The front of the MSI Mega mPC 945 is a clean white face of simple grid lines. All the front USB, audio and media ports and connectors are hidden behind a front panel that swings down when you need to access them. There are only two buttons on the face of the mPC 945 system, one at left to eject the CD-ROM, and the illuminated power button at right.

PC Stats posted a review on the MSI MEGA mPC 945 Barebones Small Formfactor PC which is based around the Intel 945G and is compatible with all Socket 775 Intel processors. Under the glossy white hood, the mPC 945's two DDR2 memory slots will support up to 2GB of dual channel DDR2-533/667 memory. In terms of storage space, the system has one 3GB/s Serial ATA II channel and one IDE controller. There is onboard video care of the integrated Intel GMA950 graphics card, it comes part and parcel with the Intel 945G chipset. If you want to use a better videocard the system will accommodate single or double slot PCI Express graphics card.

MSI has done an excellent job at designing the internals of the mPC 945 chassis - everything clicks together like clockwork, without the need to any tools. The system operates quietly for the most part, but during intense loads the fans do become increasingly audible. For tasks like watching a DVD or a downloaded movie, or listening to music the fans run pretty quiet.

The performance of the MSI MEGA mPC 945 system as tested was quite good in office oriented benchmarks, even with the Intel GMA950 videocard. In gaming benchmarks, the GMA950 is woefully underpowered and hardly useable. With a GeForce 7800GTX installed the system handles the games just as good as comparable Intel based motherboards.

The MSI MEGA mPC 945 definitely looks different from your average SFF PC. Thanks to this fresh approach we can see a whole host of possibilities for this system when married with a suitably competent videocard (preferably supporting HDMI or component output), and connected over the Gigabit ethernet or 802.11g wireless LAN... If you're looking for something simple and nice to look at, MSI really has come up with a solution worth your consideration.