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- Date:
- Tuesday , May 20, 2003
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
MSI 875P Neo
The 875P Neo is MSI’s flagship board, heading up their motherboard line up coupled with the might of the Intel 875P chipset. Others are heralding it as the board to buy. We have found it to be the only i875 board we suggest that you do not purchase.
Introduction
MSI is a well known Taiwanese manufacturer of cutting edge computer products, including video cards and motherboards. The enthusiast community has warmed to MSI since it’s inception due to the company’s willingness to enable and include overclocking friendly options with most their boards.
The 875P Neo is MSI’s flagship offering based on the Intel i875P chipset. The Intel i875P chipset offers support for the latest Intel 800 MHZ FSB processors with HyperThreading technology as well as DDR RAM of up to 400 MHz operating in Dual Channel mode. The board itself is a full feature solution, designed with the high end power users in mind. It’s features include the following: 2 ATA-100 IDE ports; 1 ATA-133 IDE port; 4 total SATA 150 ports with built in RAID0, RAID1, and RAID0+1 support; integrated Intel PRO/1000CT Ethernet; 8 total USB 2.0 capable ports; 3 total IEEE 1394 capable ports; 6 channel audio with RCA and S/PDIF digital output; and serial, parallel and PS/2 port support.
Main Specifications Overview:
CPU | Intel Socket 478 Pentium 4 or Celeron |
Chipset | Intel 875P / ICH5R |
FSB | 100/133/200 |
BIOS | AMI |
Memory | 4 DDR DIMMS, up to 4 GB |
Expansion slots | 1 x AGP, 5 x PCI |
Onboard IDE | 2 x ATA 100 Intel ICH5 based headers, 1 x ATA 133 Promise based header, 2 x SATA 150 Intel ICH5 based headers, 2 x SATA 150 Promise based headers |
USB | 6 rear panel / 1 header supporting 2 ports(8 ports total) |
AGP | AGP 4x/8x |
Audio | 6-Channel AC 97 CODEC with bracket based RCA and S/PDIF output |
NIC | 1 x Intel PRO/1000CT Ethernet controller in rear panel |
Detailed Mainboard Specification List:
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Board Layout
MSI’s engineers obviously worked overtime on the layout of the board, it’s almost perfect. There are a few tight areas, and some placement issues, but other than those, the layout is phenomenal. Notice that the capacitors used on the motherboard appear to be manufactured by the following companies: United Chemi-Con (USA, Japan), and Teapo (Taiwan, China). The capacitors marked KZG are manufactured by United Chemi-Con. There are also capacitors marked FJZ that are from an unknown manufacturer.
The CPU socket is area is sufficiently clear on all sides but the top for most HSF installations. Along the top of the CPU HSF mount are a row of capacitors which are mostly clear of the mechanism, with the exception of the very end capacitor towards the upper right side of the HSF mount. This capacitor seems to minimally impact HSF removal, but with careful practice, can be avoided to prevent a catastrophe. The Northbridge chipset is located to the right of the CPU socket, actively cooled with an LED imbedded HSF unit. The multicolored LEDs in this unit blink in a repeating pattern when the motherboard is powered on. Just above and to the left of the Northbridge is the ATX12V connector. This location allows for shorter power trace routes on the motherboard for cleaner power, but can be problematic for CPU optimal airflow. You are forced to route the ATX12V cable from the PSU around the CPU HSF unit when engaged. There are a total of 2 fan headers in the sockets vicinity. The first is located directly below the CPU socket, and is a monitored header for your CPU fan. The second header is located below the Northbridge, in between the upper DIMM slot and the AGP slot. This is also a monitored fan header, and is meant for the Northbridge HSF unit. One really nice surprise was the heat sinks covering the board’s MOSFETs, located just above the CPU socket. The MOSFETs themselves tend to get very hot during taxing board use, especially in overclocked scenarios.
The DIMM slots are arranged in 2 set of 2 slots each, with each set of slots belonging to a separate memory channel. The slots themselves are color coded, with each color representing an individual channel. This color scheme could become confusing, since most users would assume that populating a single color slot group would enable dual channel mode. The DIMM slots themselves are positioned well away from the AGP slot, so that memory can easily be installed or removed with a full sized AGP card seated. Below the bottom set of DIMM slots are the ATX connector on the right, and the two ATA-100 IDE connectors, and the floppy connector to the left. Between the ATX connector and the board edge is an unmonitored fan header, which can be used for any system fan. To the right of the system fan header and the ATX connector is the CoreCell technology chip. This chip optimizes system performance by automatically adjusting fan speed and system power usage, based on overall system temperature and utilization. The CMOS battery is located just to the left of the IDE and floppy connectors.
The CMOS reset jumper is located along the bottom edge of the board, to the left of the CMOS battery. Note that the CMOS reset jumper did not seem to function correctly when used in testing. It was found that the CMOS was not reset with the jumper in the reset position. Pulling the CMOS battery would be the only was to clear the BIOS in this case.
The Southbridge chipset, the ICH5R, is located below PCI slots 1 and 2 with the ICH5R controlled SATA 150 ports just below the chipset itself. The Promise chipset is located to the left of its ATA-133 IDE port, and between its SATA 150 ports. To the left of the lower Promise controlled SATA port is the system panel header, with the infra-red bracket header in the lower left corner of the board. The board’s three IEEE 1394 and USB 2.0 ports along the left edge of the board above the system panel header.
The 875P Neo has a total of 5 PCI slots and one AGP slot. Between the edge of the board and PCI slot 5 are the D-Bracket 2 header, the RCA and S/PDIF bracket connector, and the front audio panel header. Note that the rear panel audio ports will not function unless pins 5/6 and 9/10 are jumpered. Just above the ATX12V connector is the CD-IN audio port.
The rear panel contains the standard set of ports, including a PS/2 keyboard and mouse port, a parallel port, two serial ports, 6 USB 2.0 capable ports, an Intel PRO/1000CT Ethernet port, and 3 audio ports.