MSI MS-6702E, Rev. 0B

The revision number clearly shows that we are talking about a beta motherboard. The first BIOS (3.0 B10) did not allow for processor multiplier to be changed. As we needed to run the Athlon64 3800+ at 3500+ speeds as well (2.2 GHz rather than 2.4 GHz), MSI provided a new version (3.0 B15) soon after that added the multiplier option.

Both BIOS versions allowed for very aggressive memory timings (CL2.0-2-2-5), while the B15 version was not able to reproduce the same performance numbers we received with 3.0 B10. MSI also allows disabling the T2 memory command, which measurably raises performance.

We had quite some trouble getting our Promise FastTrak S150 TX2plus running on the MSI board. With BIOS 3.0 B10, the only slot that could be detected was PCI #1, while we had to swap the controller to PCI #2 after the BIOS update. All other PCI slots did not work at all. Also, we were not able to enable USB keyboard support in the BIOS, as the board would instantly freeze right after showing the PCI IRQ list.