Socket 939 Roundup: Battle at the Top
by Wesley Fink on July 30, 2004 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum: Features and Layout
| MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 939 Athlon 64 |
| Chipset | nVidia nForce3 Ultra |
| Bus Speeds | 200MHz to 300MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| CPU Ratios | 4x to 20x in 1x increments |
| PCI/AGP Speeds | Auto, 66MHz to 100MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| HyperTransport | 1x-5x (200MHz to 1GHz) |
| Core Voltage | CPU default to 1.85V in .05V increments |
| DRAM Voltage | Auto, 2.55V to 2.85V in .05V increments |
| AGP Voltage | Auto, 1.55V to 1.85V in.05V increments |
| Dynamic Overclocking | 1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, 9%, 11% |
| Memory Slots | Four 184-pin DDR DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Unbuffered Memory to 4GB |
| Expansion Slots | 1 AGP 8X Slot 5 PCI Slots |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 4 SATA 150 drives by nf3-250 Ultra Can be combined in RAID 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD |
| Onboard IDE/RAID | Two Standard VIA ATA133/100/66 (4 drives) Can be combined with SATA drives for RAID 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by nF3-250 3 IEEE 1394A FireWire Ports |
| Onboard LAN | Gigabit Ethernet by nForce3-250 Ultra |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC850 8-Channel with SPDIF |
| Tested BIOS | 1.0B34 |
The MSI K8N Neo2 was the Reference Motherboard for the nVidia launch of the 939 chipset. We were very impressed with the performance of the Reference Board, and in fact, recommended the K8N Neo2 as the 939 motherboard of choice in our last High-End Buyers Guide. Several days ago, we finally received the K8N Neo2 retail board, so we were very anxious to verify what we had already found and perform additional testing on the K8N Neo2. We think that you will find the results in our comparative tests very interesting.
The K8N Neo2 combines all the features that you would expect on a top 939 motherboard, including the on-chip nVidia Gigabit LAN, nVidia on-chip Firewall, 4 SATA ports and 4 IDE ports that can be combined in nVRAID, 8 USB 2 ports, 8-channel audio, and 3 1394A firewire ports. MSI has implemented every nVidia nForce3-250 feature, so for more information on those features, you may want to review nForce3-250 - Part 1: Taking Athlon 64 to the Next Level and nForce3-250 - Part 2: Taking Athlon 64 to the Next Level.
While the layout of the K8N Neo2 is a bit unusual, it works very well in most case designs. The 4 DIMM slots are on the top edge of the board, leaving the space around the CPU and AGP slot much clearer. The IDE and floppy connectors are all well clear of the CPU and PCI slots, and the 20-pin ATX and 4-pin 12V power connectors are on board edges that won't have to cross the top of the CPU fan. All of the IEEE, USB, audio, and front panel jumpers are below the slots at the bottom of the board - so even they are clear of the PCI slot area.
The voltage and overclocking options on the K8N Neo2 are generally very good, but we quickly reached the 300 CPU frequency limit of the board. MSI really needs to provide a wider available range of frequency settings, since this is one board that can use the additional settings. While 2.85V is a decent range for memory voltage, we would also prefer to see a range to 3.0V or even higher for those push memory to the limits. Half-multipliers also allow finer tweaking and would be a welcome addition to a future K8N BIOS.
With a board that does so many things so well you always wish for a little bit more, but that does not take away from the excellent performance of the K8N Neo2.
Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939: Overclocking and Stress Testing
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum: Overclocking and Stress Testing
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jrphoenix - Friday, July 30, 2004 - link
I am using the Gigabyte 939 NF3 board for the past week now. It appears that their are two lan connections listed as Marvell (lan 1) and Nvidia (lan 2). I have been using the Nvidia one?To get the firewall to function with the Gigabyte board all you have to do is download the Nvidia 4 in 1's after installing the Gigabyte drivers.
Of course I'm a noob.
Wesley Fink - Friday, July 30, 2004 - link
#70 - The nVidia fiewall is a port on the chipset that allows for direct communication with the Gigabit chip PHY layer. It is therefore very difficult to determine if the on-chip port is being used just from looking at the specifications.Earlier this week we asked nVidia for help in identifying which motherboards were using the on-chip gigabit port. nVidia is looking into the list of boards we supplied and said they would be providing us with updated information soon. When we receive that info we will post it.
Anemone - Friday, July 30, 2004 - link
Any chance to have tested the OCZ 4000 gold rev 2, with the 2.5-3-3 latencies and compare that to the 3700 EB?Curious as I narrow down things.
Any news on Pci-e for AMD64's?
Thanks!
REMF - Friday, July 30, 2004 - link
i too would like to know whether the Gigabyte NF3 board uses the nVidia NIC/firewall, and if not not, why anandtech failed to mention the fact?geogecko - Thursday, July 29, 2004 - link
What is the noise difference in the retail packaged CPU fans in this class (S-939), and the Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 used in the reviews.I notice that Thermaltake also has another CPU cooler using heatpipes, the SilentTower 4-in-1 CPU Cooler. Have you guys tested this out?
My current PC (AMD XP 1800+ with the equivalent of a Volcano 9) gets too loud for me when it gets warmed up, and that's with it sitting on the floor next to my desk.
Staples - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
#62, you must have read the post incorrectly. I was hoping you would have used the same CPU, which you did not. Somehow you read the opposite. I figure in comparing the chipset to the other, using a different CPU throws in a ton of extra variables. Now if you are looking at it from a prospective of which is faster, then your setup is fair. Of course most people would buy the Northwood on the 875 but it becomes more of a platform benchmark rather than anything that could be called a chipset competition.About the FX53, one reason I do not like you using it is because it is AMD's flagship product and at least from what I remember, the Presscott that you used was not an EE. Even so, the biggest bother is that the FX53 will always cost more than $500 and very few people will actually ever buy it when they can get so much more band for their month with just a regular class AMD64. This is the case with the EE too, they will always cost an arm and a leg so I'd say only about 5% of people will be buying the FX and the EE series chips. By an overwhelming majority, most consumers will be buying the non-enthusiast parts.
bigtoe33 - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
Please take this as the official responce to the rumours about 3500 and 3700EB.We have NOT stopped production of these modules, it sells quicker than we can produce it..that is the only real issue.
We have just shipped another huge order so please go bug your favourite stores to stock it..
EB is here to stay at least for the time being.
Tony
expletive - Monday, July 26, 2004 - link
Also, has the performance discrepancy with Halo and the nforce boards ben figured out yet? If it somehting that may resurface in other games ill get an nforce board. If it is fixable or just a one off with halo, i can save a few $ and get a via board while i am waiting for PCIx...John
expletive - Monday, July 26, 2004 - link
Does the Gigabyte board use the Nvidia LAN as well? I see it says marvel but after the last series of posts with the marvell/nvidia chipset i am confused now...Anemone - Monday, July 26, 2004 - link
Thank you for enlightening on the LAN issue with the NF3 ultra - for me I'm getting and FX.Since this article is getting referenced a lot with people I talk with and such, can we keep a front page link to it for a while?
Also looking forward to memory reviews as well. Rather sad the 3700EB has been discontinued :(
Hopefully OCZ will have something better to take its place in not too long, but that might be impossible.