MSI K7N2G-L, nForce1MCP or nForce2MCP

[Neo_Geo]

Does the MSI K7N2G-L use the nForce1 MCP (southbridge) or the nForce2 MCP (southbridge)?

Reading the review at DeviantPC, Alan says that it uses the nForce1 MCP.

However, the spec list from MSI says "nVIDIA® nForce2 MCP2 Chipset."

The MSI spec list also includes "Realtek ALC650 6-channel audio." Does this mean MSI is not using the nForce APU, or does the K7N2G-L use the nForce APU with the Realtek chip as the digital to analog converter?

Thanks for the clarification

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I would go directly to msicomputer.com to look for the answer...

 

[Neo_Geo]

I already did that, but I am still confused:

From MSI website
? nVIDIA® nForce2 MCP2 Chipset
- AC97 Interface supporting up to two concurrent codecs
- Ultra ATA133 for the fastest hard disk throughput
- USB 2.0 EHCI/1.1 OHCI controller
Network
? Chipset integrated 10/100 Base-T Ethernet/Fast Ethernet
Audio
? Realtek ALC650 6-channel audio

Thus, I assume it is using the nForce2 MCP, but is it using the nForce SoundStorm APU?

 

[White Widow]

I just got my K7N2-L which has a hardware Realtek chip for sound. According to the manual, this board uses the Nforce2 SPP and the MCP2 (but *not* the MCP2-T). If you get a board with the MCP2-T you get the Nvidia APU (Soundstorm) and a Firewire connector.

In general, I really like this board. I've only been running it for like 45 minutes, but it's very snappy with my Xp1700 and to sticks of 256MB Crucial DDR. I had to reinstall WinXP - it would crash when booting over my old install, but that's fine since a fresh install is always best, anyway. I'll see about some overclocking later tonight, and I'll let yuo know what I find.

If you have any other questions about this board, I'd be happy to answer as best I casn.

peace,
Aaron

 

[arynn]

I just got the MSI K7N2G-L. The specs say it uses the MCP2. However, if I remember correctly, the MCP2 is identical to the MCP1 - that could be what the reviewer was referring to - the MCP2-T has the newer features.

 

[White Widow]

Well, I've had a few hours to play with it and this board rocks. First off, any K7N2 board will have the MCP2 southbridge. Some of the models come with the MCP2-T which includes firewire and Nvidia's own APU, the SoundStorm. I have the K&N2-L (Lan) model, which has a Realtek hardware sound chip instead of the SoundStorm.

The best part about this board is that it automatically unlocks *all* XP CPU's from the XP2200 and down. I have an XP1700 and it's now running 10.5x166 = 1.75GHz, but it was up at 10.5x170. From some early reviews, it seems the nforce2 has major trouble doing fsb's above 170 or 172. Maybe a new BIOS will help.

Anyway, this board is great (especially with two DIMMs - a MUST!) and I'm stoked I got it. The only problem I have encountered is that the BIOS loses some settings if you change a whole bunch of things at once and do a soft reboot. There are several newer bios's thoguh and I bet they address this.

peace,
A