MSI K8N Neo4 (plat) SLI/Non-SLI

[atergram]

READEME:My "ONLY" two options for motherboard, are: MSI SLI-K8N Neo4 //or// MSI Non-SLI K8N Neo4

[1]Is there any notable performance differences between the K8N SLI and Non-Sli boards?

[2]I know that the SLI.K8N board has two 16x PCI-e slots and the Non-SLI.K8N has a 16x, 4x, and 1x PCI-e slots; Does anyone know if a 16x slot will be able to utilize upcomming PCI-e cards other than video cards?

[3]The SLI.K8N mobo has the "new" SATA controller/ports; this may be a benefet in the future. As I know now there is nothing that can be used on them. The Non-SLI.K8N board does not have these.

[4]I'm told that the ethernet ports(builtin) run off the PCI-e bridge in the SLI.K8N board which gives a performance over the Non-SLI.K8N motherboard but I don't know if it is significant or not.

[5]Lastly the SLI.K8N has the nice soundblaster bult in but ignore that too, cause that can be deal with the the good soundcard I already own...

Im going to be running a single Radeon X850XT, but I just want to have the better performing board. I do not care the slightest having to pay a bit more for the SLI board if it better peroformance and/or piece-wise so for the sake of my questions here please put aside any conceptions of price.

If anyone could prove me wrong on this info and state otherwise that would be awsome I jsut want my facts straight here before purchase (which is withing 1-3 days).

As well, Ignore the fact that I'm only using one video card that is not SLI compatable and I am asking whether or not to get the SLI board... If the board is better it's worth it plus you never know what will happen in the future...

Well, Post away

 

[yliu]

Since you obviously do not intend to run SLI (you have an ATI graphics card) I would just get the regular NEO4. The SLI board may have slightly better features but you will either not be able to taken advantage of them or notice the difference in your everyday use (such as the alleged better performing ethernet port; network performance are almost never bottlenecked at your ethernet port) I don't know about the supposedly new SATA controllers but I really doubt that would be worth the price difference. As for the additional x16 PCIe, no i don't think they will ever be used for anything except video.

 

[mofrack]

Originally posted by: yliu
Since you obviously do not intend to run SLI (you have an ATI graphics card) I would just get the regular NEO4. The SLI board may have slightly better features but you will either not be able to taken advantage of them or notice the difference in your everyday use (such as the alleged better performing ethernet port; network performance are almost never bottlenecked at your ethernet port) I don't know about the supposedly new SATA controllers but I really doubt that would be worth the price difference. As for the additional x16 PCIe, no i don't think they will ever be used for anything except video.

Right on all counts, except the second PCIe port on the SLI board. If running a single video card in the SLI board, you can use the second port for any PCIe expansion card. The only caveat might be to set the SLI selector to dual cards to enable the second slot (thus running the primary video slot at 8x PCIe lanes and not 16x).

 

[FastEddie]

The K8N Neo4 Platinum (Ultra) and the Neo4 Platinum Sli both have SATA II ports, so you're not missing out there. I'd go with the ultra if you are planning only a single graphic card.

 

[Redstorm]

Originally posted by: mofrack

Originally posted by: yliu
As for the additional x16 PCIe, no i don't think they will ever be used for anything except video.

Right on all counts, except the second PCIe port on the SLI board. If running a single video card in the SLI board, you can use the second port for any PCIe expansion card. The only caveat might be to set the SLI selector to dual cards to enable the second slot (thus running the primary video slot at 8x PCIe lanes and not 16x).

The second PCIe slot on the SLI board when configured in 16x mode is a 1x PCIe slot so yes you will be able to run expansion cards in the second slot. You do not need to change the SLI selector to 8x mode.

 

[ytsejam02]

Personally, I think you're underestimating the value of the onboard Sound Blaster. It drastically reduces the overhead your CPU will encounter with other onboard chips, and possibly the same with cards. I'm going with the SLI version of this board with that as a big reason. Should work out much better during video/audio capturing.

 

[FastEddie]

Both boards utilize the SATA II via the northbridge--they are virtually the same implementation.

And yes, the 16x PCI-e port on the Plat Sli is backwards compatible to 1x & 4x PCI-e devices.