MSI K7N2 Delta (Updated)
Board revision: 1
BIOS version: 7.2 (June 2, 2003)
The K7N2 is another candidate that has already taken part in earlier nForce2 tests. And the current K7N2 Delta is the version of choice, because it is the only one that's compatible with a fast FSB speed of 400 MHz. Initially, MSI had unfortunately sent us a pre-release version for testings, which explains why the benchmark results lagged behind slightly. Now they have sent us another variant of the board for re-testing, and this is the version that's available on the market.
MSI has splashed out and given the K7N2 Delta a whole range of upgrades that go way beyond the functional level of the nForce2. The company had no intention of doing without serial ATA any more, so it used Promise's PDC20376. This has the advantage over Silicon Image's controller in the availability of a parallel ATA port (UltraATA/133).
On the bottom edge MSI provides an ACR slot, the existence of which we find hard to justify in products for the end-user market. However, there are five PCI slots available - enough for most applications.
The use of chipset fans usually makes little sense; in the case of the K7N2 the risk of failure is minimal, because the fan oozes quality. Under normal circumstances, overclocking works perfectly well with a solid heat sink.
