MSI is pretty big in the OEM server and workstation market, but most of their attention in the retail space has been focused on the single CPU enthusiast market. They have quietly been producing some good products for the high-end as well though, and today we will be evaluating their E7500 based server board, the E7500 Master, in its "LS" flavor ("LS" meaning LAN and SCSI, of course).

When Intel initially released their new E7500 chipset for the dual Xeon platform, all of the RAMBUS die-hards were up in arms. We got a chance to look at a few of the first E7500 based boards, from Tyan and Supermicro, and soon realized that dual channel DDR with dual Xeons wasn't all that bad. Now, a few months later, the importance of the dual channel DDR/Xeon platform is even more apparent as the upcoming "Placer" chipset is basically just the workstation version of the E7500. It's been a while since we've looked at an Intel E7500 based motherboard, but today we've got another nice one on the test bench.

What you get

I have never really paid much attention to the packaging that a motherboard comes in. At least until I received the Iwill DP400 that is. The DP400's packaging really impressed me (as much as you can be impressed with a cardboard box anyway :-), but the packaging for the E7500 Master LS might even step it up a notch.

The first thing I noticed was the massive size of the box. I know the E7500 boards, as a general rule, are very large, but this box was HUGE. Big enough to hold two normal ATX boards and all the extra stuff. No kidding. L A R G E. It even has a handle built in to the top of the box for lugging the monster around. I chuckled when I saw it, but after dragging the box around a few times, I came to appreciate the utility of it.

Once I opened the box I realized why it was so big. Inside I found the motherboard (of course), a SCSI cable, IO shield, manuals, driver disks, heatsink retention clips and a pair of Coolermaster heatsinks. I've seen some other manufacturers bundle heatsinks with their Xeon boards, but these Coolermasters are -really- nice. They use larger than normal fans at a lower speed for some nice, quiet cooling. As hard as it is to find aftermarket heatsinks for Xeons (same as the now defunct Socket 423 P4), MSI gets bonus points for not only including some heatsinks, but including some nice heatsinks.

Layout

The first layout issue you will encounter with the E7500 Master is the placement of the power supply connector. You'll notice (first picture on this page, top right) that the 24pin connector is located directly over the IDE headers. This means you'll have to route your wiring along the edge of the board, over the capacitors and VRM heatsinks. In a rackmount case this will create a need for some creative cable routing as the PSU wiring will be between your board and drives. I would've liked to see the connector closer to the top of the board, up near the extra 8pin connector, but with all the onboard features crammed onto this PCB, space is at a premium... Even for an SSI form factor motherboard.

This is a server board. No mistake about it. It is a large board and the layout is not conducive to a tower case as the heatsink/fan units would definitely interfere with a drive of some sort. You're going to need a a real server case, be it rackmount or free standing, as long as it is big. Just think your purchasing decisions through and you'll be fine (and that can be said for any motherboard/system purchase).

Speaking of onboard features, the Master LS is fully loaded. Intel 10/100 and 10/100/1000 NICs integrated as well as Adaptec U160 (ZCR capable) SCSI makes for a pretty potent server board experience right out of the box. The support for 12gb of Registered ECC DDR via the six memory slots will satisfy most everyone's needs in that department as well, and the DIMM slots are oriented so as not to block the front-to-back airflow in your low-profile rackmount cases. They also provided five 3pin fan headers for your RPM-monitored cooling needs.

Since I mentioned the onboard SCSI with ZCR capability, now would be a good time to mention my second (and only other) fault with the E7500 Master LS. Unless you use a 3-4U (or bigger) rackmount case, or a large server tower, you will not be able to use the ZCR option with this motherboard. The ZCR enabled PCI slot is located at the very bottom of the board, so you must be able to use normal PCI cards with your case (no risers) or you are out of luck for ZCR, unless you know of a place to get a backwards riser card and a case that will accomodate it.

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