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Review: HEXUS Group Test :: Is there a perfect high-end Intel motherboard?

by Michael Harries on 10 July 2008, 05:15

Tags: LANPARTY LT X48-TR2, DX48BT2, 132-CK-NF79-A1, P7N Diamond, nForce 790i Ultra SLI MCP, nForce 780i SLI MCP, X48 Express Chipset, EVGA, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), AMD (NYSE:AMD), MSI, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), DFI (TPE:2397)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qanqd

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MSI P7N Diamond bundle and warranty













Items
  • Quick install guide (eight languages including English, German and French)
  • Users manual (four languages including English, German and French)
  • SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio user manual (English only)
  • Drivers and utilities CD for Windows Vista containing: drivers for motherboard devices, MSI Dual Core Centre, NVIDIA nTune and motherboard manual (PDF).
  • Drivers and utilities CD for Windows XP containing: drivers for motherboard devices, MSI Dual Core Centre, NVIDIA nTune and motherboard manual (PDF).
  • ATX I/O Shield
  • Drivers and utilities CD containing (drivers for SoundBlaster X-Fi card and Creative Mediasource utility).
  • MSI M-Connector pack for front-panel, USB, FireWire and audio.
  • 2x short SLI flexible-style bridge.
  • 1x long SLI flexible-style bridge.
  • MSI MS-4132 PCI-e SoundBlaster X-Fi audio card
  • USB/FireWire expansion bracket with 2x USB 2.0 ports and 1x 6-pin FireWire port.
  • eSATA expansion bracket with 2x eSATA and 1x 4-pin molex connectors.
  • 1 x 80-conductor round IDE cable and 1 x 34-conductor round FDD cable (single-ended), 7 x latching style SATA data cables, 1 x Molex-SATA power adapter cables (double-ended), 2 x Molex-SATA power adapter cables (single-ended)

A good selection of bundled items allows you to use the board's features right out of the box. The SLI bridges (allowing three-way SLI support) and X-Fi sound card are two of the board's biggest selling points, but there are other nice touches in the smaller bundled items. The M-connector pack allow you to attach your front panel cables to a block which in turn attaches to the motherboard, which can make installation easier (and re-installation more so), whilst the expansion brackets may come in handy if the already pretty generous connectivity becomes limiting.

Warranty

The MSI board, again, is backed by a standard two-year warranty that begins on the date of purchase.

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