Introduction
The past few months have certainly been some of the most interesting in the motherboard market (if like us, you happen to think motherboards are an interesting affair that is). Intel's 3-Series chipsets have brought out a creative streak in motherboard manufacturers and we've seen some pretty darn impressive boards of late. The formula is the same however, DDR2 based P35 boards show up as a first-to-market strategy to stay competitive, while the
'goodies' as we'd like to call them, come later.
Many see DDR3 is a start of a new era for the PC, and we get the feel that manufacturers want to break away from the mold somewhat and try offer enthusiasts the products that will genuinely set them apart from the rest. To this end, the top board manufacturers all have their own secret recipe of success. ASUS has gone with extreme integration as we've seen with the ASUS P5K Premium boards, Gigabyte has refreshed their second generation of Ultra Durable technologies across the line and MSI... well MSI has the P35 Diamond.
The MSI P35 Diamond motherboard.
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The MSI P35 Diamond is the latest of the special edition motherboards we've been seeing of late to reach our labs. This motherboard is the Intel chipset counterpart of the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI based P6N Diamond (also reviewed
here
). Both the boards compete for the same enthusiast segment, but the P35 Diamond has its own surprises in store.
Check out its feature specification and bundled accessories below before hitting the jump.
- 6 x SATA data cables
- 3 x SATA power converter cables (dual plug)
- 1 x 80-conductor Ultra ATA data cable
- 1 x floppy drive data cable
- FireWire Bracket (1 port)
- MSI SkyTel VoIP card
- Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio card
- I/O shield
- Driver CDs
- User's guide
MSI P35 Diamond Technical Specifications
| CPU Support |
- Supports
all 90nm/65nm Intel LGA775
processors
- 45nm ready (Wolfdale & Yorkfield)
- Quad-Core
Optimized
|
|---|
| Chipset | - Northbridge:
Intel P35
- 533 / 800 /
1066 / 1333MHz front side bus
- PCI Express x16 for
graphics
- Southbridge:
Intel
ICH9R
- Intel High
Definition Audio
- Supports six PCI
Express x1 lanes
- Supports up to twelve USB 2.0
ports
- Supports six SATA 3.0Gbps ports (with Matrix Storage
Technology)
- Integrated 10/100/1000Mbps MAC
|
| Memory |
- Supports four
unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 SDRAM
- Supports
1333/1066/800
dual channel DDR3 memory
architecture
|
| Storage |
- Intel ICH9R
Southbridge
- 6 x SATA 3.0Gbps
interface
- Intel Matrix
Storage Technology
- Supports RAID 0,
RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, RAID 10
- Marvell
88SE6111
- 1 x Ultra
ATA
33/66/100/133 (data transfer rate up to
133MB/sec.)
- 1 x SATA 3.0Gbps interface
|
| Audio |
- Intel High Definition
Audio (Azalia)
- Realtek ALC888T HD
Audio CODEC with hardware VoIP support
- Bundled
SkyTel VoIP card
- Creative Sound
Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI Express card
|
|---|
| Networking |
- Marvell
88E8111B Gigabit Ethernet PHY
|
| IEEE 1394 (FireWire) |
- VIA VT6308P FireWire controller
- 2 x 1394a
ports @ 400
Mbps speed
|
| I/O Interface | - 1
x Floppy connector
- 1 x Ultra ATA
IDE connectors
- 7 x SATA
connectors (5 x internal, 2 x eSATA)
- 12 x USB 2.0
ports (6 x rear, 6 x header)
- 2 x IEEE
1394a ports (1 x rear, 1 x header)
- 1 x
RJ45 LAN
port
- 1 x Optical S/PDIF
Output
- 8-Channel Audio I/O
ports
- 1 x COM port (header)
- 1 x
mini-DIN-6 PS/2
mouse port
- 1 x mini-DIN-6 PS/2
keyboard port
|
| Expansion Slots | - 2
x
PCIe x16
slots,
PCI Express Bus specification v1.1
compliant
- 2 x PCIe x1
slots, PCI
Express Bus specification v1.1
compliant
- 2 x 32-bit
PCI slots,
PCI 2.3 compliant
|
| Special Features | - MSI
Circu-Pipe
- All Solid Capacitors
- MSI
D.O.T. Control
|
| PCB |
- ATX Form Factor, 12"x
9.6"(30.5cm x 24.4cm)
|
Odd looking rear I/O panel configuration with a huge USB 2.0 hub block. Other connections (from left to right) include PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, FireWire, optical S/PDIF, RJ-45, more USB 2.0 ports, two eSATA ports and analog surround audio.
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