MSI P45 Platinum and ASUS P5Q Deluxe (Intel P45)
Author:
Date: 30.07.2008 |
|
BIOS
The BIOS of both the motherboards is based on the AMI BIOS version.
The BIOS capacity on the MSI board is 32 Mbit, or 4 MB. Why so much? It is highly probable that engineers at MSI have reserved a space for the new BIOS graphic interface which was demonstrated at CeBIT 08 in March.
The section of memory settings in the ASUS P5Q Deluxe is on the page of overclocking tools and includes a really wide kit of timings:
As regards the MSI board, its capabilities for memory tuning are no less powerful.
At the same time, the MSI board allows adjusting the 1T and offers the Memory-Z feature.
In fact, the Memory-Z feature has nothing to do with tuning, this is a feature that displays data on the memory modules. Possible is both the short option
and the extended:
The next important parameter that affects the performance is setting the memory operating frequency.
The ASUS board declares support for the DDR2-1200 frequency, however, it is missing in the list (in using a CPU with the FSB=333 MHz).
Now look at the system monitoring section.
Both the motherboards display the current temperatures for the CPU and the system, detect the current voltage levels and rotational speeds of the fans (MSI - 3, ASUS - 5).
The boards also offer a feature for adjusting the rotational speed of the CPU cooler and additional fans depending on the temperature of the CPU and the system.
ASUS has renamed Q-Fan to Fan Xpert. The new name is almost everywhere (on the web site, in the user's manual), except the BIOS. The "new" feature works the same way as Q-Fan.
Both the boards are able storing and loading the BIOS settings as profiles (the ASUS board supports two profiles, MSI - four).
To handle the BIOS, the ASUS motherboard offers the integrated EZFlash 2 utility:
Unfortunately, this feature sees HDD sectors in only the NTFS format and "hangs" on the "A:" disk if it is missing.
By the way, regarding the new BIOS versions. In the latest firmware version (802), there has been added support for the Drive Xpert technology which is "adapted" to the Sil5723 controller and is meant for data backup.
ASUS P5Q Deluxe uses two BIOS chips:
Therefore, the CrashFree BIOS technology has given way to the DieHard BIOS technology.
Look at the sector in charge of controlling the features of Intel processors:
All the features in the ASUS board are gathered on one page, and in the MSI board they are scattered around various sections.
We also note the ASUS' feature to display BIOS in multiple languages:
The boards support proprietary utilities for monitoring and overclocking. These are ASUS AI Suite and MSI DualCoreCenter which we have repeatedly examined. So in this review we note innovations only. We start with MSI who has developed the Green Power Center utility
In fact, this software is part of the vast software-hardware concept Green Power which is aimed at power-saving.
Optional Green Power Genie module; is not included into the package bundle of our board specimen.
ASUS offers its own power-saving technology - EPU-6 Engine & AI Nap, but today we are talking about improvements of the Express Gate technology.
The idea behind this technology in brief is as follows: an additional module is installed on the board,
which offers the "cut-down" Linux version, as well as a few applications - the Splashtop browser (based on the Mozilla Firefox engine), Skype, Chat, and PhotoManager. We reported our first impressions of the browser and Skype as well as our first impressions of Express Gate in our review of ASUS P5E3 Premium. So let's talk about the newly added features. Above all, it is a messaging program (supports Google Talk, Yahoo, etc.).
Another new software is the image manager.
It is usable, but there are a few minor inconveniences or "features" of the program. It should be noted that Photo Manager has access to not only the USB and the optical drive but to hard disks as well.
Another improvement of the Express Gate is in support for the Drive Xpert technology:
We hope the quality of Photo Manager and other new programs by ASUS will improve and the operating speed will go up. Otherwise, Express Gate will turn to just another Windows. On the other hand, it is nice to see that the progress of the free shell is continuing; new programs and features are being added.
There has appeared the feature for changing the desktop themes
In my view, it would be exceptionally reasonable to unify the Eee PC/BOX and Express Gate shell into a single Linux-based operating system. Therefore, it would be possible to exclude the scattering of resources among two parallel projects. Besides, an approach like that would guarantee a high speed of running applications on desktop systems. The thing is, the development of software that offers a comfortable performance level in Eee-systems based on the CPU Atom requires a high level of optimization and economy of resources (Intel Atom is quite a weak CPU as compared to desktop CPUs). If a program like that proved successful, it will run on a desktop Core 2 Duo really fast. Using an approach like that will let produce an immediate application response to a command which must have been forgotten by users thanks to Windows.
Overclocking and stability
Before we move on to overclocking, let's look at the power converters. The PWM of the ASUS' board uses a 16-phase scheme in which there are ten 560 mkF and two 270 mkF capacitors. At the same time, we note that the power converter of the memory modules, like the PWM of the north bridge are implemented on a 2-phase scheme. The PWM of the MSI board uses a 5-phase power scheme, in which there are eleven 820 mkF and four 470 mkF capacitors. The power converter of the memory modules and the north bridge, like in the ASUS board are implemented on a 2-phase scheme.
All the power components on the boards are equipped with radiators; the ASUS board comes bundled with an additional radiator which can be installed on one of two radiators.
Now on to the overclocking features. On the ASUS motherboard, all the relevant features are gathered in the "Ai Tweaker" section,
and on the MSI board - in the "Cell Menu" section.
| Motherboard |
ASUS P5Q Deluxe |
MSI P45 Platinum |
| Multiplier adjustment |
+ |
+ |
| FSB adjustment |
within 200 to 800 MHz (1) |
within 133 to 800 MHz (1) |
| Vcore adjustment |
within 0.85V to 2.1V (0.00625V) |
within 0.96 to 1.94V (0.01 V) |
| Vmem adjustment |
within 1.8 to 3.08V (0.02 V) |
within 1.44 to 3.324V (0.012V) |
| Vdd adjustment |
within 1.1 to 2.2V (0.02 V) |
within 0.74 to 2.624V (0.012 V) |
| Vsb adjustment |
within 1.1 to 1.4V (0.02 V) |
within 0.56 to 3.41V (0.03V) |
| Vtt adjustment |
within 1.2V to 1.9V (0.02V) |
within 0.9 to 2.47V (0.01V) |
| Vpll adjustment |
within 0.5 to 2.78 V (0.02 V) |
- |
| Vpcix adjustment |
within 1.5 to 1.8V (0.1V) |
- |
| PCI-E adjustment |
within 100 MHz to 180 MHz (1) |
- |
We note the following traits of the motherboards at overclocking. First, programmers at ASUS and MSI have added the feature for highlighting the parameters exceeding the range of safe overclocking (in their opinion) with different colors. Also, the ASUS board lacks the ASUS NOS (Non-Delay Overclocking System) technology which used to be implemented on almost all the previous models by this manufacturer. A similar feature is implemented on the MSI motherboard and is named D.O.T. It allows overclocking the system by ~73%.
It should be noted that selection of voltages on the ASUS board is made either through scrolling of all the values, or through a direct input of a number. However, in the latter case, you don't have to input a decimal point.
Now let's look at the practical results of overclocking. The maximum stable FSB speed in the ASUS board is 562 MHz; that for the MSI board - 552 MHz.
There are no claims to both the boards - they successfully got over the 550 MHz bar and basically are able running at higher frequencies.
 |
Content: |
 |
|
|
Top Stories: |
|
 |
|
MoBo:
|
|
|
|
VGA Card:
|
|
|
|
CPU & Memory:
|
|
|
