by Abbas Jaffar Ali on July 22, 2005
Intro/Packaging/Looks
We recently looked at Shuttle’s first attempt at an HTPC and weren’t all that impressed. In fact, one of the SFF PCs we compared it to was MSI’s MegaPC which seems more targeted towards the living room. Today, we take a look at MSI’s latest MegaPC- the MegaPC 865 PRO which, while still based on the older Intel 865 chipset, features some interesting new additions to the MegaPC lineup.
Packaging
The MegaPC 865 Pro, like other MegaPCs, comes in a large box that we think isn’t needed and MSI should use something smaller and sturdier. Opening the box reveals the MegaPC, a small box containing the HSF unit and a plastic bag with the manuals and media.
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There are two manuals- one for hardware installation and the other for software installation both of which are in nine languages. MSI includes a cable for FM reception however no IDE or SATA cables are included as they are already fitted in. Lastly, a remote control is also included in the package.
Looks
The MegaPC 865 Pro is a pretty good looking SFF PC. MSI hides all the bays and connections in the front to give it a nice smooth look. The right side of the front has quite a few buttons that are used to switch between PC and Instant On modes as well as control volume levels and navigate the unit.
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Powering up the MegaPC lights up all the buttons and the big LED screen that’s a trademark of MegaPCs comes alive. MSI uses an orange backlight for the buttons and it certainly looks nice- although we must say that the days of LEDs are over and MSI should think about using a better display on the front.
Featires/Setup/BIOS
Features / Setup
MSI always loads up their Mega PC nicely and the 865 Pro is no exception. Although, we were a bit surprised to see MSI use the older 865G chipset instead of the newer 915 chipset- meaning you’ll lose some features like PCI Express and (possibly) DDR2. What you do get with the 865G is support AGP 8X, Serial-ATA, dual channel DDR400 and integrated video in the form of Intel Extreme 2.
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On top of that, MSI adds firewire support through a VIA controller while a Realtek 10/100 controller provides reasonable wired networking options. MSI also adds an optional wireless network controller based on the 802.11g specifications. For audio, MSI uses the Realtek ALC658 codec along with Toshiba chips for surround sound and equalizer settings giving you good audio output. An optional TV tuner can is also provided for viewing TV on your PC.
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MSI has certainly made setting up the Mega865 Pro very easy. Three thumb screws on the back of the chassis unscrew to open the lid. Here you can see the drive bays that house the optical and hard drives and simply lifting it up from the provided handle gives you access to the mainboard. The HSF unti for the CPU is held using four screws while all the drive cables are already placed and wrapped around the casing for a neat look.
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One of the good features about MegaPC is the “Instant-On” function. On previous MegaPCs, this meant listening to FM or CDs without booting into an OS, however the 865 Pro goes a bit further. MSI bundles a CD that takes about 220MB of disk space and installs a Linux kernel along with some software that loads almost instantly and allows you to watch TV or VCD/DVDs as well as listen to FM or MP3/CDs without booting into Windows. However, there is one problem with the instant on setup- it doesn’t work with any graphics or sound cards except for the integrated ones. While it makes sense for MSI to do this as they only have to build drivers for the integrated chipset in the Linux installation, it would’ve been nice to add support for Creative, NVIDIA and ATI cards.
BIOS
MSI offers a toned down version of BIOS options found in its motherboards. While you have the option to tweak the memory timings, there are no overclocking options present which means that you cant change the FSB speed etc.
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We’re not really surprised by the lack of overclocking features on the Mega PC as its intended to be used as an HTPC and you definitely want it running cooler- its just not targeted towards enthusiasts and overclockers.
Usability
Usability
Lets start with the Instant-On function; It integrates and works well with the remote control. Since the PC needs to be started up and apps need to be loaded, you can’t listen to CDs or FM as quickly as you could on previous generation of Mega PCs. It takes about fpur seconds to go through the POST process and another three to load an app. Switching between apps doesn’t require restarting the MegaPC so it’s just a 2-3 second delay.
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We like how MSI has implemented the entire process and granted, its not perfect, it s a pretty good start. As we mentioned earlier, we would’ve liked some additional graphics cards by ATI and nVidia supported with Instant-on. MSI could also further speed up the POST process to cut it down to a max of 2-3 seconds. While some people might find the startup time a bit slow, the advantages of also having the option to play DVDs and VCDs along with watching TV a lot quicker than loading windows and doing the same thing is worth it in our opinion.
Looks wise, the remote control bundled with the MegaPC isn’t bad but we like the one Shuttle bundled with their Media Center PC a lot better. It works well as long as you’re pointing it towards the unit and are not seated too far- pretty much like all other standard IR remotes for the PC. You can switch between different instant-on modes as well as navigate the bundled app for Windows using the remote control. A power button is also present on the remote control to turn the MegaPC on and off.
Inside Windows, you can use special applications like to make use of the screen on the Mega 865 PRO. You can, for example, use the Intervideo Home Theater application to display DVD info such as the chapter and time when watching DVDs or use SCM (System Control Manager) to display the time, temperature, fan speeds etc. as well as notify you of any new emails- nice.
Testbed
| CPU: | Intel Pentium4 3.4GHz |
| Memory: | 2 x 512MB Corsair DDR400 Memory Modules |
| VGA Card: | nVidia GeForce 6800GT |
| Optical/Hard Drives: | ASUS 52X CDRW, Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM/8MB Cache SATA drive |
| Monitor: | Relisys 19" Monitor |
| Operating System: | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
| Motherboard Drivers: | Intel Chipset 7.0x |
| VGA Drivers: | nVidia Forceware 71.84 |
For comparison, we've chosen Shuttle's 915 chipset based SB83G5C XPC and the nForce4 chipset based SN25P XPC with an Athlon64 3500+ CPU. Since this is a Media-Centric PC, we decided not to include the whole bunch of benchmarks such as office applications etc. but only used Gaming, 3D Marks and one Video Encoding and 3D Workstation benchmark.
| Synthetic Benchmarks: | 3D Mark 2001 SE, 3D Mark 2003, 3D Mark 2005, Aquamark |
| Full Games: | Doom3, UT2004, Far Cry, at 1024x768 resolution |
| Other: | AutoGK with Pirates of Carribian DVD, Cinebench |
If you would like for us to add any additional benchmarking software, please email us at suggestions@tbreak.com
3D Marks/Aquamark
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Gaming Benchmarks
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Video Encoding/3D Workstation
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Conclusion
Ending Thoughts
The Mega865 Pro is a pretty good HTPC. It allows you to do most of the multimedia stuff like watching TV or DVDs and listening to CDs or FM without booting into Windows. At the same time you can use Windows and the bundled Intervideo Home Theatre to watch/listen all of these things. The performance numbers posted in the previous pages show that its no slouch at running games and applications either.
We also like the design of the unit and MSI does a good thing by hiding all the bays and connections in the front along with a nice big display in the center. It would’ve been awesome if MSI could’ve used an LCD display but we can understand that costs might’ve prevented that decision. We also don’t mind MSI using the 865 chipset instead of the newer one as you don’t necessarily need cutting-edge hardware to playback movies or watch TV. Overall, we like the MegaPC 865 PRO.
The MegaPC 865 Pro should be available for around UAE Dirhams 1300/- (US$ 350) which is not too bad of a deal.
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