Conclusion

This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.

The results are kind of mixed on the MSI K7N420 Pro motherboard. On one hand, the board is a great motherboard for those who want a fast system or want a cheap solution for a complete system. The on-board video, audio, networking and more will offer all but the hardcore of PC enthusiasts a great machine that will play most any game available and higher than necessary frame rates. The stability of the board when at default setting is quite good and a system built around the board would do well for anything you can throw at it. From your system to your mom’s (no insult meant!), the MSI K7N420 Pro board is a winner.

However, there is a downside to the board for the PC enthusiast: overclocking. Surely you noticed the near complete lack of overclocking options on the K7N420 Pro. If you had plans of taking your shiny new Athlon XP 2000+ and pushing it to 2200+ land, its not going to happen on this MSI board. Even if you could force the multiplier adjustments with changing settings on the processor, the stability of the motherboard is questionable with even a slightly increased system bus.

If you can live without the overclocking part of the system, the features on the MSI K7N420 Pro are great. For about $160 you can get a motherboard, video card, sound card with Dolby Digital, network card and eventually video output. All you need then is a processor, memory, and hard drive — you nearly have a complete system for a very low cost but with decent performance. Performance with the GeForce 3 instead of the onboard GF2 video shows the NVIDIA chipset is still able to keep up with the VIA KT266A motherboards in all the tests and win out in some of them. Overclocking aside, the board is meant for PC enthusiasts.

There will soon be more NVIDIA nForce chipset solutions out and available for consumer’s to purchase. Abit’s and Asus’s are a couple you will want to keep an eye out for, especially for their reviews and Amdmb.com. 🙂

Overall Rating
MSI K7N420 Pro nForce 420-D Motherboard Review - Motherboards 10MSI K7N420 Pro nForce 420-D Motherboard Review - Motherboards 10MSI K7N420 Pro nForce 420-D Motherboard Review - Motherboards 10MSI K7N420 Pro nForce 420-D Motherboard Review - Motherboards 10MSI K7N420 Pro nForce 420-D Motherboard Review - Motherboards 10MSI K7N420 Pro nForce 420-D Motherboard Review - Motherboards 10MSI K7N420 Pro nForce 420-D Motherboard Review - Motherboards 10MSI K7N420 Pro nForce 420-D Motherboard Review - Motherboards 10MSI K7N420 Pro nForce 420-D Motherboard Review - Motherboards 18
(8.5 / 10.0)

Buy the MSI K7N420 Pro at Monarch Computer!

« PreviousNext »