![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, April 09, 2008
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
MSI P7N SLI Platinum
While the MSI P7N SLI Platinum is squarely marketed as a budget board, its heart beats like that of a champion. Just how well can this nForce 750i SLI based board compete against its seemingly more powerful Intel brethren?
BIOS
For the P7N SLI Platinum’s BIOS, MSI chose to use an AMIBIOS style design, with the BIOS used for testing version 1.0.
The System Information page, accessed via the System Information link within the Standard CMOS Features menu, shows real-time read-only information on the CPU, BIOS, and memory currently installed in to the system.
The Advanced BIOS Features menu contains all system options for configuring boot related settings. The PCI Latency Timer option controls the latency of the entire PCI bus, and can be useful for stabilizing your system while overclocking. The CPU Feature submenu contains a subset of the available CPU specific configuration options, including the following settings: execute bit support, and limit CPUID maxval. The system drive boot order is configured using the Boot Sequence submenu, with detected USB 2.0 type devices available for selection as well.
The Integrated Peripherals menu contains settings and submenus for configuring all system integrated devices. The onboard USB, LAN, IEEE 1394, eSATA, and audio devices can all be configured via settings within the top level menu. The Onboard E-SATA Controller option sets the operating mode of the JMicron eSATA ports, with the RAID boot bios showing on system startup with the RAID setting selected. The On-Chip ATA Devices submenu contains configuration options for all IDE and SATA ports tied to the NVIDIA Southbridge controller. The RAID mode setting controls the operating mode of the controller chip, with the ability to tie each port to the set operating mode on an individual basis. The RAID boot BIOS only displays on system startup with drives connected to one of the RAID enabled SATA 2 ports.
The H/W Monitor menu shows read-only statistics for BIOS monitored items, including various system temperatures, fan speeds, and voltages. The CPU Smart FAN Target option allows for controlling the speed of the fan connected to the CPUFAN1 header via the measured temperature of the CPU itself. The attached fan speeds up based on how high the temperature climbs above the target temperature value.
The Cell Menu screen contains all automated and manual board overclocking related settings, including bus speed, voltage, and memory timing related manipulation settings. The D.O.T. Control option (where D.O.T. stands for Dynamic Overclocking Technology) allows for BIOS controlled overclocking, with the highest level of overclocking available at 15%. This Dynamic Overclocking Technology is controlled via the MSI developed CoreCell chip, which automatically detects when the CPU is running applications and dynamically applies the desired overclocking settings. With the System Clock Mode option set to Manual, the CPU and memory clock settings become user configurable. The base CPU FSB can be set to a maximum quad-pumped value of 2500 via the FSB Clock (MHz) value, which translates to a base FSB value of 625MHz. Similarly, the Memory Clock (MHz) option has a maximum speed of 1400. The Adjusted DRAM Frequency (MHz) option shows the actual speed the memory modules will run based on the user defined setting. The Adjust CPU Ratio option sets the CPU multiplier, with the physical CPU speed calculated by multiplying its value by the value from the FSB Clock (MHz) setting. The PCI-Express bus speed is set via the Adjust PCI-E Frequency (MHz) setting, with a maximum value of 200MHz allowed. The CPU voltage can be set to a maximum of +0.3875V over the default CPU voltage. Using this method of voltage setting rather than defining absolute values makes is much easier to configure the base voltage for overclocking. The memory voltage option has a settable ceiling of 3.10V. Keep in mind that it is recommended to use active cooling on your memory modules when using more than 2.15V. The VTT FSB Voltage (V) setting controls the CPU termination voltage, with a 1.60V maximum available. The maximum Northbridge chipset voltage can be set to 1.59V, while the Southbridge voltage can be set to 1.70V.
The board memory timing settings are configured via the Advance DRAM Configuration submenu. The listed settings become user configurable with the Memory Timings option set to Manual: CAS latency; RAS to CAS delay (tRCD); RAS precharge delay (tRP); active to precharge delay (tRAS); RAS to RAS delay (tRRD); row cycle time (tRC); write recovery time (tWR); write to read delay (tWTR); refresh period (tREF); and command rate (1T/2T Memory Timing). Note that on the memory timings listed, the numerically lower setting forces more aggressive memory operation.
The USER SETTINGS menu allows for saving and loading of up to 2 user configured BIOS profiles. Note that the profiles cannot be custom named.