Test Platform

AMD 939 Athlon 3000+
MSI K8N Diamond Plus
GSkill 1GBGH/2GBHZ
MSI NX7800GT SLI
MAXTOR 30GB 5400 rpm
COOLER MASTER 550W



Because the DRAM slots support high voltage, I try to warm up with Winbond DDR
G.Skill 1GBGH, 300MHz frequency divider 5:6, DDR490 2-2-2-5@3.3V
(Low HD, mess system, Super PI 32M cannot get good record)






3D performance
Operating with MSI brand 7800GT SLI is a great hit



G.Skill 2GBHZ, 300MHz frequency divider 5:6, DDR490 3-3-3-6@2.6V




the score of 3DMark 2003



the score of 3DMark 2005 @ VGA default





Base on the "Diamond Heart" slogan of MSI
This revision board has a very attractive spec
The over clock ability is also enhanced, especially the memory over voltage up to 4.1V!

This board is a nice motherboard with above average performance on feeling/spec/over clock sides
MSI is quiet for a long time and bring us this good product, let us expect its coming.
I spend a lot of time to take photo and testing, my weekend was over again...
Other testing report of this motherboard will to be continued.

Mod, you can merge this with the review sticky if it's OK cause it's a link.

My old review of the XP-120 is back up as well as my newly written evaluation of the Scythe Ninja. Check them both out here:

http://www.freepgs.com/evilnick/

Cheers,
Nick

MSI K8N Diamond Plus first look PARTII, the BIOS introduce

Next, the BIOS introduce

Then main menu



CPU frequency from 200 ~ 450 MHz



CPU voltage 1st section from 0.080 ~ 1.450V



CPU multiplier
According to the CPU frequency, the lowest value is x5



CPU voltage 2nd section
+50 ~ 750mV, one 50mV is about plus 0.1V
max plus to 1.2V… quite high
You can get any voltage you want when match with 1st level CPU voltage.
(ex: 1.575V=1.375V(Level 1)+100mV




DRAM: CPU
Combination as 1/1, 5/6, 2/3, 1/2




Memory voltage has a big revolution
It define to 2 level, switch by jumper
When it work over 3.3V, the IC of motherboard won’t create much heat
Section 1 is 2.6 ~ 3.2V
Section 2 is 3.3 ~ 4.1V
After DFI, this becomes the 2nd motherboard of memory voltage over 3.5V
And this is the 1st motherboard which reach 4.1V high memory voltage







Another important point
The options of DRAM BIOS was improved a lot and release a lot of catalogue



Under the options of DRAM BIOS


This post has been edited by almostthere: Dec 9 2005, 12:28 PM

the options of north/south bridge and HyperTransport are quite good in detail



Compare with Neo4, the BIOS options of this board definitely improve a lot.
Next is about the ability of over clock.
On CPU side, the ability of over clock is almost the same if the manufactures which have good over clock ability above average.


Test Platform
AMD 939 Athlon 64 3000+
MSI K8N Diamond Plus
G.Skill 1GBFF/1GBGH/2GBHZ
SPARKLE 6200
MAXTOR 30GB 5400rpm
EnLight 420W


First is 1GBFF Samsung TCCD series



295MHz DDR590 1.5-4-3-7 1T, PI 32M 2.80V achieved



Next is 1GBGH Winbond UTT series



DDR510 2-2-2-5 1T, PI 32M 3.3V achieved



At last, 2GBHZ Samsung UCCC series



DDR550 3-4-4-8 1T, PI 32M 2.6V achieved



ps.
The test of over clock is concerned in 3 phase, CPU, MB, and DRAM
For example,
If over clock to 300MHz FSB and 2T, CPU/Motherboard are fine, but DRAM is not, then it’s better to speed down the DRAM
If the CPU/DRAM can up to 300MHz frequency, DDR600 is stable but the MB is not, then it better to speed down the FSB
If the MB/DRAM can up to 300MHz FSB, but the CPU is not, then it better to turn down the multiplier or frequency
Because the standard spec of CPU/MB is 200MHz, the good over clock ability of CPU/MB is the key point of total over clock, on the other side, if the DRAM cannot reach the high frequency, there is still a way which is frequency divider.



Let us make a conclusion of this Diamond Plus


Good:
1.Use the 16X+16X chipset (although the performance up is not stand out enough)
2. DRAM Voltage from 2.85V to 4.1V (don’t tell me it cannot reach without Winbond DDR, I think it’s good to consumer that the function is provided)
3.the BIOS menu advanced, very close to DFI’s BIOS
4.the usage of heat pipe between northbridge and southbridge, it’s quiet and qualified with small fan
5.the overclock ability of CPU/DRAM is quite good, if the DFI get 100 scores, then MSI get 90
6.Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy SE, the highest spec so far.
7.the additional SATA2 chip uses Sil3132
8.this board seems solve the problem of voltage swing, It’s stable that the voltage move between 0.01~0.02V
9.addition PCI-E as Neo4 before, although cannot run 3VGA SLI, but provide additional fun


Bad
1.the airflow of northbridge is face to VGA, I think it should be change the direction, although the small fan is windless and do not has the big influence to VGA
2.Clear CMOS button is integrated, better if provide Power/Reset button
3.It’s better to use the heat sink on MOS section, the temperature is 40~50 degree by hand touch, not quite high

I give a highly recommend on spec/overclock/performance/layout of this board
It’s a balanced all new brand SLI motherboard
Of course there is no perfec motherboard, if the overclock is your first concern, DFI is still the better choice; if you want a better MOS components and fast release, ASUS A8N32-SLI also in concern


answering the question before
the gap between 7800GT and northbridge heat sink



I get the A8N32-SLI




after doing a rough test, I found that the overclock ability of ASUS is weaker in faith
I’ll make a testing comparison in detail at free time, Wind’s hardware testing schedule at the end of this week is done…huhu…

This post has been edited by almostthere: Dec 9 2005, 12:28 PM

I still remembered that the 1st test of last New Year's Day is Athlon 3000+ with MSI K8N Neo4, suddenly, a year passed...

Since the AMD release the socket 939 Opteron, it makes a huge quake from the price, the overclock ability, and the 1MB cache.
I got 3 Optron 144, the average performance between 1.4V, 2.6~ 2.8GHz, I choose the best one for test.




and the K8N Diamond Plus which is tested before, this is full package for retail, the highest class which includes the vacuum tube front panel.

The Package



Accessory
Diamond is the highest level of MSI motherboard, the accessories are full of package.



The whole view of motherboard



The improvement of retail version
The part of MOS are changed to aluminum shell capacitors



The electrolytic capacitors are all KZH except for the few ones, the components are good and better appearance



Only these 3 electrolytic capacitors are not KZH's



The Creative Audigy SE 7.1 Ch. Audio codec



The another version of Plus is bundled with the vacuum tube front panel
The aluminum panel is good at quality




The capacitors of front panel

Test platform
AMD 939 Opteron 144
MSI K8N Diamond Plus
G.Skill 1GBFF
Seagate 7200 7 160GBX2
Enlight 420W


The CPU Cooler is the original box one, 1.45V



As I mentioned before, there is one more




3DMARK2003


@ X16



@ X4


3DMARK2005


@ X16



@ X4



It's clear that the 3DMark 2005 has bigger difference of PCIe bandwidth
But I don't know whether the 3DMark 2006 has more performance difference or not.
The new version of BIOS is added one tweak option
It do real help for the DRAM overclock



I don't know whether the component quality of retail version is better, the new BIOS, or the memory controller of Opteron is more powereful, I reach the Super Pi 32M@ 512x2 DDR600 1T 2.75V. I feel great to reach the emblematic sign at least.
(ps. I'm not sure this board will be like the DFI Ultra-D, reaching DDR600 stably on every board.)



The ASUS A8N32-SLI I got last month.



I tested it for a couple of hours.
512x2 is close to DDR580 1T
DRAM do not have the high voltage option, the Integrated audio is cheap AC'97, except the heat pipe is quite good quality, there is no more features.
Maybe somebody ask for the 8-phase MOS design, but what I know is that the 3-phase MOS design of Ultra-D is already great at overclocking, and the design of nF4 is configured 3 or 4 phase.
For example, if I want to make a fast car, the 8 tires do not equal to fast speed, the right way is enhance the engine and the other parts.
The 8 phase MOS design follows the same principle.



Opteron is really a charming AMD CPU, but the major defect is the supply shortage, I hope to get the 146, 3GHz one.
Diamond Plus is a great AMD motherboard at feeling/spec/overclock sides with over standard performance, I expect the MSI delivers the board at Jan.
I already made the test of BIOS/DRAM in detail at the article "The most luxurious NVIDIA SLI 16X motherboard- MSI K8N Diamond first look"
windwithme wish you Happy New Year 2006!

DFI LanPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Venus First look!


In Nov/Dec 2005, DFI launched ATI RDX200 and nF4 SLI EXPERT 2 great OC boards.
In 2006Chinese New Year, DFI is going to announce this 100% Aluminum Capacitors board.
As the pioneer of 100% Japanese capacitors, Venus, this new model, is the other great work!

Lets look some pics. Basically, the design is similar. The components is greater and enhanced OC ability.

Full outlook





Left down corner




Right down corner




Right up corner




IO and memory slots




Venus




Great Boot up screen




CPUZ info in OS



This post has been edited by almostthere: Feb 13 2006, 05:10 AM

From DFI

Just got it, I am still trying. First impression is the OC ability is better.
Ultra-d brought the TCCD limitation. EXPERT unleash the BH5/UTT.
What Venus Brings? Let's wait for it.


DFI strongest items: BIOS part
CPU and DRAM voltage parts are the same as EXPERT.









DARM configuration part: The most items in all brands. This is why DFI's OC is always the best.

Recommend TCCD using LEVEL3+4 UCCC using LEVEL1+1









Test configuration
AMD 939 Opteron 144
DFI LANParty UT nF4 SLI-DR Venus
GSkill 1GBFF/2GBHZ
ELSA 6600GT
MAXTOR 30GB 5400rpm
Enlight 420W

EXPERT has weak compatibility with TCCD. Cannot reach DDR550~600 with some memories.
In Venus, DFI re-layout it. And reappear the own glory of DDR600 1T!







2GB is the mainstream. Usnig 2GBHZ DDR500 3 4-4-8 to combined test.




2GB DDR600 1T 3 4-4-8 PI 32M Reached!
* OC is not in manufacturers guarantee. No matter CPU(200Mhz) / MB(200Mhz) / DRAM(DDR500). *




Venus really solves some previous issues. Bringing the OC surprise again.

Fine gift box and 1000 limited output globally. Maybe will be hard to buy it...

Advantage
1. 100% Aluminum Capacitors
2.PCI-E wider slots, better for SLI cards heat
3.Fine Box
4.DFI traditional BIOS high voltage
5.6 USB in real panel
6.Improve EXPERT weakness in TCCD and enhance UCCC

Weakness
1.High price
2.Not dual PCI-E 16X(3D performance are similar at the moment with dual PCI-E 8X)
3.RAID with SATAI 3114(nF4 built in SATAII RAID)

OSKAR hits home run again. DFI Venus break the many motherboard records.
Lets look forward to it.

tested by oskar , FYI only ...


TCCD DDR636 2.5 4-3-7 1T

This is the OC competition by DFI own

Ultra-D/SLI-DR created the TCCD top limitation

EXPERT improved the PCI-E gaps, over 3.3V with non-segment, re-positioned DRAM slots, Winbond UTT become better but lost some compatibility with TCCD.

Venus inherit EXPERT all advantages and plus 100% aluminum capacitors, improved TCCD compatibility (a little bit weaker than Ultra-D)
Enhance 4DIMM OC ability dramatically and make 2GB OC become better.

Nowadays, 2GB is the mainstream. Venus's advantages are much bigger than weakness.

One more my own final test - 2GB HZ DDR610 3 4-4-8




Ultra-D honor is still there. Before AM2 coming, Venus carry on the honor.
Venus is still the most omni-bearing OC board.
As the high end strategy, special package, 100% aluminum and limited q'ty
I hope DFI can have Venus non-aluminum version in lower price to make more user can own this K8 OC legend.

OC King of Multi-media integrated MB - DFI RS482
All-in-one motherboards are always ordinary - Cheaper, Limited extended ability, and Normal performance.
February, DFI launched RS482 Infinity, which is ATI RS482+SB450 chipset in
AMD939 platform.





New INFINITY packing, very shining.






Accessories
This is a board for multi-media demand.
It owns ATI SurroundView for 4 monitors display as you have an extra ATI VGA card. It also bundles the multimedia cables.







The board is u-ATX. However, the upgradeability and features are very complete.







Besides built-in ATI X300 GPU, it has 1 PCI-E 16X for external VGA card, GbE LAN, 7.1 audio and 2 PCIs.








4 SATA devices.
Both chips have heat-sink. That’s quite and temperature is under 40 ℃








IDE and memory slots








Around the CPU, most caps are Japanese made. The components are discrete level.
Some parts are OST caps. Anyway, the OST quality is acceptable.








IO part is another great design.
Except X300 GPU, it also has DVI-D!
Left side has S-Viedo which supports HDTV as well and S/PDIF








User’s manual is always the weakness of DFI.
Recently, from DFI RDX200/EXPERT to Vensu/RX482, DFI increase the user manuals’ content.



This post has been edited by almostthere: Mar 1 2006, 09:37 AM

The Legend...Collecting 7 colors crystal cats, miracle will happen!!!






Just as expected...Miracle happened...DFI OC blood makes everyone eye-opening.
All-in-one motherboard reached DDR600 1T in Pi 1M!!!!!








I cannot believe in 2006, most impressive product of windwithme is this
all-in-one motherboard.
I am shocked...
It can beat other brands discrete hi-end boards.
It is quite close to DFI own LANParty series.


Other test is coming soon.
I will unmask the BIOS OC options, built-in X300 performance in 3DMark
I won't be long...........

RS482 BIOS Introduction


After checking these OC items, you will not believe this is the BIOS for All in one motherboard

Main OC Interface






Under main OC Interface






CPU Ratio Items







HT Items






FSB 200~400. The range is quite wide and you can reach it






CPU Voltage 0.800V~1.850V







DRAM Voltage 2.5~3.2V







DRAM divided frequency options are vary. If your memory is not good enough, you
can OC your CPU to FSB 300 and your memory in DDR400






More DRAM options are the winning weapons for DFI to beat the others


So many DRAMD tunning, there are only DFI own LanParty series and MSI recent Diamond PLUS can compete.

Built-in ATI X300 can share 32/64/128MB main memory






BIOS hardware control interface has very friendly intelligent monitors.





Performance Test

Configuration

AMD 939 Opteron 146
DFI RS482 Infinity
GSkill 1GBFF/2GBHZ
ELSA 6600GT / built-in X300
MAXTOR 30GB 5400 rpm
Enlight 420W



Reached 2GBHZ DDR580 1T
This HZ pair can only reach DDR530~550 in others nF4 mainstream or middle-high boards






Built-in VGA test. Core speed 300Mhz and memory speed in200Mhz(DDR400) ; share 64MB main memory

3DMARK2001SE





3DMARK2003






6600GT performance

3DMARK2003





3DMARK2005





Collect 7 colors crystal cats again..... Miracle comes again...




2GB DDR600 1T enter to Windows!!!






Just spend NTD 3300.

Good
1.Great Packing and Plenty Accessories
2.Components usage is very good
3.Great extended ability - 4 SATA, 2 PCI, 1 PCI-E 16X
4.Wonderful multimedia features. 8 channel audio with S/PDIF. Add one more ATI VGA card can reach 4 monitors.
5.Even good performance in add-on VGA cards
6.BIOS OC tuning features are rich. It can reach CPU 300FSB and sync with memory. The OC ability is close to top level OC motherboards.
7.Built-in X300 display core. This is the top built-in VGA in K8 platform (X300SE market price is over 1500NTD..)

Bad
1. No SATAII (This is the ATI's problem)



As per this motherboard's price, the features are cannot be beaten.
It includes OC, silent, multimedia and cheap.
This is perfect board for DIY users. Windwithme is glad to recommend RS482
Infinity to all of you.

my best 144...

er...cud sum1 merge the rest of windwithme reviews???

wish to let u guys know that i am looking teams who can doing reviews and news for ocmania.com

let me know any of u guys have the interest...

This post has been edited by cyberloner: Dec 21 2007, 03:28 AM