Issues with MSI FX5600 cards

Question

In my part time i build computers from a small buisiness i started while in university.
I have several issues concerning the new MSI FX5600 Cards, that have not been completely answered in any post that i have read here in the forums or in the poor FAQ section of the MSI website.
These cards have been around long enough now that MSI should start taking Customer service into consideration and start answering some of these issues that many have mentioned and have yet to get an answer to.
The first Set are Hardware related. Second are Software.
HARDWARE#1 First off is the poor construction of the heatsink/fan assembly on these cards, the one im using now, along with pretty much every one i have seen has large gaps between the RAM chips and the heatsink ( well its not really a heatsink more like a heat spreader plate).
The solution given in this forum is for the consumer to do the work of assembler himself (thats pathetic). So i guess MSI should stamp "some assembly required on their boxes and drop the price some $50 for the time it takes a user to repair this problem.
MSI should hire some good assembly people at your factories! I have installed many cards over the years and by far this is the worst heatsink assembly i have seen, which is quite obviously due to MSI using cheap labour done at a rapid rate.
Or just abandon this one heat spreader plate idea and paste individual passive heatsinks on each ram chip, like Asus and many others do.
And best idea yet is to Recall all your cards and offer everyone a decent heatsink solution to replace this poor design.
HARDWARE#2 Why is there no temperature monitoring on these FX cards? Simple question however i have yet to see an answer. Will there be in the future, or is there no temperature monitoring due to lack of a hardware, or do we all have to go buy thermocouples and connect them to our heatsinks, if we want to know the temp of our cards. Given the above #1 it would also be good to know the temp of the RAM given that many of the chips have no heatsink at all connected to them.
HARDWARE#3 The unit that plugs into the back of the VIVO cards never quite stay plugged in well and are so short that due to a lack of slack in the cable weight put on it by pluging in other cables tends to cause the whole unit to become unplugged. Why not just make that cable a litle bit longer?
HARDWARE#4 (related to above vivo connector unit) why use a (infra red )IR reciever connected to the video card? Why not just supply a seperate ir reciever and have that connected to a USB port or somthing else. Does it really make sense to have IR using the AGP resources? Also the quality of the ir reciever is absolutely the cheapest i have ever seen, and is awkward to place in any usefull position without using tape to stick it it to somthing.
Hardware#5 Cheap Remote control. Lots of buttons on it however most are really useless, and dont work anyways.
Instead of providing these remotes free with the cards, make a good remote remote control that uses RF (radio frequencies) instead of the awfull IR, and that can actually controll common software that people would normally use, or that ships with operating systems like media player etc.. Also why not have it also act as a second mouse like other manufacturers do?
SOFTWARE #1 Lets start off with the IR software or driver, I have used several other IR recievers/software that work perfect within windows. HOWEVER MSI has the absolute worst i have ever seen. The memory leaks everyone has is a perfect example of how poor their IR hardware/software work together. Will you be providing some new drivers to fix this? Or was providing a remote control just a gimmick to try and capture a few early customers?
SOFTWARE #2 the media center is so awfull, due to many reasons here are some.
a) for many people it wont even work to begin with
b) the resolution and more importantly Refresh rate ( 60hz ) is just plain stupid. ( i dont know anyone who can stand looking at a 60hz refresh rate for more then a few min without getting a headache).
c) use of remote control is full of bugs and is limited to this software alone.
d) i have yet to find any way of even adding pictures or other media files to the lists (not that i really care) this just points out the poor user interface.
I could go on about how bad it is, but i wont.
I recommend that MSI re-think their media centre and just get rid of it all together and start from scratch on somthing new. Try looking at what competitors such as ati's software and even Nvidia have as thier media centres. Also just dont use Intervideo's WinDVD and do like Asus and go with Cyberlinks PowerDVD.
c) lack of any monitoring software for video chip or ram heat status. This is related to the hardware comment #2
d) 11 cd's software bundell. Who cares why do you guys hype this if its basically 11 cds of old games that dont even use direct x9 capabilites of the card, or apps that i would question if anyone would even use. Most would prefer a drop in price versus having this large cd set.
Well that is it for now. Normally i would get paid for my ideas and suggestions where i work full time as a product development technologist, But this short list I provide freely hoping that MSI get their act together and make a better product. There is lots of potential there however it would require much more in terms of fixing these bugs that really reduce customer satisfaction and thus reduce sales especially in the customer recommendation sales.
Two last comments not related to the cards:
i) The packaging. is it really necessary to pay for the extra ink to put colorfull images within the inside of the box? could you not use that extra money saved and put it into either hiring better assemblers or making wires a little longer etc..?
ii) There is nothing mentioned in the manual concerning the Remote control its use or that of the media center.
It would now be nice if MSI would plese answer some of the above questions and sittuations and create a new FAQ for this card and have it available within the FAQ section of their website.
Thank you for reading this post.
hope for some improvements soon

Answer 1

I echo these words too. :O