There is a growing band of people who can see the benefits of taking a CPU originally aimed for use in laptops and putting it to work in desktop PCs.

This results in less power, less heat, less cooling therefore less fan noise. Until now there have been just two companies championing the cause of using Intel's Pentium M chip in desktop motherboards - AOpen and DFI - but now a third has entered the fray; MSI, with the 915GM Speedster.

The first generation of motherboards used Intel's i855 notebook chipset which, by desktop standards, is lacking in performance and features. Just like the other manufacturers that moved to Intel's latest notebook chipset, MSI uses Intel's i915GM chipset for the Speedster, as you could probably guess from the name.

Despite its micro-ATX format, the board is well laid out, and although not as feature-rich as boards from AOpen and DFI, it does have the advantage of being cheaper, and what's provided will meet the needs of most people.

Both bridges are passively cooled, with the CPU being cooled by a standard Socket 478-mounted, low-profile cooler with a 6cm fan, which is on the noisy side. You can adjust the frequency at which the fan kicks in via the BIOS and if you have a well-ventilated case you maybe able to do away with the fan all together - but if in doubt leave well alone.

One thing to look out for with the 915GM Speedster is that it uses a 24-pin power ATX connector, something that you only find on the newer power supplies, so it's something to be mindful of before you start putting a system together.

Intel's i915GM chipset supports both DDR and DDR2 memory, so MSI has provided two slots of each type on the 915GM Speedster, giving you the choice between PC2700 DDR333 or the DDR2 route, using PC3200 or PC4200.

Along with the four memory slots, there is a single x16 PCI-E graphics slot, so you don't have to rely on the integrated Intel graphics. There is also a single x1 PCI-E slot and two standard PCI slots. Besides the single ATA and floppy ports there are four SATA ports which, because of the limitations of the ICH6 Southbridge, don't support SATA2 or RAID. You get dual Gigabit Ethernet, integrated 7.1-channel audio and four USB 2.0 ports

The more basic approach that MSI has taken with the 915GM Speedster means it lends itself more to the role of a quiet traditional desktop than to forming the basis of a media PC.

This is a valuable addition to the ranks of Pentium M desktop boards and one that isn't laden down with features that you may never use.