Micro-Star International (MSI) and Gigabyte Technology today introduced motherboards that support AMD's AM2 platform and the Nvidia nForce 500 series chipsets, while Biostar announced its TForce 590 SLI Deluxe and TForce 570 U Deluxe motherboards for the new platform.
MSI said that it has three K9N-series motherboards available, including the K9N Diamond, the K9N SLI Platinum and K9N Ultra. The K9N Diamond and K9N SLI Platinum both feature Nvidia nForce 500-series SLI chipsets and two PCIe x16 slots for supporting SLI on the AMDs AM2 platform The company is also offering the K9A Platinum which supports the ATI CrossFire Xpress3200 chipset, according to the company.
Gigabyte unveiled its first model for its S-series of motherboards for the AMD socket AM2 platform, the GA-M59SLI-S5.
| MSI motherboards for AMD AM2 platform | ||||
| Feature | K9N Diamond | K9N SLI Platinum | K9N Ultra | K9A Platinum |
| CPU | AMD Socket-AM2 Athlon 64 FX/X2 and Sempron | |||
| Chipset | Nvidia nForce 590 SLI MCP | Nvidia nForce 570 SLI MCP | Nvidia nForce 570 MCP | ATI RD580 Xpress3200 |
| PCI Express (PCIe) | 2 PCIe x16 for SLI | 1 PCIe x16 slots for VGA | 2 PCI-E x16 full speed slots for CrossFire mode and dual VGA | |
| Memory | 4 dual-channel DIMMs DDR2 533/667/800 (for up to 8GB) | |||
| Network port | Dual-LAN 10/100/1000 for PC center | Dual-LAN 10/100/1000 and FireWire | ||
| Audio | 7.1-channel surround hardware Audio with EAX | 8-channel High Definition Audio | ||
| SATA | 6 SATA2, storage and data transfer up to 3.0GB/sec | |||
| RAID | 0, 1, 0+1,5 | |||
| Expansion slots (not including graphics slot) | 2 PCIe x1, 3 PCI | |||
| USB | 10x USB 2.0, 2x IEEE1394 | 10x USB 2.0 | 10x USB 2.0, 2x IEEE1394 | |
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Source: Company, compiled by DigiTimes, May 2006
| Gigabyte GA-M59SLI-S5 for the AMD AM2 platform | |
| Item | Feature |
| CPU | AMD Socket-AM2 Athlon 64 FX/X2 and Sempron |
| Chipset | Nvidia nForce 590 SLI |
| Memory | 4 dual-channel DIMMs DDR2 800 (for up to 16GB) |
| Slots | 2 PCIe x16, PCIe x8, 2 PCI |
| Audio | 8-channel ALC888DO HD Audio |
| SATA | 8 SATA and 2 external SATA2, storage and data transfer up to 3.0GB/sec |
| RAID | 0, 1, 0+1, 5, JBOD |
| Ports | 10x USB 2.0, 3x IEEE1394 |
| Photo | |
Source: Company, compiled by DigiTimes, May 2006





