MSI P35 Neo2-FR: Platinum performance for under $100
by Gary Key on December 5, 2007 11:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
MSI P35 Neo2-FR Specifications
| MSI P35 Neo2-FR | |
| Market Segment | Budget Performance - $88.99 after Rebate |
| CPU Interface | Socket T (Socket 775) |
| CPU Support | LGA775-based Pentium 4, Celeron D, Pentium D, Pentium EE, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Quad |
| Chipset | Intel P35 MCH and Intel ICH9R |
| Bus Speeds | Auto, 133 ~ 600 in 1MHz increments |
| DDR2 Memory Speed | Auto,1:1, 1:1.2, 1:2, 1:1.25, 1:1.6, 1:1.5 |
| PCIe Speeds | Auto, 100MHz~200MHz in 1MHz Increments |
| CPU Voltage | Auto, Base CPU - +0.7875V in 0.0125V increments |
| SB Voltage | 1.05V, 1.15V |
| SB I/O Voltage | 1.50V ~1.80V in .05V increments |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Auto, 6x-50x in 1X increments if CPU is unlocked, downwards unlocked, Core 2 Duo/Quad/Extreme |
| DDR2 DRAM Voltage | Auto, 1.80V ~ 2.60V in .05V or .10V increments |
| DRAM Timing Control | Enabled SPD, Disabled, 9 DRAM Timing Options |
| NB Voltage | Auto, 1.250V ~ 1.650V in .025V increments |
| VTT Voltage | Auto, 1.175V ~ 1.550V in .025V increments |
| Memory Slots | Four 240-pin DDR2
DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered Memory to 8GB Total |
| Expansion Slots | 2 - PCIe X16
(1x16, 1x4 electrical for CrossFire or Multi-GPU) 2 - PCIe x1 2 - PCI Slot 2.2 |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 4 SATA 3Gbps Ports
- ICH9R (RAID 0,1, 10, 5) 2 eSATA 3Gbps Port - ICH9R 1 SATA 3Gbps Port - Marvell 88SE6111 |
| Onboard IDE | 1 ATA133/100/66 Port (2 drives) - Marvell 88SE6111 |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 12 USB 2.0 Ports -
6 I/O Panel - 6 via Headers 2 Firewire 400 Ports by VIA VT6308 - Requires FIR board |
| Onboard LAN | Realtek RTL8111B PCIe Gigabit Ethernet controller |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC888T - 8-channel HD audio codec |
| Power Connectors | ATX 24-pin, 8-pin EATX 12V, 4-pin Molex connector |
| I/O Panel | 1 x PS/2
Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 2 x eSATA 1 x IEEE 1394a - Requires FIR board 1 x Audio Panel 1 x RJ45 6x USB 2.0/1.1 |
| BIOS Revision | v1.6 |
| Board Revision | v1.0 |
MSI designed the P35 Neo2-FR for the enthusiast user on a budget. The BIOS options available are extensive for a board in this price category and place an emphasis on overclocking. MSI provides the standard laundry list of board options such as the Marvell 88SE6111 for eSATA and IDE support, optional IEEE 1394 support from VIA on the FIR board, decent onboard audio support from the Realtek ALC888T, 12 USB ports, Intel Matrix RAID, and Gigabit LAN support from the ubiquitous Realtek RTL8111B chipset.
The board offers a very good mix of expansion slots. Utilizing a CrossFire setup will create the physical loss of a PCI and PCI Express slot with dual-slot cards, but we still recommend utilizing the 975X or X38 chipsets for CrossFire operation. We ran a few early tests with a QX9650 Yorkfield CPU and the board operated fine. MSI has not finished fully tuning the BIOS for Yorkfield, but they should in the near future. Speaking of the BIOS, its design has not changed from the P35 Platinum, nor have the options - something we dearly wish that MSI would address in their next product release. It's not that bad, but the layout could be better and additional auto settings would be welcome in the memory timing section.
MSI includes several Windows utility programs, with Dual Core Center and Live Update being the two major applications. Just like the majority of utility programs from most manufacturers, they are somewhat interesting to look at for a few minutes, but we quickly removed them from our system to utilize third party programs for tuning and measurements. We also had a problem updating our BIOS from 1.3 to 1.6 with the Live Update program. The BIOS update completed normally and our system rebooted as planned. However, it would not POST correctly after several on/off episodes. Thinking the board might be dead, we decided to try a couple of options before contacting MSI. We switched out our processor to the E2160 and the board booted fine. We set the BIOS to defaults, shutdown, inserted the Q6600, and it started right back up.
Attempting to replicate the problem, we tried the Live Update procedure on an MSI P35 Platinum board when upgrading from the engineering BIOS to an early public release. We did not have a problem there, but we did when upgrading to the latest BIOS. This time, we set the FSB jumpers on the board to 200 and it went straight through the POST routine. The only thing we can think of is that the FSB rates are not being set correctly after the flash routine. However, we did not have a single problem flashing with the DOS utility.
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35 Comments
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krunt - Saturday, January 12, 2008 - link
so when can we expect the shoot out between the "cheap" boards? it has been two months since it was said to be here shortly.nefar - Sunday, December 23, 2007 - link
It drives me crazy when a site claims a price and then it turns out it's with a "rebate". Unless I can go buy the item under $100.00 it's not under $100.00 and it should not be shown as such.thebittersea - Sunday, December 9, 2007 - link
This is a great article with a lot of AnandTech caliber content. However, I have one problem with the fluff that plagues your write up. I'm not sure if you have to reach a certain pages to get the amount of ads to keep this place going, but I find that informations are being repeated over and over again. The conclusion (which I always read first), can definitely be summarized in less than two paragraphs.I love your site!
nermanater - Saturday, December 8, 2007 - link
Just as a side note, there is no such thing as CAL P...there is cevo-p but if you were in that league you wouldn't make that mistake. Sound is extremely important to serious gamers and onboard just doesn't cut it sometimes.rallyhard - Friday, December 7, 2007 - link
On page five:"The problem is that once we started to raise the FSB over 445 with the Q6600 or QX6850 processors, the board automatically (drastically) reduced chipset timings and memory sub-timings"
Shouldn't that be an increase in timings? A reduction would be a good thing, right?
JarredWalton - Friday, December 7, 2007 - link
"reduced" as in "changed in a bad way that results in reduced performance" is the idea. Yes, the timings/sub-timings are probably getting higher. I think it also changes the FSB strap (Gary can confirm). So basically, you're better off with a lower FSB/higher multiplier, which gives improved performance.takumsawsherman - Thursday, December 6, 2007 - link
This seems to have very few ports on it, not to mention zero firewire. In bulk, adding firewire to a board can't be *that* expensive.just4U - Thursday, December 6, 2007 - link
I am glad you folks here at Anandtech did a review on this board. I've set up a few computers now based around it and I was so impressed I accually want one for myself. When I recommend it to others it's like being in a very quiet forest as no one really knows much about it.I accually liked the little led display they have to. Looks good in a windowed case and is very subtle.
Anywhoo Good review!
ultimatex - Thursday, December 6, 2007 - link
Toms and Hardocp have done reviews of this board and its always scores higher or the same as those $200.00 boards.I did tons of research comparing it to the Asus and Gygabyte ones that cost the same and went with this one because off all the benchmarks ive seen. Plus it looks better than any board at $120.00
Anyone know if theres any way to soder a optical outlet on this board and if it will work.
j@cko - Thursday, December 6, 2007 - link
The title "performance for under $100" is misleading; because without the rebate, this board is >$100 and the rebate is time limited. Unless MSI is due to a price cut soon.