Final words and conclusion

Abit K9N-SLI

The Abit K9N-SLI was the least problematic and most feature loaded motherboard of this roundup. Of course, it was slightly more expensive than the other two. However for 20€ more you get dual LAN, Firewire and SLI support. It also has a rich bundle and good design layout. The BIOS is very good, providing a wide selection of options and voltage ranges, but it can still be improved. The main problem with the K9N-SLI is the missing legacy ports; users with peripherals which require serial or parallel ports will face the need to buy more recent equipment. But not many people and especially enthusiasts should have serial and parallel devices nowadays, so that is not much of a problem. The Abit K9N-SLI was the only motherboard which almost always excelled through our performance benchmarks, getting the lead by small but consistent margins.

The average price of the Abit K9N-SLI is 120€ in EU at the time of this review.We believe that the Abit K9N-SLI is worthy of our Editor’s Choice Award. It offers a great number of features and a rich bundle at a good price.

What do these awards mean?

Asus M2N-E

The Asus M2N-E is not a poor motherboard overall, but we feel that it is not suited for an enthusiast. It does perform well, but it lacks several features (such as dual LAN and Firewire) and the BIOS voltage settings range is unjustifiably poor. The layout of the motherboard is good, but the bundle is substandard. While the M2N-E is reasonably fast and stable, it is more suited for value PC builders and common PC systems, not enthusiasts and overclockers.

The average price of the Asus M2N-E is 100€ in EU at the time of this review.

MSI K9N Platinum

The MSI K9N Platinum is a good motherboard overall. It performs well, it is stable and it has a wide range of options in the BIOS. It lacks many RAM settings, but that is not a true problem since 99% of the users only experiment with the basic RAM timings. The bundle is above average, but it is missing the necessary storage driver floppy disks so the end user will have to make his/her own. What plagues the MSI K9N Platinum is the layout of the board. There are so many oversights that the educated enthusiast would believe that someone designed it without making a reasonable effort.

So many layout mistakes are inexcusable for an enthusiast motherboard, even a middle range one. However, the MSI K9N Platinum offers a wide array of features and is the only motherboard in this roundup which has a Parallel port.

The average price of the MSI K9N Platinum is 110€ in EU at the time of this review.