P45 Platinum BIOS And Overclocking
FSB Frequency | Stock-800 MHz (1 MHz) |
Clock Multiplier Adjustment | Yes |
DRAM Ratios | 1.0, 1.2, 1.25, 1.33, 1.5, 1.60, 1.67, 2.0 |
PCIe Clock | 100 - 200 MHz (1 MHz) |
CPU Vcore | 0.9925 to 1.9425 Volts (0.01 Volts) |
CPU FSB Voltage | 0.89 to 2.47 Volts (0.01 Volts) |
Northbridge (MCH) | 0.728 to 2.624 Volts (0.012 Volts) |
Southbridge (ICH) | 0.056 to 3.41 Volts ( 0.06 Volts) |
DRAM Voltage | 1.428 to 3.324 Volts (0.012 Volts) |
CAS Latency Range | tCAS : 3-6 ; tRCD : 3-15 ; tRP : 3-15 ; tRAS : 9-30 |
While MSI’s frequency range seems unrealistically high, its CPU core voltage is just a little lower than what some extreme overclockers might demand. Yet the 1.9425V maximum setting is still more than we’ve ever seen any Core 2 series processor stand up to, so we’re far from disappointed.
MSI’s Cell menu contains all the most commonly-required overclock settings, but we only see two GTL REF voltage controls. Additional clock generator controls and memory timings are found in sub-menus.
MSI’s Clockgen Tuner sub-menu adds amplitude and skew controls.
Major and minor timing controls can be found in the Advanced DRAM Configuration sub-menu, and any setting a user doesn’t want to adjust can be left to automatic mode.
A sub-menu within the memory timing sub-menu shows SPD (Serial Presence Detect) data, which is the information motherboards use to automatically configure memory.
The P45 Platinum is also able to detect EPP values, also known as NVIDIA SLI Memory Mode, which are shown in a sub-menu of the SPD sub-menu. EPP is nothing more than a set of SPD extensions for automatically configuring nonstandard memory speeds, voltage levels, and timings, so it doesn’t require Nvidia hardware to support it.
MSI provides two protected areas within BIOS to store custom configurations, making it easy to return to previous settings.