Date 2007-08-20
Provider: MSI
Author: Niko Lupala
Editor: Amber Lupala
MSI K9N4 SLI Motherboard Review
New sockets and processors are slowly arriving to the motherboard market but the Am2 socket is still the most popular one. Today we are looking at an sample from MSI as they sent us their K9N4 SLI motherboard that seems to have most of the neat new features that are needed. We are going to compare vs an older MSI board to see what upgrades have been done.
About MSI:
Founded in August 1986, MSI has built a business philosophy that stresses "Award-winning product quality and outstanding customer service." MSI specialises in the design and manufacture of mainboards, VGA cards, OSD and barbone systems. Entering a challenging industry environment, MSI are now ranked within Taiwan's Top Three and the world's Top Five mainboard manufacturers.
MSI employs an extensive and experienced research and development team. Currently, over 600 engineers make up this department. This team carries out its work with the latest research equipment, continuing to raise the bar on product quality and innovative product features.
To meet the rising needs of our global customers, MSI has been expanding aggressively, opening two new production facilities and an R&D lab in China. Yearly production of MSI mainboards is expected to rise to over 15.6 million units in 2003.
MSI has had local representation in the UK since July 2001. Initially employing just a small number of people, it has since gone from strength to strength almost trebling in size. With an extensive Sales, Marketing and support team, a large UK warehouse and a repair centre. MSI offers a complete friendly service to its customers.
Specifications:
CPU:
� AMD� Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 and Sempron in the Socket AM2 package.
Please refer to CPU Support for compatible CPU; the above description is for reference only.
FSB:
� HyperTransport supporting speed up to 1GHz (2000MT/s)
Chipset:
� NVIDIA� nForce 500 SLI Chipset
Main Memory:
� Supports Dual DDR II 400/533/667/800
- 4 DDRII DIMMs (240pin / 1.8V)
- Supports a maximum memory size up to 8GB.
� Two IDE ports by NVIDIA� nForce 500 SLI
- Supports Ultra DMA 66/100/133 mode
- Supports PIO, Bus Master operation mode
On-Board SATA:
� 4 SATA II ports by NVIDIA� nForce 500 SLI
- Supports storage and data transfers at up to 300 MB/s
RAID Function:
- SATA II 1~4 supports RAID 0/1 or 0+1, 5 or JBOD mode by NVIDIA� nForce 500 SLI
MSI Reminds You...:
� The RAID setup floppy disk is optional depending on the districts. You can download the files from the website to make the setup disk.
Audio:
� Chipset integrated by Realtek� ALC850
- Compliant with AC97 v2.3 Spec
LAN:
� Supports 10/100/1000 Fast Ethernet by Vitesse VSC8601
Internal I/O Connectors:
- ATX 24-pin power connector
- ATX 4-pin 12V CPU power connector
- ATX 4-pin VGA power connector
- CPU / System / NB FAN connectors
- CD-in connector
- Clear CMOS Button
- SPDIF-out connector for HDMI
- IrDA infrared module header
- Chassis intrusion switch connector
- Front panel audio connector
- 2 x Front panel connectors
- 3 x USB 2.0 connector support additional 6 ports
- 1 x Floppy disk drive connector
- 4 x Serial ATA II connectors
- 2 x ATA133 connectors
MSI Reminds You...
� The floppy disk cable will be optional.
Back Panel I/O Ports:
- 1 x Parallel port
- 1 x Serial port (COM 1)
- 1 x PS/2 keyboard
- 1 x PS/2 mouse
- 1 x 6 in 1 audio jack
- 4 x USB 2.0 ports
- 1 x RJ45 LAN jack
Dimension
� 30.5cm(L) x 24.5cm(W) ATX Form Factor
Mounting:
� 9 mounting holes.
Please click on thumbnails to get bigger pictures
This motherboard comes packed in a nice box with the MSI logo to the left and an airplane on the right side. The back has features and specifications for this motherboard. Among them we can see SlI, 4 Sata ports etc etc.
