MSI C847IS-P33 mainboard
All of these mini ITX mainboards have a lot
in common. And they even look the same if they had a built-in microprocessor.
So the only different image of MSI C847IS-P33 is its PCI Express x1 slot that
is often replaced by a regular PCI (in the case of Atom-based mainboards) or
PCI Express x16 (in case mainboard with AMD's E-series processor). The
integrated Celeron 847 makes the MSI mainboard different in another way, even
though it's not obvious. Like any other Sandy Bridges, it features a
dual-channel memory controller, while other integrated platforms only have a
single-channel controller. That’s why it makes sense to fill both DDR DIMM
slots of the MSI C847IS-P33 with memory sticks.
MSI
C847IS-P33 mainboard
The cooling system deployed on the MSI
C847IS-P33 is indicative of a rather advanced processor as the Celeron 847
carries a larger-than-usual cooler. Mounting by screws, the cooler has a fan
operates at a constant speed of 5,600 RPM, producing an audible rattle. Speed
can not be adjusted because the fan used a tripod connection while mainboard
only supports adjustment based on PWM. Therefore, if you intend to use MSI
C847IS-P33 as a home computer, you may want to replace the built-in cooler.
Nearby chipset is cooled by a small heatsink with barely noticeable finning.
This should be sufficient to consider the poor heat dissipation of NM70
chipset.
The
power system of the MSI C847IS-P33 is rather primitive
The power system of the MSI C847IS-P33 is
rather primitive but there’s no point in discussing it at length. The mainboard
does not support CPU overclocking. We can only note that you must connect a
4-pin 12V ATX cable on it. The mainboard cannot work without that, unlike its
Atom-based colleague.
MSI intends the C847IS-P33 for small
form-factor PCs in the first place, judging by the selection of its onboard
headers. But there are two SATA ports and only one of them is 6 Gbit / s. There
are two USB ports but the mainboard does not support USB 3.0. MSI P33-C847IS
lacks of any additional controllers, owing all of its functionality to the
chipset.
That is why there are only a few
connections on its back panel: four USB 2.0 ports, PS / 2 jacks for mouse and
keyboard, a Gigabit Ethernet port (it works via a Realtek RT L8111E controller)
and three single audio jacks. An eight-channel ALC887 Realtek codecs are used
but the lack of audio connection means you can only use 6-channel speaker
system. MSI P33-C847IS has no SPDIF output, but allows you to connect two
monitors via a single VGA port and a DVI-D digital.
Only
a few connections on its back panel
MSI P33-C847IS seems to be limited in
function but has an attractive price. Coupled with the integrated Celeron 847,
it comes with a suggested price of $75, which is less than what you are
required to pay for most of the solutions with AMD E-series or Intel atom
processor.
There will be no right to critique anything
about a mainboard at that price, but its BIOS is too abridged. The interface is
text-based, even though with added mouse support. The number of setup options
is so limited that you will hardly have any need to enter this BIOS at all. The
mainboard does not allow you to tweak any frequencies or voltages. You can not
control CPU technology or modify memory operation mode which are selected by
the mainboard. Actually, the BIOS interface only lets you manage the integrated
device controllers.
Its
BIOS is too abridged.
There is also a hardware monitoring
section. The mainboard reports system and CPU temperatures and supports
PWM-based speed regulation for two fans. But the default fan on the CPU's
heatsink cannot be adjusted because it used an 3-pin connector.
There
is also a hardware monitoring section.
Testing methodology
Since the mini ITX mainboard with Celeron 847 is positioned as an alternative to highly integrated
solutions with built-in AMD Bobcat or Intel Atom processors, we plan to compare
the MSI P33-C847IS with such opponents in the first place.
One of them is Intel D2700DC mainboard
which features the fastest Atom available – Atom D2700. Based on the 32nm
Cedarview design, it has two execution cores, 1MB L2 buffer and a clock rate of
2.13 GHz. It supports Hyper-Threading and has TDP 10W.
The second mainboard is ASRock's E350M1
with AMD E-350, a 40nm CPU with Bobcat microarchitecture which is clocked at
1.6 GHz, has two execution cores, 1MB L2 cache and a TDP of 18 watts.
The third mainboard included in this comparison
is MSI's Z77IA-E53. It is an LGA1155 mini-ITX solution with Intel Z77 chipset
and we use it with a normal desktop processor (Celeron G1610, the junior
embodiment of the Ivy Bridge design). It will help us find how platforms with
economical CPUs compare with the original desktop configuration.
During this test we use the hardware
components and software as follows:
·
Mainboards and platforms ASRock E350M1 (AMD
E-350 + AMD Hudson M1); Intel Desktop Board D2700DC (Intel Atom D2700 + Intel
NM10 Express); MSI C847IS-P33 (Intel Celeron 847 + Intel NM70 Express); MSI
Z77IA-E53 (Intel Celeron G1610 + Intel Z77 Express)
·
Memory module: 2 2GB DDR3-1333 SDRAM DIMM
(Kingston KHX1600C8D3K2/4GX) 9-9-9-27; 2 2GB DDR3-1333 SDRAM SODIMM (Apogee
AS2G733-13G) 9-9-9-27
·
Hard drive: Crucial m4 256 GB (CT256M4SSD2).
·
Power supply: Corsair AX760i (80 Plus Platinum,
760 Вт).
·
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Home
Premium x86.
·
Control panel: AMD Catalyst 13.1 Driver; AMD
Chipset Driver 13.1; Intel Chipset Driver 9.2.2.1034; Intel Graphics Media
Accelerator Driver 8.14.8.1083; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver
15.28.12.2932.
We need to make
one important remark before we proceed to our testing. Although we switched to
a 64-bit version of Windows 7 or 8 long ago in our reviews, we have to install
a 32bit OS version in this case because the Cedarview's integrated graphics
core hasn’t yet acquired a 64-bit driver and is unlikely to do so in the
future. There is not even a trial version for a driver like that, so the
Atom-based platforms can be considered as 32 bit, even Atom itself support
64bit expansion.
