How bad of an idea would a 750i board be?

So I've been looking at an MSI P7N-SLI-FI board. I don't need the SLI capability, but the x16/x8/x8 PCI-e slot arrangement looks pretty good for my plans of adding a RAID card and perhaps a second (non-sli'd) video card for a third monitor. So at least going by the spec sheet, that MSI board looks great. I've heard that the X38/X48 boards don't do well with hardware RAID cards, and I don't like the crippled x8/x8 PCI-e arrangement on the P45, so that kinda rules out an Intel-chipset board. And anyway, even if an X38 would work, they're all about twice the price of the MSI 750i board.

However, I know the spec sheet is only part of the story, and with what I've heard about the 600 and 700-series I'm hesitant to trust an Nvidia chipset. Some of the complaints I don't care much about, like the poor overclocking on quad-cores and troubles with the onboard fake-RAID, but other things do concern me, like the video corruption issue. (I know that particular issue was supposed to be fixed, but I heard rumblings that it wasn't 100%.)

So what would I realistically be getting myself into if I bought that MSI board?

If you don't care about the poor overclocking ability on a quad of the 7 series chipset, I say go for it. One thing to be very careful about, is that 2nd video card for a 3rd monitor. If you have Vista, it would have to be able to use the same driver as your primary video card, meaning you wouldn't be able to mix Nvida with ATI.

Y'know... I still just can't seem to get past the whole 'video corrution' bug. The more I read about it, the more the fix seems like a weak hack to me, just throwing in some extra latency to reduce the frequency of the problem while also killing memory performance. Most of the reports I see are in regards to the Evga boards, but there's also a stong possibility that there just aren't as many MSI owners to complain about it.

When I got my Nforce4 939 board, I remember I wrote off the PCI audio bug as a minor and isolated issue, and I ended up getting pretty badly screwed by that. Video is a significant percentage of what I do on my machine, so I should prolly go with my gut feeling and run far, far away from this thing.

Old Thrashbarg said:

So I've been looking at an MSI P7N-SLI-FI board. I don't need the SLI capability, but the x16/x8/x8 PCI-e slot arrangement looks pretty good for my plans of adding a RAID card and perhaps a second (non-sli'd) video card for a third monitor. So at least going by the spec sheet, that MSI board looks great. I've heard that the X38/X48 boards don't do well with hardware RAID cards, and I don't like the crippled x8/x8 PCI-e arrangement on the P45, so that kinda rules out an Intel-chipset board. And anyway, even if an X38 would work, they're all about twice the price of the MSI 750i board.

However, I know the spec sheet is only part of the story, and with what I've heard about the 600 and 700-series I'm hesitant to trust an Nvidia chipset. Some of the complaints I don't care much about, like the poor overclocking on quad-cores and troubles with the onboard fake-RAID, but other things do concern me, like the video corruption issue. (I know that particular issue was supposed to be fixed, but I heard rumblings that it wasn't 100%.)

So what would I realistically be getting myself into if I bought that MSI board?

Click to expand...

it looks like nvidia is pulling out of the chipset business anyway. I don' think there will be too much support in the not so distant future. The 7 series doesn't like Quads too much, but it'll still do alright. 4ghz is most likely out of the question, but I'm sure you could hit mid 3ghz with a 6600 or 6700. Anyway, If you're OCing I'd stay away from MSI. Probably better if you go gigabyte or ASUS

I don' think there will be too much support in the not so distant future.

Click to expand...

That's another thing... they already don't really support their older chipsets too well.

I wouldn't be overclocking the thing much anyhow... I'd be using my current E2200 and perhaps upgrade to a E5XXX or E7200 a little bit down the line. I still see no point in getting a quad. I've had good luck with MSI, and that's more important to me than overclocking ability. I've had mediocre to bad results with every Asus board since my P2B in '98, so no more of them.

But, even if it's an MSI board, it's still an Nvidia chipset. As much as I want to think it'll be okay, I just can't find enough assurance to make me willing to spend the cash on it.

I did find a possible workaround to the RAID compatibility issue on X38/X48 boards.. I'll have to research it a bit more, but that might open up a better option for me if it doesn't cause any bad side-effects. The $180 DFI X38 board on Newegg looks pretty tasty, and would avoid all of the Nvidia chipset troubles.

For nVidia chipset boards I think it's best to stay w/ eVGA or XFX...not really sure, though.

MSI might be alright if you want an intel chipset, but not as many people have one, so it'll be harder to get support on it.

If you're using the second slot for a gfx card just to support a third monitor then I would stick w/ an Intel chipset. P35 gives you x16 x4 which would work well for that specific application.

The Intel RAID is pretty good as well.

I would agree about sticking with eVGA or XFX for the the current gen nVidia boards. They are solid and full featured and overclock well.

Everybody keeps talking about overclocking, which doesn't really matter to me, or how EVGA and XFX are better because they have more features or better support and all that. That isn't what I'm asking... I want to know about the MSI board. I'd much rather have fewer features and sparse support on a board that works properly in the first place, than have a bunch of stuff I won't use followed by constant updates trying to make it all work right. In my experience, MSI has always tended toward the former.

So, lemme try this again: Does anybody know whether that MSI board is affected by the same problems I keep hearing about on other 700-series boards? The video playback bug is my main concern, but any information about other issues with it would be appreciated as well. It appears that other companies haven't yet completely solved all the troubles, but MSI also uses a different design for their board, which allows for the possibility that it is not affected in the same way. I would like to know for sure one way or the other.

Also, the third monitor thing... That doesn't matter. For some reason people seem to be latching onto that one point, but it's not one of my main concerns. The board I'm looking at happens to have a third PCI-e slot, so I mentioned one of my ideas for a possible use of it. That's all, sorry if there was a misunderstanding. Being able to use a RAID card is my first priority. And yes, I do have plans for it that cannot be done with an onboard SATA. But, I need the rest of the computer fully working and stable before I do anything fancy.