Athlon64 Motherboards: First Look at Chaintech, FIC, and MSI

MSI K8T Neo: Athlon64 with Dynamic Overclocking

MSI takes the approach of “everything you could ever want” in their top-line K8T Neo motherboard. As MSI has done in the past, they will likely market a top full-featured K8T Neo series board, and then market one or two scaled down versions of the same board with fewer features and at lower cost. MSI is also using the VIA K8T800 chipset to power its top Athlon64 board.

If we were looking at the MSI board in isolation, we could not help but be impressed with the array of options and features that MSI lavishes on this board. In addition to standard fare with the VIA 8237 Southbridge (2 SATA Raid, 8 USB 2.0, and ATA133 IDE), MSI has added Gigabit LAN, Promise 20378 controller (2 SATA plus 1 ATA133), firewire ports, D-Bracket diagnostics, 5.1 audio with rear deck connection for all speakers plus Coax/Optical SPDIF, and round red cables to match the red motherboard. The package is impressive, and it is only when it is compared to a package like the Chaintech ZNF3-150 that it looks a little less than spectacular.

MSI is one of the largest motherboard manufacturers in the world, and recently they have been using a new technology called Dynamic Overclocking with their top-end boards. The K8T does have Dynamic Overclocking, with selectable values to 10% overclock, and the important ability to defeat the D.O.T. and set values yourself if you prefer your own overclocking recipes. All-in-all, the MSI K8T Neo has an impressive array of features, ports and options.