SUMMARY: It's time for Tier 2 of our Intel 865PE Springdale Head to Head articles which this time compares two Pentium 4 based motherboards from MSI and Chaintech.
As promised back in our Tier 1 i865PE motherboard shootout, we promised to put Tier 2 and Tier 3 motherboards head to head, to see just who, in their respective classes can make the cut.
In our Tier 1 shootout, we saw that Gigabyte was just that bit stronger over the ABIT IS7 motherboard due to better tuned BIOS that allowed better overclocking and an improved memory interface. While ABIT might have caught up with new BIOS we aren’t here to debate this issue. Today we are going to put two other great motherboard manufacturers through their paces - namely MSI and Chaintech.
For most of us, MSI and Chaintech are no strangers. Both in the past have produced some very popular motherboards. Both companies have been on the cutting edge of technology and offering great cost, hardcore motherboards for their positions in the motherboard ranks.
Today we are putting MSI’s 865PE Neo2 against Chaintech’s 9PJL Apogee motherboard, both of which are based on the I865PE Springdale chipset. Just who will take away this prize? Let’s find out!