Introduction

With both NVIDIA's nForce4 SLI Intel Edition and Intel's own 955X Express vying for the high-end Pentium Extreme Edition market, MSI it seems, has taken a stand. Although they have released motherboard models based on both platforms, the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition based P4N Diamond has been chosen as their flagship. It is currently the only board in the whole LGA775 product line to bear the Diamond label and only the second board to be included in the ultra high end Diamond family. The first (K8N Diamond) is also based off NVIDIA's nForce4 SLI chipset, but for the Socket 939 Athlon 64 CPUs. With that said, you can be sure MSI will be pulling out all the stops to make the P4N Diamond the ultimate board for the Intel platform.

The MSI P4N Diamond motherboard based on NVIDIA's nForce4 SLI Intel Edition.

The board pimps quite an extensive package which includes the following:-

4 x SATA data cables

2 x SATA power converter cable (dual plugs)

1 x 80-conductor Ultra ATA data cable

1 x floppy drive data cable

1 x SLI high-speed digital link interface bridge

MSI Dual-Net card and antenna

IEEE 1394a (2 ports) bracket

External SATA (2 ports) bracket

MSI D-Bracket 2

I/O shield

SATA RAID driver diskette

Driver CD

Hardware installation guide

MSI P4N Diamond Technical Specifications

CPU Support	Supports 90nm LGA775 processor package Supports Intel Pentium Processor Extreme Edition  Supports Intel Pentium D Smithfield processors Supports Intel Pentium 4 / Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors Intel Hyper-Threading Technology ready
Chipset	NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition SPP 400 - 1066MHz front side bus NVIDIA DualDDR2 Memory Controller One x16 PCI Express link for graphics card.  Supports Scalable Link Interface Technology (SLI) for dual PCIe x8 interfaces Supports up to four PCI Express x1 lanes NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition MCP Supports up to ten USB 2.0 ports Supports four SATA II ports Dual-channel Ultra ATA-133 IDE controller Supports up to six PCI slots
Memory	NVIDIA DualDDR2 architecture 4 x 240-pin DIMM sockets support max. 4GB DDR2 400/533/667 non-ECC memory Slot independant dual-channel mode NVIDIA QuickSync NVIDIA DASP 3.0
Storage	NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition MCP 4 x Ultra ATA 33/66/100/133 (data transfer rate up to 133MB/sec.) 4 x SATA II (Serial ATA II 3.0Gbps interface) NVIDIA MediaShield Technology Supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, JBOD Supports RAID Morphing Silicon Image Sil3132 SATA II RAID controller 2 x SATA II (Serial ATA II 3.0Gbps interface) Supports RAID 0, RAID 1 Supports external SATA devices through SATA Extender bracket
Audio	Onboard Creative Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit controller 24-bit / 48~96KHz audio quality 100db SNR clarity Up to 7.1 channel surround sound, Dolby Digital ready Supports S/PDIF digital interface Coaxial, Optical S/PDIF out on back I/O port
Networking	Dual Gigabit LAN ports NVIDIA Gigabit LAN co-supported by Marvell Alaska 88E1111 PHY chip (Transceiver) Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI Express Gigabit LAN MSI Dual  Net adapter card IEEE 802.11g 54Mbps Wireless LAN with software AP capabilities Bluetooth Class 2 V1.2 compliant
IEEE 1394 (FireWire)	VIA Fire II VT6306 Host Controller 3 x 1394a ports @ 400 Mbps speed
I/O Interface	1 x Floppy connector 2 x Ultra ATA IDE connectors 6 x SATA II connectors 10 x USB 2.0 ports (4 x rear, 2 x bracket, 2 x header) 3 x IEEE 1394a ports (1 x rear, 2 x header) 2 x RJ45 Gigabit LAN ports 1 x Optical S/PDIF Output 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output  8-Channel Audio I/O ports 1 x CD-IN 1 x 9-pin serial port 1 x parallel port (SPP/EPP/ECP) 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 v1.0a compliant 1 x PCIe x1 slot, PCI Express Bus specification v1.0a compliant 2 x 32-bit PCI slots, PCI 2.3 compliant
Special Features	D.O.T. Express (Dynamic Overclocking Technology) CoreCell 2 Live Update 3 DigiCell CoreCenter
PCB	ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.4cm)