We reviewed the MegaPC180's predecessor, the Mega651, in September last year (Issue 70, page 46) and were fairly impressed with the way this unit handled for a first generation crossover Hi-Fi/PC. The key to digital convergence is seamless integration and MSI has gone a few extra steps in the right direction to help with this changeover.
MSI has refined this model for its second generation of barebones, updating from the previous SiS651 to the more flexible and better performing nForce2 chipset, making it both more attractive to consumers and stiffer competition to brands such as Shuttle and Soltek.
The MegaPC180 is a slick looking unit, wrapped in a black reflective case and announcing itself to the world with its colourful and brightly-lit LCD displaying audio information as it's played. In standalone audio mode, the unit is capable of CD, MP3 and FM radio playback without the need to power up the PC half of the system. The ‘Fancy LED' delivers what it promises, providing four play modes and five preset EQ settings -- normal, jazz, pop, rock and classic -- each with their own different visual display. The front panel will easily match existing audio hardware provided it also features some sort of front lit display.
A press button release drops the front panel on this barebones system, revealing a pair of 3.5mm audio sockets, SPDIF optical in and four and one six pin FireWire connection for easy connectivity. Unfortunately, on closer inspection, although boasting capacity for a second hard drive, once the difficult-to-remove drive cage has been isolated and the drive installed, there's no room for the bay due to the front connectivity PCB panel located inside.
Located in a mini PC slot on the motherboard was an 802.11b adaptor, with the antenna tucked behind the front panel. Reception may be affected due to its internal placement, compared to the external antenna on Shuttle's SB62G2 model.
Airflow was a bit of a sore point, the screw-down HSF cooler boasts two fans, one to suck, the other to blow – this, combined with the drilled ventilation holes in the removable portion of the cover seemed adequate, but unfortunately was lacking when all hardware was installed and operating. This was even more apparent when we installed a full size AGP card such as a GeForce4 Ti4200 or Ti4600.
The MegaPC180 was supplied with a short combo optical drive CD-RW/DVD-ROM, and while MSI doesn't guarantee full-size drives will work, we had no dramas installing and operating a full length major brand DVD writer.
Vast improvements have been made on the previous MEGA651 model. The MegaPC180 offers plenty more with its nForce2, integrated wireless and attractive display flavour. If the cooling is redesigned, we think this series will only improve with subsequent models.