MSI P35 Platinum Combo @ [H]

MSI P35 Platinum Combo - Every now and then a product comes along that raises an eyebrow, the MSI P35 Platinum Combo is one such a product. MSI takes an unusual approach to making a board that supports DDR2 & DDR3 memory technologies yet is enthusiast oriented.

I would not suggest this board to the usual DIY enthusiast. Who I would suggest it to would be system builders looking to cut down on inventory. Being able to build DDR2 and DDR3 boxes on the same platform could make configuring things simpler. This is not a bad motherboard; it is just not a great enthusiast motherboard for those wanting to build their own box.

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It's too bad this board did so poorly. I have the non-combo version (DDR2 only) and it absoloutely rocks.

It's a good thing those jumper cards will remind us enthusiast's what kind of memory we're running because we always forget that.

A hybrid memory board with all kinds of glitches? Who would have thought. Not really surprised to see the results on this one.

I have the MSI p35 Platinum with out the combo and I love it, idk about the combo but the regular does really well.

The killer for me is the poorly placed 8 pin, and molex power plugs on the mobo... and there's only 5 SATA ports.

I don't understand why they use a "roller coaster" heat pipe design. I'm not a fan of it, it could work really well, but to me it looks silly, and it would be hard to slap a 40mm fan on.

The board works well for me, clocks every bit as well as the XFX 680i board it replaced ................

But I really can't complain one way or another, I got it for free...................)

Oh, and if you're OC'ing the DDR3, you need to pull those worthless little jumper cards out like the instructions say, it works much better that way.

I began a thread here 2 weeks ago here RE: IF anyone was familiar with this board. I read my own reviews and did my own research. I was hoping for opinions BEFORE I made a decision to purchase it or not.
0 replies.
Now theres a sticky, & everyone knocks the board.
Everything is stable on this board & fit perfectly, including my Zalman 9700NT.
I think this is my last post in this forum. Thanks for the help.

I'll make few comments about the article followed by my recent experience with the MSI p35 PC MB overclock.

-It is important to underline that MSI has a list of memories certified to work well with this board on their site:

<a href=http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=prodtestreport&prod_no=1250&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=&cat3_no=#menu> Memory Test Reports</a>

This includes chipsets as well so one can find appropriate memory modules (using those chips) as sold here in the USA. In the list there are few DDR3 1333MHz modules. See my experience with one of them below and definitely visit the site and check supported memory before purchase...

-Memory "terminators" don't need to be used and as specifically instructed in the Manual: they definitely shouldn't be used when overclocking. Dual channel works fine when overclocking without these chips ... (Article:"When using DDR 3 the included terminators must be used in the correct DDR2 slots")

- I haven't had any problems using memory slots while my 8800 GTS card was installed in PCIE16x slot. This may vary by video card design but the main "bulge" of my card pointed in the opposite direction (Article:"To further complicate things you can’t install and remove memory with the video card installed.").

-Article is not clear regarding voltage settings in the BIOS Cell menu. It is important to underline that these are NOT user adjustable. After the user defines adjustable parameters (FSB, Ratio,...) BIOS software decides on its own what the appropriate voltages are. Unfortunately the software makes large and abrupt changes vs. what would most users do: small incremental changes. Hence, for me this was the main limiting factor for overclocking. (Article: "Below those settings are the voltage adjustments. MSI has provided a good range of voltage adjustments for everything.")

-4 of the SATA ports are supported by the BIOS-Software (fake hardware) Intel Raid controller. This didn't play well with my Linux installation but works fine with Windows.

-There are "old school" overclock jumpers for the FSB on the board. Counterintuitive use of these helped me with the very similar problem as the one described in the article: "There is also the problem I had with the E8500 processor as well. I couldn’t run it at its’ normal default settings of 3.16GHz (9.5x333) and I was forced to run at 3.2GHz (8x400).". REDUCING FSB via on-board jumpers first and than changing the FSB in BIOS might resolve this!

-"Loop-de-loop" chipset cooling contraption, while likely obstructing some CPU cooling setups can be made more useful by good cooling choice. In my case combination of the case with the exhaust fan on the top and the Arct.Cool. Freezer Pro 7 CPU fan oriented so that the air is sucked over "loop-de-loop", pushed through CPU heatsink and exhausted directly above it worked extremely well.

Now to my working experience with it. I needed very stable quad-core cheap machine for numerical modeling. For these requirements I got 1000$ worth setup as: Case Antec p182, CPU fan Arc.Cool.Freez.Pro 7, evga 8800GTS 320/320 video, Super Talent 2GB w1600UX2G7 memory, two Seagate 500GB drives and Cooler Master RS850EMBA 850W power supply. I overclocked Q6600 processor with relative ease to 3.4GHz. For my purpose stability (day after day) was of essence. Hence I used Prime95 and required at least 24 hrs of error-free run. This forced me to keep memory clock at 1200MHz which resulted in "never-failing" Prime 95 (more than 24hrs repeatedly). Memory worked quite fine at 1333 MHz for most gaming-like needs, as Prime95 would typically run 8-12 hrs without errors. But, this was too short for my purpose. With my settings, processor at the peaks reached 52C and generally operated in high 40's C while in mid 30's C when idle. Hence, one could hope for the higher overclock (I wouldn't mind reaching 60's C at the peak) but there I run into the wall of the BIOS deciding on voltages (poorly). BIOS would make too large sudden jump in voltage and the system would become quite unstable (10-15 minutes of Prime 95). This is my only disappointment about MSI p35 P.C.. I hope they correct this in some future BIOS...

My "choice audience" for this board would be newbie overclockers as it is hard to ruin your components by mistake and it is relatively easy to configure.But that comes with some limiting factors for high-end enthusiasts.

Here's a little OC I got out of this board with my new Q6600, I'd have to say that it's a pretty fair OC'er................... I will admit that I still need to OC the ram a bit, but all in good time as they say.........................



http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=385474

MSIs’ Circu-Pipe cooling is very interesting to look at.