Top Athlon 64 Performance in a micro ATX package

The MSI RS480M2-IL is nicely packaged, with a custom RF shield to fit most any existing ATX-style case. It also comes with SATA power and data cable as well as the usual PATA and floppy ribbon cables right in the box.

The feature list of the RS480M2-IL is extensive, integrated Radeon Express 200 video with VGA and TV out, Dual Channel DDR support and 4 memory slots, 16x PCI-E video expansion, 4 USB 2.0 jacks and 1 IEEE 1394 connector on the I/O panel with additional pin-outs for 4 more USB 2.0 and 2 more IEEE 1394 connectors, 2 ATA 133 and 4 SATA 150 hard drive connectors, RAID 0+1 support on the SATA controller, integrated 10/100 Ethernet adapter, and integrated 6-channel audio with a coaxial s/pdif digital output connector.

The integrated Radeon Xpress 200 graphics core features ATI's Cinema Display technology. It can be combined with a PCI or PCI-E video card to support a 3 monitor display setup.

While some technical websites have reported slower than average USB 2.0 data throughput, the MSI RS480M2-IL has benchmarked very well during video performance testing. Users report 3DMark05 scores equal to or slightly higher than NForce4 Ultra owners. The MSI RS480M2-IL does not support any kind of overclocking features from the system bios. A 3rd party software application is required to boost the board's performance beyond stock clockspeeds.

The MSI RS480M2-IL supports AMD's Cool n' Quiet technology for minimizing system noise. What the MSI-RS480M2-IL is lacking, you probably don't need. There is no built-in Gigabit Ethernet support, and there are no PCI-E 1X expansion slots.

The MSI RS480M2-IL is a fast, stable motherboard with a long list of very usable features. While it lacks overclocking features, it none the less represents a solid value for folks shopping for a socket 939 motherboard.