The cheapest dual core processor must be the AMD Athlon X2 3600+.
AM2 X2 3600+ comes with 65nm procedure and 2*512K L2 cache.
It also have lower power consumption and higher overclock range. The most
point is with low cost to fight the market!

Because of the cheap boards with cheap dual core processors, AMD platform
become more popular when consumers wants to build up their own PC system
recently.
The price in Taiwan is about $80USD with X2 3600+ in end of March.

Then, the low cost with high overclock ability motherboards should become
the first pick when build a PC system.
Let's take a look on our star: MSI K9N4 SLI with $90USD valued price.

The BOX design




The accessories.




The motherboard~






Down left side placement.

2X PCI-E X16
2X PCI-E X1
2X PCI




Down right side
Red button is Clear CMOS button.
4 SATA ports.




Up left side.
The DRAM slot, same channel with same color. Use different color to be dual
channel.
2 IDE ports to have better expansions.




Up right side
The PWM design around CPU socket.




IO ports




Active heatsink FAN, it's good for high heat NV chipsets.



This post has been edited by windwithme: Apr 2 2007, 03:01 PM

BIOS main adjust page.



CPU FSB range: 200~425MHz



Multiply selection 5x~9.5x



DRAM option: 400/533/667/800



CPU second voltage +0.05~0.35V



DDRII voltage: 1.8~2.45V



DRAM adjust options.



HT adjust is in main page left side.



Temp and voltage monitor page.

Test setup platform
CPU:AMD AM2 Athlon64 X2 3600+
MB: MSI K9N4 SLI
DRAM:CORSAIR Dominator TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF
VGA:ELSA GLADIAC 790GS PH2 256DT
HD:Seagate 7200.7 160GB
POWER:Corsair HX620W Modular Power Supply
Cooler:TT Big Typhoon VX




294.8X9.5=>2801Mhz




315.7X9.5=>3000Mhz 1.408V
SP2004 loading test can over 30 minutes.




1.432V SP2004 stable over 1 hour.




The FSB limited.
332X8.5=>2823Mhz




Let's take a look on DRAM


Default BIOS setting with DDRII 800(AM2 issue,
.5 or X10 multiply will auto divide)




DDRII 1022 CL4 4-4-9 2.2V stable.
Seems it's the limited, more voltage and higher CL numbers didn't work to
higher frequency.

ELSA GLADIAC 790GS PH2 560/1500Mhz
3DMARK2005




3000Mhz DDRII 600 CL3 3-3-9 1T Super PI 32M




EVEREST shows the chipset is nForce500SLI, so as MSI formal website.
But CPU-Z shows it's nForce4 chipser?!




According to my test stuff, conclusion with MSI K9N4 SLI

Pros.:
1.Cheap price, packing and accessories is enough.
2.Over 330FSB ability, also good on voltage adjust.
3.Support SLI technology directly.
4.2 IDE ports, good for old IDE components users.

Cons.:
1. BIOS overclock adjust needs some improvement. DRAM overclock limited
needs to be over DDRII 1066 or higher.


MSI K9N4 SLI is good enough, according to it's value and overclock ability,
the $90USD under street price, comes with SLI ready and 2 IDE ports will
also be the plus. If BIOS can enhance with DRAM ability to have better
overclock range, we believe this could be great option to the market on AM2
platform.

Coming soon: CORSAIR TWIN2XS2048-10000C5DF
DDRII 1250, the fastest DDRII products in the market this moment. (Not paper launch!)





DFI INFINITY P965-S DARK

About 85 USD