Socket 939 Roundup: Battle at the Top
by Wesley Fink on July 30, 2004 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
MSI K8T Neo2-FIR: Features and Layout
| MSI K8T Neo2-FIR Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 939 Athlon 64 |
| Chipset | VIA K8T800 PRO/VT8237 |
| Bus Speeds | 200MHz to 280MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| CPU Ratios | 4 - 20x in 1x increments |
| PCI/AGP Speeds | Default, 66, 76.4 |
| 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 |
| HT Voltage | Auto, 1.26V, 1.32V, 1.38V |
| Dynamic Overclocking | 3.3%,5%, 6.6%, 8%, 10%, 11%, 15% |
| 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/IDE RAID | 2 SATA 150 drives by VIA VT8237 Can be combined in RAID 0,1,JBOD plus 2 SATA 150 Promise 20579 |
| Onboard IDE | Two Standard VIA ATA133/100/66 (4 drives) PLUS 2 IDE by Promise 20579 |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 8 USB 2.0 ports supported by VT8237 3 IEEE 1394 FireWire Ports by VIA 6306 |
| Onboard LAN | Gigabit Ethernet by Realtek 8110S |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC850 8-Channel with SPDIF |
| Tested BIOS | 1.0 |
MSI seems to have had a lock on supplying Reference Boards for the Socket 939 launch. While the K8N Neo2 was the Reference board for the nVidia 939 launch, a special version of MSI K8T Neo2 was the Reference Board for the AMD Socket 939 launch. You can find more information on both MSI boards in our Socket 939 Chipset Launch article.
The K8T Neo2 retail board adds many adjustments and tweaking options to the basic K8T Neo2 that we reviewed at launch. MSI also supplied a board with a working PCI/AGP lock just prior to the completion of this roundup, but it took several boards to finally get there. We have been assured that shipping K8T Neo2 boards will have working PCI/AGP locks and we are passing this information to you. When we finally received a fully working board, the K8T Neo2 was a decent performer and certainly one of the best of the VIA K8T800 PRO chipset Socket 939 boards.
The K8T Neo2 is available in several versions with different options depending on price. Our test board was the top-line version, which added a Promise 20579 SATA/IDE RAID controller and VIA IEEE 1394A Firewire. Layout of the board is more conventional than the MSI K8N Neo2, with the 4 DIMM slots to the upper right, and the IDE/floppy and ATX connectors on the upper right. The 4-pin 12V connector is difficult to route as it sits almost in the center of the board. The additional IDE and SATA connections are all in areas that could potentially interfere with longer PCI cards, but the AGP 8X is clear of obstruction for a large top-end video card.
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum: Overclocking and Stress Testing
MSI K8T Neo2-FIR: Overclocking and Stress Testing
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Klaasman - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
#32 Socket 940 boards require ECC memory. 939 don't but they might run it. Go to AMD's website and see.FactorOfTwo - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
Do any Socket 939 boards support ECC memory? I am having a hard time finding a definitive answer to this question.TheLiquidH20 - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
Quote - The general performance of the VIA and nVidia-based 939 boards was virtually the same in DirectX 9 games, with one notable exception. Microsoft's Halo performs almost 15% better on the nVidia nForce3 Ultra .Could this have something to do with Halo being a direct port of the xbox ? Seeing that the Xbox is basically one , big intergrated nForce ? . Would explain microsoft adding some optimazations for niVdia hardware .
Klaasman - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
Ive got an ABIT AV8 and I wouold like to get a copy of that 1.3 bios you claim you had.rjm55 - Wednesday, July 21, 2004 - link
This is the first time I've seen AnandTech use color in the benchmark graphs. It really makes reading the data a LOT easier. Thanks!Wesley Fink - Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - link
#5 and #26 - I received a retail K8T Neo2 about 10 days ago and the board is now entering retail. I received the retail K8N Neo2 about 4 days ago and I am told it should enter retail in the next week to 10 days. That is the best information I have, but the date has already slipped from early July to the end of July. MSI should have the most reliable information on when the board will finally hit the retail channel.kmmatney - Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - link
Thanks for using the AutoGK encoding benchmark! I prefer the XVid codec, over DivX, but I very much appreciate the benchmark. AutoGK is by far the best freeware encoding suite I've come across.kd4yum - Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - link
See #5ibid
Where is the MSI 939 board?!
Wesley, I asked same question in another Comments section. I can't get answers from MSI (phone) or Newegg (phone). Can you?
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - link
#23 - I am now working on a 925X roundup and had switched mental gears. It looks like I need to check my mind set before correcting reviews :-) Now fixed.kd4yum - Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - link