My early experiences with MSI K8N Diamond Plus are good
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vassili
Anyone else how has this board? I wonder how it will preform with 2x1GB or 4x1GB compared to the DFI Expert.
I recently needed to replace my motherboard, PSU, etc due to a power supply failure. as my local retailer was out of stock on my original motherboard (DFI SLI-DR Expert) I decided to try the new MSI K8N Diamond Plus motherboard instead.
My best 24 hr dual Prime 95 overclock on the DFI Expert using my Opteron 170 processor was 2690 MHz, and was arrived at over almost a month. The DFI board was tricky to tweak initially, as there is a steep learning curve, but that is part of the fun.
Having said this, I am now running 12+ hr Dual Prime 95 stable on the MSI K8N Diamond Plus board. I did this after 5 minutes of tweeaking in BIOS. This matches what I was initially able to do with the DFI board (before I used Special VID to tweak Vcore).
Part of my ability to hit the 2650 MHz right away is due to my understanding that my Opteron 170 does NOT like a lot of voltage, so this should not be seen as my saying the MSI board is better than the DFI for overclocking.
Differences of note:
The DFI Expert motherboard mounts the CPU high and to the right of center on the motherboard. This gives a little distance from the rear fan in most computer cases, and I think it aids in airflow. The PWM's have heat sinks on them, andd so they run a bit cooler. Also the DFI Expert has 4 Phase power curcuit.
The MSI Diamond Plus motherboard mounts the CPU much closer to where the rear fan would mount in most cases. This may be a problem for those with bulky heatsink/fan combos, as this will definitely block airflow. The Diamond Plus uses 3 Phase power, and its MOSFETs do not have heat sinks on them. To be safe, I added Swiftech MC14 heatsinks on them.
Bottom line for me: I am getting pretty much the same performance from this motherboard, while reducing noise (passive heatpipe system quiter), gaining PCI-E 16 support for better potential videocard performance in SLI mode, and I have onboard Audigy SE sound, so I can reduce case clutter. I fully expect to increase my stable overclock once I get to know the intricacies of the BIOS, so I am quite happy:)
