA GeForce 8600GTS 256 MB DDR3 PCI-E
HDD	Samsung HD080HJ 80GB SATA-300
Optical drive	ASUS DRW-1814BLT SATA
Power Supply	Chieftec CFT-500-A12S 500W 120mm fan
	CODEGEN M603 MidiTower, 2x 120 mm blowing / blowing fans

MSI P35 NEO shows an excellent level of performance for a motherboard in its class.

conclusions

The MSI P35 NEO motherboard is a relatively inexpensive solution with good functionality and good overclocking potential, which, in a sense, managed to exceed our expectations. Although overclocking enthusiasts should take into account the far from the most powerful processor power regulator. The MSI P35 NEO cost is one of the lowest among the offers on the Intel P35 chipset, while it has almost no obvious drawbacks. Unless, perhaps, some future owners would like to see more PCI slots instead of the same PCI-E x1.

Advantages:

• support for Intel Penryn processors based on 45 nm technology;
• a large number of BIOS settings required for overclocking;
• tested ability of the bus to work at 530 MHz;
• 8-channel High Difinition Audio;
• low cost for its class.

Disadvantages:

• lack of official support for DDR2-1066;
• very modest equipment;
• only two PCI slots;
• no external S / PDIF;
• no FireWire controller.

We express our gratitude to PF Service LLC (Dnepropetrovsk) for the motherboards provided for testing.

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MSI P35 Neo and MSI P35 Neo Combo - motherboards based on Intel P35 chipset

• Intel P35 chipset (P35 northbridge and ICH9 southbridge applied (ICH9R can be used))

MSI P35 Neo Combo

When motherboards are released on new chipsets, the greatest interest of the reading public is attracted not so much by the features of specific models as by the general tendencies manifested in the new generation. This is understandable: it is difficult to study reviews of all motherboards in a row, but you need to get an impression of how interesting the new items are and deserve a timely (or even immediate) purchase. Well, in anticipation of these early reviews, we can point out a few differences. The main thing we would say is the significantly reduced heat dissipation of the P35 / G33, which leads to a very comfortable thermal mode while keeping the old chipset heatsinks (this issue is discussed in more detail in the review of the new chipset line). Of course, some new products will have slots for DDR3 memory, but this change is quite obvious and expected. As for the rest, these are all the same Intel chipsets (you can simply install a new board instead of a model based on i915, and Windows XP will boot without problems), we did not find any unpleasant or unexpected moments.

Speaking now about specific boards, it is clear that we chose the combo model from the ones provided to us by MSI first for consideration. Generally speaking, motherboards with support for two types of memory at once seem to us to be unnecessary in everyday life, and if you do not have a purely research interest, we cannot recommend such a purchase. (We will leave the idea of ​​a "phased upgrade" on the conscience of forum dreamers, since DDR2 and DDR3 modules will not work at the same time.) However, MSI offers two almost identical mid-range models, differing only in support for DDR3 in one of them, so we, in fact In fact, today we will consider two boards at once.

The board's appearance is quite familiar, only the memory slots are noteworthy. Firstly, because two of them are designed for installing DDR3 modules and have a different key location in the socket. Secondly, attention is drawn to their unusual mutual arrangement: pairs of slots are displaced relative to each other, and in the second pair - the slots themselves (literally by half a contact, which suggests that the reason for this decision is the desire to more conveniently distribute a wide loop of tracks on the board ). As for the general convenience of the wiring, there are no serious complaints about the board, except that the only IDE connector should be placed in a different place, since in this design variant access to it will be blocked by a cable loop from the power connector. Of the shortcomings, not the layout, but the design, we note the presence of only two PCI slots (with three PCIEx1) - it is possible, however, that this should already be taken as a norm, since the range of expansion cards with PCI Express interface is constantly expanding and even includes modern sound cards from Creative. (However, on the basis of the P35 it will soon be possible to find more unusual models - for example, without IDE support.)

There are 2 SATA connectors wired, but not unsoldered on the PCB of our copy of the board (they are used in the version of the board with the ICH9R south bridge). In addition to the two models under review, MSI is releasing another exactly the same one based on the G33 (G33 Neo with DDR2 support only), as well as a number of P35 and G33 boards in the Platinum and Diamond series - these are based on a different PCB design (in particular, providing two PCIEx16 slots for CrossFire graphics) and use a complex heatpipe design to cool the chipset and FETs. It is curious that another motherboard, P35 Neo2, is based on the PCB design of Platinum models, which is simply devoid of a cooler on heat pipes - the functionality of all Neo models is extremely similar. Access to the only available jumper (clearing CMOS) is a little difficult due to its proximity to the expansion slots; its functionality is described on the PCB. Motherboard dimensions - 305 × 225 mm (slightly narrowed ATX), six-screw mount, the near edge of the motherboard sags and causes some inconvenience when using the connectors located on it.

The three-channel switching voltage regulator of the processor uses 4 field-effect transistors per channel, which is quite a sufficient value not to worry about overheating of these transistors, even despite the absence of additional cooling by means of radiators. In addition, in the new line of motherboards, MSI uses chokes not with iron, but with ferrite cores, which has a beneficial effect on the level of power consumption. The set of capacitors in the key power supply circuits can be assessed as solid, although not the best (when, as in the top boards of most major manufacturers, only polymer capacitors are used on the entire board): the processor uses 8 polymer capacitors of 680 uF each (from an unknown manufacturer), 4 1000 uF each and 1 3300 uF from United Chemi-Con, and the memory voltage regulator (reinforced by the use of inductive elements) includes 10 1000 uF capacitors from United Chemi-Con.

System monitoring (Fintek F71882FG, according to BIOS Setup)

• Processor voltage, +3.3, +5 and +12 V, +5 V Standby;
• Rotational speed of 3 fans;
• Temperature of the processor (by the built-in sensor of the processor) and the board (by the built-in sensor of the board);
• The technology of automatic regulation of the rotation of the processor fan depending on the temperature (the temperature limit and the rotation frequency of the cooler are set if this limit is not exceeded).

Ports, connectors and connectors on the board surface

• Processor socket (Socket 775, declared support for all modern Core 2, Pentium Dual Core and Celeron processors (with Core microarchitecture) for this socket, including the latest processors with FSB 1333 MHz; from models with Netburst microarchitecture, only those with 800 MHz bus frequency are supported and above);
• 2 slots for DDR2 SDRAM DIMM (up to 4 GB DDR2-533 / 667/800; dual-channel operation is supported when the slots of both channels are full) and 2 slots for DDR3 SDRAM DIMM (up to 4 GB DDR3-800 / 1066; dual-channel operation is supported with filling the slots of both channels); simultaneous operation of DDR2 and DDR3 is not possible; later on the site should appear a list of certified modules;
• PCIEx16 slot for video accelerators;
• 3 PCIEx1 slots;
• 2 PCI slots;
• Power connectors: standard ATX 2.2 (24 pins, you can connect a regular 20-pin connector, but it is not recommended to use powerful video accelerators that do not have their own power connector) and 4-pin ATX12V to power the processor;
• FDD connector;
• IDE (Parallel ATA) slot, functioning with an additional Marvell controller, for 2 ATA133 devices;
• 5 SATA-II (Serial ATA II) connectors for 5 SATA300 devices, of which 1 functions due to the additional Marvell controller and 4 "chipset" ones, the drives connected to the latter can be combined into a RAID array of levels 0, 1, 0 + 1, 5 and Matrix RAID if the ICH9R chipset is used on the south bridge;
• 4 connectors for brackets for 8 additional USB ports;
• Connector for a bracket for 1 additional FireWire port;
• Connector for audio signal output from CD / DVD drive;
• Block of connectors for connecting analog inputs and audio outputs on the front panel of the computer;
• Bracket connector for S / PDIF-Out digital audio output;
• Undocumented SPI connector;
• Chassis Intrusion connector;
• 3 connectors for fans (all with the ability to control the number of revolutions), a 4-pin processor connector has an automatic rotation frequency control function.

Rear panel of the board (from left to right, by blocks)

• PS / 2 connectors for mouse and keyboard;
• 1 LPT and 1 COM port;
• 2 USB ports and 1 FireWire;
• 2 USB ports and 1 RJ-45 (Gigabit Ethernet);
• 6 analog audio jacks (Line-In, Front, Mic-In, Rear, Center / Sub, Side).

The free space next to the COM port is obviously reserved for the video output (D-Sub) on the G33 Neo Combo board with integrated graphics.

Contents of delivery

For the release of motherboards based on the new chipsets, MSI has updated the box design, making it quite spectacular. (In this case, we give a photo of the box of the P35 Neo model.) We describe the package contents with reference to MSI data, since our pre-production samples were incomplete. This seems to be the first time that the box (in the standard package) lacks a ribbon cable for connecting a floppy drive.

• Packing: regular size box;
• Documentation: user manual in English;
• Cables: 1 SATA (with a power adapter for one device) and 1 ATA66;
• Bracket for the rear computer panel with 2 additional USB connectors;
• Bracket for the rear computer panel with an additional FireWire connector;
• Bracket for the rear panel of the board for outputting the corresponding connectors;
• CDs with the necessary drivers and proprietary utilities, including Dual Core Center and DOT Express (for monitoring, controlling the rotational speed of coolers, overclocking, etc.) and Live Update (for searching and updating drivers, utilities and BIOS firmware via the Internet).

Integrated controllers

• Audio, based on the 10-channel (7.1 + 2) HDA codec Realtek ALC888, with the ability to connect to 7.1 audio systems, with a connector for front audio inputs / outputs and a connector for an optical S / PDIF-Out;
• Network, supporting 10/100/1000 Mbit / s (Gigabit Ethernet), based on the Realtek RTL8111B chip (PCIEx1 interface);
• IDE / SATA-II, based on the Marvell 88SE6111 chip, supporting 2 devices on the ATA133 channel and 1 SATA300 device (PCIEx1 interface);
• FireWire, based on the VIA 6308P chip, supporting 2 ports.

We evaluated the quality of the integrated audio solution in 16-bit, 44 kHz mode using the RightMark Audio Analyzer 5.5 test program and the Terratec DMX 6fire sound card:

Overall rating: Very good(). In this case, a high-quality, but "simple" 10-channel ALC888 audio codec was used, which does not have "additional" functions that are interesting to the home user (such as a set of DTS technologies implemented in drivers and encoding an audio stream in AC-3 "on the fly" for output via the S / PDIF). But the quality of analog output is at a very good level, in line with the best representatives of integrated sound.

Curiously, since the release of Intel 965 chipsets, almost all motherboard manufacturers have started to use JMicron controllers to implement (now absent in the chipset) support for IDE (PATA) devices. MSI is one of the few companies that is not satisfied with standard solutions like JMB363 and JMB361 (which do have some drawbacks) and is constantly looking for alternatives. In the case of motherboards based on P35 and G33, MSI uses a solution from Marvell, and we must say that the first acquaintance made a favorable impression on us: the board was easily loaded from a CD-drive with an IDE interface, it allowed installing an OS from a CD / DVD, did not require updating specific managers for working with disk images and drivers in Windows XP. However, only after some time, after collecting statistics from different users, it will be possible to conclude that there are or are not problems with the Marvell implementation. But those who do not want to wait or take risks, we strongly recommend purchasing a drive with a SATA interface.

Settings

With jumpers and switches	Jumper to clear CMOS content
BIOS based on AMI version 2.61	Ability to disable specific processor functions	+	Hyper-Threading, Execute Disable Bit, Enhanced SpeedStep, Virtualization Technology
	Memory Timing Settings	+	By SPD, CAS # Latency, RAS # to CAS # Delay, RAS # Precharge, RAS # Activate to Precharge, tRFC, tWR, tWTR, tRRD, tRTP
	Memory frequency selection	+	Auto or set a multiplier relative to the FSB frequency: 1: 1, 1: 1.2, 1: 1.25, 1: 1.5, 1: 1.67, 1: 2
	Frequency setting for peripheral buses	+	PCI-E: 100-200 MHz at 1 MHz steps
	Manual slot allocation of interrupts	+
	Changing the FSB frequency	+	from nominal to 500 MHz in 1 MHz steps; there is a function of dynamic overclocking of the processor
	Changing the processor multiplier	+
	Changing CPU core voltage	+	up to +0.7875 V in 0.0125 V steps
	Change in memory voltage	+	1.80-3.30 V in 0.05 V steps up to 2.1 V and 0.1 V steps above
	Chipset voltage change	+	1.25-1.65 V in 0.05 V steps for the north bridge; 1.05 and 1.15 V for the south bridge; 1.5-1.8 V at 0.1 V steps for Southbridge I / O
	FSB voltage change	+	1.2-1.6 V at 0.1 V steps

We used BIOS 1.0B10 (one of the beta versions of the first firmware), which was the latest available at the time of testing. The listed BIOS features are available in the specified firmware; the functionality of non-standard settings has not been tested. The board allows you to call up a menu for selecting a boot device by pressing a certain key at the time of the POST procedure, which makes it possible to conveniently perform a one-time boot, for example, from a CD drive, without making any corresponding changes in BIOS Setup.

It should be noted that during testing we used one of the early beta BIOS versions, which did not even provide for the implementation of the features of DDR3 memory (which we will talk about later). In this regard, it is worth considering all the data on the ranges of permissible voltages and frequencies, etc., as preliminary and before purchasing it is advisable to clarify them with the owners of the board in Internet conferences, if this issue is important to you.

MSI P35 Neo

So, as we have already said, the version of MSI P35 Neo with support for DDR2 only functionally and externally fully corresponds to the combo model (with an understandable exception in terms of DDR3 support). It is curious that this motherboard has more than one column for memory slots, but, however, here their arrangement is less exotic - only pairs of slots are shifted relative to each other. Another interesting detail is the board size: it is 305 × 220 mm, that is, by 5 mm at the same as that of the combo board, and without any visible changes in the wiring.

It is obvious that everything said above about the MSI P35 Neo Combo fully applies to this model as well; even the variations of these boards that came to us for testing were the same: with the ICH9 south bridge (ICH9R is possible) and with the FireWire controller (it may be absent). As for the BIOS firmwares, they were also the same for these boards (at the time of our testing), so we have nothing to add on this point either. Thus, we will consider the performance issue of MSI P35 Neo boards in one section, and then summarize the results for both models at once.

Performance

Testbed configuration:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 GHz)
• Memory:
  • 2 x 1 GB modules Corsair CM2X1024-9136C5D (DDR2-1142)
  • 2 x 1 GB Corsair XMS3-1066C7 (DDR3-1066)
• Video card: ATI Radeon X1900 XTX 512 MB
• Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 (SATA, 7200 RPM)
• PSU: HiPro W460GC31
• OS: Windows XP SP2

Note that the BIOS version of the P35 Neo Combo board available at the time of testing did not provide an opportunity to set the normal (for DDR3) supply voltage (1.5 V) and timings (they were limited by the standard DDR2 scheme, so it was impossible to set values ​​higher than 6). As a result, the options for using DDR3 memory turned out to be very limited. For the details of testbed settings and performance comparison results, we refer you to the Intel 3x chipset presentation, here we will also present the indicators of new motherboards in the standard configuration ( [email protected]) and with DDR3-1066 at timings of 7-7-7.

Test	MSI P35 Neo Combo, [email protected]	MSI P35 Neo Combo, [email protected]	MSI P35 Neo, [email protected]	Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 (Intel P965), [email protected]
Archiving in 7-Zip, min: sec	4:17	4:17	4:17	4:10
MPEG4 encoding (XviD), min: sec	3:37	3:37	3:37	3:37
FarCry ( [email protected]× 480), fps	354	352	353	359
FarCry ( [email protected]× 1200), fps	151	152	152	151
Doom 3 ( [email protected]× 480), fps	218	215	215	218
Doom 3 ( [email protected]× 1200), fps	121	121	121	123

We repeat that we made more detailed conclusions in the above article, but here we just note the absolute equality in performance between MSI P35 Neo and MSI P35 Neo Combo, as well as the fact that new motherboards, at least with the current BIOS firmware, are a little slower representatives of old chipsets, and DDR3 does not help them to get ahead in speed, even at 1066 MHz.

Outcome

So, motherboards based on P35 are not a revelation, they are quite suitable for purchase for almost anyone who wants to (although we haven’t seen a full-fledged implementation of DDR3 support yet). As for the two specific motherboards reviewed by MSI, these are solid mid-range models, with no "frills" both in terms of configuration and proprietary features. But only computer enthusiasts can make claims to their functionality; the convenience of the wiring and the design of the power unit also deserve praise. We liked these models very much in everyday life, especially the chipset cooling, and we see no reason why MSI P35 Neo motherboards should be avoided.

The boards were provided for testing by the manufacturer.

MotherboardMSIP35NEO-F

Currently, MSI's Intel P35 motherboard line consists of five motherboards that differ in both price and functionality.

The NEO series boards are positioned as solutions for economical users. The bundle of such boards is, as a rule, an example of reasonable minimalism. The Platinum and Diamond series are designed for the computer enthusiast. For their manufacture, high-quality Japanese capacitors are used; copper radiators and heat pipes are used to cool the heating elements.

Packaging and equipment

The MSI P35 NEO-F board comes in a glossy cardboard box with the image of the clawed paw of an unknown monster, clawing its way to the board with steel claws through an obstacle:

Having opened the box, you, in addition to the board itself, will find a minimum set of additional accessories:

2 disks with software and drivers for various operating systems: Windows XP and Windows Vista (information on the official website says that WinME / 9x OS is not supported by the board);

user guide;

loop UDMA-66/100/133;

SATA cable;

power cord for SATA devices (MOLEX-SATA adapter);

Rear I / O panel (not shown).

This is a typical bundle for lower-end motherboards, and MSI could add a couple of additional brackets to the bundle, especially since, according to the manual, this is optionally possible.

Board capabilities, design and layout,BIOS, software included

The main features of the board are described in the table:

Supported processors	- Intel Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium and Celeron (LGA775)
Supported FSB	- 1333/1066/800 MHz
Chipset	- Northbridge: Intel® P35 - Southbridge: Intel® ICH9
Supported memory	- DDR2 667/800 SDRAM (240pin / non-ECC) - 4 DDR2 DIMM slots (8 GB Max)
Network	- Gigabit Network (Realtek RTL8111B)
Audio	- Realtek ALC888 - 7.1 channel audio output - Compatible with Azalia
IDE	- 1 IDE port supported by Marvell 88SE6111 - Supports Ultra DMA 66/100/133, PIO and Bus Master modes
SATA	- 4 SATA ports (SATA1 ~ 4) supported by ICH9 south bridge - SATA 5 supported by Marvell 8SE6111 - Bandwidth up to 300 MB / s
RAID	- SATA1 ~ 6 support RAID 0/1/0 + 1/5
Floppy	- 1 floppy port - Supports 1 FDD (360 KB, 720 KB, 1.2 MB, 1.44 MB and 2.88 MB)
Rear panel	- 1 PS / 2 connector (mouse) - 1 PS / 2 connector (keyboard) - 1 parallel port supporting SPP / EPP / ECP mode - 1 port COM1 - 4 USB ports - 1 LAN connector - 6 audio outputs
Connectors soldered on the board	- 4 USB 2.0 - 1 Front Panel Audio - 1 CD-In - 1 SPDIF-out
Slots	- 1 PCI Express x 16 - 3 PCI Express x 1 - 2 PCI slots, 3.3V / 5V PCI
Form factor	ATX (30.5 cm X 22.0 cm)
Number of mounting holes	6

Design and layout

You can evaluate the layout of the board by looking at the following picture:

As a rule, when designing a budget-level motherboard, engineers do not have to rack their brains over the placement of various components due to their scarcity. Among the main drawbacks of the layout, we should note the too close location of the memory slot, power connector and IDE connector: if it is not difficult to assemble the system on an open stand, it will create some problems in most cases.

Bulky cooling of some modern cards can block the first couple of memory slots, and by the way, this problem is common in most motherboards. The FDD connector is located at the very bottom of the board, but given the widespread dying off of "floppy disks", we can safely close our eyes to this.

After evaluating the layout, it's time to pay attention directly to the board:

Any sophisticated user will immediately understand by the bright red color of the PCB that there is an MSI board in front of him, and a budget one. MSI prefers to manufacture more expensive products on black PCB.

The north bridge, Intel P35, is covered with a rather large passive heatsink, which, as mentioned in the introduction to the review, fully complies with the chipset manufacturer's recommendations.

The processor power supply module is assembled according to a three-channel scheme, which is quite enough provided that processors of the lower and middle levels are used. But for overclocking, especially if you want to overclock, for example, a top-end quad-core processor, this may simply not be enough. However, it is difficult to blame MSI engineers for this: they usually purchase a corresponding motherboard in conjunction with a top-end processor, and for this, MSI has Platinum or Diamond series motherboards in store. On the board under test, you can find both classic capacitors from various manufacturers (there are traces of savings), and modern polymer electrolytes:

The board under test supports up to 8 GB of DDR2-800 memory; for this, 4 memory slots are soldered, displaced in pairs relative to each other:

The board is equipped with three PCI-E 1x slots, which, in our opinion, is somewhat redundant: the corresponding peripherals cannot be found in the daytime, so it would be better if MSI engineers unsoldered at least one more PCI slot. Judge for yourself, in the computer of a digital lover you can often find a TV tuner or video capture card, a high-quality sound card, and that's it, if the card provides only two PCI slots. You have to go for additional expenses by purchasing an external sound card or modem, but this is not the end of the list of common peripherals.

The Clear CMOS jumper (JBAT1) is also conveniently located - near the two lower PCI-E 1x slots, near the battery, so even in the system unit it will be enough to simply reset the BIOS settings in case of unsuccessful overclocking.

The south bridge is also covered with a passive radiator, but this is quite enough: according to a digital thermometer, during testing, the radiator temperature did not exceed 40? C. The ICH9 south bridge is used on the board, so only 4 + 1 SATA connectors are wired, support for the fifth SATA connector is provided by a chip manufactured by Marvell (Marvell 88SE6111):

The rear I / O panel also lacks functionality:

As you can see from the figure, only the most necessary things are displayed on the rear panel: PS / 2 connectors for a mouse and keyboard, four USB connectors, Serial and Parallel ports, and outputs and inputs of the audio subsystem. The user manual mentions that on the rear panel you can optionally find a VGA D-SUB connector. Perhaps, in the future, MSI plans to provide the budget board with an integrated video core. However, why not? Naturally, it will use the G33 north bridge.

On the reverse side, the board does not contain any unsoldered elements, so there should be no problems with mounting some back-plates.

System monitoring is carried out thanks to the Fintek F71882FG chip:

BIOS and overclocking capabilities

MSI is one of a small group of motherboard manufacturers that use AMI BIOS.

The most interesting, of course, is the Frequency / Voltage Control section, where overclocking functions are concentrated. For inexperienced users the option of automatic overclocking is provided. A similar feature is available for motherboards from other manufacturers, in particular, ASUS. MSI interprets this feature as D.O.T., which stands for Dynamic Overclocking Technology. The names may be different, but the essence remains the same: the board gradually increases the system bus frequency and stops at a certain stable frequency, which is proposed to be used. Needless to say, manual overclocking will yield much better results. The user can disable this function and select one of the following options:

Everything is extremely simple: choosing, for example, the Commander option, the board will increase the system bus frequency by 15%, thus overclocking the processor.

More experienced users can independently change the bus frequencies, as well as the operating voltage on the processor, memory and northbridge.

To the credit of MSI engineers, they did not cut the board's overclocking capabilities, even despite its obvious positioning in the budget segment: the maximum voltage values ​​are very high, they are most likely typical of top-end overclocking solutions, judge for yourself:

So, you can increase the voltage on the processor up to 1.55V, which in the presence of a highly efficient cooler or more serious cooling will allow you to successfully overclock most processors supported by the board. Only a three-channel power subsystem can become a hindrance (and most likely will), but this is a little off topic. From the default value for DDR2 voltage of 1.8 V, the user has the opportunity to increase it up to 3.3 V. Considering that such a voltage without signs of long-term destruction could only be sustained by the legendary BH-5 chips, which, as you know, comply with the DDR standard, and even modern overclocking DDR2 modules are designed for an operating voltage of about 2.4 V (with a further increase in voltage, the memory will simply collapse), then 3.3 V is clearly too much. The board designers could, for example, hide the increase in voltage in the 2.4-3.3 V range from most inept experimenters, but this did not happen.

As for the voltage on the north bridge, you can increase it from 1.2 V to 1.6 V. Perhaps, in this case, passive cooling of the chipset will not be enough.

For more fine tuning, the user is given the opportunity to use different dividers FSB: DRAM.

An unpleasant surprise awaited us here: the board set the values ​​at its own discretion, and sometimes, in order to get the memory functioning at 800 MHz, we had to set the values ​​at random - at 200 MHz FSB, the 1: 2 divider gave absolutely incorrect results. Naturally, the correctness of memory operation had to be checked with several information and test utilities, for example, Everest. Obviously, this is an annoying flaw in the BIOS, which should be fixed in the latest firmware versions.

The hardware monitoring section provides the ability to monitor the following parameters:

Nothing special, everything is modest, just like in GigaByte boards.

Supplied software

In terms of proprietary software, MSI offered the Dual Core Center utility. As the name suggests, the utility provides access to monitoring and settings for both the motherboard parameters and the video adapter. But with a small caveat: the video card must also be manufactured by MSI. The check showed that quite often the utility gives out a complete nonsense, and the usefulness of its use is highly questionable.

In the absence of overclocking, however, no such bugs were observed.

Another, the Live Update utility, which is designed to safely update the BIOS in the Windows environment, stubbornly insisted that the latest BIOS for this board had already been supplied, although an update had already appeared on the site:

Thus, the utilities supplied by the manufacturer turned out to be absolutely useless toys, and they also do not shine with design delights.

Doom 3 levels both boards. MSI P35 Neo3 wins one frame at low resolution, however at 120 frame rate this is not significant. Increasing the resolution cancels out the results. This shows that in real applications we will not see the difference between the compared boards due to the fact that they are based on the same system logic. But nevertheless, it is worth saying thanks to MSI engineers who were able to "squeeze" out of their brainchild a little more than competitors. Perhaps this is achieved due to the reduced latencies of the memory controller, or perhaps the difference is explained in different secondary memory timings that the boards set themselves.

Output

MSI P35 Neo3 can be called a worthy representative of the middle price segment in the motherboard market. High-quality performance with long-life capacitors guarantees stable operation of this model in an ordinary system unit at home or in the office. The board is also a good option for those who are aiming at an upgrade and are faced with choosing a new product, but at the same time want to connect all the remaining devices with PCI interface. If desired, it is possible to install one expansion card with a PCI-Express x1 interface. Support for basic RAID modes will allow you to create simple arrays of hard drives to increase the performance of the disk subsystem. The lack of external digital audio interfaces and FireWire 1394 in this model is a bit upsetting, but it is fully justified by the price. In terms of peripheral connectivity, the MSI P35 Neo3 is indeed slightly inferior to some other Intel P35-based products, but, as we saw, it even outperforms more expensive competitors in performance. For a common user, this board, given its initial performance, would be a good buy.

But for the enthusiast and overclocker category, the MSI P35 Neo3 doesn't offer anything outstanding. There is no cooling on the power elements of the processor power system and the 8-pin auxiliary power connector. There are not many overclocking options in the BIOS, but all the main functions are present. A small heatsink on the chipset will only be enough to cool the P35 at its nominal frequencies. Therefore, it is not recommended to get carried away with excessive overclocking on this motherboard without additional cooling of the components, although the model has potential.

MSI's Neo line of motherboards contains standard components, so expect the P35 Neo to perform well, but lack a bunch of extra features that the average user might not need. Due to the low production cost, the board is in the lower price range.

Inexpensive motherboards generally don't support dual PCI Express x16 graphics cards, and the MSI P35 Neo is no exception. This fact should not greatly influence the decision when buying a motherboard by "budget" enthusiasts who are ready to compromise in performance, because the second slot for video cards on expensive motherboards still only works in x4 mode. The only PCI Express x16 slot on the P35 Neo motherboard operates in full x16 mode. There are also three PCI Express x1 slots and two old PCI slots on the board for a total of six expansion cards. ATX supports a maximum of seven slots, and on the P35 Neo the topmost missing slot is reserved for a fan connector.

The P35 Neo motherboard is equipped with a three-phase voltage regulator, typical of cheap motherboards, there are no heatsinks for cooling the voltage regulators. The two heatsinks keep the north and south bridges cool enough, aided by a downdraft cooler.

Power and ATA connectors are ideal for traditional chassis. The 4-pin ATX12V power connector is at the top of the board towards the rear edge, the 24-pin power connector is at the front edge of the board, and the UltraATA connector is located at the top of the board near the front edge. UltraATA optical drive users will love how easy it is to run the cable from here to the top bays of the enclosures.

The four SATA ports supported by Intel's low-cost ICH9 southbridge are also nearly ideal for routing cables to the bottom hard drive bays, but that's where the compliments end. The fifth SATA port, supported by the onboard Marvell Ultra + Serial ATA controller, is blocked by the heatsink of long video cards. The front-panel audio jack is inconveniently located in the farthest bottom corner, far from the front-panel ports, which are found at the top in many modern cases. Finally, the floppy connector is also poorly located under the lowest PCI slot. Fortunately, users do not need a floppy drive to load RAID drivers during Windows XP installation as this south bridge does not support RAID.

MSI P35 Neo (Revision 1.0)
North bridge	Intel P35 GMCH
South bridge	Intel ICH9
Voltage regulator	Three-phase
BIOS	1.1B7 (05/18/2007)
266.6 MHz (FSB1066)	266.9 MHz (+ 0.1%)
Connectors and interfaces
On board	1x PCIe x16 (1x x16) 3x PCIe x1 2x PCI 4x USB 2.0 (2 ports per header) 1x IEEE-1394 FireWire 1x floppy drive 1x Ultra ATA (2 drives) 5x Serial ATA 3.0 Gbps 1x for front panel audio ports 1x CD Audio input 1x digital audio output (S / P-DIF) 1x 4-pin for cooler (CPU) 2x 3-pin for fans (case)
On the I / O panel	2x PS2 (keyboard + mouse) 1x parallel port 1x serial port 1x RJ-45 network 1x IEEE-1394 FireWire 4x USB 2.0 6x analog audio ports (7.1 channel + mic in + line in)
Storage controllers
Intel ICH9	4x SATA 3.0 Gb / s
Marvell 88SE6111	1x Ultra ATA-100 (2 drives) 1x SATA 3.0 Gb / s
Network
Realtek RTL8111B PCI-E	1x Gigabit Ethernet connection
Sound
HDA controller (Azalia)	Realtek ALC888 codec (8 channels)
Firewire
VIA VT6308P	2x IEEE-1394a (400 Mbps)

The IEEE-1394 FireWire controller adds to the appeal of this inexpensive motherboard.

The I / O panel of the P35 Neo motherboard is based on traditional interfaces, including legacy PS / 2 keyboard and mouse ports, parallel and serial COM ports. Six analog audio ports provide 8-channel audio with simultaneous microphone and line-in, four USB 2.0 ports and one IEEE-1394 FireWire port for high-speed devices, and a single Gigabit network port for networking.

The BIOS of the MSI P35 Neo motherboard limits the bus frequency to a maximum value of 500 MHz (FSB2000), which is probably the limit of the motherboard even with "perfectly overclocked" processors. The incredibly huge values ​​of CPU and memory voltages give the impression of the possibility of maximum overclocking of the processor and memory, but do not forget that this inexpensive motherboard is equipped with only a three-phase voltage regulator.

Frequencies and voltages in BIOS (for overclocking)
FSB frequency	100-500 MHz (1 MHz step)
Multiplier adjustment	Yes
Memory frequency	FSB x 1.0; 1.2; 1.25; 1.5; 1.66; 2.0
PCIe frequency	100-200 MHz (1 MHz step)
CPU Vcore	Default - +0.7875 V (0.0125 V), 1.550 V maximum
CPU FSB Voltage	1.20 - 1.60 V (0.10 V steps)
Northbridge Voltage (MCH)	1.25 - 1.625 V (0.025 V steps)
Southbridge voltage (ICH)	1.05 / 1.15V
Memory voltage	1.50 - 2.10 - 3.30V (0.05 / 0.10V)
CAS latency range	tCAS: 3-6; tRCD: 3-6; tRP: 3-6; tRAS: 9-24

On the P35 Neo motherboard, we overclocked the Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 processor to 3.44 GHz, although on other boards you can get 3.46 GHz. Reducing the CPU multiplier to 6x allowed us to increase the bus frequency only up to 369 MHz (FSB1476).

The P35 Neo motherboard comes with only the essentials to build a low-cost system, including one SATA cable and one Ultra ATA cable.