Intel P965: MSI P965 Platinum and ECS PX1 Extreme

Final Words

We are nearing the end of our P965 review process and there have not been any real surprises to date until we tested these two boards reviewed today. Not because of the performance of the Intel P965 chipset as it continues to perform well across the board and is probably the best chipset solution available for those with the E6300 and E6400 processors. In fact, it makes a very good platform for the E6600 processor in most cases although the 680i and 975X chipsets are well suited to take advantage of the 4MB cache processors due to their higher CPU multipliers and better memory performance (especially the 680i with 1T timings) in the 400~450FSB ranges.

Instead, our surprises were centered on the expectations we initially had of the boards as we opened the boxes, viewed the boards, and read the marketing information. Like opening that door on our hypothetical blind date and realizing we were staring at something we never expected, we literally had our initial impressions jerked away from us after testing these boards. We know for a fact now that our ECS PX1 Extreme is not in any form or fashion an extreme performance board. We also know that our MSI P965 Platinum does not live up to the Platinum label when it comes to overclocking. The press materials from both companies tell us one thing; our results tell us another.

Should we be surprised at the results? Not really; maybe we were dreamers or just wishful thinkers but we got caught on this one. We had noticed ECS slowly making improvements, listening to us, and listening to you about how they could better compete in the performance market with the hopes of continuing their history of low cost but fairly solid quality products. MSI introduced their Platinum brand last year and the products were very solid along with some nice surprises here and there. We expected this board to continue this tradition and it does until you want to turn up speed via overclocking. It is then you realize somebody installed a speed governor on a board that is so near to being perfect when you consider the price, features, support, and base performance.


Not all is bad and once we readjusted our expectations we did learn a few good things about each board. Let's take a quick look at our results.

The MSI P965 Platinum is fast, it feels fast, it looks fast, and is priced to sell fast. The board has the best overall stock performance of our P965 boards and that includes the last grouping of boards yet to be reviewed. MSI has made great strides in memory compatibility with the last BIOS release and actually had minor improvements in overclocking. We like the board, we like the support, and we would like to give it unequivocal accolades but those will have to wait. While improving overclocking to the 450~475FSB level would make this board an absolute steal for the price we did encounter a couple of minor issues that need addressing with the big one.

If we set the BIOS options during testing to a setting that would not work we were usually greeted with a blank screen during the reboot process. This always occurred on warm reboots. If we shut the system down and did a cold reboot, the self recovery system always worked. Sounds minor and it is to a certain degree but on the reboot we were greeted with a message stating the previous settings did not work and to press any key to continue or enter the BIOS to change settings. The issue is with a USB keyboard that you could not continue as the system does not initialize the USB peripherals until you press any key. So we had to use the PS2 port when overclocking. Overall, the MSI board is recommended for those of you who do not expect or need high overclocks. At a current price of $119.99 with rebate you can get a very fast board and spend your savings on pairing this board with a set of fast DDR2-800 memory, and you still get CrossFire support if you need/want it.

ECS has a lot of work to do with the PX1 Extreme board if performance is its intended goal. Our suggestion is to drop the Extreme label from this board unless there is a true performance oriented BIOS queued up for release. This board was designed with the Intel ViiV technology and compliancy in mind and it shows. It is not an extreme performance motherboard by any means and to even state this is showing that someone at ECS has lost touch with the market. The board is very solid, performs reasonably well given its limitations, and in initial testing with Windows Media Center 2005 seems like a natural fit for that operating system. It should be an interesting board for Vista Premium also and its options are very good if the price comes under $150 as we expect.

The PX1 comes equipped with Quick Resume Technology that worked very well in its current state and the ViiV software suite sets it apart from other P965 motherboards. However, to fully use the board and its ViiV options you need Windows Media Center 2005. CrossFire compatibility is now present in the latest BIOS and performed as advertised except for a stutter in BF2 that was not present with our other boards. The BIOS options are very limited and memory timings are an issue unless you are willing to accept SPD settings for standard timings (CAS 3 is excluded completely). The motherboard comes with an extensive accessory package and networking performance is excellent. We cannot recommend this board in its current packaging as an Extreme performance board, however, as any enthusiast purchasing this board for "extreme" use is going to be severely disappointed. ECS needs to drop the name, drop the price a little, drop some of the BIOS limitations, and then we could drop most of our objections.

Though not what we initially expected, once we got past the fluff, we found a very fast MSI board that is one overclocking friendly BIOS from being truly great and a solid but not spectacular ECS offering that needs a name change before it can be taken seriously. ECS PX1 HTPC would be a much better description of what you're getting in the box.