Verdict: A disappointing debut for NForce 570
Unless you've been living like a hermit in a cave for the last six months, you'll already know that AMD is launching a new range of Athlon 64s that support DDR2, rather than DDR memory. This evolutionary upgrade has also prompted a new socket, Socket AM2, and a batch of new motherboards, the first of which is this MSI K9N SLI Platinum.
However, in addition to needing new RAM, AM2 also requires a new chipset, and Nvidia's new nForce500-series is the first to arrive. The nForce 570 SLI forms the basis of the K9N SLI Platinum motherboard, although it has a lower spec than the more advanced nForce 590 SLI chipset.
Like the nForce4 SLI chipset, the nForce 570 SLI chipset supports two 8x PCI-E slots for SLI, or a single 16x PCI-E slot, with a further three PCI slots and two 1x PCI-E slots. The high-speed PCI-E slots are spaced well apart from each other, which will make it easy to cool two high-end graphics cards. The nForce570 chip itself is passively cooled by a large heatsink, while the VRMs near the CPU socket are also passively cooled. Despite the new socket, you can use any Socket 939 HSF or waterblock.
The K9N SLI Platinum can support up to 4GB of PC2-3200 (400MHz), PC2-4200 (533MHz), PC2-5400 (667MHz) or PC2-6400 (800MHz) RAM. We tried a few different DDR2 DIMMs, including our standard Corsair XMS2-5400UL test RAM, which ran happily at 667MHz at 4 - 4 - 4 - 15 timings. We then tried some 800MHz A-Data Vitesta PC2-6400 RAM, which worked fine at 800MHz at 5 - 5 - 5 - 18 timings, although it performed the same as the Corsair. Strangely, the Kingston HyperX 5400 DIMMs we tried POSTed at 520MHz with 4 - 4 - 4 - 12 timings, and with our Elite-listed Mushkin PC2-4200 installed, the PC refused to boot.
The on-board sound has been upgraded from AC97 to HD Audio, while one of the two EIDE controllers has been replaced by two extra S-ATA II ports, which support RAID 0, 1 and 0+1. Oddly, the board doesn't support RAID 5, even though this is a new feature of the nForce5 chipset. There are also ten USB 2 ports and two FireWire ports.
The only AM2 CPU we could get our mitts on was a 2.8GHz Athlon 64 FX-62. With this CPU and our Corsair test RAM installed, the K9N SLI Platinum delivered an impressive score of 1.59 in our Media Benchmarks. Of course, we don't have anything with which to compare this until we test some more AM2 motherboards, but you can see a clock-for-clock comparison of the performance of AM2 vs Socket 939 on the opposite page.
Games appear not to benefit from the new CPU, though, as the K9N SLI Platinum averaged 36fps in Need for Speed: Most Wanted at 1,280 x 1,024 with low AA and low AF, which is 1fps more than our Pentium D reference PC.
We can say for certain, however, that the K9N SLI Platinum is a poor overclocker. The BIOS allows you to increase the vcore by 0.35V, and adjust the memory voltage between 1.8V and 2.45V, but there are no chipset voltage controls or HTT multiplier controls.
We could only overclock the 2.8GHz Athlon 64 FX-62 to 3GHz at its default vcore (1.4V), and when we increased the vcore higher than 1.4V, the VRMs on the K9N SLI Platinum overheated and shut down. If MSI is serious about selling the K9N SLI Platinum to overclockers then it needs to attach a fan to the VRM heatsink. Even by lowering the CPU multiplier from 14x to 5x, the K9N SLI Platinum would only POST with a 240MHz FSB, well short of the 350MHz or higher at which nForce4 will POST.
With the CPU multiplier increased from 14x to 15x, and the CPU running at 3GHz, the K9N SLI Platinum's performance in the Media Benchmarks increased by 6 per cent, which is hardly earth-shattering.
CONCLUSION
The K9N SLI Platinum is a poor start for nForce 570, as it's a worse overclocker than its predecessor, nForce4 SLI. That said, early nForce4 SLI boards required numerous BIOS updates before being transformed into the tweakable monsters they are today, so hopefully MSI can iron out the issues.
With this in mind, our advice is to hold on to your cash. On paper, the nForce 590 SLI chipset is a better proposition, so it's worth waiting to see what the various manufacturers can make of it before taking the plunge on AM2.
