ID Software Quake 4 1.3	Source: id Software

Quake 4 is the latest shooter from ID and is based on the Doom 3 engine. Tweaked to for more eye candy, Quake 4 promises to be tougher on videocards and systems than its predecessor was. Quake 4 also does not have a 60 fps limiter like Doom 3, with the Ultra setting, graphic textures can surpass the 500MB mark! Each test is run three times and with the third run being recorded.

ID Software Quake 4 1.3
LQ 640x480:	FPS	Ranking
ASRock AM2V890-VSTA (K8T890 200/800 A64 5000+)	154.4
Albatron KM51PV-AM2 (GF6150 200/800 A64 5000+)	152.9
MSI K9N SLI Platinum (NF 570 SLI 200/800 A64 5000+)	150.5
Asus M2-CROSSHAIR (NF 590 SLI 200/800 A64 5000+)	146.4
Foxconn 975X7AA-8EKRS2H (975X 200/667 PD 840)	127.3
MSI P4N Diamond (NF4 SLI 200/800 PD 840)	150.5
Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe (P965 200/800 PD 840)	113.8
ECS PN2 SLI2+ (NF 680i SLI 200/800 Core 2 Duo GeForce 7800GTX Single)	203.7
ECS PN2 SLI2+ (NF 680i SLI 200/800 Core 2 Duo GeForce 7800GTX SLI)	200.6
Asus P5N32-SLI Premium (NF 590 SLI 200/800 Core 2 Duo GeForce 7800GTX Single)	203.5
Asus P5N32-SLI Premium (NF 590 SLI 200/800 Core 2 Duo GeForce 7800GTX SLI)	198.7
Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H (975X 200/800 Core 2 Duo)	202.5
MSI 975X Platinum (975X 200/800 Core 2 Duo)	202.8
Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe (P965 200/800 Core 2 Duo)	202.8
Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 (P965 200/800 Core 2 Duo)	201.2
Foxconn P9657AA-8KS2H (P965 200/800 Core 2 Duo)	202.4
MSI P965 Platinum (P965 200/800 Core 2 Duo)	202.1
MSI P6N SLI Platinum (NF 650i 200/800 Core 2 Duo GeForce 7800GTX Single)	204.7
MSI P6N SLI Platinum (NF 650i 200/800 Core 2 Duo GeForce 7800GTX SLI)	203.6

Quake 4 framerates show us that the MSI P6N SLI Platinum is just as capable as the next. If you want to build a fast gaming computer, this mainstream oriented chipset has the stuff.

The nForce 650i has what it takes

With all the motherboard options available at the moment, it's an excellent time to upgrade. There are many good Intel Core 2 Duo motherboards out there and the MSI P6N SLI Platinum is definitely one of them. Based on nVIDIA's mainstream nForce 650i SLI chipset, on paper anyway it looks to offer a good mix of performance and value.

With a retail price of $200 CDN ($171 US, £87 GBP) the MSI P6N SLI Platinum is pricey, but not as expensive as nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Intel Edition based motherboards are.

The board PCSTATS tested features SLI capabilities, Gigabit networking, external SATA, IEEE 1394a, two full IDE connectors and 7.1 channel audio. There are four Serial ATA II ports which support RAID modes 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 and one eSATA port at the rear. In terms of external peripherals you can connect up to eight USB devices to the motherboard (four via the rear I/O, the rest through headers) so you're pretty much set in terms of expansion.

Where the MSI P6N SLI Platinum really shined was in the benchmarks. In virtually every test we ran the P6N SLI platinum had no difficulties keeping up with high end chipsets like the Intel 975X Express, or nVIDIA's own nForce 680i SLI Intel Edition based motherboards. It's great to see that whether it's mainstream or high end, you can get very good performance all around from the Core 2 Duo platform.

If you're into overclocking the MSI P6N SLI Platinum will not disappoint. The unit PCSTATS tested was able to reach a pretty fast speed of 435 MHz FSB. What makes things nicer is MSI's Dual CoreCell technology, it works well to keep noise and energy usage down. On the whole MSI has put together a good well rounded package here. The P6N SLI Platinum offers a good value, even though the second PCI Express x16 slot is only usable when running SLI. In any case, if you plan on building a new PC soon, it is definitely a motherboard to consider.

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