Finally Available: Nine Socket 939 Athlon64 Motherboards!

MSI K8N Diamond - nForce4 SLI

Board Revision: n/a

BIOS Version: n/a

The K8N Diamond is the second SLI board in the test lineup. MSI leaves less room between the two x16 PCIe connections than Asus did, however, and was also apparently uninterested in including any additional x1 PCIe ports.

MSI's CoreCell technology makes another showing here, enabling auto-overclocking to several configurable degrees as the need arises. The on-board sound system is not based on a simple AC97 codec, but using a Creative chip (the SoundBlaster Live 24 bit). There are two network controllers: a Gigabit model and one for 100 MBit LAN.

MSI also thought to add a FireWire chip, and a combined Bluetooth/WLAN controller, including a matching aerial that MSI throws into the package. This must be placed in the red PCI slot and also requires an internal USB port.

When RAM is operated using the BIOS auto settings, we only achieved a maximum memory throughput of 4.9 GB/s. After entering the right timing parameters manually, were we able to score 5.9 GB/s, which was reflected in the benchmarks as a noticeable improvement. Better SPD recognition by the mainboard would be great, especially since the other boards in the test did not have this problem.

We should note however that there will be differences between the board we tested and the delivery version: the heatsink via the voltage converters takes the form of a heat pipe solution. Mounting another fan is an advisable option for use under extreme conditions, such as extreme overclocking or later dual-core processors.

Latest in Chipsets
AMD Headquarters Santa Clara
AMD expected to release 800 series motherboard chipsets for Ryzen 9000 CPUs — chipset series numbers to run in parallel to Intel
Huawei
Huawei's sanctions-evading Kirin 9000S processor tested: significantly behind its Kirin 9000 predecessor that used TSMC tech
Huawei
Die Shot of HiSilicon's Sanction-Busting Kirin 9000s Chip Revealed
Wi-Fi 7
Intel's Wi-Fi 7 Adapters, Chipsets Arriving Soon
AMD's StoreMI V2 Updates Support, 400-Series AMD Chipsets Added
AMD X470 vs Intel Z390: High-End Platforms Square Off
Latest in Features
Free Alternatives to Photoshop
Five Best Photoshop Alternatives Tested: Image Editing for Free
Awekeys Antiques Metal keycaps
Awekeys Antiques Metal keycaps are Viking-themed luxury for your fingertips
The Gigabyte X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7
Get the most out of your processor with this motherboard's Turbo Mode
AMD RDNA 4 and Radeon RX 9000-series GPUs
AMD RDNA 4 and Radeon RX 9000-series GPUs start at $549: Specifications, release date, pricing, and more revealed
MSI Prestige GPU
Tested: Intel's Arrow Lake 140T iGPU mostly maintains an edge over AMD's older 880m
MechBoards Hyper7 R4
I’m typing this on the world’s largest keyboard, a 178-key beast designed to make you more productive