MSI K8N Neo Platinum Edition nF3 250Gb

[DR]

We just need a revised BIOS that allows the enthusiast really push the board to the limit. The AGP/PCI lock is in place but it's of questionable value when multiplier support is broken. As it stands, it's a damn fast board at or near-default speeds.

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...lld19JRD03NzY=

[ssmokee]

From the "Layout and features" page:

"Note that MSI specifies DDR400 operation for all three DIMM slots, even when run concurrently."

This has me a little confused. If this is true, I would assume you could throw in 3x 1GB DDR400 DIMMs and have it operate all full DDR400 speed. If you checkout the MSI product page for the K8N Neo Platinum , it says "Supports the memory size up to 2GB". Now that spec is pretty ambiguous...does it mean the maximum combined size of the three DIMMs, or is it reffering to the maximum size of a single DIMM module?!? The product page also does not mention anything about retaining full DDR400 speeds even with all DIMM slots populated, which is kind of strange since I would consider that to be quite a substantial feature. Could anyone clarify this?

[ssmokee]

Well, Ive done a little more digging. On MSI's site, they post a link to a review done by anandtech. They get pretty in depth with the review, and even run tests with 3 DIMMs (I assume they are using 3x 512MB). The text from the link is pretty much self explanitory

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2036&p=6

"Three DIMMs required 2-2-3-5 timings for stable operation, which is remarkably close to the most aggressive 2-2-2-5 timings available on the K8N Neo. You do need to be aware of one quirk in the MSI memory setup. If 3 DIMMs are installed with the memory speed set to AUTO, the board will down-clock the memory to DDR333 speed. To achieve DDR400 with 3 DIMMs, we had to move off Auto and specify DDR400 speed. However, DDR400 with 3 DIMMs worked very well in our tests, and was very stable, which is certainly a first for the Athlon 64."

[gallo81]

I don't want to start a thread, but I have a question guys.

If you had to choose between this board (MSI K8N Platinum) Vs. DFI LanParty UT nF3 250GB, Which one you would buy?

Thank you very much.

[BUFF]

DFI but I would more likely be looking at socket 939 ...

[shiato storm]

i'm looking at this board at the mo' but would it be worth waiting for the impending AMD price drops around feb 14th to get the nF4 dual channel version? or would this not be affected i.e. i should just go and buy stuff now...