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MSI P6N Diamond Review
[Abstract]
IntroductionUsually, when new or highly anticipated core logic chipsets are announced, motherboard manufacturers jump at the chance to release new feature products and ride the hype. However, t...
[Content] PCDigitalMobileGame
Introduction
Usually, when new or highly anticipated core logic chipsets are announced, motherboard manufacturers jump at the chance to release new feature products and ride the hype. However, the take up for NVIDIA's highly touted nForce 680i SLI hasn't seen the same level on enthusiasm. Mostly, this is due to its exorbitant pricing and we've noticed that the top end manufacturers have all taken their time in order to release a truly unique flagship product instead of cookie cutter reference designs.
ASUS played to the hearts of gamers with the Striker Extreme and Gigabyte went all out with the over-engineered GA-N680SLI-DQ6, which remains to date as the only motherboard to feature a quad Gigabit LAN solution. MSI announced that their top end P6N Diamond would be the first board to feature a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi audio solution onboard, which generated quite a buzz among the gaming community. This was back in November 2006. With release dates pushed back time and again, most people only saw the first glimpse of the board at CeBIT this year.
The MSI P6N Diamond motherboard. |
The MSI P6N Diamond is finally here today, but with Intel's launch of their 3-Series chipset and their push towards DDR3 memory, MSI is seriously late to market their nForce 680i SLI solution. However, after getting to play with a production P6N Diamond, we have to say that it is still well worth the wait.
The MSI P6N Diamond comes with the following peripheral bundle:-
- 6 x SATA data cables
- 3 x SATA power converter cable
- 1 x 80-conductor Ultra ATA data cable
- 1 x floppy drive data cable
- MSI D-Bracket 2 (2 x USB 2.0 ports)
- FireWire Bracket (1 x FireWire port)
- SLI bridge
- I/O shield
- Driver CDs
- User's guide
MSI P6N Diamond Technical Specifications
| CPUSupport | - Supports IntelCore 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo / Core 2 Extreme
- SupportsIntel PentiumD / Pentium Processor Extreme Edition
- SupportsIntel Pentium 4 / Pentium 4 Extreme Edition
- Supports1333MHz FSB and processors
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| Chipset | - NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI SPP
- 400 -1333MHz front side bus
- NVIDIADualDDR2 Memory Controller
- Onelink at x16 for graphics card (SLI capable)
- NVIDIAnForce 680i SLI MCP
- Onelink at x16 for graphics card (SLI capable)
- Supportsup to ten USB 2.0 ports
- Supportssix SATA 3.0Gbps ports
- Dual-channelUltra ATA-133 IDE controller
- Supportsup to five PCI slots
| | Memory | - NVIDIADualDDR2architecture
- 4 x 240-pin DIMMsockets support max. 16GB DDR2-400 to DDR2-1400 non-ECC memory
- Slot independantdual-channel mode
- NVIDIA QuickSync
- FourthGeneration DASP
- Support Enhanced PerformanceProfile (EPP) SLI Memory
| | Storage | - NVIDIA nForce?70 SLI
- 2x Ultra ATA 33/66/100/133 (data transfer rate up to 133MB/sec.)
- 5 xSATA 3.0Gbps interface
- NVIDIAMediaShield Technology
- SupportsRAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5
- SiliconImage SiI3531
- 1 x SATA 3.0Gbps interface
- Silicon Image SiI4723SteelVine RAID Processor
- 2 x SATA 3.0Gbps
- HardwareRAID 0, 1
| | Audio | - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio onboard
- Opticaland CoaxialS/PDIF
| | Networking | - 2x NVIDIA Gigabit LAN co-supported by Realtek RTL8211BL PHY chip(Transceiver)
- DualNET (TCP/IP Acceleration, Teaming)
- FirstPacketTechnology
| | IEEE 1394 (FireWire) | - VIAVT6308P FireWire controller
- 2 x 1394aports@ 400 Mbps speed
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| I/OInterface | - 1 x Floppyconnector
- 1 x Ultra ATA IDE connectors
- 7 x SATA connectors
- 1 xeSATA connector
- 8 x USB2.0 ports (4 x rear, 4 x header)
- 2 xFireWire-400 ports (1 x rear, 1 x header)
- 2 xRJ45 LAN port
- Optical S/PDIF port
- CoaxialS/PDIF port
- 8-Channel Audio I/O ports
- 1x 9-pin serial port (header)
- 1x mini-DIN-6 PS/2mouse port
- 1 x mini-DIN-6 PS/2 keyboard port
| | ExpansionSlots | - 4 x PCIex16 slots,PCI Express Bus specification v1.0acompliant
- 1 x PCIe x1 slots, PCIExpress Bus specification v1.0acompliant
- 2 x 32-bit PCI slots,PCI 2.3 compliant
| | Special Features | - MSI CoreCell2
- Full solid capacitors
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| PCB | - ATX FormFactor, 12"x9.6"(30.5cm x 24.4cm)
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From left to right, legacy PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, one dedicated eSATA, one FireWire-400, coaxial S/PDIF, two RJ-45 LAN, four USB 2.0 ports and analog surround audio block with optical S/PDIF. |
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