Legit Motherboard Reviews

Asrock AM2V890-VSTA & MSI K9A Platinum Motherboards

Manufacturer: ASRock
Product: AMD Socket AM2 Motherboards by VIA and ATI
Date: Tue, Aug 22, 2006 - 12:00 AM
Written By: Jason Petermann -
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A Closer Look: The MSI K9A Platinum Specs

Image Description

CPU

? AMD® Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64, Athlon FX and Sempron in the Socket AM2 package.


FSB

? HyperTransport supporting speed up to 1GHz (2000MT/s)

Chipset

? ATI® CrossFire? Xpress 3200 and SB600 Chipset


Main Memory


? Supports Dual DDR II 533/667/800
- 4 DDRII DIMMs (240pin / 1.8V)
- Supports a maximum memory size up to 8GB.


Slots

? 2 PCI Express x16 slots (Support ATI CrossFire Technology)
? 2 PCI Express x1 slots
? 2 PCI slots, support 3.3V/ 5V PCI bus Interface.


On-Board IDE


? One IDE port by ATI® SB600
- Supports Ultra DMA 66/100/133 mode
- Supports PIO, Bus Master operation mode
- Can connect up to two IDE devices

On-Board SATA

? 4 SATA II ports by ATI® SB600
- Supports storage and data transfers at up to 300 MB/s


RAID Function


- SATA II 1~4 supports RAID 0, 1 and 0+1 mode by ATI® SB600

MSI Reminds You...
? The RAID setup floppy disk is optional depending on the districts. You can download the files from the website to make the setup disk.


Audio

? Chipset integrated by Realtek® ALC883
- Flexible 8-channel audio with jack sensing
- Compliant with Azalia 1.0 Spec


LAN

? Dual LAN jacks
? Realtek PCI-E GbLAN controller 8111B
- Integrated Fast Ethernet MAC and PHY in single chip
- Supports 10Mb/s, 100Mb/s and 1000Mb/s
- Compliance with PCI-Express Bus specification v1.0a

? Realtek PCI GbLAN controller 8110S
- Integrated Fast Ethernet MAC and PHY in single chip.
- Supports 10Mb/s, 100Mb/s and 1000Mb/s.
- Compliance with PCI 2.3


IEEE1394


? Chipset integrated by VIA® VT6308P
- Transfer rate is up to 400Mbps


Internal I/O Connectors

- ATX 24-pin power connector
- ATX 4-pin 12V CPU power connector
- ATX 4-pin VGA power connector
- CPU / System / NB FAN connectors
- CD-in connector
- IrDA infrared module header
- Chassis intrusion switch connector
- Front panel audio connector
- Front panel connector
- D-Bracket2 connector
- 1 x IEEE1394 connector support additional 1 ports
- 3 x USB 2.0 connector support additional 6 ports
- 1 x Floppy disk drive connector
- 4 x Serial ATA II connectors
- 1 x ATA133 HD connectors

MSI Reminds You...
? The floppy disk cable will be optional.


Back Panel I/O Ports

- 1 x Parallel port
- 1 x Serial port (COM 1)
- 1 x PS/2 keyboard
- 1 x PS/2 mouse
- 1 x Coaxial SPDIF out
- 1 x IEEE1394 Port
- 1 x 6 in 1 audio jack (S/SPDIF out)
- 4 x USB 2.0 ports
- 2 x RJ45 LAN jack


Dimension

? 30.5cm(L) x 24.5cm(W) ATX Form Factor

Mounting

? 9 mounting holes.

Next Page - A Closer Look: The MSI K9A Platinum Layout


Review Index
Page 1 - A Look at the Boards
Page 2 - A Closer Look: The Asrock AM2V890-VSTA Specs
Page 3 - A Closer Look: The Asrock AM2V890-VSTA Layout
Page 4 - A Closer Look: The Asrock AM2V890-VSTA Bios
Page 5 - A Closer Look: The MSI K9A Platinum Specs
Page 6 - A Closer Look: The MSI K9A Platinum Layout
Page 7 - A Closer Look: The MSI K9A Platinum Bios
Page 8 - The Test Setup
Page 9 - The Tests: Overall System Performance - World Bench 5
Page 10 - The Tests: Overall System Performance - World Bench 5 Continued
Page 11 - The Tests: Overall System Performance and Memory Bandwidth
Page 12 - The Tests: 3D and Gaming Performance
Page 13 - The Tests: Overclocking
Page 14 - The Conclusion