You get a lot in the box with the MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R. There are rounded IDE cables, Serial ATA cables, Serial ATA power adapters and three back brackets with a host of features and ports. The D bracket has diagnostic LEDs and two USB 2.0 ports; the S bracket has optical and coaxial output, while the Firewire bracket has a total of three ports (two six-pin and one four-pin).

The board itself isn't short of features either, and MSI has done its best to include something for everyone. There's a full set of legacy ports, six USB 2.0 ports on the back plate, as well as Intel Gigabit LAN. There's a Promise chip that controls an extra IDE connector, so you can use up to six devices, and the four serial connectors will give you plenty of scope for future upgrades.

The layout is good and, for instance, the retention clip for the AGP card is located well away from the memory clips, so it's easy to remove or replace a component without having to move others. The power connectors also have plenty of space around them, and even the floppy connector is well sited. Those three brackets plug in at the bottom of the board, so it's relatively easy to route the cables neatly.

In our tests the MSI performed well on standard settings, but the BIOS positively encourages over-clocking to squeeze yet more out of your Pentium 4. This board offers a very good balance of features, performance, future-proofing and price, and we were very impressed by the 875P Neo-FIS2R.