HOT HOT HOT. MSI 645 Ultra and 1.6 Mhz P4 A at Newegg for $221 + S & H

PlatinumGold

Lifer
Aug 11, 2000
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Wow. this is hot. I know about that other huge thread, but that was mostly for the Asus board.

I'm still trying to figure out why everyone would rather pay about $30 or so more for the Asus board, Reviews show these two boards neck and neck and the MSI is cheaper.

anyway, happy hunting ppls.
 

mrVW

Senior member
May 18, 2000
992
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This is the SiS chipset board right?

If I remember correctly, it has only 2 DDR memory slots.

Agreed, good deal vor overclocker...

 

PlatinumGold

Lifer
Aug 11, 2000
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mrvw

oh, i didn't know that. oh well, i only have 2 256 mb sticks for this board anyway. don't plan on going beyond 512 anytime soon. :)
 

PlatinumGold

Lifer
Aug 11, 2000
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damn that's a SWEET looking board isn't it. I just ordered it from newegg. :)

i'm so jazzed. I can't wait till i get it so i can start puttin my new system together. :)
 

lookin4dlz

Senior member
May 19, 2001
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Yeah, I think I like the SIS chip and the MSI version of it the most. Another day or two of reading reviews & I'll probably get it (although I already recommended it to my brother, with my money I'll do a bit more research).
 

GiGoLo

Senior member
Oct 1, 2001
453
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Awesome deal for a great overclocking combo.... only thing holdin me back is the absense of raid. does anyone know if there are any sis 645 mobo's that have an integrated ata100/133 raid controller? Still a bada** deal though

Love the red pcb too... matches my gainward vid card perfectly :p
 

PlatinumGold

Lifer
Aug 11, 2000
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GiGolo

I was soo pleased w/ the price of the MB, i actually purchased the Northwood 1.8a instead of the 1.6a.

but, the 1.6a is probably the better deal. :)
 

GiGoLo

Senior member
Oct 1, 2001
453
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thats not a bad idea dude... use the extra money ur saving towards the 1.8A. You'd pretty much be guaranteed 2.4ghz at 18x133fsb. P4's in general are excellent overclockers anyway. I have a Willamette 1.5 running at 1.955 with RDRAM (i'm one of the lucky few that got rdram running stable past 115 fsb :) )

neways, have fun with ur system. keep us updated on how much you were able to overclock it
 

lookin4dlz

Senior member
May 19, 2001
688
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I don't think that MSI offers a SIS645 board with raid, but I think I saw one of the other vendors who offer a board with raid & this chipset.
 

GiGoLo

Senior member
Oct 1, 2001
453
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I just answered my own question

If anyone else is interested, newegg also has the EPOX EP-4SDA+ SiS645 mobo for $99+shipping
This board has an integrated ata/133 raid controller, uses the same sis645 chipset, and also has 3 DDR Dimm slots for up to 3GB.

Just a heads up if anyone else wants raid to build a really killer system :p
 

Strawberrymom

Banned
Dec 24, 2000
838
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the reason people pay more is that they dont want a crappy motehrboard.

MSI's get RMA'd more then Clinton got Subpoenad
 

GiGoLo

Senior member
Oct 1, 2001
453
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Strawberrymom,

Not to sound rude or anything, but just for my own sake, do you have any sources to back up the MSI claim? If they really do have a high number of RMA's, then that would be good information to know for everyone. Thanx
 

PlatinumGold

Lifer
Aug 11, 2000
23,168
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hmm. when i bought my MSI K7T Turbo, MSI was known or being a stable and reliable albeit not the best performing boards on the market. there was a bunch of hoopla about how Asus was the mb maker to be avoided. Asus was taken off AMD's recommended mb manufacturers for a while cause of their Customer service problems.

That was only like 14 months ago, ur telling me that Asus is now the Most reliable and MSI is CRAP??

that's hard to believe.
 

ericlp

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
6,137
225
106
I have an MSI K7 never heard any complaints. Mine works flawlessly for over a year now. This 645 is great. I like how they put the caps far away from the CPU. Good air flow for the fan. I wish I had the cash to upgrade. But, I know the longer I wait the better of a system I can buy 3 months from now! Whoo Hooo!

 

LukFilm

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
6,128
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Man, that's a good deal. I already have a great CPU 1600+ @ 1900+, but this deal makes me want to overclock simply for the joy of overclocking. Dammit, I can't spend the money even though I can... :p
 

exp

Platinum Member
May 9, 2001
2,150
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<< does anyone know if there are any sis 645 mobo's that have an integrated ata100/133 raid controller? >>


Besides the Epox you found, the Soyo P4S Ultra also has RAID. Actually, it has just about every feature you could possibly need (ATA133 RAID, DDR333, USB 2.0, C-media 6-channel sound, 10/100 LAN). Too bad the overclocking is crap :(...if Soyo would ever come up with a BIOS fix I think that board could be awesome.
 

sygyzy

Lifer
Oct 21, 2000
14,001
4
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Why did you say the Soyo O/C is crap? I am curious because I have a Dragon and cannot o/c well and maybe the same problems are in both their AMD and Intel chipsets. I am thinking about selling my XP rig to get a P4 one and would want to get the Dragon since I have a Dragon for the XP and I like it alot. Thoughts?
 

Loricariidae

Senior member
Oct 22, 2001
280
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I was reading the exact same thing on the Asus thread and wondered why people didn't do the MSI 645 Ultra. Guess great (and economical-need-justified) minds just think alike. ;)
 

exp

Platinum Member
May 9, 2001
2,150
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<< Why did you say the Soyo O/C is crap? >>


Soyo in general is not bad for o/cing but there seems to be something wrong with the P4S (Soyo's Sis 645 board)...every review and personal experience I've seen mentions that there is a problem getting above 110-120 Mhz FSB. You can check the reviews on Neoseeker if you want.

I guess that will be fixed at some point. It's really disappointing because the board seems awesome otherwise. I don't know how quick Soyo is about fixing bugs with their products, though, and I don't think I can hold out for much longer. The Epox 4SDA+ sounds pretty close to the Soyo, though, it is only missing LAN (who cares) and USB 2.0 :( but is $50 cheaper and can overclock very well. :)
 

step-dawg

Golden Member
Feb 29, 2000
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I think the main reason for looking at the ASUS board is for stability issues. Not saying that the SIS chipset is unstable but just that the intel solution that the aSUS board is based off of is supposed to be rock solid.
 

Oakenfold

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
5,740
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I've owned many asus socket a boards, only one msi board, I must say that the diag leds on msi are way cool! That PCB is dope! If you want a videocard to match checkout a GF3 Gainward power pack!
 

PlatinumGold

Lifer
Aug 11, 2000
23,168
0
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stepdawg

If you check out the other hot deals post regarding the northwood you will see they are talking about the asus board based on the SIS chipset, same as this MB.

i still say this is a much better deal.

once again, if anyone has some real statistics regarding the "crappy motehrboard" that MSI puts out, i'm willing to listen.

i just know that in the past, MSI had a GREAT reputation.