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Introduction

Amidst the slew of recent 975X based motherboards released, we have a minor revision of an older runner in the high end segment up for review today. The MSI 975X Platinum has been around for a fair amount of time by current standards and has seen a good deal of interest since its release earlier this year. With the release of Core 2, MSI has followed in the footsteps of other manufacturers and released an updated version of the board which adds Core 2 support amongst some other minor tweaks.

With Core 2 chips requiring a different voltage spec than their P4 predecessors, motherboard companies have had to rerelease their boards with newer power management  implementations. MSI have taken this opportunity to add a silent copper heatsink to the Northbridge (replacing a fan unit on the original) and to switch the audio chip with a newer Realtek HD part.


Here's a look at the specs from MSI's web page.

	CPU
		• Supports Socket 775 for Intel Core2 Extreme, Core2 Duo, Pentium 4 (Prescott, P4EE), Pentium D, Pentium XE/Celeron D processors in LGA 775 package • Supports FSB 533/800/1066 MHz • Supoprts Intel 05B/05A and 04B/04A processors • Supoprts EIST techonology • Supports Intel Hyper-Threading (HT) Technology • Supports Intel Dual Core Technology to 1066MHz and up
	Chipset
		Intel® 975X Chipset • Supports FSB 533MHz, 800MHz & 1066MHz • Support Dual channel DDR2 533/667/800 memory interface up to 8GB • Support Dual PCI Express 16X interface with either 1x16 or 2x8 operation.     Intel® ICH7DH Chipset • Integrated Hi-Speed USB 2.0 controller, 480Mb/sec, 8 ports • 4 Serial ATAII ports w/ transfer rate up to 3Gb/s and support RAID (0,1, 0+1) • 1 channel Ultra ATA 100 bus Master IDE controller • PCI Master v 2.3, I/O ACPI 2.0 Compliant • Integrated AHCI controller
	FSB
		• Support FSB 533 MHz, 800MHz & 1066MHz
	Main Memory
		• Supports 4 unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 SDRAM • Supports up to 8GB memory size • Support Dual Channel DDR2 533/677/800MHz and up
		Example: Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 PC6400 operates at 2.0V, 4-4-4-12. For more information about specification of high performance memory modules, please check with your Memory Manufactures for more details.
	Slots
		• Two PCI Express 16X slots (PCI Express Bus SPEC V1.0a compliant)(When running Cross-Fire technology, dual 16X slots run at dual 8X speed) • Two PCI Express 1X slot • Two PCI 2.3 32-bit Master PCI Bus slots. (support 3.3v/5v PCI bus interface)
	On-Board IDE
		One Ultra DMA 66/100 IDE controller integrated in ICH7DH and JMicron JMB361 • Supports PIO, Bus Master operation modes • Can connect up to 2 Ultra ATA 100 drives on IDE1 & 2 Ultra ATA133 drives on IDE2 (powered by JMicron JMB361 controller)     Serial ATAII controller integrated in ICH7DH • Up to 300MB/s transfer speed • Can connect up to 4 Serial ATA II drives • Supports ACHI controller with SATAII RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 • Supports SATAII hot plug     JMicron JMB361 chipset • Supports RAID 0, 1 and JBOD (onboard SATA5 & IDE2 connector) • Can connect up to 2 Ultra ATA 133 drives on IDE2 & 2 SATA drives on SATA5
	On-Board Peripherals
		• 1 floppy port supports 1 FDD with 360K, 720K, 1.2M, 1.44M and 2.88Mbytes • 1 Serial port (COM A) • 1 parallel port supports SPP/EPP/ECP mode • 8 USB 2.0 ports (Rear x 4/** Front x 4)(** Front USB ports are supported by pin-out) • 1 6-in-1 audio jack (S/SPDIF out) • 2 PS/2 connectors • 2 IEEE 1394 (Rear x 1/ **Front x 1) (** Front 1394 port supported by pin-out) • 1 LAN RJ45 connector
	Audio
		High Definition link controller integrated in Intel ICH7DH chip • Audio codec Realtek 882M • Compliance with Azalia 1.0 spec • Support Universal Audio Jack (only Front Audio Jack)
	LAN
		• Intel PC82573 PCI-Express Gb LAN Controller
	IEEE 1394
		VIA 6308P chipset • Supports up to two 1394 ports (Rear panel x1, front x1) • Transfer rate is up to 400Mbps
	BIOS
		• The mainboard BIOS provides "Plug & Play" BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically. • The mainboard provides a Desktop Management Interface(DMI) function which records your mainboard specifications.
	Dimensions
		12in.(L) x 9.65in.(W) ATX Form Factor
	Mounting
		9 mounting holes

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