Socket 775 Micro-ATX MSI motherboards review

Written by Stuyo

Sunday, 08 June 2008

 

Page 7 - Conclusion

MSI 945GCM7 V2

Pros:

• Good performance
• Smaller size
• Low price
• Well placed components
• LPT port availability

Cons:

• Rather aged videocontroller
• Useless for overclocking
• Lower power consumption effectiveness
• The maximum it supports is Core 2 Duo

MSI 945GCM7 V2 is a good choice if you are looking for a cheap Core 2 Duo motherboard. It does offer all you need, including adequate performance, yet expecting more than that would be wrong – its overclock potential is modest (pitiful actually). Still it is an fine choice if you're building a miniature mod and you need decent performance on a tight budget.

MSI P6NGM

Pros:

• Micro ATX form factor
• Adequate price
• Potent overclock capabilities
• Core 2 Quad support
• HDMI availability
• Good energy efficiency
• Good performance
• Better integrated videocontroller

Cons:

• Lack of LPT
• Not too good arrangement of the components

MSI P6NGM is a strong motherboard with high performance and vast overclock capabilities, that won't burn a hole in your pocket. Should we even mention the better integrated videocontroller? Or the important Core 2 Quad support? P6NGM is an excellent choice for a small mod, its capabilities surely justify the use of more extreme hardware – such as water cooling and high end video card. You just have to plan carefully on what coolers to use for the memory. As for the lack of LPT, well its brother P6NGM2 do have one, but choose wisely, upon giving up the integrated HDMI port (then again such hardware is not likely to be used with Windows XP, so the LPT is rather useless).

Many thanks to our friends from Solytron , that made this review possible.

Author: Stoyan Pamukchiev a.k.a Stuyo

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