Anyone try MSI's new board-MSI RS480M2-IL

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Dethfrumbelo

Golden Member
Nov 16, 2004
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It's a solid board for those not concerned with overclocking or the newest features, like SATA II. Notice that it only has the one PCIEx16 slot and 3 regular PCI slots - that may be a bit limiting for some people. Probably best paired with an ATI video card.

For the price, it's a good deal.


 
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FastEddie

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Tried to get my hands on a pre-release board, to put through the paces. Another paper launch by MSI.
I heard that the newest version will be paired with a better southbridge to offer a more rounded package. Who knows when it'll hit the reseller pipe.

edit: damn kleboarg
 
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bradley

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2000
3,671
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Originally posted by: FastEddie
Tried to get my hands on a pre-release board, to put through the paces. Another paper launch by MSI.
I heard that the newest version will be paired with a better southbridge to offer a more rounded package. Who knows when it'll hit the reseller pipe.
Click to expand...

Actually, these motherboards are already being sold in pretty good quantity. A few retailers even have them priced at $100, which is fairly reasonable. Overall, ATI's Radeon Xpress 200 chipset tests pretty darned fast on par with Nvidia's Nforce4. Finally the first on-board video that doesn't take a huge speed hit. However, the major problem seems to be USB implementation, which is much slower than spec.

Also, it looks like MSI's implementation is different than the ATI reference board received by Anand. That board supported a ton of overclocking features; yet, looking at MSI's manual for the these features, they look largely absent. According to the OCWorkbench review, "The board does not come with overclocking features like FSB, multiplier, voltage adjustments at all." If this statement is true, about the board being purposely limited, it's a major downer... a darned shame.

BTW, there's a pretty thorough review over at the Tech Report.
http://techreport.com/reviews/...xpress200/index.x?pg=1
 
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bradley

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2000
3,671
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I think ATACOM sold them the crack :p

Atacom originally was selling these at $104, then upped it to $124. I guess $188 is where they're at now. :) Although, these motherboards might be cheaper to manufacture since the pci-e ports are on the southbridge. I guess ATI was smart enough to take advantage of Athlon 64 integrated on-die memory controller.

Again, it's a shame that MSI removed all the overclocking features from the BIOS. Otherwise, this is a pretty amazing chipset, especially being that it is ATI's very first.

 
DAPUNISHER

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
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It is their first chipset for A64 yes, but don't forget they made the 320M *mobile* and 320 IGP *desktop* for AMD and 340M&340 IGP for Intel years before these new Intel&AMD chipsets. I still use my Compaq 900z that has the 320M northbridge coupled with a ALi SB and it has been remarkably stable and reliable for more than 2yrs now.
 
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NonPnP

Junior Member
Jan 31, 2005
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Well, I have one up and running now...

I have previously tried to avoid using ATI based products; since I have had some really awful experiences with the quality and stability of their display drivers. This MB was the only one I could get with an m-ATX form factor, S939, a PCIe slot and somewhat descent integrated graphics. The price was so low that I thought, WTH, let's give it a try... @ US$ 125, even the RAM will cost twice as much.

The installation and setup of this baby went so smooth that it was almost boring.

The MB was happy to boot Windows XP SP2 with a AMD64 3500+ and two OCZ 512Mb 2-2-2-5 RAM modules. Everything worked as I wanted (correct CPU/RAM time settings, dual channel access) instantly, without any need to "play with" or tweak any bios settings.

I have only used it for a couple of days, but so far it seems to be 100% stable and reliable. I have not tried to overclock it in any way and I'm probably not even going to bother to try. Performance is OK, the internal graphics will not get any speeding tickets, but are (IMHO) better than the alternatives from nVidia or Intel.

....so it seems like I have to seriously revise my view of ATI!
 
DAPUNISHER

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
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Aug 22, 2001
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Originally posted by: NonPnP
Well, I have one up and running now...

I have previously tried to avoid using ATI based products; since I have had some really awful experiences with the quality and stability of their display drivers. This MB was the only one I could get with an m-ATX form factor, S939, a PCIe slot and somewhat descent integrated graphics. The price was so low that I thought, WTH, let's give it a try... @ US$ 125, even the RAM will cost twice as much.

The installation and setup of this baby went so smooth that it was almost boring.

The MB was happy to boot Windows XP SP2 with a AMD64 3500+ and two OCZ 512Mb 2-2-2-5 RAM modules. Everything worked as I wanted (correct CPU/RAM time settings, dual channel access) instantly, without any need to "play with" or tweak any bios settings.

I have only used it for a couple of days, but so far it seems to be 100% stable and reliable. I have not tried to overclock it in any way and I'm probably not even going to bother to try. Performance is OK, the internal graphics will not get any speeding tickets, but are (IMHO) better than the alternatives from nVidia or Intel.

....so it seems like I have to seriously revise my view of ATI!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the hands-on review :thumbsup: I usually don't give a rat's ass about 3DMock, but I would actually be interested in the 3DM 2001 and 2003 scores for the IGP if you could run them.

 
kennyG

kennyG

Senior member
Sep 29, 2000
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Originally posted by: NonPnP
Well, I have one up and running now...

I have previously tried to avoid using ATI based products; since I have had some really awful experiences with the quality and stability of their display drivers. This MB was the only one I could get with an m-ATX form factor, S939, a PCIe slot and somewhat descent integrated graphics. The price was so low that I thought, WTH, let's give it a try... @ US$ 125, even the RAM will cost twice as much.

The installation and setup of this baby went so smooth that it was almost boring.

The MB was happy to boot Windows XP SP2 with a AMD64 3500+ and two OCZ 512Mb 2-2-2-5 RAM modules. Everything worked as I wanted (correct CPU/RAM time settings, dual channel access) instantly, without any need to "play with" or tweak any bios settings.

I have only used it for a couple of days, but so far it seems to be 100% stable and reliable. I have not tried to overclock it in any way and I'm probably not even going to bother to try. Performance is OK, the internal graphics will not get any speeding tickets, but are (IMHO) better than the alternatives from nVidia or Intel.

....so it seems like I have to seriously revise my view of ATI!
Click to expand...

So where did you buy the board???
..I have a good frenid coming from japan with a Soldam SR6 case for me in black..He'll be back in about a week..and I am looking at this board to set it up.. The case only takes m-Atx motherboard..
Thanks in advance :)
 
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MonsieurCaron

Junior Member
Feb 2, 2005
2
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0
Hi!

We have tried the MSI RS480M2-IL Mobo at my workplace, which we got from Monarch.
As far as I know, the Mobo is running fine with BIOS defaults.
But It has not been tested with many different configurations or overclocked.

I'm looking the buy the next system for my home:
MSI RS480M2-IL
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm
1Gb RAM PC3200 (Corsair value...)
NEC ND-3520A
ANTEC Aria uATX casing

I would like to know if anybody has been testing the MSI RS480M2-IL with a similar config.
(NonPnP: is your system still working fine?)
Anybody tried overclocking?
Anybody has comments about the system I'm planning to buy?

I'd like to buy it now, but the problem is the MSI Mobo is not yet available in Canada!
 
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MonsieurCaron

Junior Member
Feb 2, 2005
2
0
0
Originally posted by: ChineseDemocracyGNR
This motherboard has no overclocking options at all.
Click to expand...

Hummm.
That's what I also read in the review of the MSI board based on the ATI RX480 chipset (no graphics).
http://www.ocworkbench.com/2004/msi/ms-7093/b7.htm

Could that be a pre-release version of the MSI-RX480M2 without overclocking features?
I mean, could it possible that a newer version of the BIOS includes overclocking features?

I don't see overclocking as a "must-have" feature, but since I'm planing to buy the "Overclocking-Cadillac" (Athlon64 3500+ 90nm), It would be nice to be able to overclock it.
(See http://www.matbe.com/articles/cpu/2004cpuv3/page42.php)
 
S

sangyup81

Golden Member
Feb 22, 2005
1,082
1
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MSI's website says that this board has CoreCell and one of CoreCell's features is overclocking. Anyone try overclocking that way?
 
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rgreen83

Senior member
Feb 5, 2003
766
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NewEgg has this board for only $92 shipped, I think it may be a dream come true for me wanting a cheap board to upgrade my folks pc, while making sure I can add in video and other new techs in the future.
 
rbV5

rbV5

Lifer
Dec 10, 2000
12,632
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0
I'm tired of waiting for the RS480 boards.... I'm so tempted to stick one of these in an Antec Aria case for a HTPC and getting an overclocking board later on when there is some choices. Sub $100 is hard to pass up, and these sound like solid MB from what I've heard.....hmmmm
 
K

Killrose

Diamond Member
Oct 26, 1999
6,230
8
81
I would buy one, but with no overclcoking there is no way :(

I guess MSI does'nt want to compete with their own Neo series.
 
rbV5

rbV5

Lifer
Dec 10, 2000
12,632
0
0
Originally posted by: Killrose
I would buy one, but with no overclcoking there is no way :(

I guess MSI does'nt want to compete with their own Neo series.
Click to expand...

I need to build a SFF rig for my Dad, so this board might be perfect for him since he won't be overclocking. He won't need it until early summer, so if its nice and stable, I'll pull my vcard out and he'll be fine with onboard. By then, there will be some nice overclocking boards out, and it will give me a chance to fully put it through the paces. I'm going to get one unless I hear something bad, or see something better in the next week or so.
 
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crazyeddie

Senior member
Dec 23, 2004
201
0
0
I ordered an MSI RS480M2-IR from Newegg on the 18th and installed it the 23rd, along with a 1Gb Dual Channel DDR 400 kit from KingMax and an Athlon 64 3000+ skt 939. I have a Radeon X800XL on pre-order from ATI for $269, so I'm using the Xpress 200 video core in the mean time.

I don't overclock, I prefer stability and longevity to bleeding-edge performance. Whatever this board is missing hasn't been a problem for me. What it does have is impressive: Gigabit Ethernet, 8 USB 2.0 ports, 3 Firewire ports, 6-channel integrated sound with coaxial s/pdif out, DX9 optimized integrated graphics, SATA RAID controller with support for 4 SATA and 4 Ultra ATA drives, plus the integrated video comes with both composite and s-video TV out.

My installation experience was as dull as previously described. I installed the CPU, heatsink/fan, and RAM. I screwed it into my case and connected everything up and it fired up without a hitch.

The IGP is the best I've ever seen. It only scored a 604 on 3DMark05, but I've never seen an IGP that could even run 3DMark05 before. I ran the Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo benchmarks at 1024x768 No AA/AF and the IGP dished up 59.64fps on Flyby and 40.14fps on Botmatch with settings on maximum detail.

I play EVE Online, a MMORPG that was one of the first DX9 games to ship to retail. I play it on maximum detail at 1280x1024, and it still looks and feels like I'm playing it on my Radeon 9700.

If you're not an overclocker, there isn't anything to dislike about this board. I'm thrilled with it's performance and with it's high quality and outstanding value.

P.S. - If you read the Inquirer article referenced above, the minor defect was a misinstalled part that went out in OEM-only early shipments. If you bought a retail boxed board, it's good. If you bought an OEM board and it boots, it's good. There isn't any confusion about whether or not existing boards are defective.
 
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mamisano

Platinum Member
Mar 12, 2000
2,045
0
76
Received mine today from ZZF, like Eddie I have 1GB DDR (AData Viesta) and A64-3000. Wanted a nice PCI-Express board but was not looking to spend $$$ on a vid card right now. So, I will use the onboard video until I find the need and money to pony up for an x700 or 6600GT based card :)
 
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