In the AMD version of the MSI MEGA barebone, the motherboard works with the Nvidia Nforce 2 chipset for all Athlon XP and Sempron CPUs. This chipset is also responsible for onboard graphics. The video is output through the two VGA connectors or the S-Video output. The MEGA180 doesn't provide a DVI connector. This can be added later by means of an optional add-on card or a suitable graphics card for the AGP slot. The interior of the MEGA180 is very narrow due to the low height and you not only need a calm hand to install the hardware, but also matching hardware components. Above all, you should check the length of your 5.25" drives. It's better to use a shorter CD or DVD drive because it saves a lot of fiddling around during the installation. The MEGA180 leaves more elbow room for the graphics card than an XPC barebone from Shuttle, for example. The AGP and PCI slots are transposed, which is an advantage for installing wide and long graphics cards. The MEGA180 draws its power from a 250 watt power supply.

Blue/green : MEGA 180 for AMD Athlon XP and Sempron

Under The Hood

Fits, wobbles and has room - with almost no clearance to install a drive.

Clean installation: Cable ties guarantee order in the MEGA180