I'm currently using an MSI K9AG Neo2-Digital (AMD 690G + SB600) motherboard and there are so many niggling little issues. I suspect most people won't care about them and maybe I'm just too picky, but they're there and it bugs me.
I don't need integrated video, because I'm using a passive Radeon HD 3650.
Does anyone know how well RAID works on the nVidia chipsets? I'd been wanting to setup RAID1 on my system but from reports, the SB600 seems a bit flaky for RAID which has put me off.
- USB implementation. Not only is the USB slow (as I already knew from reviews on the SB600) but there are issues with certain devices not working in certain ports. For example, I have a Dell 2407WFP-HC and the USB hub/card reader REFUSES to work when plugged into any of the I/O panel USB ports. The only port it works in are the ones from the USB header, although it admittedly works perfectly when plugged into that, a USB I/O plate is not included so out of the box it would not work.
- PCI implementation. I've been using my Creative Audigy 2ZS on various motherboards with the kx drivers, and never had a problem with it. I never understood why people suffered the "continous tone" or "silence" problems with it. That was until I moved across to this particular board. It seems that this "bug" in the kx drivers is caused by poor PCI performance. If you stress PCI I/O, the Audigy dies. This can be achieved by inserting a VIA PCI USB controller card (unfortunately, this applies to the Nova-T-500) or by using the Audigy's firewire controller to transfer data. Tweaking PCI latency timers makes absolutely no difference.
- Missing Firewire BIOS option. When I set the board up, I had an option to enable the onboard Firewire controller. For some reason this has completely disappeared. After experimenting with it it seems that the option only appears immediately after a CMOS reset. Once it's been set and saved, it'll never appear again unless you clear the CMOS and start over. This bug is present in both 1.5 and latest 1.6 BIOS.
- USB mouse detection at POST. The board tries to be too clever and looks for a USB mouse and refuses to boot if there isn't one. I turn off my KVM switch to save power, and if the machine wakes up from hibernate to do a TV recording, it sits there at POST forever because it can't find a mouse. To work around this I have to leave an unused mouse connected all the time.
I don't need integrated video, because I'm using a passive Radeon HD 3650.
Does anyone know how well RAID works on the nVidia chipsets? I'd been wanting to setup RAID1 on my system but from reports, the SB600 seems a bit flaky for RAID which has put me off.