MSI KunShan Factory Tour 2007

Final Thoughts

It was a genuinely enlightening experience of how MSI compares to other companies I've visited and talked too previously.

The contrast in culture is quite apparent, with a certain amount of innovation to keep it competitive, but it doesn’t go to the extreme of trying everything and becoming a company that will throw as much as possible to see what sticks.

MSI, of course, favour of producing something that will very likely do well than take a greater risk, even if it sometimes means being later to market – but that’s not all to do with innovation - it also depends on factors like supply and cost of materials etc.

In some respects it feels like MSI is also (understandably) more angled towards OEM production than consumer. There's more volume and security in OEMs if you have the contracts and distribution, but it also means making products you know work.

There are some technologies like the inclusion of Dolby or overclocking into notebooks which MSI has been first to market with, but motherboard development seems to be a touch slower - where MSI openly admitted to me that it will quite often access a technology uptake into the market and optimise it for its own uses - like the CircuPipe on the P35 motherboards for example.


That's certainly not a bad way to roll - it means you know something will work, it will be better than the current competition (although that depends on product shelf life) and it's less business risk. However, in the eyes of enthusiasts you can be seen as "last generation". Enthusiast products might make up a small part of MSI's product line up but they are the flagship products that lead people into the others.

MSI has a lot of technology like D.O.T Dynamic Overclocking, Core Cell, Dual Core Centre and Live Update but for example I had no idea MSI were the first to use Ferrite core chokes on motherboards three years ago, yet we hear Gigabyte only talking it up with its Ultra Durable technology relatively recently in comparison.

I think it lacks big hitting branding like the Abit MAX, DFI LANParty, OCZ Reaper, Corsair Dominator, Nvidia nForce, Enermax Galaxy and the Asus Republic of Gamers to name a few. Even just the “DQ6” tag is synonymous with a great top end product at Gigabyte.

MSI did have the Neo series, but dropped it to a mainstream product in favour of the Platinum and Diamond and I think it’s missing out. While MSI are keen to point out it is ready for PC2008, how are you addressing us enthusiasts in 2007 exactly?

You All Matter

MSI were very keen to point out that you guys matter a lot to them and they find constructive feedback extremely useful, so if there was anything you'd like to see - pass the message on. It still has to fit the market and be feasibly manufacturable, but if enough noise is made for a feature it might actually come to light in a future product.

That's not to say other manufacturers don't do this though, we know Asus also actively listen to comments from enthusiasts, especially on its Republic of Gamer series.

Finally, we’d like to say thanks for MSI for inviting bit-tech to China to learn about the company and its facilities.