MSI X48 Platinum: Four PCI Express x16 Slots to go Please....
by Kris Boughton on January 31, 2008 7:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Specifications
| MSI X48 Platinum | |
| Market Segment | Performance - $259 (estimated) |
| CPU Interface | Socket T (LGA-775) |
| CPU Support | LGA775-based Core2 Duo, Core2 Extreme, or Core2 Quad recommended, Pentium and Celeron including next-generation 45nm compatibility |
| Chipset | Intel X48 Express Northbridge (MCH) and ICH9R Southbridge, supports Intel Viiv Technology, optional TPM (Trusted Platform Module) support |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | 6x ~ 11x, downward adjustable for Core2, upward unlocked for Extreme, half-multiplier support for 45nm processors |
| Front Side Bus Speeds | Auto, 200 ~ 800 in 1MHz increments |
| System Bus Speeds | 1600/1333/1066/800 (MHz) with official DDR3-1600 support |
| DDR3 Memory Dividers | 1:1, 6:5, 4:3, 3:2, 8:5, 5:3 and 2:1 |
| PCIe Speeds | Auto, 100MHz ~ 200MHz |
| PCI Speeds | 33.3, 33.6, 37.3 and 42MHz |
| DRAM Timing Control | Auto (by SPD), Manual - tCL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS plus tRAP, tRFC, tWR, tWTR, tRRD, tRTP |
| DRAM Command Rate | Auto, 1N, 2N |
| CPU Voltage | Auto, Default VID ~ Default VID + 0.7875V |
| Memory (DRAM) Voltage | Auto, 1.50V ~ 2.75V |
| FSB Termination Voltage | Auto, 1.20V ~ 1.44V |
| North Bridge (NB) Voltage | Auto, 1.25V ~ 1.83V |
| SB (1.5V) Voltage | Auto, 1.50V ~ 1.80V |
| CPU Reference Voltage (GTL) | Auto, 0.74V ~ 1.07V |
| Memory Reference Voltage | Auto, 0.90V ~ 1.25V |
| Memory Slots | Four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots - DDR3-1600 (XMP)/1333/1066/800 Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered, non-ECC DDR3 Memory to 8GB total |
| Expansion Slots | 2 - PCIe 2.0 x16 Slots (blue), supports ATI CrossFire Technology 2 - PCIe (1.x) x4 Slots (yellow) 2 - PCIe (1.x) x1 Slots 1 - PCI 2.2 Slot |
| Onboard SATA RAID | 4 SATA 3Gbps Ports - ICH9R (ACHI + RAID 0, 1, 5, 10) 2 eSata Ports - ICH9R (AHCI + RAID 0, 1, 5, 10) 2 SATA Ports - Silicon Image 5723 (non-bootable RAID 0, 1 and JBOD) |
| Onboard IDE (PATA) | Marvell 88SE6111 PATA Controller (up to two PIO/UDMA 133/100/66MHz devices) |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 12 USB 2.0 Ports - (8) via I/O panel - (4) via headers 2 IEEE-1394(a) Ports by VIA VT6308P - (1) via I/O panel, (1) via header |
| Onboard LAN (with Teaming) | Realtek RTL8111B - PCI Gigabit Ethernet contoller Intel 83566DC PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC888 - 8-channel HD Audio CODEC (Azalia 1.0/Vista Premium ready) |
| Power Connectors | ATX 24-pin, 8-pin ATX 12V |
| I/O Panel | 1 x PS/2 Mouse port 1 x PS/2 Keyboard port 2 x eSATA portd (supports command-based port multipliers) 1 x SPDIF Optical Out, 6 Analog Audio jacks 1 x IEEE-1394a 2 x RJ-45 (LAN) 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 1 Reset CMOS Button |
| Fan Headers | 6 - (1) CPU, (2) Programmable System Fans, (3) Chassis/Optional/Misc. |
| Fan Control | System Fan 1 and 2 manual settings for 100/75/50% by BIOS |
| BIOS Revision | VP.2B4 (01/10/08) |
| Board Revision | v1.00 |
MSI tells us they plan on introducing the board in the mid $200 range, but given the market's propensity to inflate costs close to launch we have quoted a slightly higher estimated cost. Even so, this board will do a fine job filling the low-cost alternative market segment void that will be left when some of the tier one giants release their more expensive X48 elite motherboards in the $330~$350 range.
Along with the use of the Intel X48 Express chipset comes official support for 400MHz FSB and DDR3-1600 memory speed. We also see the inclusion of many features that are normally reserved for more expensive offerings: dual Gigabit LAN ports, onboard 8-channel HD Audio (including an S/PDIF optical port), ICH9R RAID-enabled back panel eSATA ports, and a rich hardware monitoring page by BIOS.
The MSI X48 Platinum comes with a nice balance of features and controls. All the standard voltages, CPU, memory, Northbridge, Southbridge, and a couple of reference voltages are available for manipulation. With CPU voltage support to around 2V (depending on the installed processor's default VID) and DDR3 voltage to 2.75V, even the most demanding overclockers should not be left wanting. We will cover some of these options and our findings in more detail when we look at some of the BIOS screens.
The back plane includes legacy PS/2 ports for keyboard and a mouse, a total of eight (8) USB 2.0/1.1 ports, a IEEE-1394(a) port, two (2) eSATA ports, two (2) RJ-45 Gigabit ports, a single optical S/PDIF port, and jacks for analog audio connections. MSI also includes a mini button for manually resetting the BIOS should the settings become completely unworkable.
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21 Comments
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HotBBQ - Thursday, January 31, 2008 - link
You cannot directly compare CAS latency across DDR revisions."Consider the latency ratings of the three most recent memory formats: Upper-midrange DDR-333 was rated at CAS 2; similar-market DDR2-667 was rated at CAS 4 and today's middle DDR3-1333 is often rated at CAS 8. Most people would be shocked to learn that these vastly different rated timings result in the same actual response time, which is specifically 12 nanoseconds." - Tomshardware
Mondoman - Friday, February 1, 2008 - link
Actually, you can compare the latency pretty directly across DDR technologies, as shown in your example. 2 clocks at DDR-333 = 4 (twice as fast) clocks at DDR2-667 = 8 (four times as fast) clocks at DDR3-1333.tayhimself - Thursday, January 31, 2008 - link
Please include stability testing. Who cares if you can get 1-5% more performance via exotic tweaks. Lets make sure that the board doesnt lock up when overclocked and laden with RAM by doing some stress testing. And make the stress testing transparent. These reviews are not as useful as or TR reviews for this reason.ATWindsor - Friday, February 1, 2008 - link
And also test if the product supports other things than graphic-cards in the PCIe-slots, a card like this begs for it.kjboughton - Thursday, January 31, 2008 - link
We will be including this type of information and much, much more in our upcoming X38/X48 motherboard round-up. As we mentioned in the review, this article is meant to provide you an early look at the layout, features, specifications, interesting BIOS options and a quick preview of any overclocking results. Stay tuned, we're confident we will address the concerns you brought to day in much more detail in just a short time.Vikendios - Thursday, January 31, 2008 - link
And please let us know how Nvidia cards work in SLI under Intel chipsets, not only under Nvidia's chipsets.I am particularly interested in twinned 8800 GT, since AnandTech called them "The only cards that matter".
OzoZoz - Thursday, January 31, 2008 - link
We all know that nVidia does not "certify" this Intel chipset to run SLI, but does that mean it won't work? I agree with Vikendios: I would like to see how SLI performs on these Intel-based motherboards.JarredWalton - Thursday, January 31, 2008 - link
I know of someone at a hardware site that was threatened with a lawsuit if they showed SLI performance on a non-NVIDIA system. (I don't know if those threats are still being sent around, but it wouldn't surprise me.) At present, the only way to make SLI work on a non-NVIDIA chipset requires a hack.Hacked drivers, but the latest drivers use some sort of encryption I believe so cracking them breaks the DMCA. I don't even know if anyone can break the encryption, and the last hacked drivers I heard about are quite old, XP only GeForce 7xxx or earlier only, and probably won't work with many modern games.
The other approach that might work would be to hack your BIOS so that it identifies itself as an nForce chipset. I don't know exactly what would be required for the ID string, or if it would work properly afterwards.
Note that SLI works on stuff like SkullTrail and PM945 (i.e. http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=307...">in my Alienware m9750 review) because there's an nForce 100 bridge chip in use. nForce 100 is the precursor to the nForce 200 that's used to provide 780i with dual PCI-E 2.0 slots.
SoBizarre - Thursday, January 31, 2008 - link
It seems that the author of this article is very much “into” memory stuff. I have a little suggestion. Why don't you consider writing kind of “Everything about motherboards & RAM” guide. You could cover some practical aspects which are NEVER addressed by reviewers. For example: On motherboard supporting up to 8GB of RAM (like the one reviewed today), what is the limiting factor for RAM amount? Is it electrical(?) design of PCB, or is the address space limitation of chipset (BIOS)? Because if the BIOS can not address more than 8GB of memory, memory remapping will not help and you just can't have 8GB of RAM available to your (64bit) OS. Is that the case? Personally I don't run Virtual Machines nor do I have other reasons for installing 8GB of RAM , but other people do. Besides, it would be nice to just KNOW.smeister - Friday, February 1, 2008 - link
What's with the memory reference voltage?On the specification page (pg 2)
Memory Reference Voltage Auto, 0.90V ~ 1.25V
It should be half the DDR3 memory voltage
1.5V x 0.5 = 0.75V, so should be: Auto, 0.75V ~ 1.25V