ASUS P5E3 and MSI X38 Platinum (Intel X38)
Author:
Date: 05.12.2007 |
|
Layout and Features
Upon a visual inspection, MSI X38 Platinum looks more impressive due to the four PCI Express x16 slots.
To cool the chipsets, there are massive radiators onboard without fans, with heat pipes used for heat transfer.
Each motherboard has four 240-pin DIMM slots each for DDR3 memory modules, with the overall supported memory capacity being 8 GB.
The ASUS board uses two PCI Express x16 slots, and the MSI board - four, as we already stated.
The Intel X38 chipset allows setting up two full-fledged PCI Express v2.0 x16 slots, and to make it possible to add two more slots, the engineers at MSI have installed the additional IDT PES16T7 chip. In the end, four PCI Express v1.0 bus lanes are allocated to two additional PCI Express x16 slots each (yellow). Therefore, in terms of support for the Crossfire, both the motherboards are about on par (we have not yet got detailed info on the 3x and 4x Crossfire mode), but in terms of installation of greater number of video cards (and, therefore, - plugging in greater number of monitors) it is MSI X38 Platinum that takes a lead.
ASUS P5E3 also uses two PCI and two PCI Express x1 slots. And on MSI X38 Platinum there is one PCI and two PCI Express x1 slots.
Both the motherboards use the ICH9R south bridge with a radiator. In the end, the motherboards offer support for six SerialATA II ports each. On the ASUS motherboard, all the six ports are positioned near the south bridge. On the MSI board, the four ports are near the south bridge, with two more on the rear panel.
To the left - IDT PES16T7 chip, to the right - ICH9R
Besides, the boards use an additional ParallelATA/SerialATA controller.
This is the same 88SE6111 chip made by Marvell which supports one ParallelATA and one SerialATA II link. On the ASUS motherboard, its functionality is implemented to the full: the matching SATA port is brought over to the board's rear panel. On the other hand, engineers at MSI used only support for the PATA. But to extend the capabilities, the X38 Platinum uses an additional dual-channel SATA II controller Sil 5723 made by Silicon Image.
Therefore, the user can plug nine hard disks (7 SATA + 2 PATA) in to the Asus board, and 10 (8 SATA + 2 PATA) - to the MSI board.
Then, the same south bridge ICH9R supports twelve USB 2.0 ports. On the MSI board, eight ports are positioned on the rear panel, with four more plugged in with brackets (missing in the bundle). The ASUS board has a different configuration of ports: six - on the rear panel with six additional (there is one bracket for two ports).
Besides, both boards support the Firewire. For that, there is an additional controller. On the ASUS board it is a FW3227 chip made by Agere, and on the MSI board - a VT6308P chip made by VIA.
In the end, the motherboards support two ports each, with the layout being similar: one mounted on the rear panel, with the other ones connected with a bracket (available in the package bundle of both the boards).
The motherboards implement the Intel High Definition Audio subsystem: on ASUS P5E3 it is an ALC883 chip, and on MSI X38 Platinum - an ALC888 chip.
Now a few words on the network support: both the motherboards offer support for a high-speed network connection. The ASUS board uses only one Gigabit LAN controller Marvell 88E8056,
whereas the MSI board has two controllers: Intel 82566DC (Gigabit Ethernet), and Realtek 8111B (Gigabit Ethernet).
The board's rear panel is of the following configuration:
The ASUS board supports optical and coaxial SP-DIF outputs, while the MSI - only optical. On the rear panels of both the motherboards, there is a Firewire and SATAII port(s): one - on the ASUS board, and two on the MSI board. You can also notice a complete lack of LPT and COM ports. Each of the boards support one serial port (COM) but implemented with a bracket (missing in the bundle).
Here is a schematical drawing of the motherboards:
A few words on the boards' special traits. The ASUS board has no traits - a typical "workhorse" (if that term can be applied to high-end motherboards).
As regards the MSI X38 Platinum, it uses an additional Dual CoreCell chip meant for such tasks like dynamic overclocking, system monitoring, power management, and control over the rotational speed of the fans. It also closely interacts with the Dual CoreCenter utility that allows the user to control the mentioned features.
Besides, the board uses a 7-stage POST indicator.
The indicator is not a regular 7-stage, but a more modern. It allows the user to perform an initial fault diagnostics. Also of note are three onboard buttons: one to power-on, and one to reset the system,
and one to clear the CMOS settings (on the rear panel).
Now on to the BIOS settings.
 |
Content: |
 |
|
|
Top Stories: |
|
 |
|
MoBo:
|
|
|
|
VGA Card:
|
|
|
|
CPU & Memory:
|
|
|
