Iwill MPX2 Specs Continued

     If you are looking for a feature packed motherboard with integrated sound, LAN, firewire, Serial ATA, can opener, garbage disposal, and food processor, keep looking because the MPX2 only has the bare essentials. After all, it's a server motherboard, not a gaming board. However, there are a couple USB ports and DDR support for up to 3.5gb of DDR. As far as unique features, there are also two PCI 64/66 slots as well as support for AGP Pro graphics cards.

     One of the first things Matt and I did as soon as we unboxed the motherboard, was to take off the AMD 760 chipset heatsink. Many MPX boards have issues with overheating since there is no active cooling, so it is best you do everything you can to keep the board cool. Under the heatsink is exactly what we expected to see, cheap thermal tape. Thermal tape is the last thing you want to use on CPUs and chipsets as they are about as good as transferring heat as a piece of card board. We recommend using a good thermal paste that will not dry up such as Arctic Silver. The last mod to the board was installing a small cooling fan over the chipset heatsink. This will ensure that the hard working 760 MPX chipset stays nice and cool for better stability.

     The motherboard is fairly simple to install and setup. However, you must have a case that will support large server motherboards as well as have a heavy duty power supply. We used the PCToys Case Maxx case along with a heavy duty PC Toys Power Maxx power supply. There are a few jumpers you need to set in accordance with the front side bus speed you will be using, but other than that, you just install the board and your hardware and you are pretty much set. Because I plan to use this system as the new ClubOC file server, I took my time installing all the hardware and cables. I probably used 50 or so zip ties to rout the cables in a neat and clean manner to give the inside of the case a clean and professional look. Plus, due to the extra heat you will experience with a dual machine, it is very important to maximize your cooling by keeping the cables away from the cooling fans.

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