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MSI P4N SLI Review
[Abstract]
IntroductionMainstream versions of the nForce4 SLI has not only appeared for AMD solutions but for their Intel Edition counterparts as well. We've just completed our review of the ABIT NI8 SLI ...
[Content] PCDigitalMobileGame
Conclusion
The MSI P4N SLI was an overall better board than its AMD counterpart, the K8N SLI. MSI has done a very good job on both boards in terms of being able to deliver a cost-effective and yet high-end SLI platform using the nForce4 SLI chipset. While we found the performance of the K8N SLI to be slightly below par due to a less optimized graphics subsystem, the P4N SLI did not disappoint. Feature-wise, the P4N SLI underwent the same feature reductions as K8N SLI and was basically a stripped down version of the P4N Diamond. So, you lose a couple of features like additional SATA II and Gigabit LAN controllers, but we do not think that the target market for the P4N SLI would miss them. We can anticipate that certain user groups, gamers especially that might look into getting a dedicated sound card since MSI replaced the embedded Sound Blaster Live! with a regular AC'97 CODEC. However, the board already supports four native SATA II ports with RAID, a single Gigabit LAN port with hardware firewall, USB 2.0 and FireWire connectivity. These features make up a decent motherboard and should be sufficient for any home user.
The only issue with the board that might pose a problem with users was MSI's decision to only equip the P4N SLI with two PCI slots, one of which has a high probability to become blocked by dual slot graphic cards in SLI mode. As such, users might end up having to decide what upgrades to get for their board. On the bright side, the two PCIe x1 slots meant that the P4N SLI is quite future proof. We found no compatibility or stability issues with the board and the P4N SLI was just as reliable as the P4N Diamond in all desktop applications.
Admirable all round performance with an outstanding price. |
In terms of performance, the P4N SLI proved to be a well optimized motherboard and was able to outperform more expensive nForce4 SLI Intel Edition boards in many of our benchmarks. Strangely enough, the board seemed to fare poorly in certain PCMark04 workloads when all of our other benchmarks indicate a healthy CPU and memory subsystem performance. This was also true in the gaming benchmarks we ran where the board managed to do better than ABIT's NI8 SLI and Gigabyte's GA-8N-SLI Royal. While the ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe could not be shaken from its top spot, the P4N SLI was a more desirable board simply because of its compelling price point. Premium nForce4 SLI Intel Edition boards like the ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe, Gigabyte's GA-8N-SLI Royal and MSI's own P4N Diamond can all be found for an average retail price of US$230 and even ABIT's mid-range NI8 SLI retails for US$190. The MSI P4N SLI however, fits in the a lower price bracket and competes competitively with mainstream motherboards. The P4N SLI can be found for around US$136 and for almost US$100 less, you get a lean, rock solid motherboard with absolutely no compromise in system performance.
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