MSI’s Platinum series boards come in a rather large box for what they come with, which isn’t too bad. The front has very little info on the board apart from the model number and the brand logos.
The back of the MSI box has a lot more info on the board then the front, all the features of the board as well as a full colour photo of the board. Having the photo there makes a huge amount of sale power as you know exactly what you are going to get once you open up the box.
Documentation is extremely important, if you have got a sub standard instruction set you are going to find it hard. MSI gives you two major documentation sources. There is a quick install pamphlet that gives you locations of the headers on the board for front panel connectors, USB headers and installation instructions. The user’s guide gives you full details on the board specifications, setup instructions and the BIOS setup guide.
MSI’s cable set if very clean and well presented. Out of the five total SATA ports on the board, MSI gives you four SATA data cables and two power converters. On the parallel side of things there is a single IDE cable for the solitary IDE port on the board with two drive support and a single FDD cable that supports a single FDD floppy drive.
Last but not least you get a single Firewire expansion slot cover that plugs onto the Firewire header on the board. If your case has a front panel Firewire port you won’t need this header. Since MSI has changed its rear I/O ports for this board with a new USB layout, you are going to need a new I/O cover, which is also included in the package.
