just picked it up to test

[ME BIGGD01]

hi all, i am about to test out the msi's nforce2 board which has integrated geforce4mx onboard so will see how it performs for those on budget. we all know the chipset is good but would like to see how the video works. i am curious to see because i know some of you have gerfoce2 and gf2mx or some have tnt. this could be the answer for a whole upgrade for 130 dollars.

i am building system now to test out and will post as soon as possible. also bench it against the asus nforce2.

[Death-Dude]

Very well, then! What model is that? Does it have an AGP slot besides, as well? Even without, it'll be much better for graphics than the more 'standard' integrated stuff, I'm sure.
I've built a couple of systems for guys who were looking to do it on the cheap, as it were, and got micro-ATX boards with integrated video pnly, and no AGP slot, then of course the kids have a game or two that won't run or run like doggy-doo, and they want to upgrade, and I have to remind them of the little talk we had back when, when I explained that limitation. A top-end PCI is the best they can shoot for.

[ME BIGGD01]

well i finished doing the benches and will have to say the board runs pretty smoothly. has mostly same features as the asus nforce board but comes with integrated geforce4mx card. my oppinion of the geforce mx card is don't buy it unless you need a ok card for little money. be aware the geforce4mx is not really a geforce4. it is not a dx 8.1 compliant card and that means does not have the hardware to support it.

the board

MSI K7N2G NFORCECE 2 CHIPSET
W/INTEGRATED GEFORCE4MX AND AGP SLOT SUPPORTING 8X
THERE ARE DIFFERENT VERSION OF THIS BOARD--1 WITH ALL FEATURES AS THE ASUS DELUX NFORCE2 AND OTHERS. THIS ONE I PICKED UP TO SEE HOW THE INTEGRATED VIDEO RUNS AND HANDLES HEAVY GAMING FOR THE SMALL PRICE.

the geforce4mx card averages out to about 60 dollars so wanted to see if the board was worth the extra 20 dollars with it integrated because i could of bought the board with out the integrated video. i hope you understood that. i do not reccomend anyone wasting any money on the geforce4 card because it trully is crap and ripping people off with the name. for 30 dollars more you can buy a good geforce3 ti200/500 which is dx 8.1 compliant.

now as for the setup all went well as i just used ghost to take same image off my asus board and was done in 15 minutes. i uninstalled all the drivers that were not on the msi board so os was clean and stable. i did not have any problems with the board installing into case.

in the pictures i hope they can be uploaded the asus benches are on the left and msi is on the right.
also the 3dmark test was with ati 9700pro which is the reason for high score. both bios's were set to default so no overclocking was done as i think it's not worth it. i would reccomend this board if you were considering purchasing this board with the integrated video for a few reasons.

integrated decent video card for only 20 dollars more.
you can always sell it to someone in 6 months when you want to get new board and you will not have to buy a video card for them.
the board is as fast as the asus nforce board deluxe.
very stable
pretty cheap for the best technology built into a motherboard (hypertransport and dual channel ddr).
good solution if you were looking to update your motherboard and do not want to upgrade anything lower than geforce3 card. (what i mean by this is if you have a geforce2 orgeforce2mx than no matter what buying this board will boost your performance in all your levels but if you have a good vga card and want to upgrade your motherboard than this board without intgrated vga will still be cheap solution)

there is one thing that caught my eye about the msi board that the asus does not have is the extra 4 pin plug that plugs into the motherboard for more power support. all intel boards have this feature and really isnt needed for the amd platform but it will make your system alot more upgradeable as the processors use more power this board will be able to provide it. a standard atx power plug only gives 6watts of power into the board so you may run into problems in the future with boards that do not have the 4pin plug as not enough power will be current in the system.

if you have the extra money i would suggest going with the asus deluxe board as it has every feature you can think of and is also stable. it costs more money but if you need those features or would just like to have them and dont need the integrated video than this would be my suggestion. the performance is about equal so you wont have to worry about that. there is a msi board ou there with all features but have not tested it and would have to judge on the price of it which i do not know. one thing in the rumor mill is the barton chips which are the athlon xp's with 512 l2 cache will support a 400fsb by summertime or fall so all nforce2 boards will be able to run it. i would also say that with the nforce2 boards you have a long life with it regarding technology. one of the main reasons for me liking amd is--where can you buy a 2100 processor for under 100 dollars. this msi board and an xp2100 can be had for 230.00 dollars and maybe cheaper if you shop around. thats a pretty good deal with future ability.
12:03 AM 2/4/2003

ME BIGGD





REMEMBER ASUS SCORES ON LEFT AND MSI ON RIGHT

[ME BIGGD01]

ASUS ON LEFT MSI ON RIGHT

[ME BIGGD01]

ASUS ON LEFT MSI ON RIGHT

[ME BIGGD01]

ASUS ON LEFT MSI ON RIGHT

[ME BIGGD01]

ASUS ON LEFT MSI ON RIGHT

[ME BIGGD01]

ASUS ON LEFT MSI ON RIGHT

[ME BIGGD01]

ASUS ON LEFT MSI ON RIGHT

[ME BIGGD01]

sorry about the quality of the pics but it will not except the upload from me as file size too big.

[Sirc]

Whoa. It stands up nicely until it comes to the graphics benchmarks. They suck big time. :blink:

[ME BIGGD01]

yeah but for an integrated chip to perform over 2000 is a great solution. most will score under 1000.

[FUS1ON]

Great Review and Thanks for sharing the info. with us Bigg :thumbs:

[Death-Dude]

Great job, ME BIGGD, and for those who are fine with integrated video, they'd not do too bad at all with that. I assume when you say the GF4 is crap and a ripoff, you mean the aforementioned GF4 MX, not my 4400 and the like. I, like you, thought that was underhanded of nvidia, after making an MX version of a chipset on all the other models from 2 up, making an MX version based on a different chipset, and falsely, misleadingly lable it a GF4. People naturally think, "Hey, 4 is better than 3", when benchmark-wise, the GF4MX was about a GF2.5.
I'm not knocking the board, though, it is a good option for folks who want a cheap solution, and graphics aren't important, and yet with an 8X slot available, the future is open. Nice job, again.

[C2H5OH Guy]

good job :thumbs:

[ME BIGGD01]

thanks.