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Integrated graphics cards usually don't offer high 3D performance. As the StreetFighter IV Benchmark shows, it's not up to the heavy 3D loads of the newer games. For 3D games that don't require a lot of power however like Chinese Paladin Online however, the X400 is quite good enough. Battery endurance The 4-cell battery lasted 01:39:10. Battery Eater Pro (Wireless networking and Bluetooth switched off, 50% LCD brightness.) During the Battery Eater Pro test the CPU was under full load with 3D graphics turned up so the battery life was a little shorter. If set to cinema mode, the X400 runs for around 2 hours and 35 minutes, so battery life is above average. While MSI claims that the X400 offers up to 8 hours of battery life, that's with an 8-cell battery. Many of the Notebook makers now claim battery life as long as 8~9 hours, but that's probably based on the lowest power consumption possible. Under normal use, 6/8-cell batteries deliver around 5~7 hours of run-time. So, don't take the numbers too seriously. MSI X-Slim X400 Summary. Strengths 1. With a 14.1" LCD and weighing just 1.55kg, this should be the lightest notebook in its size class now available. 2. The matt finish on the underside, the cut-out design inside and thin form-factor gives a good overall impression. 3. A lot of thought went into the protective packaging. The carry bag is of good quality as well. 4. D-SUB and HDMI outputs are both supported so the IO can be upgraded. 5. The DDR2 RAM runs at 800MHz for high performance while the WD 5400RPM 320GB 2.5 HDD delivers both performance and little noise. 6. The wireless card is the Intel WiFI Link 5100 with support for 802.11 a/g/n. It can also be upgraded to support WinMax. 7. Has a better cooling system than the X340. There's no obvious noise and the machine temperature is kept under firm control. Weaknesses 1. Keyboard could do with more feedback. 2. Only 2 USB ports leaves less room for USB devices. 3. The 4-cell battery should offer more than 3 hours of stand-by time. 4. The screen bezel is a little large. Performance ?????????? Construction ?????????? Specifications ?????????? Appearance ?????????? Cost vs. Performance ?????????? Recently I've seen other users say that the single core of the CULV means low CPU performance and this drags down the overall system performance as well. I have experience with high-end notebook CPUs like the P8700, T9500, T9600, P9700 or QX9300 (quad-core) but since I don't run video or file encoding software that support multi-core setups I find the X400 suits me well. As long as the system boots up smoothly, the actual CPU performance or number of cores have little effect when browsing the web, doing word processing, or running JAVA and SQL applications. Personally, I think a high-performance HDD or SSD is more important if you want a clear speed boost when running this type of software. I feel that notebooks are designed to be practical and unlike desktop PCs, raw performance is not the only benchmark. Right now, the notebooks on the market can be divided into the following groups: Value models: 12"~16", 1.8~3.3kg, dual-core, discrete graphics card, priced around US$700 ~ 1000. High-end business models: 12~13.3", 1.3~1.6kg, dual-core, priced around US$1500 ~ 2500. High-end performance models: 14"~16", 2.3~3.3kg, high-end dual-core, discrete graphics card, priced around US$1300 ~ 1800. In the past two years, new products have appeared on the market. Entry-level Atom platform: 8.9 ~ 10", 1.2 ~ 1.4kg. Usually referred to as netbooks, these are priced around US$400 ~ 500. Value CULV platform: 12 ~ 16", 1.33kg ~ 2.4kg, priced around US$700 ~ 900. The release of these two product types means business users no longer have to pay a high price for slim and compact notebooks. While these two platforms can't match the dual-core models in performance, if you have good enough DRAM and HDD they are still more than adequate for most tasks. Let's get back on topic. The MSI X-Slim X400 doesn't have a discrete graphics card version so it's probably not suitable for users that have moderate to high 3D performance requirements. If you are on the move a lot, want a bigger screen without extra weight, the X400 does offer a new choice. Standard 14" notebooks might offer dual-core and discrete graphics cards, but they usually weigh 2.1~2.5kg as well. That's a little heavy for people who spend a lot of time outdoors or on the move. The X400's casing is not made of the magnesium alloy used on the X340 but the special matt finish makes it look just as good. The cut-out and blue-white color scheme gives a very good first impression as well. The latest wave of compact CULV notebooks means the rule for business notebooks that you pay more for less weight is now well and truly broken. For business users, there is finally have a choice when it comes to looking for an inexpensive, slim and easy to carry notebook. In the past, if you wanted a slim notebook you had to settle for 12~13.3" products. The MSI X-Slim X400 with a 4-cell battery weighs just 1.55kg, so these users can now have a compact 14" model to choose from as well. The price of the X400 at launch was about US$740 (24,300 NTD) so the C/P ratio is quite good overall. If a version with a discrete graphics card or the SU9400 dual-core CPU is released in the future, it will make this 14" slim notebook all the more attractive. I hope MSI will put more effort into its product lineup as well and release more notebooks that offer great C/P ratios for the consumers to choose from. Once again, I've used my Spyder 2 calibrator to come up with a color calibration file for all X400 users. windwithme MSI X-Slim X400

Now take a look at the performance benchmarks. The MSI X-Slim X400 with the latest Intel 45nm Core Solo CPU. The CPU model is the SU3500 1.4GHz, L2 3MB, single core edition. The X400 comes bundled with the Vista Home Premium OS. Default desktop. Vista performance benchmarks. The X400 offers above-average system performance so the HDD and DRAM scores relatively well and these determine how smoothly the OS runs for general applications. Even though it was running the Vista system, the X400 did not feel any slower during use, even when compared with other dual-core, quad-core or even higher-speed, computer systems. Loaded with the Windows 7 7600 RTM now so popular instead. This is an OS that offers the Vista interface but only has XP resource requirements. CPU performance benchmarks. Super PI 1M => 35.942s CPUMARK99 => 202 Overall system performance. CrystalMark 2004R3 CINEBENCH R10. 1 CPU=> 1645 PCMark Vantage => 1721. Windows 7 performance benchmarks. There's no sense of lag from the X400 hardware when working in the OS. It remains very responsive even with a lot of programs open. For users who do not need much 3D acceleration or graphics processing, this kind of performance is good enough. WD 320GB 5400rpm HDD performance. ATTO Disk Benchmark & FDBENCH HD Tune Pro & CrystalDisk Mark. The new 5400 RPM 2.5 HDD uses a larger platter so performance is improved. File read and writes now approach 65~70MB/s, while the average read/write speed is around 53MB/s. These new 5400 RPM products, should mean a very smooth experience in the OS or general applications. The motherboard is based on the Intel GS45 chipset with integrated GMA4500MDH graphics card. 3DMARK2003

There is a row of detailed status lights at the bottom of the keyboard. The Fn key is needed to activate the shortcut keys. The X400 uses a separate color for the bezel giving it a more quality appearance. The size of the keyboard is adequate, although the keys feel a little soft to the touch. For the X-series, MSI moved the Fn key to its usual place on the keyboard. The Ultra-thin 14.1" 16:9 mirror-surface LCD with 1366 x 768 resolution. The 1.3MP Webcam is above the screen in the middle and the microphone is to the left. The power button is in the bottom right hand corner and glows white when the machine is on. View of the underside. Here the casing has a nice looking matt finish. This is where the battery goes. The space to the upper left is reserved for the 3.5G module. The actual module varies depending on the national specifications. The X400 has more vents than the X340 and they are arranged in a more interesting way. The I/O ports on the left side of the machine. D-Sub output; RJ45 network port; HDMI output; Card Reader. The I/O ports on the right side of the machine. Power socket; Audio I/O; USB 2.0 x 2 The cut-out design around the keyboard is very appealing. Look how thin a 14" notebook can be – this is just about 2.45cm thick. There is no discrete graphics card and the actual weight is just 1.55kg.

This year Intel released a new 45nm single-core, ultra low voltage CPU referred to as the CULV. By comparison, the earlier Atom 512K's low CPU performance limited it to basic word processing tasks. Intel had also insisted that the Atom processor only be used on NetBook products under 11.6". Ordinary notebooks are usually between 12~13.3". Compact models that weigh 1.3~1.7kg or less are often very expensive. The introduction of the new CULV architecture has brought about a significant price drop in the notebook market. The CULV has also put a lot of pressure on high-end compact notebooks for business users. Although the new CULV CPU lacks the performance of a dual core CPU in a high-end business notebook it has turned the tables on the conventional notebook market view that a lighter weight means a higher price. Right now, CULV notebooks cost between US$700 ~ 900, or about half the price of a business notebook. They are a lot lighter than US$1500 ~ 2000 business notebooks or even the average US$700 ~ 900 for a dual-core notebook. The X-Slim series launched by MSI this year is based on CULV architecture. The X-Slim is available in three models: X340 (13.3"), X400 (14.1") and X600 (15.6"). MSI has kept the price under US$900 for all three models and the version with the CM 723 CPU can be had for less than US$700. In this hands-on review, we take a look at the MSI X-Slim X400. What really makes this model stand out is its official weight of 1.5kg. This is a lot lighter than your standard dual-core 14" Notebook weighing around 2.2 ~ 2.6kg. It's also lighter than 14" CULV notebooks of other brands that weigh in at around 1.9kg. When it comes to weight loss, the MSI X-Slim series really does it better than any other. X400's product box Included accessories Windows Vista Home Premium, product warranty, driver CD and user manuals The MSI X-Slim X400 itself The carry bag bundled with the X400 has a leather-like texture on the outside and the MSI logo is inside. It feels really nice and is quite thin so it doesn't take up space. The transformer is the usual small form-factor version. This is good, because it's easier to carry around. However, it is my experience, with some other brands of Netbooks, that small transformers tend to heat up a bit in use. In a trial of the MSI X-Slim charger, I found it did not heat up too much but took longer to give a full charge. DELTA is a well-established brand so you can count on the quality. The included mouse is the compact type with internal cabling and is the same pearl white color as the machine. The 4-cell battery is rated at 2150mAh 32Wh Opening the cover shows the inside is fully protected. The screen and keyboard are all covered in transparent plastic film. There is also a protective cotton pad in the middle with the MSI logo.

CORSAIR CMD8GX3M4A1600C8 I put the latest Corsair (CMD8GX 3M 4A 1600C8) DDR3 1600 2GB x 4(8G) on P55 platform. Then I try to put the highest model of LGA1156 CPU- Corei7-870 CPU with this “Katana”. It runs 2.93GHz, L3 8MB, Intel Turbo Mode Tech, later on, the PCU reach 133 x 24=> 3200MHz. Hyper 8 X PI 32M=> 17m 46.468s CPUMARK 99=> 558 DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth-19881MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-15515MB/s I tested this motherboard under a “default-like” environment, the result is pretty high, and I think this might be the highest performance that Core i7 can catch at this case. FOXCONN this time has launched 2 models of P55 platform, Inferno Katana and Inferno Katana GTI. BTW, the Fan site of Quantum Force has been renew recently, The design looks better than last version. The product information looks improved a little. FOXCONN Quantum Force web site As you seen, this Foxconn Quantum force P55 new model has improved on design, component usage and OC relative tech design. Quantum Force series, in my personal Opinion can be “walk tall” in front of A/G/M manufacturer. I think the Channel maintenance and its marketing are have plenty of room to be improved…. After all, Foxconn branded motherboard is just begun if compares to those Dinosaur Brand. Hope this kind of “2nd tier” Mobo designer can carry on. Coz, since 2006 some same tier manufacturers were quitted from market. So, the choices of users are less and less today. I think if Foxconn can keep the goods, it’s a good thing for users to have more choices in market.

The launch of Intel latest LGA1156 platform shows user the i5-750, i7-860 and i7-870 brand new processors. I heard that the price of 1156 platform will be much competitive than 1366. It sounds like a high-performance product but in a mid-range cost. So many motherboard manufacturers have exposed their P55 products around worldwide media. Foxconn started their own brand motherboard almost 4 years. And the High-end series ”Quantum Force”, I remember they launched the OC boards since 2 years. But, since P45 last year, the rumor about Foxconn was going to stop their channel business, which was everywhere. After all, Foxconn still launch several high-end and entry level products, now is P55 Mobo. Now, what I have in hand is the latest Intel product. Based on P55 platform, the model name called “Inferno Katana” the Quantum Force series likes to pick up a very special name for their product. That’s so “gamer-centric”. FOXCONN Inferno Katana, a total look Red and Black is the theme color for Foxconn Quantum Force series. The lower right parts of the board. 3 X PCIE X16 (Supports both ATI CrossFireX & NVidia SLI technology, the bandwidth is X8+X8) 2 X PCI-E X1 1 X PCI The LAN chip is by Realtek’s RTL8111DL; also, the board features their ALC888 as the audio codec too. Intel’s X series chipset provides dual PCIe X16 bandwidth, but P series they only gives you Dual PCIe X8... The lower right parts 6 X SATAII(P55?Supports Raid 0/1/5/10) 1 X IDE Dual BIOS?POWER/RESET button?Debug LED diplay function The Upper right parts. 4 XDIMM DDR3, Supports DDR3 1333/1600/1800, Max reach 16GB Fuzzy Equalizer, a design that shows you the loading of the PWM parts. The left is 24PIN power connector, The red button is the Force Reset, a real force the system to be Reset. The upper left parts The LGA1156 socket, the cooler’s mounting holes are a bit different to 1336. They feature total 14-phase Hybrid PWM for processor and memory parts. IO parts 8 X USB 2.0 1 X IEEE 1394a 1 X Gigabit LAN 2 X eSATA That black button is for clearing CMOS. The “Core Nerve” This is a LED device for telling you how heavy the system loading is, fast tempo twinkle means heavy, slow twinkling tempo means the loading is light. I heard that this have 5 different speed level to show your loading. A new interesting stuff. Where the QF logo covered is the P55 chipset location. Then, where the “i-Tweaker” covered is the advanced OC controller. I think the heat pipe design is not bad at this board. MOSfet’s heat sink, red + black striped.

PCMark Vantage=> 14892 DDR3 2000 CL9 9-9-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth-24962MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-18665MB/s MSI 4890 CorssFireX 3DMARK VANTAGE 20068 Currently there is only original cooler, when OC to 4GHz, the CPU temperature is too high. So you have to disable HT to run at 4GHz. As I get other hi-end cooler, I will do more test again. 200/2000 stable frequency doesn’t need too much setup. Voltage is also not high. As the experience, P55 OC ability is close to X58. Finally, pull up CPU/DDR3 clock CPU 188 X 22=> 4136MHz Hyper 4 X PI 1M=> 10.608s CPUMARK 99=> 642 DDR3 2256 CL9 9-9-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth-26890MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-19789MB/s It can reach above 4.1GHz with original Cooler. The CPU OC range is good. But the original cooler is not good enough, when it’s over 3.8G, the temperature could be over 90 degree. Due to DDR3 only run at dual channel, DDR3 clock can pull up easier than triple channel i7. GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD6 Good 1.GIGABYTE hi-end P55 products has high quality package and components. 2.24 phase PWM with DES energy saving technology. It makes PWM efficiency be better. 3.2oz PCB, All Japanese solid capacitors, Debug LED and built in Power/Reset//Clear CMOS buttons 4.P55 supports ATI CrossFireX and Nvidia SLI simultaneously. 5.Rich BIOS items, Wide voltage range and good OC ability in CPU/DDR3 6.Built in 10 SATAII, IO expansion capability is high, 8 USB and 2 USB/eSATA combo ports. Weakness 1. P55-UD6 price is too high for normal users. 2. As new structure, CPU categories are less. There’s only i7-860 and i5-750 have higher C/P. Performance ?????????? Components ?????????? Specification ?????????? Outlook ?????????? C/P Value ?????????? As for first stage of LGA 1156 focus on mid-hi end, LGA 1336 CPU+MB price compare to LGA 1156 CPU+MB are not much. Only if you use i5-750 without HT, these 2 platforms price gap will be 100~150USD. Otherwise, current P55 boards in the market are around 5000~9000NTD which is 150~275USD. By contrast, X58 boards are launched around 10 months and the price is around 6500~10000NTD which is 200~300USD. In MB price, new P55 boards are positioning on more hi-end and the market will have more lower price P55 boards in the future. During that time, the price gap between 2 platforms will be bigger. For CPU, LGA 1156 will have more variety i5/i7 CPU, even entry i3 or dual core i7 CPU to support LGA 1156 will make this platform be more affordable. GIGABYTE will also have over 10 models as naming UD3/UD4/UD6 P55 MB. Now LGA 1156 platform starts from mid-high market and there are more PCU and vary boards in the market. We are looking forward LGA 1156 structure platform moving to mainstream market to make users have more choice in affordable price.

Smart TPM is the other new software. User can use Bluetooth to enable or disable the PSD drive. GIGABYTE this time except puts lots efforts in hardware components and BIOS but also software. GIGABYTE provides more software with P55 to make users have more convenient features. Performance test CPU default clock 133 X 22=> 2931MHz DRAM DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-24 1T Turbo Boost Tech disable Hyper 8 X PI 32M=> 19m 35.946s CPUMARK 99=> 455 CrystalMark 2004R3 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 4142 x CPU=> 17087 PCMark Vantage=> 13679 DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth-19571MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-14583MB/s MSI 4890 CorssFireX 3DMARK VANTAGE 18278 Enable HT in i7-870 2.93GHz to simulate 8 core performance is also the highest performance in LGA 1156. LGA 1156 DDR3 dual channel performance is also 30% higher than LGA 775. It all attribute to CPU built in memory controller. OC Test CPU default clock 200 X 20=> 4000MHz DRAM DDR3 2000 CL9 9-9-24 1T 1.66V CPU Multi-Threading disable Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 9m 52.739s CPUMARK 99=> 622 CrystalMark 2004R3 CINEBENCH R10 1 CPU=> 5710 x CPU=> 20483

Memory setup menu There are 4 ratios. If not OC and select 12.0, it operates as 133/1600. Voltage page Load-Line Calibration StandardLevel1/Level2 CPU Vcore 0.50000~1.90000V QPI/Vtt Voltage 0.800~1.940V PCH Core 0.850~2.080V CPU PLL 1.500~2.580V DRAM Voltage 1.300~2.600V This function can enable SAMRT TPM PC Health Status UD6 is hi-end product. The voltage items and range in BIOS are rich. The setup above is I run stable at 200/2000. If you have good quality or similar hardware, you can refer to the setup. Test configuration CPU: Intel Core i7-870 MB: GIGABYTE P55-UD6 DRAM: CORSAIR Dominator 2GBX2 DDR3 1866C9D VGA: MSI R4890 CYCLONE DDR5 1GB CrossFireX HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D (RAID 0) POWER: Antec TruePower New TP-750 Cooler: Intel Cooler GIGABYTE latest OS software - Smart6 SMART QuickBoot, SMART QuickBoost, SMART Recovery, SMART Dual BIOS,SMART Recorder and SMART TimeLock. QuickBoot has BIOS and OS. Default setup has 3 OC modes to enhance system perfoemance. Recovery page Set up computer utility time. Normally use to control kids at home.

Close to look at UD6 24 phase PWM components Heat pipe design for PWM P55 NB heat-pipe design P55 is single chip design. Besides CPU built-in memory controller, it also take in charge of PCI-E X16/X8 bridge. SB heat sink 24 phase PWM components in PCB back Due to new CPU built in memory controller, as you install DDR3, normal design is installing from the 2nd set DIMM. UD6 is special. You need to install from white DIMM slots. Boot up screen Main adjustment menu CPU frequency, ratio and other setup CPU related technology items

LGA 1156socket is Intel main product in 2nd half 2009. The core technology is same as hi-end product LGA1366 which launched last year and make minor modification. It will replace current mid-high product line. Currently, LGA 1156 Chipset is P55, is Intel single chipset MB. Some MCH functions are built in CPU. This is the key difference between P55 and X58. Also, X58 is triple channel and QPI design. P55 is dual channel design. Not hard to see that all MB manufacturers has announced their P55 products. Same as hi-end X58, P55 also separate into hi-end, mid-end and entry price level. This is GIGABYTE most hi-end one. The model name is P55-UD6. Product package is big color box. It’s also the usual size for hi-end product. GIGABYTE P55-UD6 Body Ultra Durable3 is the key feature Now the first launch LGA1156 CPU are i5-750, i7-850 and i7-870 3 models. The i7 support HT technology. This article is retail version LGA 1156, the most hi-end one, Intel Core i7-870, clock 2.93GHz, L3 8MB. Intel quad core CPU all bundle with copper bottom Cooler. However, for i7 with HT, the original cooler cannot suffer for OC. Back to GIGABYTE P55-UD6 detail Lower left corner 3 X PCI-E (X16?X8?X4), support CrossFire and SLI Technology at X8+X8 2 X PCI-E X1 2 X PCI Realtek 8111D dual LAN ships support Teaming Realtek ALC889A supports 7.1 channel and High Definition Audio/Dolby Home Theater technology. PCB is MADE IN TAIWAN Lower right corner 6 X blue SATAII, support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 2 X white SATAII, support RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD 1 X IDE Dual BIOS means dual protection. SB position is GIGABYTE SA and JMB362TA2 chip. Blue button is Reset, black one is Clear CMOS and also built-in Debug LED. Upper right corner 6 X DIMM DDR3 support 800/1066/1333/1600. The highest DDR3 capacity is 16GB. Not same as the others P55 with 4 DIMM. UD6 is 6 DIMM slots and provide more expansion capability. DDR3 has 2 phase PWM and next by is 24-PIN power in. Upper left corner LGA 1156 CPU Socket UD6 use 24 phase PWM which is the most hi-end spec in the market now. For phase numbers, there are many discussions in the internet. Some think it’s good and some don’t. I think if the energy saving design is good, and change phases by utility rate. More phase design is good. IO 8 X USB 2.0 2 X RJ-45 LAN 2 X eSATA/USB 2.0 combo 1 X S/PDIF fiber/coaxial output 1 X 1394a

System setting status HD Tune Pro 3.50 Ave. Reading 182.8 MB/s EVEREST Linear Reading is 217.3 MB/s, and the highest is 250 MB/s. ATTO DISK Benchmark over 128k test can reach reading at 240 MB/s and writing at 154 MB/s. CrystalDiskMark benchmark is reading at 233.9 Mb/s and writing at 152.9 MB/s. FDEBENCH benchmark is reading at 230 Mb/s and writing at 148.8 MB/s 8 channel designed CORSAIR P128/P256 official spec is 220/180 MB/s. P64 is 4 channel designed, but the reading is over 220 MB/s. Writing part, P64 is only around 150 MB/s. It’s little bit lower compare to P128/P256 180~200 MB/s RAID 0 in DT PC HD Tune Pro 3.50 Ave. Reading 401.9 MB/s EVEREST Linear Reading Ave. is 417.2 MB/s and top reach 426.3 MB/s. ATTO DISK Benchmark over 128k test can reach reading at 433 MB/s and writing at 311 MB/s. CrystalDiskMark benchmark is reading at 437.4 Mb/s and writing at 292.4 MB/s FDEBENCH benchmark is reading at 396 Mb/s and writing at 312 MB/s CORSAIR P64 has very good performance with RAID 0 in PC. Reading performance all can reach 400~430 MB/s and writing performance at 280~300 MB/s. If you have higher price RAID Card, the performance can be much higher. NoteBook Test Use highest C/P value Lenovo X200s, SB is ICH9M First, OS Windows7 system status HD Tune Pro 3.50 Ave. Reading 179.1 MB/s EVEREST Linear Reading average is 208.4 MB/s and highest 241.1 MB/s. ATTO DISK Benchmark over 128k test can reach highest reading at 238 MB/s and writing at 162 MB/s CrystalDiskMark benchmark is reading at 227.7 Mb/s and writing at 149.7 MB/s FDEBENCH benchmark is reading at 218 Mb/s and writing at 145 MB/s When bundle with ICH9M in NoteBook, the performance is not big different with PC. I think 2.5” SSD makes NoteBook transfer performance a huge step. CORSAIR Performance SSD structure is MLC, so after using for awhile, the writing performance will drop. However, through firmware support, as the performance drop, you just need to shut down the system for 1 hour and reboot, then the performance will be back to normal. New version MLC has improved a lot in writing performance. It lowers the gap with SLC. For the writing life cycle, some manufacturers also provide some technical solution to solve this issue. As CORSAIR P64, the official MTBF is 1,000,000 hours which is even longer than HDD. P64 power consumption in Full speed is 2W and standby is 0.5W. Power saving is another SSD advantage. During testing, I can feel the SSD development in performance and technology is very fast. It also means SSD is more and more matured. So far, price is the most unacceptable issue for end users. If you use SSD to replace 3.5” in PC is not cost effective. However, for 2.5” HDD, if you have enough budget and capacity is not your main concern, SSD is the best storage for you. It can increase NoteBook performance, easy to carry and also anti-shock. I hope SSD can be mainstream asap. At that time, user can save more money with enjoying high speed SSD.

SSD ramp up very fast in the past 2 years. It started from built in NoteBook which was small capacity and average speed (around 30~50 MB/s). Till now, most brands have 2.5”/1.8” individual SSD products for customers to use in PC or NB. This year, the SSD market competition is very hard, especially performance. The competition of capacity has stopped recently. 64GB SSD is around 200USD. As performance, MLC SSD is around 100 MB/s. So far, some SSD can reading over 200 MB/s and writing 150 MB/s, which as new generation MLC high performance SSD. Higher performance 64GB is over 200USD and lower performance one is lower 200USD. SSD has 2 technical spec. which are high stability SLC and fair price MLC. In the beginning, we could see most SSD were SLC, but now SLC products become less. The main reason is SLC price is over double of MLC in the same capacity, and the MLC performance is catching up SLC. Besides, the MLC stability issue also can be solved by new technology. CORSAIR is one of the Memory leading brand. For SSD products, they have launched some models recently. CORSAIR SSD has 2 product lines: 1 is Performance and the other is Extreme. CMFSSD-64GBG2D I got this time is 64GB in Performance series. CORSAIR provides 2 years warranty. SSD Looks 2.5”, ID is P64, 2 years warranty, official spec is 220/120 MB/s For higher capacity, CORSAIR P128/P256 official spec is 220/180 MB/s The case is metal material with brushed aluminum. Looks great. It’s only 80g which is lighter than standard 2.5” HDD (about 100g. SATA interface can be used with PC or NB. CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GBG2D internal structure. It’s 64GB version, SAMSUNG 4 channel design and performance is little bit lower than 128GB. Because of 128GB is 8 channel design, so reading/writing can reach 220/180 MB/s SAMSUNG K4X1G323PD-8GC6 128MB DRAM is for cache buffer Left upper side IC is SSD controller chip. Basically, whole CORSAIR P64 is SAMSUNG structure. DT PC platform uses GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P SB is Intel latest ICH10R and I believe the performance can reach very high standard. Configuration CPU: Intel Core i7 950 MB: GIGABYTE EX58-UD4P DRAM: CORSAIR Dominator 2GBX3 DDR3 1866C9D VGA: MSI N9600GT Diamond HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GBG2D POWER: CORSAIR HX1000W Modular Power Supply Cooler: Thermaltake V1 AX

MSI X-Slim X600 Summary Strengths: 1.With a 15.6" LCD and weighing just 2.1kg, this should be the lightest large notebook now available. 2.The matt chassis with special glossy coating and slim form-factor looks good. 3.The product is well packaged while the bundled carry bag looks good and is made of quality materials. 4.The I/O ports included D-SUB and HDMI outputs. It also has eSATA so offers good expandability. 5. 6-cell battery offers good endurance with over 4 hours of battery life when either surfing the net wirelessly or playing videos. 6.DDR2 RAM runs at 800MHz for high performance while the HITACHI 5400RPM 320GB 2.5 HDD delivers performance and very quiet operation. 7.The wireless card is the Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100 with support of 802.11 a/g/n. It can also be upgraded to support WiMAX. 8.The cooling system is well constructed so despite its greater air flow, there wasn't really any noticeable noise. The chassis itself also does not get too hot. Weaknesses: 1.Keyboard could use something that offers better feedback. 2.While the mirror-finish LCD is expected on a value-segment model, a matt-finish screen would be better. 3.Not enough bass response on the speakers. 4.The resolution of the WebCam could be better. Performance ?????????? Construction ?????????? Specifications ?????????? Appearance ?????????? Cost vs. Performance ?????????? Below is my personal experience of the 2nd generation Dolby Surround Sound from the 4 underside speakers. The upper range response was quite good but didn't come across as sharp, even at high volumes. The mid-range response was also above average. Vocals were quite solid although it did seem a little overwhelmed by the upper ranges. The lower range was where the performance was a little lacking. Unfortunately the bass just was not deep enough. The 4 speakers did give the kind of surround sound not usually found on a notebook. This is an unusual touch. As for performance of the WebCam: the lighting was a little low during the test and the pixels looked a little big. However, the natural colors were a strong point and so this feature was above average. The MSI X-Slim series initially generated a lot of discussion because of its external similarity to a product of another brand. On the other hand, this type of slim notebooks used to be targeted at the premium end of the market while the MSI X-Slim is aimed at the value-segment. While other brands have launched CULV products, amongst those of the same size and specifications the MSI X-Slim is still the lightest offering on the market. Personally, I think that's what consumers want. The future of the market is in lighter and more affordable notebooks. The X600 has a large screen and is quite thin as well. For consumers used to large notebooks, it means they now have the option of picking one that weighs just 2.1kg. MSI X-Slim X600 is priced at around NT$28000 in Taiwan and you might be able to find it for less in some places. This pricing is lower than that of other products of the same type as well. MSI has released some quite competitive products over the last two years, and I hope they will continue to offer more great value notebook products for consumers to choose from in the future. Since I have a Spyder2 calibrator lying around. Here is my calibration file for any X600 users who might need it. windwithme MSI X-Slim X600

PCMark Vantage Vista performance benchmarks The system performance was above-average. The good DRAM and HDD performance set the tone for smoothness during general use. Although the X600 was loaded with the VISTA system, it didn't feel any slower during use compared to other dual-core, quad-core or even faster computer systems. DRAM memory MSI X600 comes with 2 x 2GB DDR2800 Sandra Memory Bandwidth-4417MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-5301MB/s DDR2 800's performance is about the same as many notebooks that use DDR3. DRAM performance is also one of the X600's strong points. HDD HITACHI 7K500 test 2.5" 320GB 5400rpm edition Maximum read/write speed approaches the 70~75Mb/s level and the average read/write was around 60MB/s. This is probably the best-performing 5400rpm HDD on the market. Its performance even surpasses that of previous generation 7200rpm products. HITACHI is one of my preferred brands for 2.5" HDD as well. What really stands out is how quiet it is. You don't really notice it during ordinary use. 3D performance ATI Radeon HD4330 512MB 3DMARK 2003 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1366 X 768 The 3DMARK results show that its performance is about 4 times better than the integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD. When run with the latest StreetFighter IV Benchmark, even at a resolution of 1366x768 it achieved a frame rate of over 26 fps. While the ATI HD4330 is not the most powerful notebook graphics card available, it offers a good balance between performance and power consumption. Battery endurance 6-cell battery lasted 2:52:30. Battery Eater Pro (Wireless networking and Bluetooth switched off, 50% LCD brightness) This is excellent endurance for a notebook like this with a large LCD screen and discrete graphics card. During the Battery Eater Pro test the CPU was under full load with 3D graphics turned up so the time was a little shorter. However, when it was switched to cinema mode, the X600 battery lasted more than 4 hours. This was close to the 4 hours and 30 minutes claimed on the official website. System performance benchmarks when loaded with Windows 7 7600 RTM. PCMark Vantage Compared with Vista there was not much difference in hardware performance with Windows 7. This is because Windows 7 is less DRAM intensive. Windows 7 resource demands are about the same as those of Windows XP and it has the Vista interface. This should become a very popular OS in the future.

The other side of the base accommodates the wireless network card and 2.5" storage device. Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100 supports 802.11 b/g/n; HITACHI 5K500 5400rpm 320GB. For better system performance, a high-speed SSD can be installed. This will offer a boost to speed during start up, OS boot-up or certain software applications. Shown here is the CORSAIR P65 SSD MLC version with a transfer rate of 220/150MB/s. The X600 is only 2.5cm thick. This is quite unusual for the 15.6" range. Next, we'll take a look at the performance benchmarks. Specifications on the web show that the X600 is offered in 3 different configurations. With the Celeron 723 1.2G 1MB single-core; the SU3400 1.4G 3M single-core; and the SU9600 1.6G 3MB dual-core. This reviewer looked at the MSI X-SLIM X600 with Intel Core Solo CPU. This is the SU3500 1.4GHz single core CPU with 3MB of L2 cache. The X600 comes loaded with the Vista Home Premium OS. Overview of the internal hardware PC Wizard 2008 CPU performance benchmarks CPUMARK99 200 & Super PI 1M 36.114s Nuclearus Multi Core & Fritz Chess Benchmark If the user needs to encode files or has audio-video multimedia requirements, a dual-core CPU would be more appropriate. The X340 previously tested used the same CPU as this X600. However I personally felt the performance was quite good. Although this machine had the single core processor, with 3MB of cache, the system generally ran quite smoothly and there was no lag even when playing 1080p videos. Overall system performance CrystalMark 2004R3 CINEBENCH R10

The base of the X600 has a matt surface. Below the keyboard there is a row of very informative status lights. The Fn key is needed to activate shortcut keys. The touch control panel is flush with the chassis. There are stickers that detail the X600's specifications. These include the Intel 45nm ULV CPU and ATI HD4330 discrete graphics card labels. The power button is at the top left. It blinks with a white light when the power is on. The larger keyboard does not have the X340's problem with mushy keys in some places. The X600 keyboard is significantly more comfortable to use than the X340. The primary display on the X600 is a 15.6" mirror-surface LCD with a resolution of 1366x768. The 1.3M webcam and microphone are located in the middle of the top margin above the screen. The battery is a 5400mAh 60Wh 6-cell unit that fits flush into the chassis and does not stick out. This is where the battery fits into the notebook. With the battery's size, it should offer better endurance. The I/O ports on the right side of the machine are: Card Reader/ Audio In/Out/ USB 2.0 x 2/ Power In D-Sub output/ RJ45 network port/ HDMI output/ Card Reader. The I/O ports on the left side of the machine are: D-Sub output/ RJ45 network port/ HDMI output/ USB 2.0/eSATA port. There are air vents underneath on the left and right sides and there are four loudspeakers, one at each corner. The X600 uses these to create a surround sound system. The bottom of the chassis opened up. (Doing this voids the original manufacturer warranty so if a users needs to upgrade something, the Laptop must go back to the dealer.) The CPU heat sink is on the right side. Two copper tubes connect to the chipset and graphics chip. The two DDR2 SO-DIMM slots are on the left. Up to 4GB of memory is supported.

MSI has made great inroads into the notebook market in the past two years. With the launch of the Atom-equipped U100 last year, MSI successfully boosted its brand profile and consumers' confidence in the MSI brand. In 2009 MSI released a new line of CULV based notebook products – the X-Slim series. The first were two 13.3" CULV products in May – the X-Slim X340 and X340 Pro. At this time, the only other product in this segment was the ACER 3810T. But the X340 weighed just 1.33kg and had the advantage over the 1.68kg ACER 3810T. There were also differences in their design and materials. As new CULV notebooks came on the market, it became apparent that Atom Netbooks with small 10” screens were no longer enough for some users. It also meant that business Netbooks that provided slimness at a premium were not under threat from the lower-priced CULV systems. In August, MSI released another two X-Slim products, the 14" X400 and the 15.6" X600. This review looks at the X600 with the discrete graphics card. Although this is a large notebook, it weighs a mere 2.1kg. This is a breakthrough compared to the 3 ~ 3.6kg weight range of the earlier 15.6 ~ 16" models. First, we have the X-Slim X600's outer packaging with its standard X graphics. The X600 comes out of the box with a protective film over the top cover. On opening the top cover you will find protective cotton fabric over the keyboard and another protective film on the LCD. The backpack included with the X600 looks good and has the feel of quality. The inside is lined with blue cloth. The power supply is the compact type now in common use and made by DELTA. It's good to see that it does not heat up too much during charging. A manual, warranty card and bundled software are included in the box. The wired mouse has stow-away cabling and is compact and handy to use. Unlike X340, the mark on the X600 is not back-lit but standard printed graphics. The glossy top cover has a special coating that is resistant to finger prints.

MSI X58M Advantage 1. High performance Micro ATX of X58 product. 2. All Japanese made solid capacitors. Debug signal. Built-in power botton. 3. Support ATI CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI. 4. Rich BIOS options. Wide range of power voltage. Outstanding external clock. 5. Price competitive amongst available M-ATX X58 in the market. Disadvantage 1. No cooling module above MOSFET 2. DDR3 OC performance is not as good as expected. 3. The temperature of northbridge is a bit high. Adopt larger cooling pipe will solve the problem. Performance: ?????????? Components design: ?????????? Specification: ?????????? The appearance: ?????????? C/P Ratio: ?????????? The major issue of X58M is in DDR3 OC performance. As indicate in the spec, DDR3 1333 can be achieved under the condition of overclocking. The default 133 MHz CPU clock can only reach DDR3 800 or 1066. Compare with other competitors, MSI X58M will require some improvement in this part. Intel new LGA1156 CPU will become available in the market in two months. For the entry level X58, the price is around US$200 which is still quite competitive comparing with P55. My wild guess of the price for the middle to high grade P55 is around US$150-250. P55 will not be price competitive at beginning. The price of the MSI X58M is fairly competitive. The price of X58 is NT$5000, equivalent to US$152 which is very attractive to the users who are looking for X58 platform with limited budget.

CrystalMark 2004R3 CINEBENCH R10 PCMark Vantage 16444 X58M has quite good OC performance. Compare with X58 ATX, the performance is nearly no difference. External clock is one of its advantages as well. During the test, it is easy to reach 218 MHz. DDR3 1748 CL8 8-8-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth-29895MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-18845MB/s CORSAIR P64 SSD, MLC 64GB When raise the clock of DDR3, the performance is not as good as expected. ICH10R southbridge chip equips with CORSAIR high performance MLC SSD, the bandwidth is amazing. ATTO reaches 227/153 MB/s. GTX 260 SLI 3DMARK VANTAGE 21189 Crysis Benchmark StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1680 X 1050 21963 1920 X 1200 18735 Biohazard5 Benchmark With great 3D support from X58 chipset, remarkable 3D effect can be performed with dual-VGA technology from ATI or NVIDIA. By considering the available space in the ordinary chassis, the best choice for graphics cards are 9600 SLI and 4850 CF.

North bridge cooling module Screen shot when system is turned on. BIOS main page Cell Menu CPU Voltage -0.320~+630mV CPU PLL Voltage 1.00~1.85V QPI Voltage 0.88~1.83V DRAM Voltage 1.20~2.77V Through MEMORY-Z, detail setup of SPD can be viewed. DRAM advanced parameter setup H/W Monitor The BIOS setup above is what I usually use on X58M which the CPU is quite stable when external clock is set to 218MHz. Different CPU has different results from different BIOS setup. Testing platform CPU: Intel Core i7 950 MB: MSI X58M DRAM: CORSAIR XMS3 TR3X6G1600C8 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX260 OC SLI HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D POWER: CORSAIR HX1000W Modular Power Supply Cooler: Megahalems CPU OC 218 X 19 => 4150Mhz DDR3 1748 CL9 9-9-24 1T Hyper 8 X PI 32M 13m 48.734s CPUMARK 99 650

X58 chipset has been introduced to the market for 9 months, and is still on top-of-the-range of Intel product line. For some main board manufacturers, Micro ATX is no longer a low-priced product. Ever since DFI released its first Micro ATX X58 in January, MSI and Asus started to include Micro ATX in high performance product category. As we analyzed the OC performance of DFI JR X58 in last episode, I believe most of you have basic understanding of X58 Micro ATX. This time, we have MSI X58M which is a rare X58 Micor ATX in the market. The lowest price for X58 ATX is around US$200, X58 Micro ATX will lower than that price. We would like to introduce you MSI X58M which is a price-valued Micro ATX. The spec of X58M changes the concepts of cheap, less function, just enough performance, and low grade for Micro ATX. X58M allows Micro ATX users to experience high grade computer structure, in the meantime, the expandability and support have greatly improved. Let’s take a look at the package User’s manual. Driver and software CD. Cords. CrossFire connector. MSI X58M Lower left of the main board 2 X PCIE X16 supports CrossFire and SLI, bandwidth X16+X16 1 X PCI There is a power button down below. Lower right of the main board 7 X SATAII(ICH10R, Raid 0/1/5) 1 X Floppy 1 X IDE Upper right of the main board 6 X DIMM DDR3, DDR3 800/1066/1333(OC) power input Upper left of the main board 6 phase power supply. Active Power Switch Cooling device also provides LGA775 which only can be found on FOXCONN X58 before. This will save consumers’ money on purchasing high-end cooling device. IO 6 X USB 2.0 1 X 1394a 1 X eSATA MOSFET material

OC 191 X 23 => 4401Mhz DDR3 1913 CL9 9-9-24 1T Hyper 4 X PI 8M 1m 50.090s CPUMARK 99 688 Install with my i7 950, the system can reach 8 PI 32M stably by 1.212V. The maximum of CPU can be around 4.4G. The maximum rate of overclocking of this D0 version (i7 950) seems a bit improved than previous vision. VGA 3D Rendering By MSI N9600GT Diamond 3DMARK VANTAGE 5398 Crysis Benchmark THE LAST REMNANT Street Fighter IV Benchmark(Display V-synch ON) 1920 X 1200 9600GT display card is a mid-range level product. If this VGA co-op with i7 CPU, I think most of the games can run quite smooth (of course not open too much effect) BTW, this GTI version doesn’t support SLI; hence, you have to use ATI cards when you wanted to install dual VGA display. FOXCONN Quantum Forces series/ Flaming Blade GTI Goods: 1. entry-level price for X58 board, but the packing is still very high-end 2.BIOS options are various. Almost the same to mid-range level Quantum Force Mobo 3.The OC ability is quite good in the way. The OC performance of CPU and DRAM are obviously nice. 4.A bit earlier, the cheaper X58 is around USD200, Flaming Blade GTI version only needs USD180. Drawbacks 1.No back up supports for NVIDIA SLI 2.The south bridge is only use ICH10. 3.Hard to buy in the channels as usual Performance: ?????????? The Components design: ?????????? Specification: ?????????? The appearance: ?????????? C/P Ratio: ?????????? The X58 products are being mature in the market. Due to the positioning of the chipset, it is a Top-ranking product. Hence, the chipset is relatively high in price. Most X58 motherboards in market is around USD 200 to 300. The segment is quite complicated too. FOXCONN Quantum Force series try to release a step-lower X58 model. But for the budget consideration, the components and functions are a bit reduced than before. If this is for a budget user, this Flaming Blade GTI is a best choice for gamers. The OC ability of Flaming Blade GTI version is inherit from Flaming Blade and BloodRage. It’s quite up to the standard. If you want to spend more to get a board, which has better components and maybe can use both SLI and CF. I suggest that you should try the Flaming Blade, not GTI version.

The Test system details: CPU: Intel Core i7 950 MB: FOXCONN Quantum Force Flaming Blade GTI DRAM: CORSAIR XMS3 TR3X6G1600C8 VGA: MSI N9600GT Diamond HD: Intel X25-M 80GB POWER: Corsair 400W Power Supply Cooler: Megahalems DRAM part: The market price of the DDR3 is almost reaching the lowest point. So, I’d like to pick up the value price DDR3 1600 for the test. CORSAIR XMS3 2GBX3 TR3X6G1600C8,DDR3 1600 CL8 8-8-24 1.65V DDR3 1601 CL7 7-7-20 1T 1.65V,VTT Voltage +80mV SP2004 3 X Blend mode?5.82GB full loaded steady. DDR3 1601 CL7 7-7-20 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth-28744MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-18013MB/s DDR3 2000 CL9 9-9-24 1T Sandra Memory Bandwidth-21081MB/s EVEREST Memory Read-34216MB/s The configuration of XMS3 DDR3 6GB 1600 CL8 is a bit conservative. So, I make it as 1600 CL7 7-7-20 1T can run steady. I end up with CPU 200Mhz. DDR3 runs at 2000MHz CL9 (system can get into the OS and run the OC testing) The Corsair XMS3 (DDR3 1600), the OC ability is above the standard. CPU part Intel Core i7 950 OC 200 X 21 => 4200Mhz DDR3 1600 CL7 7-7-20 1T Hyper 8 X PI 32M 13m 37.519s CPUMARK 99 657 CrystalMark 2004R3 CINEBENCH R10 PCMark Vantage score:14227

REAR IO parts: 8 x USB2.0 1 x Gigabit LAN The North Bridge and CPU PWM heat sink FOXCONN Flaming Blade GTI version is not support SLI. The capacitors are all not solid state capacitors, and they put away the eSATA also. These are the differences of FB and FB GTI. Starting Screen BIOS MAIN PAGE OC options page CPU Features DDR3 reference page, XMP, where the auto OC technology within. The voltage parts: CPU Core Voltage +10~1260mV(CPU, max: 2.54750V) CPU VTT Voltage +20~1260mV DRAM Voltage 1.50~2.86V CPU Vdroop Compensation,This is for prevent the voltage go down when OC the Intel chipset X58 IOH Core Voltage 1.10~1.60V(the interval is 0.02V) OC gear The system provides totally 8 storage spaces for Users to save their OC settings. Hardware Monitor The above is my test, stable at 200/1600. I think you can do that on your own for some special settings.