Presentation and extras
One area where MSI don't usually skimp on is in presentation and extras.
MSI's shiny boxes continue with this pleasant offering. The 8x AGP support is emblazoned on the cover, as is the Hyper-Threading and dual channel support.
The motherboard's labels spells out exactly what's on offer.
The board is accompanied by a generic MSI CD containing drivers and utilities for almost all MSI's P4-based motherboard A 5.1-channel software DVD decoder is included too. A well-written main manual, a multi-language quickstart guide, an ATA100 and floppy cable are included. MSI are fans of add-on brackets to maximise their boards' potential. Here we see the D and S-Brackets.
The D-Bracket serves as a basic diagnostic tool, as well as providing an extra 2 USB2.0 ports. The on-board sound gets the full 6-channel treatment via the appropriate sockets. Digital transfers are catered for via the TOSLink optical-out.
Amongst the myriad of utilities is MSI's Fuzzy Logic 4.
This nifty Windows-based tool allows you to overclock your CPU through an easy-to-use GUI. It also contains an automatic mode that guesstimates a safe overclock by testing each FSB until eventual failure. Handy.
