Conclusion
The MSI 845PE MAX2 FIR, to give it its full title, does a lot of things extremely well. It's excellently packaged with a number of useful add-on brackets. It has a decent software bundle and an excellent set of manuals that should ensure even novice users aren't flummoxed with installation and operation. The BIOS is solid with decent voltage options on all fronts. Surprisingly, the voltage options have a more diverse range than their ABIT counterparts. That would have been hard to believe even a couple of years ago.
Features-wise, it's another impressively solid offering. 6 USB2.0 ports, Firewire support, RAID, albeit one not quite as good as the Highpoint offering, Gigabit LAN, and decent sound certainly do make it stand out from most motherboards. I can also appreciate the fact that this motherboard isn't simply a chipset switch, the Gigabit LAN and Firewire support was lacking from the previous premium motherboard.
With Serial ATA being all the range currently, even though compatible drives are thin on the ground, I would have liked to see MSI integrate support for it directly. That's about the only major detraction I can think of with respect to features. Although we have Bluetooth support, I would have liked to see a transceiver (optional) bundled with the motherboard. Thankfully, the MSI 845PE MAX2 BFIR does give you that option, but it weighs in at around £20 more.
For once MSI's premium motherboard puts up a highly competitive showing in our gamut of benchmarks. Previously, it appeared as if MSI played the performance game rather safely, focusing on sheer stability. Stability hasn't been compromised but performance does appear to be at, or very near, ABIT levels. MSI have also given users the ability to lock the sensitive AGP/PCI busses should you wish to exercise the generous voltage options on offer and overclock your CPU.
Along with ABIT's MAX series of boards, the MSI 845PE series would be high on my prospective motherboard list if I was looking for a fast, feature-packed, and stable platform. Priced at around £120, this MSI shows that a feature-laden motherboard doesn't have to cost the earth. Sure, it's more expensive than its SiS counterparts, but not radically so. The BFIR, with an additional bundled Bluetooth receiver, can be had for around £140.
Highs
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Not just a chipset alteration, Firewire and Gigabit LAN are useful extras.
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Decent BIOS with plenty of voltage adjustment
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Surprisingly quick for a MSI-based motherboard. DDR333 and HT support as standard.
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Stable as the day is long
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Overclocker-friendly with fixed AGP/PCI bus options
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Very well presented with a number of useful add-on brackets
Lows
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Would have liked provision for S-ATA ports
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Would have liked a couple more fan headers, 2 usable headers is a little conservative
Overall rating 9/10.
