Thus far, we haven't seen any particularly daring or sexy KT600 implementations, but that doesn't mean that the chipset can't have a wild side. MSI is tossing caution to the wind with its KT6 Delta-FIS2R, which squarely targets the enthusiast market with an array of high-end extras.

If the KT6 Delta-FIS2R's laundry list of extra features doesn't make you hot, its brilliant red color scheme will. I'm not crazy about the pastel green DIMM slots, but the board still looks fast.

Despite being peppered with expansion ports and extra chips, the KT6 Delta-FIS2R's layout is remarkably clean and tidy. The board's primary power connector is about as close to the top edge as one can get, but the auxiliary plug's position isn't ideal.

A single annoying capacitor keeps the KT6 Delta-FIS2R from having a spacious CPU socket area, but it's not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. A bigger problem could be the socket's orientation, which puts the heat sink retention clip along the top edge of the board. In tight cases with little or no vertical clearance, the board may have to be removed to gain access to the heat sink retention mechanism.

Despite its crowded layout, there's plenty of room between the KT6 Delta-FIS2R's AGP and DIMM slots. Memory modules can be removed and installed without having to pull the graphics card. Though a couple of capacitors look imposing to the right of the AGP slot, they won't get in the way, even with NVIDIA's notoriously massive GeForce4 Ti 4600 and FX 5800 Ultra graphics cards.

If we count its floppy port, the KT6 Delta-FIS2R serves up a total of eight storage-related expansion ports—pretty impressive for a board that costs less than $130. IDE and Serial ATA ports are spaced out nicely along one edge of the board, but the Promise controller's IDE port is a little low to reach optical drives located at the top of full-tower cases.

MSI goes with active cooling for the KT6 Delta-FIS2R's north bridge chip, and the variable speed fan is pretty slick. However, I'm still not a huge fan of active north bridge cooling, as I've mentioned.

The KT6 Delta-FIS2R's port cluster is full of USB ports, but I can't help but wish that MSI included a couple of those ports on some sort of front-panel drive bay insert. Chances are, if you're using all six USB ports, it would be more convenient to have at least a couple of those ports at the front rather than at the rear of a case.

The KT6 Delta-FIS2R also comes with an auxiliary audio port header to fill out the board's analog outputs and add a couple of digital ports. The board doesn't have to share analog output channels with its line-in and mic inputs, and users also have access to two S/PDIF digital output options.

Thus far, the KT6 Delta-FIS2R has had no problem differentiating itself from the pack, but MSI has one more trick up its sleeve: the Core Cell chip.

So what exactly is the Core Cell? According to MSI, the chip is a diagnostic tool that tunes the board to an "optimal" state by balancing performance with power consumption and noise. The Core Cell manipulates the speeds of the north bridge and CPU fans in an attempt to keep temperatures constant and noise to a minimum. In testing, the KT6 Delta-FIS2R wasn't noticeably quieter than any of the other KT600 boards, but the benchmarking sweatshop is usually purring with the sound of multiple systems running full bore, so minute differences in noise levels are hard to notice.

MSI also claims the Core Cell can improve overclocking potential and stability over competing designs. We'll see how the KT6 Delta-FIS2R fares with overclocking a little later in this comparison.