Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar (More info?)
Hi!
As a newbie (well, I used to have a MSI 6178 but it is not counted) MSI
owner I would welcome all the hints for this one. I just bought a
second-hand MSI 845 Ultra-ARU (6 months in use after RMAing the original
one) via the local internet auction and started wondering what I actually
have gotten. I have a few questions, thanks for the anwers in advance! You
can answer in my email or in the newsgroup.
1. Processor. Officially the mobo supports only FSB400 Celerons and P4's but
how about unofficially? There are hints in MSI home pages that the 533
Northwoods could be run, are there any known glitches (good/bad core
steppings etc.)? Just goto bios and set the FSB to 133 (it being
quad-pumped=533) and that's it... or is it? What do the PCI and AGP think
about 133FSB, some sources say that they are overclocked and won't probably
run too good, some say that for FSB133 they are in specs in this mobo (for
FSBs >132 different divider used). Which processor would you guys use?
Celerons are cheap but are they good for anything? This one leads to the
next question...
2. Memory. 200 and 266 DDR is recommended and officially supported, but the
prices being what they are, I would probably go for (at least) 333 DDR. The
previous question also suggests that maybe I should have faster than 266
memory if I intend to use a FSB533 processor. How about DDR400 or even
faster, have they been tried and if so, how do they run? How about bios
settings for memory, IIRC for FSB400 (actually 100) the DDR200 will run in
FSB (x2 for DDR) speed and DDR266 will run in 4/3 x FSB (x 2 for DDR). Now,
based on this, if I throw in some DDR333 and set the memory setting to
DDR266, it would give me 4/3 x 133 x 2 = 354MHz... and for bios setting
DDR200 I'd get 133 x 2 = 266MHz. How does DDR overclock, I have only fiddled
with single speed RAM this far?
3. Having not seen the mobo yet, how about the integrated 5.1 sound system?
What do I need, just 6 loudspeakers and a bunch of drivers and that's it or
what?
4. I have been thinking of a P4 or Celeron of appr. 2G, is a Radeon 8500
enough? I know it's an oldie, but I cannot spend more. I got one lying
around somewhere.
5. Differencs between this one and other i845D mobos of MSI. Can I burn in
another board's bios to make this board to appear something else and if so,
why would I want to do that? Anything like support for FSB 533 available?
There are a couple of MSI boards that use the same chipset (well other
boards than the siblings 845 Ultra Pure and 845 Ultra AR) and for what I
have understood the differences are minimal.
6. The most important last: is this mobo any good?
-gt
Hi!
As a newbie (well, I used to have a MSI 6178 but it is not counted) MSI
owner I would welcome all the hints for this one. I just bought a
second-hand MSI 845 Ultra-ARU (6 months in use after RMAing the original
one) via the local internet auction and started wondering what I actually
have gotten. I have a few questions, thanks for the anwers in advance! You
can answer in my email or in the newsgroup.
1. Processor. Officially the mobo supports only FSB400 Celerons and P4's but
how about unofficially? There are hints in MSI home pages that the 533
Northwoods could be run, are there any known glitches (good/bad core
steppings etc.)? Just goto bios and set the FSB to 133 (it being
quad-pumped=533) and that's it... or is it? What do the PCI and AGP think
about 133FSB, some sources say that they are overclocked and won't probably
run too good, some say that for FSB133 they are in specs in this mobo (for
FSBs >132 different divider used). Which processor would you guys use?
Celerons are cheap but are they good for anything? This one leads to the
next question...
2. Memory. 200 and 266 DDR is recommended and officially supported, but the
prices being what they are, I would probably go for (at least) 333 DDR. The
previous question also suggests that maybe I should have faster than 266
memory if I intend to use a FSB533 processor. How about DDR400 or even
faster, have they been tried and if so, how do they run? How about bios
settings for memory, IIRC for FSB400 (actually 100) the DDR200 will run in
FSB (x2 for DDR) speed and DDR266 will run in 4/3 x FSB (x 2 for DDR). Now,
based on this, if I throw in some DDR333 and set the memory setting to
DDR266, it would give me 4/3 x 133 x 2 = 354MHz... and for bios setting
DDR200 I'd get 133 x 2 = 266MHz. How does DDR overclock, I have only fiddled
with single speed RAM this far?
3. Having not seen the mobo yet, how about the integrated 5.1 sound system?
What do I need, just 6 loudspeakers and a bunch of drivers and that's it or
what?
4. I have been thinking of a P4 or Celeron of appr. 2G, is a Radeon 8500
enough? I know it's an oldie, but I cannot spend more. I got one lying
around somewhere.
5. Differencs between this one and other i845D mobos of MSI. Can I burn in
another board's bios to make this board to appear something else and if so,
why would I want to do that? Anything like support for FSB 533 available?
There are a couple of MSI boards that use the same chipset (well other
boards than the siblings 845 Ultra Pure and 845 Ultra AR) and for what I
have understood the differences are minimal.
6. The most important last: is this mobo any good?
-gt
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