Z97 MPower Firmware
MSI continues using oddly-scaled fonts and buttons in its firmware. But at least this configuration has become familiar to most of its enthusiast customers. MSI also spreads its settings across far fewer menus, for far quicker access, compared to Gigabyte.
A 1.28 V CPU core was measured at the Z97 MPower’s 1.24 V setting, and was reported by the BIOS as 1.256 detected volts. DRAM similarly required a 1.62 V setting to reach 1.65 V. Those voltage levels allowed our CPU to reach 4.5 GHz, but no more.
DRAM reached approximately 2828 MT/s by adding 1 MHz base clock to the DDR3-2800 XMP profile.
The Z97 MPower’s CPU Features menu helps overclockers disable any capabilities that get in the way of a stable overclock.
Setting “Link” mode for DRAM allows both channels to be configured simultaneously, rather than separately. Primary, secondary, and tertiary timings are all configurable, with previous values shown in grey next to the new setting you’ve made.
