BIOS

Unfortunately, MSI P35 Platinum doesn’t have any built-in tools for BIOS updating. There is a utility for updating from Windows, but the mainboard refused to boot from a boot CD disk displaying a list of symbols instead of the menu. We had to resort to a not very convenient to use AFUDOS utility without any graphics interface in order to update the mainboard BIOS to the latest version 1.1 available at the time of the test session.

The mainboard BIOS is based on AMI code.

It is very convenient that most of the overclocking-friendly settings are all placed into Cell Menu section. This is a very compact section, almost all options fit into the first screen. The photo below doesn’t show only two parameters: D.O.T. Control and EIST:

D.O.T. (Dynamic Overclocking Technology) Control is disabled by default. This technology can be enabled for CPU overclocking, VGA overclocking, or simultaneous overclocking of both of them. However, D.O.T. features will hardly keep you interested for long: you can only achieve 1%, 3% or 5% performance improvement with this technology.

You can adjust the clock frequency multiplier if you disable Intel EIST (Enhanced Intel SpeedStep). This option allows you to reveal the potential of the board and the CPU you are using. By reducing the CPU clock frequency multiplier, you can get higher system bus or memory frequency to improve the performance. You can also skip the FSB Hole (non-operational FSB frequencies), if there is one. However, if you change the multiplier in the BIOS, the power-saving technologies may not work correctly, as they reduce the CPU frequency multiplier and processor Vcore in idle mode. So, if your CPU is loaded to 100% all the time, we wouldn’t recommend adjusting the multiplier at all.

As fore the frequencies adjustment, FSB can theoretically be pushed up to 600MHz with 1MHz increment, the PCI Express bus frequency can vary between 100MHz and 200MHz with the same 1MHz increment, and the memory frequency can be set using one of the following FSB:Mem dividers: 1:1.25, 1:1.5, 1:1.66, 1:2, 1:1 or 1:1.2. You won’t have to calculate the resulting memory frequency on your own: it will be displayed in the Adjusted DDR Memory Frequency info line.

The memory timings can be set on a separate page. Unfortunately, there is no individual Auto setting for each parameter. You can either set all timings to Auto, or adjust all of them manually.

During our practical experiments with MSI P35 Platinum mainboard we found out that it locks the major memory timings, while secondary timings may change on their own depending on the selected FSB frequency and other timing settings. So, it is a pretty complicated task to firmly set the desired timings on MSI P35 Platinum mainboard.

Another inconvenience is the absence of drop-down lists for some of the adjustable parameters. The desired FSB frequency can be entered with the keyboard, but in most cases you just have to scroll forward and backward. However, it was a very smart idea to highlight high voltage settings in red, which will warn you against going a little bit too far.

Since we came to speak about voltages, I would like to say that the CPU can receive up to 0.7875V above the nominal with 0.0125V increment. The maximum for our test processor was the impressive 2.0625V. The supported interval for the memory voltage is also quite remarkable: from 1.8V to 3.3V. You can use 0.05V increment until 2.1V and then the increment increases to 0.1V. The nominal memory voltage setting is at 1.9V. VTT FSB Voltage can vary between 1.175V and 1.55V with 0.025V increment. The chipset North Bridge voltage can be adjusted in the interval from 1.25V to 1.65V: with 0.025V increment until 1.6V and then the only supported value will be 1.65V. The South Bridge I/O Power can be set between 1.5V-1.8V with 0.1V increment. The South Bridge voltage can be set either to 1.05V or 1.15V.

During our practical overclocking experiments performed on MSI P35 Platinum mainboard we noticed that at 383MHz+ FSB frequency the board would increase NB Voltage from the nominal 1.25V up to 1.45V. At first I thought that it was the way an “intellectual mainboard concept” was working, just like on ASUS mainboards that know to manage a lot of BIOS settings on their own, without any user interference. However, later on I changed my mind about it. Sometimes, the change in the FSB frequency would cause NB Voltage to drop back to the nominal value, moreover, no value in between the nominal and 1.45V could be set manually. For example, I set this parameter to 1.35V, saved the settings, rebooted the system and then went back to the BIOS Setup to see that the voltage setting was again increased to 1.45V. So, it looks like it is not the mainboard AI but just a BIOS flaw, like unstable settings of the secondary memory timings, the board’s inability to run from a boot CD disk, and maybe also the issue with PS/2 mouse in Windows Vista described above.

H/W Monitor section is mostly informational. It reports CPU and system temperatures, controls rotation speed of three fans out of six that can be connected to the board, and displays major voltage settings.

We can adjust rotation speed only for two fans. For the first processor fan, you have to set the desired CPU temperature in the interval between 40ºC and 65ºC with 5ºC increment and the minimal fan rotation speed from 0% to 87.5% with 12.5% increment. If your CPU cooler connector is a four-pin one, the fan rotation speed will be adjusted automatically depending on the processor temperature. The second fan you can adjust is one of the system fans: you can set its rotation speed to 50, 75 or 100%.