Review of the MSI Titan 700, one Via based barebone

Page 4 - Benchmarks

Naturally we began the testing by installing Windows XP. It was swift and effortless, all we had to do was to add the supplied VIA drivers. We ran in to no obstacles, the whole operation was done in no time.

Immediately after that we went for user tests with popular applications. We viewed the performance in word processing, Internet browsing, we ran few demo HD Wmv video files and in the end we ran Warcraft 3, to see after all is the Titan fit for games:

Browsing the net and working with MS Office on this barebone is is quite adequate. We tested with Internet Explorer 7 and MS Office 2007. Both applications performed flawlessly, nothing more to be said.

Things with HD video were different however. At 720p resolution the movie ran fine as long as nothing else was being used on the computer, otherwise it flickered. As for 1080p – this resolution is non-viewable. Should you desire to use this computer for home video center, you'll have to use a Linux based distribution for Multimedia PC (for which MSI Titan 700 is rather suited) and no such problem will arise. Still tat is a drawback in our eyes since we review the Titan as a fully functional computer.

As for the games - Warcraft 3 ran smooth even on maximal settings. i.e. you could play without trouble your favorite old games without being forced to put up with lousy graphics quality.

Here as a plus we must point out the availability of 6 channel sound, a nice touch, extending Titan 700 applications. Another good thing is the presence of S-Video, DVD-RW and 120GB hard drive. All this do suggest that using Titan 700 as multimedia station was clearly intended by the manufacturer.

As for the noise – Titan 700 if far from being noiseless, but it is quiet enough, considering its small size (that surely does burden the cooling). We must also note that there are no nasty vibrations that would only add tho the noise levels.