Are MSI mb's sucky?

[Rockfly]

Hey ppl, first post
I'm buying a new comp, so in other words im in a lot of trouble.

It's mainly going to be a gaming pc, so I'm spending a bit cash. I guess this is what I've decided on so far:

- P4 2.8GHz
- 2x256MB Corsair TWINX512-3200LL
- Western Digiatal Caviar 120GB S-ATA

As you can see, two critical things are missing: A mb and a graphic card. I'm leaning heavily towards the MSI 875P NEO (nice review in THG), and I'm not really into oc'ing. One thing is holding me back though: A lot of friends of mine say that MSI sucks, that it's buggy and incompatible in general. Anyone with experience with this card? Did MSI suck before but got better?

Also, I'm caught in between geforce fx 5900 and ati radeon 9800. Any better performance with either depending on if i choose pentium or amd? Here I'm leaning towards the fx 5900 because of detonator drivers and the fact that ppl have had bad experience with half-life and a ati card. Anyone able to clear this up?

 

[Flinx]

I'm not an expert but it seems to me, from what I have been reading, MSI is getting a lot better lately. It seems to me, too, that they are really trying to get better.

Wait for a more experienced reply though.

The loving are the daring!

 

[rook]

I don't use Intel ATM, but I have used many MSI AMD boards and haven't had any problems with them.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=23900" target="_new">System</A>
<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=800005" target="_new">3DMark03</A>

 

[pIII_Man]

I have an msi 6163pro...which is from the late pII early pIII eara...it still runs...all the capacitors are in good shape...i don't know what more to ask from a 3+ year old board! I don't know what your freinds experiences are...but msi is not a company to sneeze at...abit and asus also have 875 offerings that i am sure you have heard/read of...any of the 3 boards are highly recomended IMO.

There is no smell better than fried silicon

 

[Rockfly]

Yes, i've read much about asus and abit.

The 875 asus board uses Gigabit LAN via PCI and a low-quality raid controller and they simply did this to save money. Still the board is overpriced compared to msi/abit. I know there's coming a P4C800-E version that uses CSA, but it'll probably be expensive as hell.

I think the choice is between abit and msi. Think I'll go msi considering I'm not going to oc.

 

[Badger86]

I assume you have heard the news about FSAA and the bug with FX cards and HL2, thus the FX5900 may not be the better choice. "As for NVIDIA GeForce and GeForce FX-series, there are practically no chances to find a workaround, according to Valve." Go to <A HREF="http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20030718155730.html" target="_new"> here </A>for more information

 

[Crashman]

The 6163 is actually supposed to be one of the best boards of the erra, but never gained fame because...everybody already preferred Asus or Abit.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[pIII_Man]

well...i agree it is a great board...bought it for less than 20bux off of ebay...was in prestine condition...all the caps were good...at the same time asus and abit board would run you 40-60 dollars...good buy IMO...I really like that top Tech feature that allows you to moinitor the temperature of any component you choose (via thermal diode)...wish more brands would do that today...

There is no smell better than fried silicon

 

[sjonnie]

I have had no problems with my MSI boards MS-6501 and MS-9105. MS-6501 is the most popular MPX board and the MS-9105 worked alot better than the equivalent offering from Iwill. (Although I understand Iwill are also getting better these days. Their DP533 boards seem to be very popular - heh, mostly for their FSB jumper and voltage control.)

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/myanandtech.html?member=114979" target="_new">My PCs</A>

 

[0zzie]

MSI MOBO was the first MOBO I used in a system, I built myself and I have had a lot of problems - not only that but in spending time on the MSI forum I became amazed at how many problems there are with the latest nforce 2 AMD boards - have a look for yourself - at AMD and Intel sections...

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/e_service/forum/main.php

having said that - a look at an ASUS forum might reveal the same thing. Notwithstanding that - there are a LOT of probs with the MSI nforce 2 boards and both high end ATI and Nvidia cards.

 

[Flinx]

clickable <A HREF="http://www.msi.com.tw/program/e_service/forum/main.php" target="_new">http://www.msi.com.tw/program/e_service/forum/main.php</A>



The loving are the daring!

 

[JustPlainJef]

You also need to remember that most people will go into a forum such as that to post problems and look for solutions. Most people won't go into the forum and post "My motherboard is working just fine. Just wanted to update everyone!"
From my personal experience, I was a pure Asus fan for a while, I have an P5A, A7V133, A7A266, and now an A7N8X. My first decent video card was a Asus GeForce2 GTS (V7700) which I am still using. For my newest computer, I purchased a MSI G4Ti4200, and it has been wonderful. I think that the extra money spent on an Asus Mobo can be worth it, but the new offerings from most manufacturers are coming up to par. For my next Mobo, I will be looking at the MSI model depending on if I buy pieces or one of those Shuttle Mini-PC's. Anyway, that's my thoughts!

I've got a <font color=red>fever</font color=red>,
and the only <i>perscription</i>
is more <b>cowbell</b>

 

[sturm]

I have used two MSI boards, ms 6380(kt266) and a new nforce-2 board. Havent had any problems with them at all. I have also built one on a gigabyte board with no problems.
You can look at every board maker and see lots of problems. No maker is perfect. And I think if you look into the problems many are caused by the user trying to overclock or just plain inexperienced.
Look at the latest review by Toms, DFI got high marks but I always read before that they were near the bottom of the rung with ECS, PC-chips and such.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

I have kinda mixed experience with MSI. My MSI K7N420 Pro was simply amazing. It gave me 0 problems in 15 months. Then it *died*, without any major problems before dying. 15 months is definately a bit low lifetime for a mobo

----------------
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<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86/myrig.html" target="_new"> My Rig</A></b>

 

[Nights_L]

I have no problem with my MSI KT3 Ultra2 (MS-6380E)
it's compatible with everything that I plug in so far

 

[scottkli]

I have bought two of these NFORCE2 boards specifically for the AMD XP Barton Core processor. Now this board vs a Asus that I bought before these runs the same CPU at 35c, the MSI runs them at 52c on both boards, this is with the stock fan and heatsink in all three systems. Just my two cents.
Look out for overclocking in some areas.

 

[pIII_Man]

i have found both asus and msi temp sensors to be notorously WRONG...so i doubt that is the real temp...

So easy to fry yet tastes so good...
Silicon: The other, other, other white meat

 

[Nights_L]

how to really check cpu's temperature then?

 

[pIII_Man]

you could try mobo monitor...it is that fuzy logic program...it really pisses me off...

So easy to fry yet tastes so good...
Silicon: The other, other, other white meat

 

[Nights_L]

lol..I tried that
the interesting thing is, i used another program and fuzy logic at same time, and there is always a difference of 4C between, fuzy logic reports a higher temperature..
and question, what that really pissed u off?

 

[YYZ_Slayer]

If your looking for the best vid card, the fx 5900 ultra is the way to go. It beats the radeon 9800 pro hands down.

Anyone who clames they can tell the difference between 450 and 500 FPS in Quake 3 should be severly beaten in the head with a rock.

 

[spudz]

Not really enough to justify an extra $100 US. Overall, the image quality is better on the 9800 Pro, as well.

 

[scottkli]

Before I start seeing a rampage between ATI and Nvidia aholics. I have to say people have their own opinions on what is better. One might like the image quality and price point of the ATI, the other the raw graphics capabilities and benchmark scores of the Nvidia. Either way they both have points that set them apart from each other, this is called competition. If either company made a exact replica of the others hardware and ran a test and found one was better overall with the same price etc. then one could conclude that their would be a overall better product.

 

[coolsquirtle]

okay....... let's get this straight
nVidia GeForce FX 5900Ultra = high FPS and bad IQ
ATi Radeon 9800pro = high IQ and bad FPS
now i'm stating in general.....
what is your best choice?
I say
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MAT-ROX!!!!! LOL

Proud Owner the Block Heater
120% nVidia Fanboy
PROUD OWNER OF THE GEFORCE FX 5900ULTRA <-- I wish this was me
I'd get a nVidia GeForce FX 5900Ultra... if THEY WOULD CHANGE THAT #()#@ HSF