Features continued
The bottom right of the 645 MAX-LRU contains some value-adding extras not found on the original MSI 645 Ultra. The ACARD ACHIP ATP-865 IDE RAID controller is new to us here at Hexus, we're more familiar with the Promise and Highpoint varieties. The ACARD boasts some impressive specifications of its own. It inherently supports dual channel RAID0 (striping), RAID1 (mirroring), and RAID0+1 (striping and mirroring using 4 drives). It also happens to be compatible with the new ATA133 hard drive standard. Currently, only Maxtor offer this specification on their D740X series of drives, Still, from a future proofing point of view, the inclusion is welcome. Well be discussing its performance later. You may just be able to make out the left JBT1 Bluetooth connector. If a Bluetooth wireless communication device is connected, the bottommost USB2.0 port will not function, leaving you with three functioning ports.
MSI have once again chosen to go with NEC's D720100AS1 Host Controller for USB2.0 duties. It natively supports 4 extra USB2.0 ports connectable via the supplied USB2.0 header. USB2.0 is backwardly compatible with USB1.1, yet boasts a theoretical peak transfer speed of 480Mbps, perfect for the next generation of printers, scanners, and fast storage devices. USB2.0 acceptance has received added impetus with Microsoft recently releasing Windows XP certified drivers.
The MSI 645 MAX-LRU also houses the Realtek ALC650 5.1 sound CODEC. The ALC650 is an 18-bit, full duplex AC'97 2.2 compatible stereo audio CODEC. It natively supports full surround sound 5.1 configuration with a maximum of 6 separate or discrete channels (Left, Right, Center, SL, SR and Sub). It also supports S/PDIF out. From basic listening, it appears as if it's more than capable of basic Windows duty, perhaps not quite as good as the excellent CMI 8738 CODEC, though. You can also connect up a modem to the JMOD1 header located to the left.
The backplane is largely standard fare with the exception of the RJ45 port powered from the onboard Realtek ethernet controller. We see the normal PS/2 ports flanked by 2 USB1.1 ports. 2 serial ports, parallel, MIDI and sound ports complete the package.
The 645 MAX-LRU also has provision for an infra-red connector as well as other standard components. In summary, the MSI 645E Max-LRU offers a suitably strong feature-set. We have IDE RAID courtesy of the ACARD ATA133 controller, decent onboard sound via the Realtek ALC650 chip, onboard ethernet controller, Bluetooth connectivity and 4-port USB2.0 as standard. Couple these features with 3 DDR slots and you have perhaps the most feature-packed SiS-based motherboard to date. Whilst we're somewhat disappointed with the lack of inherent extra features on offer from the revised SiS P4 chipset, we cannot fault MSI's value-adding features.
Let's see if the performance can match the impressive bundle and feature-set on offer.
