Board layout

While both motherboards are based on the same chipset, they vary wildly in board designs. Gigabyte uses a more traditional orientation, with the memory sockets flanking the right side of the motherboard, just behind the IDE/floppy connectors, with the CPU socket in the center, and their DPS module along the left side of the board, directly behind the back plate. MSI on the other hand places the DIMM sockets on the top of the board; with the CPU socket rotated 90 degrees off-axis in comparison to NVIDIA’s reference design. On both boards, the nForce3 chip is actively cooled with a small, quiet heatsink/fan unit.

One interesting enhancement Gigabyte has added to the K8NSNXP-939 is the orientation of the nForce3 Ultra chip. Rather than placing it perpendicular to the PCI slots, Gigabyte rotates it towards the AGP interface. This change frees up more room between the components. Gigabyte also uses an AGP retention mechanism that’s much easier to operate.

Can you see the AGP retention mechanism?

There it is

AGP retention mechanism is hard to get to on the MSI board with 6800 Ultra

Much better with cards with smaller heatsinks like the X800

On the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, the AGP interface and nForce3 chip are located so close to one another that removing the graphics card is a difficult procedure – there just isn’t enough room to get your finger between the components to press down on the AGP retention mechanism and release the graphics card. Two slot cards like GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and GeForce 6800 Ultra were even more difficult to remove. We found that the best workaround for the MSI board was to use a flat-head screwdriver to manipulate the AGP retention mechanism. Gigabyte refers to their unique design as EZ-Fix.

Gigabyte uses a different system for their AGP retention mechanism

Interestingly enough, both motherboards have Serial ATA ports located between the CPU interface and the AGP slot. This location isn’t exactly ideal, as you’d like to have a clear area for better airflow between both components – they are the hottest running components within your system after all. MSI one ups Gigabyte in the sense that their primary Serial ATA ports are located along the right edge of the motherboard (which is the more traditional location) whereas the primary nForce3-powered Serial ATA ports on the Gigabyte are right in between the graphics card and CPU.

Both manufacturers color code their case connectors, as well as the connectors for both Serial ATA and Firewire headers. This makes installation of these devices a breeze, especially for novices that are new to motherboard installation.

Fewer capacitors near the CPU socket on the MSI board

CPU installation was trouble-free on both motherboards as well, although the Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939 has a bank of capacitors directly above the CPU socket that some may feel is a little too close for comfort. We didn’t have any problems though.

All things considered, we have to give the board design edge to Gigabyte, mainly due to their EZ-Fix design. When you have to remove and install new components as often as we do, EZ-Fix makes a huge difference. Hopefully NVIDIA will incorporate a little more space between the chipset and the board’s expansion slots in future products, rotating the chipset isn’t a bad idea either.