MSI 848P Neo-LS: 800MHz FSB on a Budget

Company: MSI
Product: 848P Neo-S
Street Price: $89 USD
Date Reviewed: October 13, 2003
Reviewed By: Joey Chao

Conclusions:

For a budget motherboard, the MSI 848P Neo-LS is very impressive. It is aimed at users who would like to move the faster FSB, have SATA support, and official DDR400 support, but do not necessarily need Dual Channel DDR. Basically, the 848P picks up right where the 845PE left off. Features wise, the 848P Neo-S only lacks FireWire and Serial ATA RAID. Other than that, the board should be perfect for a mid level system. It is really important to understand that cost was the key in designing this board. You have to figure that if you purchase an 875/865 motherboard, that the only real benefit over the 848P is Dual Channel DDR, meaning that you must have at least 2 sticks of memory.

Other features such as MSI's live update, CoreCell, support, and warranty make this board very appealing. It is features like these that have made MSI one of the largest motherboard manufacturers in the market. They cover all levels and design their products so that they benefit all types of consumers.

The 848P Neo-LS is a nice board although not the fastest. If you are on a budget then it is definitely worth the consideration, but if you want a little more speed the 865/875 boards may be a better choice. Another agenda to take into consideration are the newer chipsets that should be coming soon. Prescotts are just around the corner and if you can hold off till the end of the year, prices will drop to make room for the newer boards. Then again, there are plenty of users who upgrade their machines every couple of months.