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MSI K7N415 Pro (NVIDIA nForce 415-D) Mainboard


 

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The board differs from its full version only in a sticker which covers the label "K7N420", and in a lack of the VGA connector on the back side. Note that we tested a pre-production sample.

Accessories:

  • Package: a standard design;
  • Documentation: a user manual in English;
  • Cables: 1 ATA66/100 and 1 FDD;
  • D-Bracket;
  • Bracket for the rear panel with a composite SPDIF-out;
  • Bracket for the rear panel with two USB ports;
  • CD with software including:
    • drivers;
    • AMI and Award utilities for operation with Suspend-To-Disk function;
    • WinFlash from Award for flashing BIOS from Windows;
    • LiveBIOS;
    • Fuzzy Logic 3;
    • PC Alert;
    • MSI DVD Player;
    • GoodMem;
    • Adobe Acrobat Reader;
    • X-Setup - for adjusting most of parameters from Windows;
    • PC-Cillin 2000 - anti-virus suite;
    • 3Deep - for color adjustment;
    • VNC - for remote computer access.

The layout is not very good: audio-ins are in front of the PCI slots, IDE and FDD connectors are behind them, and a power connector is between the socket and the outputs to the rear panel. It's easy to reach jumpers even when the board is already installed. Functions of almost all jumpers and switches are shown on the textolite.

The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates 4 capacitors of 2200 uF and 7 of 1200 uF.

The following controllers are integrated: an audio one based on the chipset's capabilities and the AC'97 codec Analog Devices AD1885; a network controller based on the chipset's capabilities supporting 10 BaseT/100 BaseTX.

Non-unsoldered connectors: a connector and a chip for TV-Out(?).

The system monitoring is supported by the W83697HF chip from Winbond. Processor voltage (+/-3.3, +/-5 and +/-12 V), speed of 3 fans and temperatures of the processor (a built-in sensor), and of the board (a built-in sensor) can be controlled. There are 2 connectors for adjustable connection of fans and 1 for non-adjustable.

Brief characteristics of the board: memory slots - 3 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 5 PCI/ CNR; I/O ports - 2 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 6 USB 1.1; dimensions - 305x225 mm.

Adjustment can be carried out with:

jumpers and switches Jumper to clear up the CMOS
Switches to change a CPU multiplier 100/133 MHz
Jumper to make possible to start up a computer with a keyboard
BIOS based on v6.00PG from Award Setup of memory timings + CAS Latency Override
Setup of memory frequency + DDR200, DDR266
Setup of AGP bus +
Setup of PCI bus +
Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses -
Manual assignment of interrupts -
Changeable FSB frequency + 100, 105, 106, 111, 114, 133, 137, 140, 145, 147, 154 and 157 MHz
Changeable CPU multiplier + x5-x12.5
Changeable core voltage + -0.05, -0.02, Default, +0.02, +0.05 and +0.1 V
Changeable memory voltage -
Changeable chipset voltage -
Changeable AGP bus voltage -

We used the latest available version of the BIOS - 3.0B4.

The board has not much peculiarities - this is just a high-quality product.

Test results:




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