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Microstar International P6N SLI-FI (MS7350-010) Rev-1.0
Reviews Views Date of last review
1 8116 09-06-2007
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Recommended By Average Price Average Rating
100% of reviewers $130.00 10.0



Description: nVidia nForce 650i SLI chipset based motherboard for Dual-core & CORE2 Intel LGA775 CPU's.
Features (mfgr's specs): 1333FSB, 4 DDR2 DIMM Slots support up to 8 GB @ 1066Mhz, Dual PCI-E Slots (x16+x1 or x8+x8) 3 PCI slots & 1 PCIx1 slot, Realtek RTL8211BL Gigabit LAN, 2 ATA connectors for 4 devices, 4 SATA ports, Reraltek ALC888 High-Def Audio, Parallel port, serial (COM1) header, SPDIF header, FireWire header & FireWire port on rear panel, 5 audio jacks, 8 USB ports (2 on rear panel), 4 fan headers, audio-panel header.
Incl. D-Bracket, SLI-Bracket & Bridge, SATA power * data cables, S-Video cable, ATA cable, manual, installation instructions & driver CD's (for Windows).
Keywords: MSI 7350 motherboard P6NSLI nVidia nforce
/sbin/lspci output: 00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a2)
00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:02.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:02.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation Unknown device 03bc (rev a1)
00:02.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)
00:07.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)
00:09.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:0a.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 LPC Bridge (rev a3)
00:0a.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP51 SMBus (rev a3)
00:0a.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Memory Controller 0 (rev a3)
00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 IDE (rev a1)
00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:10.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP51 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
00:14.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Ethernet Controller (rev a3)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Unknown device 016a (rev a1)
04:06.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 536EP Data Fax Modem
sh-3.2#
Chipset: nVidia nForce 650i (MCP51 NB & 430i SB)
Connection Type: What *is* this space for? :) FWIW I'm on dialup.


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Old 09-06-2007, 08:00 AM   #1
GrapefruiTgirl
 
Registered: Dec 2006
Distribution: Slackware 11/2.6.25.9, EasYs, Bluewhite64-12
Posts: 2,346
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: $130.00 | Rating: 10

Kernel (uname -r): 2.6.24.4 SMP
Distribution: Slackware 11



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I was fairly confident after reading plenty about this board before purchasing, but now that I have it, I am delighted.
I give it a 10/10 for Linux compatibility (Slack 11.0 kernel 2.6).
Despite my OS/kernel being specifically compiled & configured for my old Intel 845PE board with 1.8Ghz Northwood P4 CPU, it booted right up first try after I put in this board and an Intel E2160 CORE2 1.8 CPU and new e-GeForce 7100GS VGA card. Then I rebuilt my kernel a few times to incorporate the nVidia chipset support and other device support I needed, and set up my video config for dual monitors.
Kernel driver option for the LAN is for an older LAN chip but works perfectly, no re-configuration necessary. Similarly, the kernels 'Intel HD Audio' ALSA driver identifies my sound device as an ALC883 instead of the ALC888 which it actually is, but again, perfect functionality, great sound, with no messing around. I suspect the kernel devel folks will catch up shortly.
512MB of Corsair Value-Select DDR2-667 Ram worked out of the box with 'AUTO' settings in BIOS.
BIOS is AMI (I flashed to latest v2.3) and is (typically of AMI) well laid out and easy to set up, with loads of config options if you desire, including dynamic auto-overclocking and lots of volt/clock adjustment available for NB, SB, RAM, CPU, and more memory timings than one can shake a stick at. The dynamic auto-overclocking doesn't seem very reliable to me (locked up under load several times -- might have been my kernel config, I dunno), so I manually overclocked to 2.1 Ghz using the FSB, and the board is ROCK-STABLE, crash-free and fast!
LM_Sensors works very well for hardware monitoring, though the drivers for 'Intel CORE2 coretemp' and the 'Fintek F71882FG' Super-I/O chip are very new and not yet proven perfect; I did a fair bit of tuning before I was happy with my LM_Sensors output, and as yet am only getting RPM reading for the CPU cooler (EDIT: only 3 of the 4 fan headers actually report their speed-- the board is designed like this; after proper configuration of lm_sensors, they all now report speed correctly).
The second ATA connector (and SATA ports) can be used as IDE or RAID (set in BIOS), and I use it for an IDE DVD-ROM and CD-ROM. No issues there.
I haven't any SATA devices (EDIT: See below) and I don't use or plan to use SLI-bridged technology.
Supplied North Bridge passive heat sink unit is fancy-looking but kinda junky and runs quite warm; I replaced mine with a home-modded heatsink and fan from an old P2 or P3 CPU, with great results. My machine runs VERY COOL.
All in all, this MSI board is an excellent, linux compatible, fast reliable board, easy to overclock with built-in recovery from bad overclocks, and a good deal for $130.00 CDN or so. I would buy another one without hesitation.

UPDATE: April 2008

Better than 6 months has gone by, and I have nothing but praise for this motherboard/chipset, and for its Linux friendliness.
Kernel is now 2.6.23.12.
I have since added a second 7200GS/7300SE video card, and flipped the SLI switch-card over to SLI mode (had to to get the card to power on) so I am currently running 3 or 4 monitors in a setup of 3 or 4 separate X-screens like a giant desktop.
I have installed 4x1GB 667-DDR2 64bit Kingston ram sticks. No problem at all-- BIOS and Linux sees it all.
Also have added a SATA DVD/CD burner- Works fine! Keep in mind though that SATA/SCSI driver(s) on this board are **maybe** not as perfect yet as IDE drivers (EDIT: the SATA sr driver says in dmesg that in wants to be upgraded. Hmmm..); sending the wrong type of commands to my SATA unit makes it act weird or hang temporarily. Remember for SCSI devices to use SDPARM not HDPARM.
Added a wireless GE Keyboard + Mouse today- Simply plugged in the base station, hit the SETUP button on it, then the SETUP buttons on the kbd and mouse, and presto! All working right away.

EDIT: the board actually has 4 USB ports on back by default, plus headers for 4 more.

NOTE - my board came with BIOS v2.3 but check the MSI site on occasion for new BIOS. It is v2.5 now. I flash it by booting a DOS boot floppy, then run the flash tool from the MSI website.

I still recommend this product--- 110%
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