Labs

Pentium 4 DDR Motherboards

MSI 845 Ultra-ARU [PC Pro]
COMPANY: MSI	PRICE: Ł117(Ł137 inc VAT)
RATING:	ISSUE: 92 DATE: May 02

Verdict: Almost as feature-packed as the Gigabyte, but it just loses out due to poorer expansion and performance.

View Spec Table

In terms of features, this second MSI board rivals the Gigabyte 8IRXP. It possesses the same Promise RAID and NEC USB 2 controllers, allowing for excellent expansion potential. MSI kindly bundles four USB 2 ports and two extra USB 1.1 ports, along with the same diagnostic LEDs as the 645 Ultra. However, there's no integrated LAN to be found.

MSI



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also slips behind on slot configuration. Five PCI slots are one down on the 8IRXP, and an AGP 4x slot and a CNR slot accompany these. But it's a shame that MSI has pushed the seven slots up towards the three DIMM sockets, necessitating removal of the graphics card to add memory.

The 845 Ultra-ARU lost out to the Gigabyte in our benchmarks as well. It only managed 3.38 in 2D - the joint-lowest score along with AOpen - and scored 6,420 3DMarks, 177 behind the 8IRXP.

Overclocking support is present in force, though. CPU, DIMM and AGP voltages can be increased, and the FSB settings range from 100-200MHz in 1MHz steps. You can also adjust the FSB frequency from within Windows using the Fuzzy Logic III applet, but there's no FSB/CPU divider as offered by Gigabyte.

Even though the 845 Ultra-ARU is almost 10 cheaper than the 8IRXP, the Gigabyte remains the better choice due to its extra features and performance.