March 3, 2009

MSI P45-8D Memory Lover
By Billy Joe I. Allardo
Published in the December 2008-January 2009 print edition of PC World Philippines

P8,950
www.msi.com.tw

It is normal to see eight memory modules on a server motherboard, as its likely environment requires a high memory count to meet the demands of number-crunching processes. With this in mind, eight DIMM slots on a desktop board can be quite rare.

The MSI P45-8D Memory Lover does. It literally stays true to its name by having eight pastel colored memory slots on it, giving it the ability to handle up to four DDR2 or four DDR3 memory types. Of course, you could not plop the said types altogether as both run at different speeds, but you can run four at a time though, with the slots evenly divided between the two aforementioned types. The board can support up to 16GB 1066/800/667MHz DDR2 or 8GB 1600/1333/1066/800 DDR3.

The Memory Lover can prop dual- and quad-core Intel LGA775 processors with a front side bus of up to 1600MHz as well as single-core LGA775-based Celeron units. Managing its Northbridge devices is an Intel P45 chip while the Southbridge is controlled by an Intel ICH10R that can run up to eight Serial ATA 3Gb/s devices with RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 configurations.

In spite of the excessive memory options, the Memory Lover sorely lacks the facility to expand. It only has one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot, that goes along with a solitary PCI-E x1 and three PCI slots. The single PCI-E x16 slot automatically takes away the possibility of employing a multi-GPU setup for a more powerful approach to graphics-intensive applications.

It would have been nice if the board also has an embedded graphics chip, to further exploit its memory capacity and save some money in the process. The mentioned items could have benefited from the proprietary technologies that MSI added that includes the solid-state capacitors and shielded chokes for better power handling and a built-in overclocking switch that enables direct system tweaking with preset settings.

The MSI P45-8D Memory Lover could have been great, if it had maximized the potential of its memory capacity and the Intel P45 chip. Yet it finds a specific niche among people who currently prefer using the prevalent DDR2 memory, but would likely switch to the faster DDR3 type once the price drops.