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What can I say about the MSI P6N SLI Platinum motherboard, if I haven said it clearly enough already.

First, I do like the NVIDIA 650i SLI chipset - in general, the MSI P6N SLI Platinum motherboard is pretty much your average mid-range motherboard.

In terms of performance, it actually exceeded my expectations. Some of the gaming benchmarks were extraordinary, in the top rankings with even the best competitors. Memory testing did pretty well too, and actually gave those two Intel chipsets a run for their money. And the overclocking saw some very considerable, very welcome, very nice boosts in performance. Overall, I'd have to say that the NVIDIA 650i SLI chipset is a winner.

But (and I emphasize the word 'But'), there were far too many glaring engineering and design errors to let this board completely off the hook. The BIOS needs to be fixed and the motherboard needs some design tweaks. Don't get me totally wrong, MSI has done their homework with the P6N SLI Platinum and should be commended. But as for presentation, I didn't ever really get the impression that I was playing with would deliver in the performance department. It took all of the bench testing and all of those figures to tell me that this board is strong.

Would I ever buy one? Perhaps, if I were building a mid-range system. Most likely, if MSI were to roll out a version 2.0 of this board (with a far more functional BIOS). And in a snap if they were to develop a deluxe version, say perhaps called the 'MSI P6N SLI Platinum II Deluxe' which addresses all of the issues we raised. The $160 to $170 USD price tag feels maybe twenty bucks too high, but may be worth it in the near future.

Let's put it this way; in a couple of months, when MSI releases a new BIOS, and when the asking price has dropped just a tad, I may just consider picking one up. My mom needs a new system, and the MSI P6N SLI Platinum could be a very nice start to a nice PC. Wait, my dad needs a new computer too.