DigitTimes reports that MSI has cooked up a motherboard based on Nvidia's nForce 680i SLI chipset that features an integrated Sound Blaster X-Fi sound chip from Creative. This P6N Diamond motherboard, which MSI is showing off at CeBIT, has a built-in version of the X-Fi XtremeAudio, Creative's cheapest X-Fi sound card on the market today.  This integrated version of the X-Fi series may lack some of the features that the add-in cards deliver, but for many the opportunity to have X-Fi onboard means lower costs and better performance than other integrated audio solutions. MSI mentioned that it has been working closely with Creative for over two years and the co-operation is working well for both parties.

In addition to its above-average onboard audio, the P6N Diamond has a few other features that make it stand out from the crowd of 680i-based boards. As with boards from other manufactures, the P6N features three x16 PCIe Express (PCIe) slots, and then adds a fourth for good measure. The four slots are paired up electrically as two x16 and two x8 and allow the P6N to support SLI plus a couple of PCIe add-in cards now, but MSI also mentioned SLI Physics and Quad-SLI will also be possible in the near future. Additionally, MSI highlighted that the RAID controller on the P6N supports hardware RAID 0 and 1 as well as RAID 5 in software.

MSI is quoted by DigiTimes as saying that the P6N Diamond marks the first appearance of the X-Fi on its motherboards, and that the company plans to feature X-Fi audio chips on more boards in the future, including models based on Intel's next-gen Bearlake chipsets. In the meantime, the P6N Diamond is reportedly expected to launch in the second quarter with a price tag of $280.

I do applaud MSI's attempts at bringing higher quality audio on-board, but if they're going to cut features......Also, just like the onboard "Audigy" we saw before, this "X-Fi" is not hardware accelerated at all. It's another software-based solution....