Reviews for MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA nForce3 Ultra Chipset - Socket PGA-939 - 1 x Retail Pack

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: This motherboard is very stable and works very well with the AMD 3500 Winchester (newer than the Newcastle) CPU with the PNY Nvidia 5500 video Card and a total of 1GB of Kensington Memory.

Weakness: I could not get the additional USB to work as stated thus far. I wish the labeling on the motherboard for some components were better (had to read schematic a few times).

With 2 -> (512MB PC 3200 DDR 400) or 1GB, this motherboard with the CPU unit is blazing fast with amazing stablity. This is definately a great gamer combo.

Everything installs perfectly on this motherboard. But the video card fan from the Video on the AGP slot is too close o the PCI next to it. Therefore, I have one less PCI available. But there are 4 others left to use.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: This is a well rounded Socket 939 motherboard for the AMD procesor. I was always an Asus user now MSI has wond me over.

Weakness: N/A

I use my MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum with a 90nm Sckt. 939 3500+ AMD Athlon 64 processor. It overclocks very well. Has a great BIOS to controll the voltages and multipliers. I can easily run my 3500+ at 2600MgHz with the Thermalright XP 120 CPU cooler and 120mm fan running at 2200rpm. At 41 degrees centigrade.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Stable, High overclocking ability, nVIDIA nForce3 chipset, Corecenter

Weakness: NONE

This motherboard is really nice. Easy to overclock with their corecenter software. I run the Athlon 64 3200+ and have overclocked it to 2.5gHz easily without even changing the voltage. I still need to OC higher but havent had time to try the diffent voltages.

MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM EDITION
ATHLON 64 3200+
COOLER MASTER AQUAGATE WATER COOLER
ATI ALL-IN-WONDER X800XT
CREATIVE LABS AUDIGY 2 ZS PLATINUM PRO
(2) WD 74GB RAPTOR SATA HDD
(2) WD 250GB CAVIAR SATA HDD
PLEXTOR PX-716A DVD+/-RW DRIVE
(2) COOLER MASTER 450W REAL POWER PSU
COOLER MASTER CM STACKER

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Fast chipset - Bios adjustments - Memory placement - SATA controllers

Weakness: CMOS jumper placement - Core Cell software - MSI site navigation - On Board audio

First let me touch on it strengths....

The Nforce3 is a must have for any 8x AGP video card, it just lets it all rev out. The bios is a joy to work with and I would recommend all overclocking thru that...not software based OC'ing. The memory placement is wonderful sitting under my Thermalright XP-90 and is getting a little extra air movement on it. Cool is Cool right. 4 SATA connections have given me a lot of hard drive options in the future. The placement is fine with these SATA connections so never mind what you may read in reviews. Of course it installed without a hitch in my Lian-Li PC-V1000 case, which has lots of elbow room and works quite nicely with this boards layout.

Now the weaknesses....

The CMOS clearing jumper is on the very edge and corner by the last PCI slot, so if you plan to use that one, getting to it is very difficult by fingers alone.
Core Cell and software....uhggg....talk about intrusive and crashy. After my third windows install I totally left all that out and I was cruzin and OC'ing with ease....AND STABLE SINCE THEN!
On Board audio....well what can I say...it's no match for my other computers A7N8X Deluxe's SoundStorms set up...just no comparison there.

Overall I would recommend this board for an experienced builder to reap all the benefits and features it brings. First time builders might get fustrated because of it's little quirks I encountered. If you have an OLD high end AGP 8X graphics card, this mobo will do it justice! My build for this project "OC'er" is......

This MSI MOBO of course
A64 3000+ Winchester (overclocked at boot to 2.43ghz)
Corsair TWINX-4400C2.5 XMS (I'm running 270 FSB at boot)
Thermalright XP-90 HSU
eVGA 6800GT video card
Maxtor 120gb Plus9 HD (OS drive)
3 Hitachi SATA 250gb Deskstars (storage)
Asus DRW-160P DL DVD writer
all in my wonderful Lian-Li PC-V1000 case (I just love this case)

3DMark03 score of 12949

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Top overclocking board, sports the nForce 3 Ultra chipset, excellent layout.

Weakness: The board is a little buggy for me at first and i had to do a little troubleshooting to get it working from stock settings. The Northbridge fan is located too close to the AGP slot.

If your looking for an Athlon 64 socket 939 motherboard then this is the board you want. Its the best overclocking s939 AGP board and is one of the best performers at stock settings. The layout was very well planned and i like how the DIMM slots were placed at the top of the board. The board bundle comes with everything you need to get started which includes 2 SATA cables, 1 IDE cable, and 1 floppy cable.

MSI has definitely produced a winner here!

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: THE MOTHERBORAD

Weakness: none

i have only had this mobo for about a month and it is so stable. I have not had one blue screen sence i have this borad . As of mem incompatabltys i have not had any problems.

i have only had two minor problems with this borad.

1.the clips that hold in the memory onsnap form the mobo sometimes when I put in memory .

2.The dymaic overclocking on this borad causes alot of my programs to crash so i don't use it anymore.

but other than that this borad is awsome.

100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Top of the line motherboard for the 939 socket AMD 64 CPU's. *It can handle up to 4 SATA's *Dual LAN ports *7.1 Sound *Easy to overclock *Built in firewall There is a great product!

Weakness: Some people have issues with the chip overheating because of the fan not having good thermal compound, but I have not experienced this yet (since I just ordered).

If you want a top of the line motherboard and do not care to wait around for PCI Express which will most likely be buggy at first anyways, go for this board! It should last you a good 2 to 3 years.

Also, it is one of the highest recommended motherboards and has received many awards from popular reviewers.

95% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Handles the AMD64 processor beautifully.

Weakness: Have to choose the memory you use wisely. Compatibility issues with certain ones.

All in all this board is great. It has all the features needed to bring the AMD64 processor to the forefront of the newest pc technology. For after all...Isn't a processor only as good as the motherboard it sits in?

95% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: One of the best boards out there. Many solid features.

Weakness: Haven't had any problems yet, but have heard through research that there has been a couple of memory compatiblity issues.

This board seems to be one one of the most solid boards for the 939 chipset for the Athlon 64 processors. The NForce 3 Ultra chip is really good.

95% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: NVIDIA nForce3 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard better and faster than VIA Kt800

Weakness: none

Just received this board today and after having 3 defective boards (2 From Giga-Byte 1 from ASUS). I absolutely love it! It's got more than enough features to keep any and all users and at this point in time, most of the kinks are completely worked out. Lightning Fast, Best-in-Class RAID Controller (nForce 3 Ultra, which is definately better than the VIA or the Promise). No question that this board is the way to go.The instructions were excellent and easy to understand even to a novice like me. Everything was easy to set up and worked great. The Raid configuration is very well explained and also easy to set up. The BIOS are explained very well in the manual and are simple to understand and work with.
AMD FX-55 (Retail)
K8N Neo2 Platinum
Corsair 3200 Xtreme (2GB)
Pioneer DVD+-RW 16x
Plextor 52x CDRW
2 74GB Raptor@10,000RPM (SATA)
1 250GB WD Storage Drive (SATA)
Soundblaster Audigy Pro Platinum
Sapphire X800XT

94% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Fast, Very full-featured (USB 2.0, Firewire, 4 SATA + 4 IDE HD interfaces (with RAID 1/0 across any), overclocking manually or automatically, etc.)

Weakness: PCI slot 1 has no room past slot for PCI 64 cards if need

Overall, I am very happy with board. It has loads of features. The hard drive connections are great (4 IDE + 4 SATA) and they can all be used normally or any combination can be used for RAID 1 or 0. Too many others to mention, but go to MSI's web site or see the multi-page reviews on Tom's Hardware to get all the details. I had no memory troubles with my 2x Kingston 1GB 400MHz DDR PC3200 ECC DIMM 3-3-3.

92% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Good stuff in my computer. Very impressed with packaging, style, performance, reliability and cooling.

This motherboard is the most stable and responsive that I've ever owned. I've built several computers and the only motherboard I'd put in the same class as the K8N Neo2 is the ASUS P4C800-E that I'm replacing with this one.

I used an FX-55 with 1 gig RAM, two 74GB Western Digital Raptor hard drive and an Radeon x800xt video card. I popped everything in and it booted up and it hasn't had a hiccup since. It came with bios v 1.2 and it recognized the processor just fine. Completely stable no matter what I throw at it. If you want an A64 board, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase this one.
All the hardware reviews picked the Neo2 as their "editors choice" award winner for the A64 and I can see why.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

80% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Fast and stable, lot's of options and accessories

Weakness: pricey

This was my second system build and boy am I impressed with this MSI motherboard.
It flies with my Athlon 64 CPU, with alot of included options and great stability, this board is highly recommended!

75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Options, Performance, Bang for Buck

Weakness: Not very stable some times, picky on memory

This is a very good board, could have been the best if MSI fixed few bugs in it.

I would lose USB for no reason and I have to unplug the front USB from the board and plug it back to make it work.

Very picky on memory, choose wisely if you are going to use this board.

OC is not the best max I have been able to reach is 212FSB with my AMD 3500.

Performance wise this board is top notch. Coupled with a good GFX I play DOOM3 on ultra settings, around 40 - 50 FPS.

BTW I am using the latest bios version and have all my drivers installed properly.

70% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: How can there be with everything that has gone wrong?

Weakness: 1. USB doesn't work right 2. Realtek Audio doesn't work at all 3. Very Bad TECH SUPPORT 4. Hang ups and Boot issues 5. Quirky Nvidia Ethernet

I purchased the MSI Neo2 Platinum after reading several reviews (OCZ DDR PC3200, AMD Winchester, Antec NeoPower480, etc) Unfortunately, my first board from MSI was a DUD. I experienced some USB and sound issues and then eventually none worked. My system crashed numerous times and stability was an issue after just 31 days. I followed posts and even suggested compatibility to the “T”. Anyway, at that point I had to deal with MSI Customer service since the company I got it from was no longer liable for an RMA. This was an event in itself. MSI told me the warranty process was supposed to take only 4 weeks from start to finish, but I waited almost 8! Emailing them was useless as they don’t respond.

I was sent a replacement board from MSI direct, of which I am sure was a refurb. There was no new packaging; just a board thrown into another old box that literally looked like it was used a dozen times. It wasn’t even an NEO2 box! Surprisingly, this board made it to me OK. Or at least I hoped. After just a week though, I was having sound issues again, and eventually audio died altogether. Further attempts to contact MSI were useless. They returned not ONE phone call or email after a dozen of mine.


I purchased the MSI Neo2 Platinum after reading several reviews (OCZ DDR PC3200, AMD Winchester, Antec NeoPower480, etc) Unfortunately, my first board from MSI was a DUD.
I have had to RMA 2 of these boards and my third is already a HUGE issue. All have been defective in one or more ways. The first one I was able to get a replacement in the week I owned it; the second wasn’t so easy. The one I have now, I can’t even get a reply from them, and it’s been 3 weeks! It’s as if they are ignoring my requests.

That being said, MSI Customer service/ RMA is HORRID! The second Neo 2 Platinum I sent back to them (because 31 days had lapsed since I owned it - it fell back on the manufacturer and not vendor) it took me a week to get a response from their online help form. It took 5 WEEKS to get my board back!!!!!!!!

Issues that continue to plague me…

1. USB is sporadic. Sometimes it works, most it doesn't. In half the instances, I need to unplug the device and replug, the other 50% I need to reboot.

2. No Ac'97 Realtek sound. I went through every possible correction both hardware and software. No drivers supported what I was trying to do even when it did work. Forget Half-Life 2 because there is only a center channel to hear from. I ended up buying a SB Audigy 2 gamer, but shouldn’t have had to. The board markets that it has 7.1 sound and charges a premium for it.

3. NVIDIA Ethernet drivers are quirky. I have had to reboot and even repair/release/renew on numerous occasions to get the onboard jack to work. Thankfully Realtek’s Ethernet still works. Otherwise, I would need another PCI device.

I have pretty much given up on MSI RMA and customer service as they don’t reply. Even if they do, I can’t afford to send back another board based on the time alone it takes. Notwithstanding, I have already spent $30 in RMA postage and $100 for a new sound card. To that end, I have spent $270 for something that retails $140.

Rather than deal with no computer for an additional 8 weeks, possibly longer if nothing was rectified, I opted to change out my PSU. This was based on several complaints and suggestions of similar issues. Supposedly, AMD Athlon 64 was not stable on the MSI Neo2 Platinum motherboard using the Antec Neo Power 480. Apparently the dual twelve volt rails are a problem that isn’t widely published. I had nothing to lose in trying. This alone resolved my USB and stability issues, but the onboard Realtek audio never worked again. I had to buy the Audigy 2 ZS Gamer.

As a fairly experienced PC builder, I can honestly say that unfortunately for me, this board did not live up to the hype. I am certainly happy now that it’s running smooth, but because of the customer service, or lack thereof, I would have to give it a lower rating here. To be honest, I think the benchmarks from my ASUS A7N8X Deluxe were near as good running the same X800 Pro Video Card and PC3200 DDR - and the ASUS was a clean and stable MOBO from the get go.

So unless you plan to upgrade-UPgrade, you may wish to hold off until this problem is corrected with MSI. In light of my experience thus far MSI Computers value is MUCH less. Don’t buy this board. You will have a headache, and worse, GERD!

50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: NONE

Weakness: Worst Mainboard I ever had

This is the worst mainboard I ever had, because i have many problems for setting bios, many times Windows Xp freezing, And also I couldn't overclock my CPU (AMD 64 3500+) at all. I exchanged this mainboard for ASUS A8V Deluxe. Asus mainboard is much better then MSI

20% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Easy install, fast, convenient layout.

Weakness: Rear ports are a little flimsy

I ordered this board as the core of a new system I was building, after seriously considering the Asus chipset instead instead. What clinched in the end was that I was getting an nVidia graphics card and all the reviews for this MSI board were excellent.

I haven't been disappointed in the least. The board was easy to install, has a good layout, and solid performance. The documentation and included software are ok - though both indicate the need for better English translation.

Overall, a big thumbs up.

0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

Great MB overall

Strengths: Excellent OC board with a modded bios. Probably one of the fastest, if not the fastest, AGP boards out there for AMD processors. Dual channel memory. Onboard SATA&IDE, Gbit LAN, AC97, etc.

Weakness: NB fan went out and was replaced. Onboard sound is okay, but not the best. Recommend a dedicated sound card. SATA 1&2 are not locked (don't use them for OC).

I have an AMD 3800 X2 dual core running stable at 2.6Ghz with 1.4a bios (stock is 2.0Ghz) with 2GB PC3200 (3-3-3-8-2T). Easy to get 6GB/sec throughput on memory if you are willing to OC, futz with low level memory timings and raise voltages a bit. Mine is now stable at Vcore=1.5, mem=1.75 @ 3HT and 9x295. Stock cooling no less but still a bit warm at 57C. Some OC'ers prefer the ASUS but I like this one. I ordered a second one as a gentoo box to be a dedicated media server (mythtv).

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

terrible tech support

Strengths: cheap and affordable

Weakness: unstable bios

I bought a k8n neo 2 for 99 dollar and 25 dollar rebate, a great price. However, after I install it I found out that the onboard bios was uncompatable to 6800gt. I updated and a new problem came up, it won't detect my sata drive, Which I had to manually configure. Msi tech support was a pain. When i approach them with the problem, they indicated that my video card and hard drive was defective, and msi wasn't responsible. I had to figure out everything my self. Shame on Msi customer service and tech support.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Good layout, loaded with features.

Weakness: Sensors can't report accurate temps.

This is a great board for anyone with a socket 939 processor. I'm using it with an Athlon XP 3500+, xp-90 heatsink, OZC Ram, and a Geforce 6800GT. The only problem is that the motherboard sensors can't report accurate temps, so I'm never sure quite where my temperatures are exactly.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Very good BIOS and excellent support for various different memory modules. BIOS has control of everything you could want to customize.

Weakness: Not cheap but not too bad if you know where to look.

Good manufacturer MSI has great customer service. Very good overclocking features if you know what you are doing. Also Dynamic overclocking is cool too. Also has plent of USB ports as well as 2 gigabit lan ports.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Full featured, high quality components, good overclocker, stable.

Weakness: Expensive, missing accessories (2nd ide cable, firewire backpanel etc,automatic overclocking to be fixed.

Used to have Asus mainboards, but testing MSI stuff made me try this one; I wanted a good overclckable Athlon64 platform, first install was not successfull, the textmode drivers on the floppy were obsolete/not working, second try with new drivers = everything ok, after first seup and test started testing automatic overclock, could not get over sergeant, ok lets do manually = reached 282 mhz fsb with aircooling 39° idle 50 full load (atholn 64-939 3000+@4007!!!)
The raid system is very rock solid even using striping and faster than othe chipset I tried in the same conditions.
And Finally so many usb ports that I coud put back my hub in its box , and even 7.1 audio without having to use an extra pci slot...
Last thing MSI has a good software/driver suite and syupport for its products and this is important too.
I'll really suggest it if you are not going pci-e.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: The board was easy to get installed and i love the layout its kinda odd at first. Bios was great even has a section for overclocking.

Weakness: If it had PCI Express it would great, it also had only one connector to connect the sound for the cd-rom as I have two DVD-BURNER and CD-BURNER one is left without sound.It only has 1 ide cable :(

I am running this board with a AMD 3500+ no problems yet. The performance I was looking for was there, I would definitely recommend this board, like everything nothing is perfect their are some quirks, e.g. 1 ide cable included, 1 connector to connect cd player, Haven't tried to setup the raid or overclocking yet but the reviews I read about overclocking were promising.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: many options to tweak, reliable, good instructions, has sata ports, socket 939

Weakness: trouble with some functions working with my case

This is a great motherboard. I am a newbie computer builder and making a computer with this board was simple. The instructions were even pretty good, something that many manufacturers skimp out on. BIOS settings were easy to change and tweak. The driver disk was updated when I checked against the MSI website.

I currently have a 3000+ socket 939 AMD processor in there and it works perfectly. No major problems yet.

The only issue is compatibility with my case. I can't get the hard drive LED to work. Could be something I'm doing wrong, but I built another system recently (Abit motherboard) and got it to work. Also, I've read others had trouble with USB ports. I haven't had any problems yet, but I haven't tested everything to the fullest extent.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: How can there be with all that has gone wrong?

Weakness: 1. USB is sporadic. 2. No Ac'97 Realtek sound. 3. Quirkie Nvidia Ethernet 4. Hang ups and boot issues 5. Extremely poor Customer Service

I have had to RMA 2 of these boards and my third is already a HUGE issue. All have been defective in one or more ways. The first one I was able to get a replacement in the week I owned it; the second wasn’t so easy. The one I have now, I can’t even get a reply from them, and it’s been 3 weeks! It’s as if they are ignoring my requests.

That being said, MSI Customer service/ RMA is HORRID! The second Neo 2 Platinum I sent back to them (because 31 days had lapsed since I owned it - it fell back on the manufacturer and not vendor) it took me a week to get a response from their online help form. It took 5 WEEKS to get my board back!!!!!!!!

My issues that continue to plague this POS…

1. USB is sporadic. Sometimes it works, most it doesn't. In half the instances, I need to unplug the device and replug, the other 50% I need to reboot.

2. No Ac'97 Realtek sound. I went through every possible correction both hardware and software. No drivers supported what I was trying to do even when it did work. Forget Half-Life 2 because there is only a center channel to hear from. I ended up buying a SB Audigy 2 gamer, but shouldn’t have had to. The board markets that it has 7.1 sound and charges a premium for it.

3. NVIDIA Ethernet drivers are quirky. I have had to reboot and even repair/release/renew on numerous occasions to get the onboard jack to work. Thankfully Realtek’s Ethernet still works. Otherwise, I would need another PCI device.

I have pretty much given up on MSI RMA and customer service as they don’t reply. Even if they do, I can’t afford to send back another board based on the time alone it takes. Notwithstanding, I have already spent $30 in RMA postage and $100 for a new sound card. To that end, I have spent $270 for something that retails $140. In light of my experience thus far MSI Computers value is MUCH less. Don’t buy this board. You will have a headache, and worse, GERD!

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?

MSI K8N NEO2-Platinum Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA...

Strengths: Very stable and packed with nice features (4 SATA, 4 USB 2.0, Raid, front panel audio connectors, Firewire, 4 fan power leads, and easy to overclock).

Weakness: AGP slot very close to PCI slot 1. Newer AGP cards will overlap into PCI slot 1. However, there are 4 additional PCI slots.

So far this has been the best motherboard that I have assembled. Components were easily installed, CMOS settings easy to configure, and boot-up went without a glitch. If your looking for a rock-solid motherboard, this is the one.

Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?