MSI's and Foxconn's motherboards (P45)
Author:
Date: 01.09.2008 |
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BIOS
The BIOS of both the motherboards is based on the AMI BIOS version.
The section in charge of memory operation settings looks like this:
The next important parameter that affects the performance is setting the memory operating frequency. In both the boards, the feature is located in the overclocking section.
Now look at the system monitoring sections.
The board displays the current temperatures of the CPU and the system, keeps track of the voltage levels and rotational speeds of all the fans.
Besides, both the boards support the Smart Fan feature.
Finally, we note that the boards allow the user to control the technologies integrated into the Intel processors. At that, the Foxconn board takes a lead.
Overclocking and stability
Before we move on to overclocking, let's look at the power converters. The PWM of Foxconn P45A-S uses a 4-phase scheme in which there are nine 820 mkF and four 330 mkF capacitors. The PWM of the MSI board uses a 3-phase power scheme, in which there are nine 820 mkF and four 470 mkF capacitors.
On the Foxconn board, all the overclocking tools are gathered in the "Central Control Unit" section:
and on the MSI board - in the "Cell Menu" section.
| Motherboard |
Foxconn P45A-S
|
MSI P45 Neo
|
| Multiplier adjustment |
- |
+ |
| FSB adjustment |
within 333 MHz to 800 MHz (1 MHz) |
within 333 MHz to 800 MHz (1 MHz) |
| Vcore adjustment |
+0.1875V (0.00625V) |
within 0.9725V to 2.016V (0.0125V-0.025V) |
| Vmem adjustment |
within 1.758 to 2.524V (0.068V) |
within 1.416 to 3.324V (0.012V) |
| Vdd adjustment |
within 1.018 to 1.48V (0.04V) |
within 0.74V to 2.624V (0.012V) |
| Vsb adjustment |
- |
within 1.5 to 1.8V (0.01V) |
| Vtt adjustment |
+0.56V (0.08V) |
within 0.9V to 2.47V (0.01V) |
| PCI-E adjustment |
within 100 MHz to 200 MHz (1 MHz) |
- |
We also note the feature for dynamic overclocking (D.O.T.) in the MSI board:
Now let's look at the practical results of overclocking. The maximum stable FSB speed of the Foxconn board is 374 MHz, which is extremely little, even in view of the lack of a feature for reducing the CPU multiplier, and a very low limit in increasing the Vcore. The thing is, the clock speed capability of E6550 is at about 3.85 GHz upon substantial raise of the Vcore and ~3.3 GHz under the nominal voltage.
As regards the MSI board, unfortunately we got a faulty specimen which hardly started up at the nominal speed (just because of that, part of the performance tests were not passed).
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