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If the Gigabyte P35T-DQ6 is the heavy contender, then the MSI P35 DIamond is the all around, full featured competitor. The most prominent bundle is not one, but two add-on cards - the X-Fi Xtreme audio PCI-E x1 card and the Skytell VoIP PCI card. Bundling the X-Fi card certainly will appeal to gamers, though we're not so sure about the Skytel add-on, but then again, we never used VoIP services. So, let's concentrate on the X-Fi bundle.

 

Although you don't get the extras of X-Fi premium cards, the most compelling reasons to get X-Fi (EAX Advanced HD) for gamers is alive and well in the X-Fi Xtreme Audio, at least if you're still using Windows XP. If you're using Vista like we do, you need to get Creative's ALchemy software to 'bring back' this feature. Unfortunately, MSI didn't bundle the ALchemy software for our sample - hopefully that will change in the future. An small oversight perhaps? Maybe, but we feel there's more to ot - this bundle just seem a little bit 'unbalanced'..

For one, MSI still includes a Realtek ALC888T on the board so you basically get two sound cards with this motherboard. MSI's earlier efforts like the K8N Platinum which we used as our test setup back in the days of Athlon 64 integrates Creative's Live! Value on the motherboard. Though some may see the value of having two sound cards (and a separate card you can use on another PC or when you upgrade to another motherboard), we feel its more of a waste this time around. Why? Well, completely integrating the X-Fi Xtreme audio (and not including the Realtek codec) would have been better, if not cheaper than bundling it as a separate card. Plus, the add-on X-Fi does not include coaxial AND optical SPDIF output which is the usual norm for high end and premium motherboards. You also don't have the means to connect the X-Fi Xtreme Audio card to front panel audio jacks - you'll have to use the onboard audio for that. The budget MSI might have saved by removing the Realtek codec completely could have gone to giving the X-Fi Xtreme audio a more complete complement of ports.

   

Now, let's talk about Circupipe. Unlike Stackcool on ASUS P5K3 and P5K Deluxe and SilentPipe on Gigabyte P35T-DQ6, removing Circupipe is very easy - in fact its the easiest to remove. The shots above are shots taken of the  Circupipe radiator heatsinks.. Similar to ASUS and Gigabyte, MSI used thermal tape / pad between the heatsink and the components. If you look at the picture on the left, you can clearly see imprints left by the mosfets on the tape / pad. Although the tape doesn't dissolve, we can see the mounting mechanism iworks very well. But why aren't we seeing the same thing with the second picture? Well, to answer that question, you'll have to look at the next picture.



Here is a picture of the processor's socket and the surrounding area. For those who noticed, that's the P35 Platinum, not the P35 Diamond but they actually use the same cooler design so we think this is OK. As you might have guessed, the two radiator sinks (when in place) covers the mosfets on the top (not included in the picture) and area between the processor's socket and the DIMM slots. Immediately after seeing this, we thought to ourselves - what does the second radiator sink rest on? You guessed it - the PCB close to the DIMM slots. We feel this is not necessarily a good thing - excess heat that didn't get dissipated by the chipset cooler will travel to cooler parts of the Circupipe - the radiator heatsinks. Unless the thermal pad below the radiator sink between the processor socket and the memory slots dont conduct heat (we're pretty certain it doesn't since it defeats the purpose of the heatsink), Circupipe actually heats up the PCB (to a certain extent).

Obviously, there is something very bad about this. Of course, one could argue this is not a problem if the radiator sinks never got to very hot - i.e there's sufficient airflow around the processor and you're using a processor fan / heatsink that directly blows air downward to the processor like the stock cooler. It might be a problem if the chipset (and the radiator heatsinks) got hot enough though.

Just like Stackcool and SilentPipe, Circupipe also have its share of problems when you're trying to install a fan / heatsink on the processor - more so during removal. There's barely enough room for your finger to twist the lock on the stock cooler. The dual heatpipe of Circupipe also makes plugging in the ATX 12 volts cable unnecessarily troublesome. Thankfully, MSI is aware of this and supplied an extension so you can plug the cable much more easier.

 

At least, MSI went an extra mile with Circupipe. Keeping inline with tradition. MSI still uses thermal paste to help heat transfer between the P35 chipset (left picture) and the ICH9R southbridge (right picture). This extra effort allows Circupipe much better thermal performance - though we didn't do any controlled measurements, we generrally saw or rather 'feel' the temperature never got really high - somewhere between the P5K and DQ6 - after long hours of testing with overclocked FSBs. However, don't press your luck - always make sure there's enough airflow to cool down Circupipe.

 

Well, that's a bit strange - the MSI P35 Diamond seems to 'mix' the timings a little bit. At 480 MHz, it applies CAS latency for 533 MHz but everything else as if it runs at 457 MHz. It's still much more 'safer' than the ASUS P5K3, but not as 'strict' as the GIgabyte P35T-DQ6. So, out of the three DDR3 motherboards in this round up, it looks like only the Gigabyte P35T-DQ6 that manages to apply 'correct' timings for the Samsung DDR3 modules we used for this test.



The P35 Diamond does supply the core with slightly higher voltage than we'd like - 1.3 volts. We did notice something peculiar when we set the FSB clock to 400 MHz though. The BIOS would automatically raise the FSB and MCH voltages. The thing is, the adjusted values are actually deemed by the BIOS to be somewhat 'dangerous' - red color coded. This may contribute to the higher core voltage we see here. We selected a voltage one option down to slightly 'safer' levels. 



This is something we'd like to see one every motherboard - a flat - or at least reasonably free of ripple - graph of clock rate. Kudos to MSI for actually achieving such a feat on the P35 Diamond.

Expansions and Add-Ons

As a premium board, the MSI P35 Diamond comes with a plethora of expansion options. There's two x16 and x1 PCI-E slots, plus another two PCI slots. Of course, if you're planning to use the SkyTel VoIP and the X-Fi Xtreme cards, you'll be left with only one x1 PCI-E and one PCI slot. If you;re using Crossfire, both with dual slot cooling or a multi monitor setup, you'll find there's no free slots left. The good news is that the two add-on card MSI bundled won't hinder airflow (much), particularly if the graphics cards you use has their intake further inside the case (near the end of the card).

On the ATX back panel, MSI chose to do things differently to other vendors. They ditch the serial and paralel port completely and in their place you'll see four USB ports, a Firewire port and an optical SPDIF output port. PS/2 ports are still present, so users who still prefer PS/2 peripherals need not worry. In addition to these ports, you can also find two USB ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, two eSATA ports and the standard six analog audio ports. A bracket with one Firewire port is included. Honestly though, we think MSI should have placed the port on back panel - either under the four USB ports (like the SPDIF output port) or on top of the eSATA ports. We also prefer a much more flexibile arrangements of eSATA ports like on Gigabyte motherboards - using two SATA ports on the ICH9R as eSATA ports means you can only use four internal SATA drives (plus one from the Marvell SATA / IDE controller which doesn't support RAID). We think the SATA port placement could've been better - while the four ICH 9 ports shouldn't interfere with long, dual slot cooled graphics cards, the fifth SATA port courtesy of the Marvell chip will likely go unused if you have a dual slot cooling card on the second x16 PCI-E slot.   

The necessary cable accessories - four SATA cables, one 4 pin ATX with two SATA power connectors, an IDE and floppy cable are included. Too bad, the IDE and floppy cable are not the rounded cable type.Of course, all the drivers and other utilities (including those for the add-on bundled cards) are included with the board..

Tweaking and Overclocking Options

The MSI P35 Platinum BIOS offer lots of tweaking and overclocking options, enough for most people and average users. Important settings like FSB, memory timings and voltage settings can be set automatically or manually adjusted. What we slightly dislike is the method for strap configuration - the MSI P35 Diamond relies on two jumpers. Think that's bad? Well, it gets worse - they are placed in front of the first x1 PCI-E slot so you have to remove your dual slot cooling graphics card to access them. Thankfully, in their default state (333MHz on our sample), achieving 400 MHz is a no brainer.

There are two feature we think MSI should consider adding to their BIOS - a built in BIOS flasher and BIOS profile support. These features will go a long way to making it easier for installation and troubleshooting, especially when you're looking for the best overclocking setting.

There are some small things MSI could have done differently Here's what we think they should've done:
Overall, we are disappointed with the MSI P35 Diamond board. It may offer good value due to the bundling of X-Fi Xtreme audio and SkyTell VoIP card, but the board have too many misses on other areas - the design of Circupipe, the strap jumper placement, the eSATA port arrangement, less usable SATA ports due to the use of the Marvell 88SE6111 chip and last,  the RAID issue with some configurations. The MSI P35 Diamond just doesn't feel like a premium board it potentially can be.

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