MSI MEGA 180 / I hate the name, but this time it looks very nice

[larciel]

TomsHW.

Their first offering was an innovative product, but failed miserably in some areas (cheapo looking) , bad chipset..

but this time, looks like MSI is going to delivery w/ nf2 and i865 . (altho red side panel in MEGA 865 looks crappy compared w/ Blue 180 )

checked PW and price is $309 ... not bad

 

[suklee]

I agree. I saw one in person the other day... looks very cool

 

[Glendor]

I bought one, but I can't recommend it to everyone. It has a lot of problems that MSI needs to address. I would wait till a later revision if I were you. It is cool, and it has some good features. There is a mini-pci slot on the mobo and the deluxe version comes with 802.11b installed. I pulled that card, and used the mini-pci module from a disassembled DLink ExtremeG 802.11G PCI card. Now I have onboard 108mbps wireless

You must be a cabling Houdini to install a fullsized AGP card :frown: My AIW 9700Pro took 1.5 hours to install, and I had to completely disassemble the barebones to do it. Trust me, if you want to do this, do it right, do it right the FIRST time! If you have everything apart to install the AGP card, that is the right time to install the upgraded wireless module, trust me on this.

With the AIW installed, I no longer get good radio reception from the built in AM/FM module. I hope MSI can fix that with a bios or firmware update

 

[Catul]

The MSI Mega 180 looks really good, I'm about ready to get one (looks like NewEgg should have it in stock today). Could someone help me with the neccessary CPU/Memory etc? This is going to be a basic workstation, so I don't need the fastest processor or gigs of memory. Thinking of the Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton" 333FSB (link), and Crucial 512MB DDR PC-2700 - OEM (link). Would these be fine, is there an alternative that might be better?

Glendor, if I'm sticking with the onboard video - just adding the CPU, memory, HD and DVD drive, it's not too difficult to get around in there, is it?

Thanks!!!