MSI P6N SLI Platinum Review @ Hardwarezone
Hardwarezone reviews the MSI P6N SLI Platinum motherboard running on the NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI chipset. Hardwarezone gives this board a final score of 4.5 out of 5 and writes:
Onboard features are slightly limited on the P6N SLI Platinum, but this is exactly the game that NVIDIA is driving. The huge variation in the quantity of PCI Express lanes between the nForce 680i SLI and 650i SLI and the various feature reductions are probably calculated to keep users on the higher end chip for better component flexibility. However, we find that as a mid-range board, the P6N SLI Platinum has just the right amount of features. The board has great CPU support, SLI graphics, HD audio, S/PDIF and full range of external device support with USB 2.0, FireWire and eSATA. If you’re building a system specifically for a single purpose, such as gaming, the P6N SLI Platinum will be all you need.
Performance is an area that the P6N SLI Platinum excels in as well. Despite not having advanced performance features of the nForce 680i SLI such as LinkBoost and EPP memory, the nForce 650i SLI has proven to be just as able a platform to match the nForce 680i SLI as well as Intel P965 chipset in terms of performance in all areas. The fact that the P6N SLI Platinum was able to top several of our benchmarks speaks well of MSI’s progress with the board. Overclocking was the board’s only downside at this point of time. We ran into a couple of compatibility issues with the board and had to switch hardware a few times to find the correct combination. This means that the board is still a little finicky with hardware support, but since the board we have is still on an early beta BIOS, we’ll give MSI the benefit of a doubt. Note that the compatibility problems we highlighted only surfaced during overclocking tests. The board was completely stable under normal conditions with default hardware settings.
Read the full review of the MSI P6N SLI Platinum motherboard here.