Our first stop with the MSI 965 Platinum is the packaging that MSI puts the board in as well as what you get extra. The box is very simple design - its the same colour scheme that MSI uses for most of its Platinum series boards.
The back contains some info on the boards features as well as the colour photo to show you just what it looks like.
MSI provides for its documentation and software a single user manual which is quite extensive in its explanation of not only the board and its features but also the included software that MSI provides on the driver CD.
MSI provides in its cable bundle a rounded IDE cable with two drive support and a rounded FDD cable that supports a single floppy drive. Its nice to see rounded cables being included again if youre still using IDE devices such as DVD drive as airflow will be improved inside your case by using such cables.
In the serial cable bundle MSI comes up a little short. A single SATA data and power splitter are provided out of the seven onboard SATA ports there are and that is very disappointing. Manufacturers should include the same amount of data cables as what their motherboards support.
For the break away cables MSI provides a couple of them. One contains two Firewire ports, a 6-pin and a 4-pin port. The second is a USB 2.0 bracket with MSIs Diagnostic LED system so you dont have to open the case to determine the error codes.
Lastly on the accessories we have the rear I/O shield that MSI uses for ATX cases. Since their ports are now a non-standard ATX setup, each company has long provided an I/O shield for their boards.
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