MSI Mega PC (Mega 651): A Living Room PC With Minor Defects, Continued

07:00 - Tuesday 22 July 2003 by Frank Völkel
Source: Tom's Hardware – Keywords: the, mailman, has, arrived

Table of content:
9 – MSI Mega PC (Mega 651): A Livi...
  1. 1 – The First Car: A Motorized Carriage
  2. 2 – The First Car: A Motorized Carriage, Continued
  3. 3 – Common Features And Differences: ECS, MSI, Shuttle And Soyo
  4. 4 – Common Features And Differences: ECS, MSI, Shuttle And Soyo, Continued
  5. 5 – ECS EZ Buddie: Focus On The Speed Controller
  6. 6 – ECS EZ Buddie: Focus On The Speed Controller, Continued
  7. 7 – ECS EZ Buddie: Focus On The Speed Controller, Continued
  8. 8 – MSI Mega PC (Mega 651): A Living Room PC With Minor Defects
  9. 9 – MSI Mega PC (Mega 651): A Living Room PC With Minor Defects, Continued
  10. 10 – MSI Mega PC (Mega 651): A Living Room PC With Minor Defects, Continued
  11. 11 – MSI Mega PC (Mega 651): A Living Room PC With Minor Defects, Continued
  12. 12 – MSI Mega PC (Mega 651): A Living Room PC With Minor Defects, Continued
  13. 13 – MSI Mega PC (Mega 651): A Living Room PC With Minor Defects, Continued
  14. 14 – Shuttle XPC SB61G2: First-Class Equipment With Weaknesses
  15. 15 – Shuttle XPC SB61G2: First-Class Equipment With Weaknesses, Continued
  16. 16 – Shuttle XPC SB61G2: First-Class Equipment With Weaknesses, Continued
  17. 17 – Soyo Mini Dragon 651: Old Fashioned Hi-Fi Charm, Not Yet Fully Mature
  18. 18 – Soyo Mini Dragon 651: Old Fashioned Hi-Fi Charm, Not Yet Fully Mature, C...
  19. 19 – Soyo Mini Dragon 651: Old Fashioned Hi-Fi Charm, Not Yet Fully Mature, C...
  20. 20 – Test Configuration And Special Features
  21. 21 – OpenGL-Performance "Quake 3 Arena"
  22. 22 – DirectX 8 Games: 3D Mark 2001 SE
  23. 23 – Office-/Internet-Performance: Sysmark 2002
  24. 24 – Summary: Design Or Practical Value - No Barebone System Has It All

MSI Mega PC (Mega 651): A Living Room PC With Minor Defects, Continued

Ad

Feed system for card reader.

The Mega PC's integrated ratio tuner is not ideal.

MSI barebone prior to assembly of all components.

Overall, the barebone system is convincing, with very good workmanship, which is only spoiled by the cheap-looking flap at the front. The sequence for installing components is very strict: first the hard disk is installed, followed by the processor, CPU cooler, memory and graphics card. The cable lengths for the hard drive and CD ROM drive are perfectly matched. When installing an AGP graphics card, be aware that space is very limited: fans of 3D action games can use, at most, an ATi Radeon or a GeForce Ti. A GeForce FX (with cooling elements on the back) is simply too bulky and doesn't fit due to the length. For Windows XP, MSI provides multimedia software that can also be controlled with the enclosed remote control unit. Without a software update, all the IDE devices run in Windows XP only in slow PIO mode. The fast ultra-DMA mode will be available after the update.


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