Bundle & presentation
It used to be the case that motherboards arrived in a plain, almost boring box. Manufacturers have realised that packing sells, after all, first impressions do count, the graphics card industry has been using packaging to sell their products for some time now. That is perhaps why we see some manufacturers make a concerted effort to distinguish their products from the norm. The 645E Max-LRU is a case in point. Have a look at the front cover
The box cover should carry no weight in assessing a motherboard's capabilities. Still, the reflective, vibrant colour does look nice. The 533MHz support is proudly emblazoned on the top right. The back is equally pleasing.
The box clearly spells out the features on offer, with USB2.0, ATA133 RAID support, and Bluetooth connectivity deserving particular mentions.
Naturally, apart from the motherboard itself, we are provided with a whole host of extras. We see an ATA133, ATA 100, and floppy drive cable included as standard. I've previously bemoaned at the fact that not enough cables are supplied as standard, it's nice to see that some manufacturers do have attention to detail. As this is the top-of-the-line MSI SiS-based motherboard, you also receive 3 additional brackets housing the audio connections, USB2.0, and diagnostic LEDs / 2 USB1.1 ports respectively.
The audio bracket contains S/PDIF digital output connections through both optical (left) and coaxial (right) jacks. Line-Out for centre / subwoofer and rear channels is also provided, giving true 5.1 support.
MSI's answer to ABIT's and EPoX's debug LCDs seems to be lie with their D-Bracket . The 4 LEDs provide up to 16 combinations that can troubleshoot booting problems, the various combinations of lights translate to various errors. These can be cross-referenced with the manual to determine the particular error. Not quite as elegant as a debug LCD, but a definite step in the right direction. 2 further USB1.1 ports are included.
The 645E MAX-LRU is blessed with the NEC 7200100 USB2.0 controller, the USB2.0 bracket provides up to four USB2.0 ports. Naturally, these ports are backwardly compatible with present USB1.1 ports, bringing the total on offer to 8. One detraction is that only 3 USB2.0 ports can be used concurrently if you plan to use the onboard Bluetooth connector. This situation arises due to the Bluetooth connector sharing the jumpers belonging to one USB2.0 header.
The manual is subjectively excellent, written in an easy to follow style, and delving into necessary detail when warranted. MSI's manuals have always impressed me, this one continues the trend. Novice users would definitely appreciate the style and content provided. It is especially effective at guiding users through the possibly complicated business of setting up a RAID array.
2 software CDs are provided. One contains MSI's in-house 5.1-channel DVD software, the other contains various utilities and drivers. We like MSI's Fuzzy Logic software, it's a Windows-based overclocking tool that safely gauges your maximum stable overclock without you having to fiddle around with BIOS. MSI include their LIVE series of software, basically software that connects to their servers and downloads appropriate BIOS or driver updates, much in the way that Windows carries out its updates.
The overall bundle is strong with value-adding functionality through the various brackets. Our only concern is that you will have to sacrifice at least 2 of the 5 PCI slots should you wish to install all three brackets.
