Manufacturer Specifications
Before we get started, let's take a look at a poorly worded tidbit about this motherboard, direct from MSI...
"Based on the ATi RADEON Xpress 3200 (RD580) Crossfire Dual-GPU chipset architecture, the MSI K9A Platinum motherboard delivers unmatched graphics performance and offers gamers tons of advanced features that will help boost up their performance to the next level.
The CrossFire is ATI's alternative to NVIDIA's SLI Dual-GPU system. ATi's CrossFire solution fundamentally does the same thing as SLI. Users can have another choice to have different platform with ATI dual graphics card solution. With the full speed of dual PCI-E x16 bandwidth, the graphic cards while CrossFire uses the PCI Express bus allowing a bit a more flexibility and improving the performance doubled for gamer."
CPU
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AMD Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64, Athlon FX and Sempron in the Socket AM2 package.
FSB
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HyperTransport supporting speed up to 1 GHz (2000MT/s)
Chipset
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ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 and SB600 Chipset
Main Memory
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Supports Dual DDR II 533/667/800
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4 DDRII DIMMs (240pin / 1.8V)
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Supports a maximum memory size up to 8GB.
Slots
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2 PCI Express x16 slots (Support ATI CrossFire Technology)
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2 PCI Express x1 slots
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2 PCI slots, support 3.3V/ 5V PCI bus Interface.
On-Board IDE
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One IDE port by ATI SB600
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Supports Ultra DMA 66/100/133 mode
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upports PIO, Bus Master operation mode
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Can connect up to two IDE devices
On-Board SATA
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4 SATA II ports by ATI SB600
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Supports storage and data transfers at up to 300 MB/s
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SATA II 1~4 supports RAID 0, 1 and 0+1 mode by ATI SB600
LAN
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Dual LAN jacks
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Realtek PCI-E GbLAN controller 8111B
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Integrated Fast Ethernet MAC and PHY in single chip
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Supports 10Mb/s, 100Mb/s and 1000Mb/s
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Compliance with PCI-Express Bus specification v1.0a
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Realtek PCI GbLAN controller 8110S
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Integrated Fast Ethernet MAC and PHY in single chip.
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Supports 10Mb/s, 100Mb/s and 1000Mb/s.
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Compliance with PCI 2.3
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Audio
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Chipset integrated by Realtek ALC883
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Flexible 8-channel audio with jack sensing
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Compliant with Azalia 1.0 Spec
IEEE1394
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Chipset integrated by VIA VT6308P
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Transfer rate is up to 400Mbps
Internal I/O Connectors
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ATX 24-pin power connector
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ATX 4-pin 12V CPU power connector
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ATX 4-pin VGA power connector
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CPU / System / NB FAN connectors
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CD-in connector
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IrDA infrared module header
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Chassis intrusion switch connector
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Front panel audio connector
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Front panel connector
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D-Bracket2 connector
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1 x IEEE1394 connector support additional 1 ports
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3 x USB 2.0 connector support additional 6 ports
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1 x Floppy disk drive connector
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4 x Serial ATA II connectors
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1 x ATA133 HD connectors
Back Panel I/O Ports
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1 x Parallel port
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1 x Serial port (COM 1)
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1 x PS/2 keyboard
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1 x PS/2 mouse
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1 x Coaxial SPDIF out
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1 x IEEE1394 Port
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1 x 6 in 1 audio jack (S/SPDIF out)
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4 x USB 2.0 ports
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2 x RJ45 LAN jack
Dimension
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30.5cm(L) x 24.5cm(W) ATX Form Factor
Mounting
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Now that we know the basics of the board, let's check out the real-world implementation of this product. The product we're looking at today is a sample board provided by ATI, but it is using a production BIOS and will perform identically to boards hitting store shelves now. However, the bundled extras may differ from the final retail product.
