MSI K9N Diamond Motherboard Review

Introduction (Cont’d)

This motherboard has two Gigabit Ethernet ports, both controlled by the south bridge using two Vitesse SimplyPHY chips (VSC8601XKN) to make the physical layer interface.

Figure 4: Rear panel.

On the rear panel (Figure 4) you can find the two Gigabit Ethernet ports, one FireWire port, four USB 2.0 ports, analog audio input/outputs (7.1 format), SPDIF coaxial and optical outputs, plus one serial port, one parallel port, PS/2 mouse and PS/2 keyboard connectors.

This motherboard also has an extra 12V power connector using a regular peripheral power plug. MSI does not explain when this extra connector should be used. We recommend you using it.

On the motherboard you will also find a clear CMOS button.

The audio section of this motherboard is its main advantage over competition. It features a Creative CA0106 sound chip, the same used by Sound Blaster Audigy SE sound card (SB0570), plus a Cirrus Logic CS4382 codec. This set provides 7.1 surround audio, 24-bit resolution, 96 kHz sampling rate, 100 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) – which is a professional level – and support to EAX Advanced HD 3.0 and Dolby Digital EX.

Figure 5: Codec and audio chip used by this motherboard.

The majority of electrolytic capacitors used on this motherboard are Japanese, from Chemi-Con. Four electrolytic capacitors used on this motherboard, however, are from Taiwanese Teapo. Even though Teapo claims that they buy their raw materials from Japan, we wonder why MSI didn’t use all capacitors from Chemi-Con. These four Taiwanese capacitors, however, aren’t used on the voltage regulator circuit, which is the most critical part of the motherboard as capacitors are concerned (low-end capacitors on this section can lead to capacitor leakage).

In Figure 6, you can see all cables and accessories that come with this motherboard: six Serial ATA cables, three Serial ATA power adapters, one parallel IDE rounded cable, one floppy disk drive rounded cable, one SLI bridge, one metallic bracket for fastening the SLI bridge to the case, one USB bracket with two ports, one FireWire bracket with two ports and the I/O rear plate for the case.

Figure 6: Cables and accessories that come with this motherboard.

This motherboard comes with two CDs with motherboard drivers and utilities.