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MSI’s P45D3 Platinum is the only LGA775 motherboard here to use DDR3 RAM. Fitted with 2GB of PC3-8500 memory, it sped through our benchmarks, although the fastest DDR2 motherboards weren’t far behind. Some of the included extras may make building your PC a little easier. An included wall chart features a labelled diagram of the motherboard to help you identify its parts. Buttons on the board allow you to turn on or reboot your computer and clear the CMOS without fiddling with jumpers or connecting your case’s front panel. These can be useful when you’re troubleshooting a partially assembled PC. An adaptor similar to Asus’s Q Connector allows you to connect your case’s numerous front-panel cables to the various headers in a single step. The P45D3 Platinum is one of five Intel motherboards on test to have two PCI Express x16 graphics card slots, so you can fit a pair of ATI cards in CrossFire mode. A single powerful, dual-processor graphics card is better value and is likely to be faster, though. There are two PCI and two PCI Express x1 slots for connecting internal peripherals such as TV tuners and WiFi adaptors. You needn’t worry about cooling your PC, either: the P45D3 Platinum has five headers for connecting fans – the most of any Intel motherboard here.
MSI’s P45D3 Platinum is an impressive motherboard, but it’s also expensive. Unless you can find it cheaper elsewhere or you really want to use DDR3 memory, Foxconn’s P43A is a better choice.
