MSI P6N Diamond

guptasa1

Senior member
Oct 22, 2001
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Hey all,

The MSI P6N Diamond has recently peaked my interest. I've been looking at 680i boards (ASUS Striker Extreme's been my favorite so far). BUT I really want an X-Fi, so having one built-in would definitely be a boon. I have a few questions:

1.) I know very little about MSI - I've always been an ASUS fan (and also heard good things about Gigabyte). Is MSI a reputable brand with a good track record?

2.) When is this board due out?

3.) Anything major missing from this board that others have?

4.) I assume the X-Fi processor works like a regular sound card and doesn't steal CPU cycles like some onboard sound options do?

Thanks all!
 

AstroDogg

Member
Feb 22, 2007
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Originally posted by: guptasa1
I have a few questions:

1.) I know very little about MSI - I've always been an ASUS fan (and also heard good things about Gigabyte). Is MSI a reputable brand with a good track record?

2.) When is this board due out?

3.) Anything major missing from this board that others have?

4.) I assume the X-Fi processor works like a regular sound card and doesn't steal CPU cycles like some onboard sound options do?

Thanks all!
1) MSI is a great company building High quality products at lower prices. This is mainly accomplished by allowing the other companies to go first and watch the troubles they have and learn giving MSI better products the first time out. They also have the best RMA program ever seen in a motherboard manufacturer just incase you put your memory in backwards or something stupid.

2) I hope late this week just in time for my B-day, but at last call middle of March. This board is to be the first mobo 100% Vista ready. Making for several delays due to driver support. Also ontop of that the first incorperation of an X-Fi chip on a mobo that will be Vista ready, claims of issues in its timings have been a reason for delays. Hopefully the board meets the Mid-March date and doesn't suffer from another delay. As if it's not here I will be buying the Striker Myself.

3)Missing? Well thats tough to answer all the in-house built boards target a different group of consumer adding thier own list of features and strengths. It is fully loaded with the features the 680i chipset offers. I would have to answer your question as no it isn't missing anything, but may not have as much(overkill) of a feature in some areas.

4)That is correct it will free up cycles from the cpu.

Dont forget about the onboard hardware raid controller it will also free cycles from the cpu unlike hardware assisted software raid. It also will have a eSata port if you care about this. I'd rather have a sixth internal sataII port, but with the hareware raid supporting 2 sataII ports 7 internal sataII ports should workout just fine plus the 2 IDE channels.
Yesterday all the photos of this board disappeared from existance. I hope this means a quick redesign in the boards layout. One thing I'd like to see changed is a PCi-X slot in the fourth slot position vs the PCi-e 1X that was in the photos of the early-release board.
Another thing that will turn me from this board is also in the slot configuration if it doesn't have the two SLi 16x slots more than 2 slots away from each other this board will not work for me as the cooler of my first card will be less than 3/16" away from the back of the second card. So the first Sli 16x slot needs to be in slot position one closest to the northbridge and the second SLi 16x slot needs to be in slot position five. Even better than that but not likely would be the first SLi card in slot three and the second card in slot seven this configuation would leave three slots availible for use vs one in the first option, but would require a full size tower so the cooler can hang below the board and have enough room for a free flow of air. It would be worth it to gain use of another PCi-e 16x slot.
1 slot video card solutions are really more ideal for this slot lay-out it is nearly the same as my Gigabyte Quad Royal except that board ran the two 16x SLi slots in positions 3 and 5. Thats is how I know the exact measurment of 9/64" of clearane between two SLi card with 2-slot cooling solutions mounted only 2 slots away from each other.
 

guptasa1

Senior member
Oct 22, 2001
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Thanks for the great info. I may have to wait a little longer and have a looksee at this thing if it's out soon. Assuming it *will* fit two vid cards, having X-Fi on board would hopefully free up one PCI slot for something else later should I need it.

I've always been confused how to tell if these boards will fit two of the vid cards I'm looking for. Things used to be so much simpler. =oP It'll be interesting to see final slot placement as with these boards, that certainly does seem to be crucial.
 

cyburzaki

Senior member
Jan 18, 2005
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Another thing that will turn me from this board is also in the slot configuration if it doesn't have the two SLi 16x slots more than 2 slots away from each other this board will not work for me....
The photo on MSI's U.S. website makes it look as if your prayers may have been answered (if the recommended dual X16 slots are color-coded in that photo).
 

AstroDogg

Member
Feb 22, 2007
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Yes Thankyou for the update cyburzaki I have seen the photos reappear on the web two days later. I do not notice a differance from the old photo's but I can only go by memory. The expansion slots are in the same fashion as the prior photos. Hopefully the Dual 16X Sli uses the yellow slots? keeping my fingers crossed.
I have not heard of an update to the release of the P6N Diamond, butt I did run across this from a fellow anandtechian DFI LanParty
 
Oct 4, 2004
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Will just add a few lines to address your first question.
MSI is a good company. Between me and my close friends, there are three Socket 939 systems: a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (nforce3 Ultra), MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum (nforce4 Ultra) and a MSI K8N Diamond (nforce4 SLI). There is also a budget Socket 754 K8MM-V (VIA K8M800 chipset) motherboard around. All have been running for quite some time, no complaints, no issues.

Haven't had any experience with their Intel-offerings though. But if you want to know how they rate against ASUS/Gigabyte, I would say they are as good as them. Let price/features decide.
 

guptasa1

Senior member
Oct 22, 2001
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Excellent. I've done a bit of research and MSI seems to have a good reputation (in fact, I was quite surprised as I've always thought ASUS was gold and found some pretty disparaging things about them in comparison to MSI - running an ASUS now though and have loved it for the last 5 years).

So, given that this board has built-in X-Fi, if it seems pretty stable and has favorable first reviews, looks like it'll be my choice.

The Striker looks good, but if I go with that, it's both more expensive AND I'll have to buy an X-Fi AND I'll have to use a slot where I could use something else later (physics card for instance).

One more question - is MSI pretty good about timely BIOS updates and supporting their stuff?
 

AstroDogg

Member
Feb 22, 2007
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In my experience with MSI they have always had the bioses out before or about the same time I personally have discovered the problem. I let technology get about 6-9 months old before I buy/upgrade so the price will drop. Motherboards and processors I have an exception for. I always try to buy the latestest most advanced mobo and spend a bit of cash on it so I dont have to update it in 6-24 months later. The processor I let get 3 months old if not brand new to the market(pre-review). MSI doesn't put out as many bios updates as other top tier companies, this isn't a bad thing. MSI useally has less bugs when the board hits the market not requiring as many fixes.

At this point I could careless just get me my board fix it after I'm up and running(LOL NOTT, I'm just getting very impatient waiting for the ideal 680i board) I donno DFI might beat them to the market the middle of the month is nearly here and no word to back-up it's delivery.

As I've stated in other Nforce6 posts I think MSI has the best customer satisfaction and the best RMA program(most people don't know that because they never RMA'd one). That should say it all.
 

guptasa1

Senior member
Oct 22, 2001
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Sounds good. I just wanna see this board out and a few reviews! I'm definitely leaning towards it if it ever shows up tho' - lol.
 

cyburzaki

Senior member
Jan 18, 2005
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ITC-Computertechnik, a German site, has the P6N Diamond listed for 336.85 EUR--or $442 USD. But that includes Germany's 19% VAT, so it's probably safe to assume the P6N Diamond will debut in the United States for somewhere in the $350-$400 range. Way too rich for my blood.

Gotta wonder what that "590i" is doing in ITC-Computertechnik's product listing, though....

 

cyburzaki

Senior member
Jan 18, 2005
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just faked my way through a dry order run at ITC-Computertechnik. ITC ships to the U.S., but doesn't actually have the board in stock--so I think it's safe to assume it hasn't been released overseas yet, either. Board price drops to 283.07 EUR once freed of the VAT, and shipping to the U.S. is 29 EUR. That's $372 + $38.
 

Insight Driver

Junior Member
Mar 12, 2007
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I have built two computers using MSI boards, one a socket A board and the other a socket 939 board. As others have said, MSI is a quality brand, first tier manufacturer with market share less than the 900lb gorilla which is Asus. That said you basically choose a motherboard nowadays based on the features you want, irrespective of the brand.

I have been keeping my eye on 680I boards and personally I would pass. I'm not sure if there will be another silicon change to the chipset based problems I've been tracking. I don't think all of them can be solved with BIOS tweaks. Time will tell. I consider the 680I boards to be bleeding edge, irrespective of the manufacturer.
 

guptasa1

Senior member
Oct 22, 2001
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So, may I ask what you would choose instead of a 680i for a good SLI setup?

I dunno. I still wanna see how this one performs. But the 680i problems DO make me nervous.
 

guptasa1

Senior member
Oct 22, 2001
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I saw that - looks really good! I'm just hoping for some full reviews of the production version soon (and of course seeing it actually out there). GrRrRr to waiting for stuff. =oP
 

guptasa1

Senior member
Oct 22, 2001
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I know, but two weeks sounds like a long time to me. =oP (Just getting anxious to order this thing, but I suppose patience has its virtues - afterall, SLI and X-Fi drivers aren't even out for Vista yet and prices are falling on some parts).
 

cyburzaki

Senior member
Jan 18, 2005
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So what's the deal, where'd all the discussion about this board go now that it's actually out? Did anyone get one? I see ZZF finally sobered up on price now that they actually have boards to sell: $289.99 shipped.