Next-Gen AMD Motherboard Intro- MSI K9N SLI Platinum First Sight

[windwithme]

the AMD K8 infrastructure leads the performance of CPU about 2 years, and we used to define Single/ Dual Channel memory by Socket 939/754.

In the 2nd half of year 2006, AMD introduces the new pin definition, which is called Socket AM2, has the 2 major differences;

The Socket AM2 will all support Dual Channel DDR2; and from the low-end Sempron to high-end FX. In this time, AMD achieve a united goal in infrastructure.





Let’s take a look of the leading role this time- the MSI K9N SLI Platinum, it’s somewhat different from the engineer sample released on internet before.








the left-lower part of board.
The space between 2 PCI Express slots is very sufficient.
With 3 PCI v2.3 slots
Dual Gb LAN, 7.1 ch. HD Audio, and IEEE 1394 chip.











the right-lower part of board.
6 SATA2 ports, support RAID 0, 1, 0+1
6 USB 2.0 ports
and Clear CMOS button










the right-upper part of board.
4 DDR2 slots
IDE port and 24-pin power socket













the part around CPU
there is heat sink on the MOSFET
the fastener base is different, but still can use 939/754 coolers, have to test to know the real usage situation.











the back I/O
it has 4 USB 2.0 ports, dual LAN ports and 7.1ch. audio jack.











it’s nForce 570 SLI chipset base, still the single chip












the thermal solution of system chip
it use the copper bottom and wide range heat sink to reach the quiet requirement.











Testing platform
CPU:AMD AM2 Althon64 X2 4800+
MB: MSI K9N SLI Platinum
DRAM: Wind DDRII 667 512MBX2
VGA: ELSA 6600GT
HD: Seagate 7200.7 80GB
POWER: ONYX 520W



CPU-Z at default 200MHz system bus and DDR2-800




the BIOS introduction of MSI K9N SLI Platinum is coming soon.
The performance benchmark is under testing for its limit, and cannot release the result right now.
The detail of performance test will come after.
Whatever, AM2 stands for the forward step of AMD, and we’ll look forward it available to the market.

[Freebo]

sweet! cant wait

[Flox]

The performance benchmark is under testing for its limit, and cannot release the result right now.
The detail of performance test will come after.

Just give us a hint pls:

or ?

[[XC] Malkec]

Isn't am2 supposed to have pinless cpus? Why the holes in the socket then? Or am i the noob?

[v0dka]

I'm guessing the performance wont be all that with DDRII-667 @ 400Mhz 5-5-5-15. You need good DDRII-800 to beat S939 with an AM2.

Nice to see some stuff working though!

[itznfb]

why does it only have a 4pin cpu power connector?

and why does it say socket A? =\

[charlesbronsen]

I bet it says "AM2" once you lift the IO plate

[dokar_cputuning]

Overclock it and have fun! Can you set better RAM timings?

[Flox]

I'm guessing the performance wont be all that with DDRII-667 @ 400Mhz 5-5-5-15. You need good DDRII-800 to beat S939 with an AM2.

I don´t think that this is an effective clock-rate, but more a physical one...someone uses very loose timings and 2T command rate for his screeny...

[windwithme]

why does it only have a 4pin cpu power connector?

and why does it say socket A? =\

socket AM2

[itznfb]

socket AM2

that would make sense wouldn't it.

do you know why it doesn't have an 8pin connector for the cpu?

[tsuehpsyde]

Yeah, I was going to point out AM2 as well. AM2 > M2. And that 400MHz speed is the actual clock, double that for the DDR rated speed of DDR2-800.

[SamHughe]

I like the clear CMOS button idea. Very overclocker friendly feature.
What I wanna know is why the bottom PCI slot is in different color? Also Windwithme can you tell us how many phase voltage regulations this board has?

[tsuehpsyde]

I like the clear CMOS button idea. Very overclocker friendly feature.
What I wanna know is why the bottom PCI slot is in different color? Also Windwithme can you tell us how many phase voltage regulations this board has?

The CMOS clear button has been around with MSI since 939. Also, the orange slot has something to do with a wireless PCI slot (I forget the specifics, my s754 K8N Neo Platinum had it).

[Flox]

And that 400MHz speed is the actual clock, double that for the DDR rated speed of DDR2-800.

That´s not 100% correct as well...DDR2-800 has an internal clock of 200MHz (prefetch of 4!). But the memory-bus is clocked at 400MHz.

[nn_step]

What Sound chip are they using and what about Ethernet and Firewire?

[Eldonko]

I would like to see some BIOS shots esp of the RAM settings. Also please give us you impression of how the board clocks. Thanks!

[JasonDTM]

Most likely one of the newer Realtek High Def audio codecs for sound.. ALC885 I believe it would be.

[v0dka]

I don´t think that this is an effective clock-rate, but more a physical one...someone uses very loose timings and 2T command rate for his screeny...

It doesnt matter since 667 is probably too slow, that was more or less my point here. You do need DDR2-800 speeds to make a difference with 939.

And that 400MHz speed is the actual clock, double that for the DDR rated speed of DDR2-800.

Could be me but I dont quite understand this post... It's DDR2-667 as stated by TS. But hey, I'm new to DDR2 so I guess it's true that this stuff is 4x HTT.

[VulgarHandle]

none of this makes sense, i thought the new platform would start as dd667, as in, 333x7.5

this 200x12 makes no sense, is it unlocked????

the fx-62 is supposed to be 400x7 is it not????

ddr2 isn't 4x, it's still 2x

[metro.cl]

please run super pi so we can do a compare

[ozzimark]

hmm, 200x12 w/ ddr @ 2-2-2-5 vs 200x12 w/ ddr2 @ 5-5-5-15, i'm guessin the ddr will win...


edit: well, now i'm really confused, cpu-z memory tab shows cpu/6..... so, that means he's running ram 1:2, or is cpuz not showing fsb/multiplier correctly?

the memory bus is running at cpu/6.. for 400mhz. it makes sense

[VulgarHandle]

deleted last post, reposting, edited it heavily...

please run super pi so we can do a compare

hmm, 200x12 w/ ddr @ 2-2-2-5 vs 200x12 w/ ddr2 @ 5-5-5-15, i'm guessin the ddr will win...


well, now i'm really confused, cpu-z memory tab shows cpu/6..... so, that means he's running ram 1:2, or is cpuz not showing fsb/multiplier correctly?

forgive me for quoting LOTR, but, 'questions, questions that need answering'

no need to get into nda probs, but simple q's like, isn't the 4800x2 am2 processor supposed to be 333x7.5=2.5?
are you running your ram 1:2? Is your 4800 unlocked?

i reference... http://www.c627627.com/AMD/Athlon64/

[metro.cl]

deleted last post, reposting, edited it heavily...


hmm, 200x12 w/ ddr @ 2-2-2-5 vs 200x12 w/ ddr2 @ 5-5-5-15, i'm guessin the ddr will win...


well, now i'm really confused, cpu-z memory tab shows cpu/6..... so, that means he's running ram 1:2, or is cpuz not showing fsb/multiplier correctly?

forgive me for quoting LOTR, but, 'questions, questions that need answering'

no need to get into nda probs, but simple q's like, isn't the 4800x2 am2 processor supposed to be 333x7.5=2.5?
are you running your ram 1:2? Is your 4800 unlocked?

i reference... http://www.c627627.com/AMD/Athlon64/

am2 cpus still calculate like 200xmulti
multi is downwards unlocked on normal series, fx is completely unlocked.

[VulgarHandle]

am2 cpus still calculate like 200xmulti
multi is downwards unlocked on normal series, fx is completely unlocked.

lol, if that's true, what a waste..... although i guess that is supposed to be the point of am2, purely a switch to ddr2

and i know only fx are supposed to be completely unlocked, was asking about HIS cpu, as it pertained to the 333vs200fsb question...