Need advice for new Mobo...

[Dr Mordrid]

I'm using the MSI 745 Ultra in my RT.X100 and RT-2000 systems and it's like a freakin' rock. Stable. VERY stable. Personally I haven't seen stability like this since the 440BX days with the much venerated Asus P3B-F.

THAT my friend is a huge compliment since a couple of my P3B-F's are still running stabily after several years of continuous use. The others are in boxes waiting for an opportunity to do likewise

I also have quite a mix of other SiS chipped boards here and most do quite well: ECS K7S5A Pro, ECS K7S6A etc., but IMO they're not built as well as the MSI is. Don't take that wrong: they're all working very nicely....but I have a feeling that the MSI's going to still be running after several years as well.

Given the minimal price difference between it and other SiS boards I'd opt for the MSI 745 Ultra every time because of its high quality construction and solid stability.

This may change when the MSI SiS 748 systems come out in a few weeks, but for now MSI's the champ.

Terry

[Fred H]

The CPU socket on the most of the AMD- MSI mobos are rotated 90° compared with e.g. Asus boards for AMD CPUs.
This makes a bit difficult to change the cooler if you don’t want to pull out the whole motherboard from the box, IMO.
If you don’t plan to change the CPU every week, than the MSI boards are very fine.

Fred H

[Dr Mordrid]

Actually that depends a bit on how much room above the CPU the case provides and the cooler clips. I have no problems swapping CPU's and/or coolers with those designed to be released with a long screwdriver.

Dr. Mordrid

[Fred H]

Yes. It is a minor problem and the MSI boards are worth to ignore this "problem".

Fred H

[Hpar_]

Dr Mordrid

about the msi 745 ultra board, it appears that board is also 1.5volt agp only. I want to use a marvel g200 tv agp card on one of the 745 boards which, that card is 3.3volts or agp 2x. are they all 1.5volt only now a days or what? this asus a7n8x deluxe board has the same problem.

[Dr Mordrid]

Yup...the MSI 745 Ultra only supports AGP4 and the G200-TV is AGP2.

There aren't really too many boards out there that support legacy AGP's anymore. Even the new SiS 748 boards are dropping AGP4x in favor of AGP8x only. ex: ECS 748A;

http://www.ecsusa.com/products/748-a.html

Dr. Mordrid