MSI MSI RS480M2-IL?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

Hi,

For my next computer build, I'm thinking of doing something a little
different (for me, at least), and using an Athlon 64 CPU.

So, I've been looking at the MSI MSI RS480M2-IL motherboard. This seems
to have a good combination of features, and I understand that the
current BIOS doesn't offer much in the way of overclocking, but I've
seen very little in the way of comments about it (maybe just a couple of
threads on some forums).

Has anyone built a system with this board? I'm curious what, if any,
problems others might have encountered with it.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

I put one together with 939 3000+, into an Antec Aria case. Other than
no overclock options, I haven't been able to get voltage monitoring
going either with PCAlert4. I find it a bit weak for that.

Also to get 4 RAM slots, they packed them in really tight, such that
modules with heat spreaders are very tight together. To run dual
channel, I have to put the 2 modules I have right next to each other.
just enough room for a thermocouple in between the heat spreaders. I
would be more worried if I have to run 4 modules. But at least this
board has 4 slots.

Integrated PCI-X video would probably benefit from dedicated frame
buffer memory, which is an option with other similar upcoming boards.
But for the 2D graphic work I use it for it's good, and the reviews of
the early RS480 engineering boards have been good too. Although a bit
of a dream feature, having both DVI and analog outs on-board would be
cool, for dual monitor right out of the box.

BIOS does have fan voltage and thresholds adjustment, I think it's
pretty cool; it allowed me to compensate for unique environment of the
Aria.

Unlike what the manual said, it didn't come with round IDE cables. The
box label said it should have a DB-9 riser and CD cable too, but those
were missing. It may have been my retailer. Check the contents
against the box label (let me know if u get one?)

Overall I am happy for the value the board. PCIX video with good
expansion potential in uATX. If you want a uATX 939 board, there are
others coming from other makers, keep an eye out. But for the price at
the time, it's pretty good for me.

gwfung
Vancouver Canada

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

gwfung wrote:
>
> I put one together with 939 3000+, into an Antec Aria case. Other than
> no overclock options, I haven't been able to get voltage monitoring
> going either with PCAlert4. I find it a bit weak for that.
>
> Also to get 4 RAM slots, they packed them in really tight, such that
> modules with heat spreaders are very tight together. To run dual
> channel, I have to put the 2 modules I have right next to each other.
> just enough room for a thermocouple in between the heat spreaders. I
> would be more worried if I have to run 4 modules. But at least this
> board has 4 slots.
>
> Integrated PCI-X video would probably benefit from dedicated frame
> buffer memory, which is an option with other similar upcoming boards.
> But for the 2D graphic work I use it for it's good, and the reviews of
> the early RS480 engineering boards have been good too. Although a bit
> of a dream feature, having both DVI and analog outs on-board would be
> cool, for dual monitor right out of the box.
>
> BIOS does have fan voltage and thresholds adjustment, I think it's
> pretty cool; it allowed me to compensate for unique environment of the
> Aria.
>
> Unlike what the manual said, it didn't come with round IDE cables. The
> box label said it should have a DB-9 riser and CD cable too, but those
> were missing. It may have been my retailer. Check the contents
> against the box label (let me know if u get one?)
>
> Overall I am happy for the value the board. PCIX video with good
> expansion potential in uATX. If you want a uATX 939 board, there are
> others coming from other makers, keep an eye out. But for the price at
> the time, it's pretty good for me.
>
> gwfung
> Vancouver Canada


gwfung,

Thanks for all the info!

Since PCAlert4 didn't work for the voltage monitoring, have you tried
SpeedFan? That has voltage, temp, and fan speed monitoring.

FYI, the case that I'm thinking of working with is the Antec Minuet.
Things will be a bit tight, but I'm looking to build a small PC.

Still debating with myself about this motherboard though, especially
since as you say, there are others coming. I just saw an ECS board
that's similar, but I still liked the feature set of the RS480M2-IL.

I'll post back re. the cables and the riser, if I happen to pick one of
these up, but Newegg has a picture of the contents here:

http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/13-130-485-03.JPG


Jim

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

I thought about Minute too, but 220W Power supply won't cut it. I
think my 300 is adequate, but I won't be putting in serious gaming
video cards.

Waiting for MotherBoard Monitor 5 to generate a setup profile for this
board; it wasn't there a couple of weeks ago.

gwfung

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

gwfung wrote:
>
> I thought about Minute too, but 220W Power supply won't cut it. I
> think my 300 is adequate, but I won't be putting in serious gaming
> video cards.
>
> Waiting for MotherBoard Monitor 5 to generate a setup profile for this
> board; it wasn't there a couple of weeks ago.
>
> gwfung


Hi,

I've heard of others who have the RS480M2-IL with the Minuet, so it does
seem to work.

BTW, you had mentioned other companies coming out with boards based on
this chipset. Aside from ECS, can you tell me who else?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

Gigabyte just listed theirs the other day but I don't think it's on the
street yet, at least not in Canada where I am. Asus, Sapphire and a few
others are supposed to be on the way as well. Only one I saw with gigabit
lan is the Gigabyte one. I'm looking for one with dual vga connectors (this
is supported from what I read). Here's the link at ATI with a list of
partners who are supposed to release boards:
http://www.atitech.ca/buy/promotions/radeonxpress200/amd.html

"ohaya" <ohaya@cox.net> wrote in message news:42642E34.58EDDE06@cox.net...
>
>
> gwfung wrote:
>>
>> I thought about Minute too, but 220W Power supply won't cut it. I
>> think my 300 is adequate, but I won't be putting in serious gaming
>> video cards.
>>
>> Waiting for MotherBoard Monitor 5 to generate a setup profile for this
>> board; it wasn't there a couple of weeks ago.
>>
>> gwfung
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I've heard of others who have the RS480M2-IL with the Minuet, so it does
> seem to work.
>
> BTW, you had mentioned other companies coming out with boards based on
> this chipset. Aside from ECS, can you tell me who else?
>
> Thanks,
> Jim

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

zzipper wrote:
>
> Gigabyte just listed theirs the other day but I don't think it's on the
> street yet, at least not in Canada where I am. Asus, Sapphire and a few
> others are supposed to be on the way as well. Only one I saw with gigabit
> lan is the Gigabyte one. I'm looking for one with dual vga connectors (this
> is supported from what I read). Here's the link at ATI with a list of
> partners who are supposed to release boards:
> http://www.atitech.ca/buy/promotions/radeonxpress200/amd.html
>


zzipper,

Thanks for the link!!

Jim

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

MBM project was abandoned. There wont be any updates.
He announced it last summer

"Juli 6th 2004, about 7.5 years later the MBM development comes to a stop"

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

"gwfung" <gwfung@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1113850552.773400.231410@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>I thought about Minute too, but 220W Power supply won't cut it. I
> think my 300 is adequate, but I won't be putting in serious gaming
> video cards.
>
> Waiting for MotherBoard Monitor 5 to generate a setup profile for this
> board; it wasn't there a couple of weeks ago.
>
> gwfung
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

Thanks Jim for the content pics, that does match what I got. Let me
know how the Minute's power supply works for you.

gwfung

 

[jk]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 20:49:28 -0400, ohaya <ohaya@cox.net> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>For my next computer build, I'm thinking of doing something a little
>different (for me, at least), and using an Athlon 64 CPU.
>
>So, I've been looking at the MSI MSI RS480M2-IL motherboard. This seems
>to have a good combination of features, and I understand that the
>current BIOS doesn't offer much in the way of overclocking, but I've
>seen very little in the way of comments about it (maybe just a couple of
>threads on some forums).
>
>Has anyone built a system with this board? I'm curious what, if any,
>problems others might have encountered with it.
>

I have a system with that board in antec minuet soho black cabinet.
Nice little thing.

One can realize that 90 nm amd 64 cpu's are using less power (about 65
watt full load and 13 watt idle), so cooling demands are lower. So one
can use stock cooler, amd cool & quiet monitoring, if one don't want
wild overclocking, which is not necessary, really.

The onboard graphics works fine if one uses 2 ram sticks for dual-ram
band. It benchs 3DMarks2001se 1024x32 with 5300, where an X300 radeon
pci-express gives 6000. So it's quite economic to go with the onboard.

What people says about onboard sound I can't really comment, since I
use some small speakers in a 19" TFT eizo monitor.

There is a nice review on ocworkbench of the board showing that the
chipset is really not lacking much behind NF4 and NF3.

I also have a system with the asrock 939A8X-M board with Uli 1689
chipset. It comes with a complete set of 64 bits drivers, which the
MSI does not. For the RS480M2 one can use the atitech.com beta 64 bits
drivers for radeon (catalyst). They solve the graphics, but msi should
come with x64 sound drivers. I have not succeded by using some from
realtek.

http://www.ocworkbench.com/news.stm

see the links from 19. April on 3 M-atx boards

STR works perfectly on both boards, ;-)

best regards

John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

Happy to help Just noticed something on the Asus site....Radeon Xpress
200 INTEL motherboards, even one with an onboard TV-tuner....but no AMD
boards yet.

"ohaya" <ohaya@cox.net> wrote in message news:4264679D.DE25690B@cox.net...
>
>
> zzipper wrote:
>>
>> Gigabyte just listed theirs the other day but I don't think it's on the
>> street yet, at least not in Canada where I am. Asus, Sapphire and a few
>> others are supposed to be on the way as well. Only one I saw with gigabit
>> lan is the Gigabyte one. I'm looking for one with dual vga connectors
>> (this
>> is supported from what I read). Here's the link at ATI with a list of
>> partners who are supposed to release boards:
>> http://www.atitech.ca/buy/promotions/radeonxpress200/amd.html
>>
>
>
> zzipper,
>
> Thanks for the link!!
>
> Jim

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

> I have a system with that board in antec minuet soho black cabinet.
> Nice little thing.
>
> One can realize that 90 nm amd 64 cpu's are using less power (about 65
> watt full load and 13 watt idle), so cooling demands are lower. So one
> can use stock cooler, amd cool & quiet monitoring, if one don't want
> wild overclocking, which is not necessary, really.
>
> The onboard graphics works fine if one uses 2 ram sticks for dual-ram
> band. It benchs 3DMarks2001se 1024x32 with 5300, where an X300 radeon
> pci-express gives 6000. So it's quite economic to go with the onboard.
>
> What people says about onboard sound I can't really comment, since I
> use some small speakers in a 19" TFT eizo monitor.
>
> There is a nice review on ocworkbench of the board showing that the
> chipset is really not lacking much behind NF4 and NF3.
>
> I also have a system with the asrock 939A8X-M board with Uli 1689
> chipset. It comes with a complete set of 64 bits drivers, which the
> MSI does not. For the RS480M2 one can use the atitech.com beta 64 bits
> drivers for radeon (catalyst). They solve the graphics, but msi should
> come with x64 sound drivers. I have not succeded by using some from
> realtek.
>
> http://www.ocworkbench.com/news.stm
>
> see the links from 19. April on 3 M-atx boards
>
> STR works perfectly on both boards, ;-)
>
> best regards
>
> John

John,

Thanks for the comments!

Jim

 

[Chris]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

ohaya wrote:
> Hi,
>
> For my next computer build, I'm thinking of doing something a little
> different (for me, at least), and using an Athlon 64 CPU.
>
> So, I've been looking at the MSI MSI RS480M2-IL motherboard. This seems
> to have a good combination of features, and I understand that the
> current BIOS doesn't offer much in the way of overclocking, but I've
> seen very little in the way of comments about it (maybe just a couple of
> threads on some forums).
>
> Has anyone built a system with this board? I'm curious what, if any,
> problems others might have encountered with it.
>
> Thanks,
> Jim
Just finished putting together an RS480M2-IL in an Antec Sonata case.
Used an Athlon 64 3000+ CPU. I wanted a very quiet system so I swapped
out the Sonata power supply for a Seasonic & I swapped out the Sonata's
case fan. The Sonata sits on my desk about 18 inches from me & I can
hardly hear it.

So far I've encountered two minor problems. Cool N Quiet locks up
randomly with Windows XP SP2 Home. I have not found out the reason. As
a workaround, I've uninstalled CNQ and XP seems to be fine. There's been
no noticeable increase in fan noise or heat - yet.

Second problem. When I've needed to clear the CMOS, I've found the CMOS
jumper doesn't work. I've had to take the battery out for about an hour
or so.

This is my first Athlon 64 build.

Chris

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

> Chriswrote:
ohaya wrote:
> Hi,
>
> For my next computer build, I'm thinking of doing something a
little
> different (for me, at least), and using an Athlon 64 CPU.
>
> So, I've been looking at the MSI MSI RS480M2-IL motherboard. This
seems
> to have a good combination of features, and I understand that the
> current BIOS doesn't offer much in the way of overclocking, but
I've
> seen very little in the way of comments about it (maybe just a
couple of
> threads on some forums).
>
> Has anyone built a system with this board? I'm curious what, if
any,
> problems others might have encountered with it.
>
> Thanks,
> Jim
> Just finished putting together an RS480M2-IL in an Antec Sonata
case.
Used an Athlon 64 3000+ CPU. I wanted a very quiet system so I
swapped
out the Sonata power supply for a Seasonic & I swapped out the
Sonata's
case fan. The Sonata sits on my desk about 18 inches from me & I
can
hardly hear it.

So far I've encountered two minor problems. Cool N Quiet locks up
randomly with Windows XP SP2 Home. I have not found out the reason.
As
a workaround, I've uninstalled CNQ and XP seems to be fine. There's
been
no noticeable increase in fan noise or heat - yet.

Second problem. When I've needed to clear the CMOS, I've found the
CMOS
jumper doesn't work. I've had to take the battery out for about an
hour
or so.

This is my first Athlon 64 build.

Chris

I built a system with the MSI RS480M2-IL and an Athlon 64 Winchester
3000+ for my first build. I used 512x2 Corsair Valueram, 420 watt
Enermax Noisetaker, and a Coolermaster Cavalier 3 case. Everything
seems to work fine, and the graphics for games are actually quite
good with the onboard chip despite predictions of gaming death if I
didn't get a 6600GT at minimum :roll:

Make no mistake about it, the onboard sound does crackle at times. You
should budget in a $25 or so for a sound card when building a system
with the Realtek chip onboard. There is one in that price range made
my Chaintech that is quite popular. Chris is correct about the
jumper--it doesn't work. And, MSI has a big danger warnining about
removing the jumper other than the specified way. The directions are
very vague on the jumper issue, so it's best just to remove the
battery. If you need to clear CMOS simply press down on the battery
tab with a small screwdriver and the battery will fall out. Be
careful that it doesn't hit the board when it does.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)

Sorry to bring up an old topic, but:

"gwfung" wrote:
>I put one together with 939 3000+, into an Antec Aria case.


I was just googling and found this page because this is the exact
system I want to build myself!

I wondered if the case’s built-in flash card reader interfaced with
the mobo correctly. Does it work for you?

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