PricingWe added up the prices of about 30 different P45 based motherboards and averaged them so we could weigh both boards in price comparing them to the average price of a P45 motherboard. Please know that these prices are just indicative, local prices may vary.
First thing we notice: both boards are more expensive than the average P45. Why? Because both boards are fine-tuned already? Both boards are made for the more enthusiast-minded people and are therefore equipped with; for example, better chipset cooling, better PWM areas, more feature rich bios. All these extras require time and money.
The Asus Maximus II Formula is noticeably more expensive than the MSI P45 Platinum. Does that mean that it's not worth the money? Definitly not. As the M2F is part of the ROG (Republic of Gamers) series, it has been packed with a lot of extras, really ... a lot. LCD Poster, extra fans, fancy cooling unit, fancy looking board and so on.
Furthermore, I'd say that the M2F is a tad better when it comes to overclocking. Although it's still too early to give a conclusive opinion as many people are still trying out different settings (as well are we) and both manufacturers release a new BIOS every other week which improve stability and overclockability. At the moment I'm writing this, I have seen the Asus clocked at 600FSB 3DMark stable, whereas the MSI only reached 550-560FSB. Much can still be improved; however, we'll keep you updated.
EvaluationAsus Maximus II FormulaIn the end, I'd have to say that the Maximus II Formula is quite a good motherboard if you're looking extreme tuning and want a complete package, including all the (un)necessary extras.
+ Board looks phenomenal
+ Bios is filled with overclocking options
+ First overclocking are looking very promising (600FSB)
+ Accessoires
- Price
- Green power options (no saving when oc'd, only software)
- Timings are set too relaxed when overclocked
Asus Maximus II Formula recommended For
MSI P45 PlatinumWhen I heard that MSI was going to send me one of their boards, I had mixed feelings. On the one side, it still is one of the major hardware manufacturers, but on the other hand, I had a less fortunate experience with the P35 series. As an overclocker, I was a little bit worried about the overclockability. However, when I first booted the board, it already
felt good in terms of stability and overclockability. In contrary to the P35 motherboard I tested, this P45 motherboard gives even the worst overclockers a chance to tune their system quite well. I was even more surprised about the power-saving features, which were so straight-forward that even I, who's totally not into energy-saving (OCing and saving power never goes hand in hand), found it interesting to just turn it on.
+ Green power options
+ Overclocking results are fairly good
+ Price is not that high
- Will need very good bios to battle at the top
- Weird place for molex connector for Crossfire
MSI P45 Platinum recommended For
Conclusive thoughtsBefore we let you go, we need to say the following: if you own a P35/X38 motherboard, there’s no immediately reason to upgrade on these P45 motherboards. When it's all about performance, you can easily tweak your old board to reach the same performance levels, but when it's about overclocking, you might want to check on one of these P45's.
Recently, we've also seen X48 motherboards performing out of this world in terms of dualcore overclocking, reaching over 600FSB as well. It seems that the C2D LGA775 motherboards are finally all coming together in decent products, as we all wait for the next generation of processors to be launched. In terms of technology, I'm not so fond of the C2D series anymore, as they've become very easy to overclock and stress. However, I will still be looking at one of these P45 boards to find out how to tweak them well. Be on the look-out! C2D's are now being pushed beyond 6,5GHz.
I'd like to thank Chantal from
MSI for sending us the MSI P45 Platinum and Milan from
Asus for sending us the Asus Maximus II Formula.
Also a well deserved thank you to
Tones.BE for lending us the E8500 CPU.