MSI X48 Platinum

MSI's striking X48 Platinum motherboard is the first we've seen to feature Intel's newest chipset. As well as support for the latest DDR3 memory, it can handle Intel's cutting-edge 45nm processors.

Every model from the old Pentium D and Celerons to the Core 2 Duo and Quad can be fitted, and when you combine this with the capacity for 8GB of blistering DDR3 1,600MHz RAM in four Dual Channel DIMM slots it's clear this is a board for the enthusiast.

Performance-wise, the X48 chipset itself isn't a huge improvement over the X38, but it offers some extra perks. The most obvious is four full-length PCI Express slots supporting CrossFire graphics setups of up to four cards, with a pair of CrossFire cables included.

Whether quad-CrossFire will actually be any good is debatable - two of the slots are PCI Express 4x, which will limit performance once the drivers are released. But with ATi really pushing multiple mid-range cards as its competition for Nvidia's 8800 range, the X48 Platinum at least gives you the option.

The rest of the board is well designed and comprehensively stocked with features. Cooling comes from a heatpipe that snakes from the VRM beside the backplate, past the north and south bridges, and dominates the middle of the board. The backplate packs in plenty, too, with eight USB ports, two ethernet sockets, two eSATA ports, six audio jacks, and FireWire.

Ports and sockets are intelligently implemented. Two eSATA ports are conventionally located, and the four SATA sockets and IDE slot are aligned horizontally, so wires won't clog up your board or interfere with graphics cards.

An overclocking suite is included - MSI's Dual Core Center - for those not comfortable tweaking settings in the BIOS. We found it to be a little unstable in use, though, with a few of the preset configurations causing our test rig to hang. Others worked fine, however, with the Silent mode particularly effective, and the real-time monitoring of temperatures and speeds should keep you from doing any permanent damage.

All in all, a sensible layout coupled with interesting design choices makes the X48 Platinum a great enthusiast's board. If you want the latest CPUs and fancy trying quad-CrossFire then it's a good, if expensive, bet.

Author: Mike Jennings