Performance conclusion
I've previously mentioned that motherboards based on one chipset, whichever one it may be, and if from a respected motherboard manufacturer, usually tend to extremely similar in performance. This is to be expected as platforms are relatively mature and engineers know exactly how to tweak their respective BIOS's for performance.
The MSI 845E Max2 BLR is a case in point when run at 100FSB. It matches my present motherboard, the ABIT IT7 MAX, also Intel I845E-equipped, blow-for-blow in our gamut of benchmarks, usually sneaking ahead by an inconsequential amount. Performance is nothing without control and the MSI 845E is a paradigm of stability. The performance at 133FSB, however, is slightly under whelming. It trailed the IT7 by a couple of percent in our benchmarks, nothing to write home about but consistent nonetheless. Considering that they were both running at the same memory speed, the performance delta can only be attributed to MSI playing it rather safe. I've noticed this with their I845D motherboard, too.
The performance at 133FSB is almost directly comparable to MSI's very own SiS645DX motherboard. This is a little surprising as I was running the 845E with a memory speed of 177MHz (133 x 1.33) and the 645DX's memory at 166MHz (133 x 1.25). I have to temper all the above by unequivocally stating that the performance difference is only highlighted by benchmarks, you simply cannot tell the difference visually.
Overclocking was a success. With 1.8v on offer to Northwood CPU, I managed to overclock my 1.6A to 2784MHz / 174FSB with excellent stability.
Conclusion
I've reviewed quite a number of motherboards recently. I used to think that the holy grail with respect to motherboards was ultimate performance, I feel differently now. I now value features and overall system stability as the most important defining characteristics of any motherboard. Don't get me wrong, performance does matter too.
When I speak of stability, I don't mean completely safe timings at stock speeds, I mean super-aggressive timings at overclocked speeds. This shows just how well engineered a motherboard is. The MSI 845E Max2 BLR never missed a beat when I ran it at 2400MHz (150FSB), with my 1.6 GHz Northwood, with the strictest possible timings, for the best part of a week. This is something that I really value.
I also am a fan of motherboards that buck the trend, that offer something new. MSI, on their website, quite clearly state that this is the 1st Pentium4 motherboard with true Bluetooth wireless connectivity support. As more and more Bluetooth-enabled devices become available, support will be required, whether on-board as is the case here or via a third-party solution. The fact that we have a transceiver and an appropriate USB adapter bundled that allows you to wirelessly connect another PC is admirable. I'm actually a big fan of this truly value-adding feature.
That's not to say that other perhaps more standard value-adding features have been neglected. We are graced with 6-PCI slots, 6 USB2.0 ports, 3 DIMM slots, premium on-board sound via the ALC650 CODEC, on-board integrated IDE RAID courtesy of the Promise PDC20276 chip, on-board Intel LAN, and, of course, Bluetooth, which was surprising easy to set-up. You also get the appropriate additional brackets to maximise the potential of USB2.0 and on-board sound. I also favour the AMIBIOS.
The whole bundle from the box cover to the contents feels classy, from the red PCB colour to the Bluetooth extras. Adequate documentation is also included via three separate manuals. I'm amazed how all of this was packaged into one box.
This wouldn't be an objective review without some criticism. The Northbridge fan, whilst adding a bit of class to the package, is largely unwarranted in my opinion. It simply adds additional noise without providing that great a benefit. I've not seen an active NB fan on any other I845D/E motherboard to date.
The Promise RAID controller is not quite as flexible as its Highpoint counterpart with only a 64KB cluster size selectable whilst setting-up RAID. Still, RAID is better than no RAID. I also don't like the fact that you cannot manually select the PCI / AGP dividers, the motherboard does it for you at slightly strange FSBs. I also would have liked a few more fan headers for those who take their cooling rather seriously. I don't really see the point of the CNR slot in today's world, maybe something else could have been included instead ?.
The MSI 845E Max2 BLR is extremely well presented, innovative, stable and feature-rich. I've had time to think about the merits of this motherboard and feel that it just about warrants an editor's choice award based on the above criteria. If you don't want all the bells and whistles, MSI also offer the 845E Max which comes sans some of the premium features.
I've seen this motherboard advertised for less than £140. Intel motherboards usually attract a premium over other chipsets, so < £140, considering that the Bluetooth kit alone is worth £75+, is a decent price. This now jumps into my top three Intel P4 motherboard list.
Highs
- Complete Bluetooth kit worth ~ £75+ on its own
- Excellent stability
- Decent BIOS
- Good layout for such a busy, small 'board
- Overclockability, ran at 174FSB easily
- On-board premium sound and Intel LAN
- Excellent packaging and manuals
- Additional brackets are provided
- Good price for a feature-rich motherboard
Lows
- Performance at 133FSB is not amazing
- Promise Lite RAID is not as good as the Highpoint solution
- Would have like additional fan headers
- Is that annoying Northbridge fan really necessary ?
