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
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
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- 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 |
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