The MSI K9N2 Diamond is a mid-range gaming motherboard that supports the Phenom processor with three PCI Express graphics slots, four DDR2 memory slots and a huge passive cooling system on the chipset. The board uses an Nvidia nForce 780a SLI chipset and supports as many as three Nvidia graphics cards in SLI.

The primary graphics slot is supplied with 16 lanes of PCI Express 2.0 and if you run SLI with two graphics cards, the second slot also gets the full 16 lanes. Should you feel extravagant and choose to install three GeForce 9800GTX or GTX 280 graphics cards in Tri-SLI, the second group of 16 lanes is split equally between the second and third slots.

Most of the ports and connectors on the I/O panel follow the usual form for a motherboard at this price. In addition to the four USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire, dual Ethernet and two eSATA ports there are two more USB ports on a bracket along with a second Firewire port. MSI supplies a Creative X-Fi PCI Express card that uses the only PCI Express x1 slot on the board, so taking that lot together you've got everything you would expect to find on a motherboard for gamers.

Get the latest Dell Coupons and other computer coupons at CheapStingyBargains.com.

Take a close look at the I/O panel and you'll see something that looks out of place, as MSI has included a DVI-D graphics output. We all know that integrated graphics have no place on a hardcore motherboard so you may wonder what's going on. The nForce 780a chipset includes a GeForce 8400GS graphics core which can be used in a number of ways. The most mundane approach is to use the mGPU without a graphics card, which gives you a modest level of graphics performance.

The second method is to plug in a graphics card that has a similar level of performance to the integrated 8400GS. This is GeForce Boost which effectively adds the two graphics chips in SLI to increase performance, but we reckon that's also a bit dull.

The third way is called HybridPower. Provided you're using a GeForce 9800 graphics card (or later) in Windows Vista you can use the graphics drivers to put your beefy graphics card into stand-by to save power by using the mGPU to handle the Windows desktop, e-mail and Internet browsing. When it's time to play a game you flick the switch in the drivers and it is all systems go as your graphics card comes to life. It's a neat idea that works well, but you have to wonder if life wouldn't be easier if power-saving was improved within the graphics card to avoid the need for switching from mGPU to GPU and back again.

The layout of the K9N2 Diamond packs in a great deal of hardware including the features we have already listed, a second IDE connector at the bottom of the motherboard and three micro buttons for Power, Reset and Clear CMOS

On paper it's a winner but in the real world we're not so sure, and there are two distinct reasons for this line of thinking. The first point is that gamers who are considering SLI or Tri-SLI are likely to choose an Intel Core 2 processor rather than a Phenom.

The second issue is that Nvidia has a history of making chipsets that consume lots of power and kick out loads of waste heat, and the passive cooling system on the K9N2 couldn't manage without a case fan blowing across the heatsinks. That's disappointing in any event but as the 780a puts the emphasis on power-saving for the graphics it seems like an unfortunate oversight.

HybridSLI is an intriguing feature of the 780a chipset but there's no getting away from the fact that serious gamers are unlikely to select a Phenom processor. Having said that, if you're determined to wed Phenom with SLI graphics then this is the way to do it.