Thus, our sample of the Core 2 Duo E4300 was overclocked on the MSI P6N SLI Platinum to its own maximum we had found earlier in practical tests on other mainboards (for details see our article called Cheaper Core Micro-Architecture: Core 2 Duo E4300 CPU Review). So, this result is not to be wondered at. What is surprising is that the mainboard performed a “cold” start without problems at those frequencies. In other words, the mainboard cannot start up at FSB frequencies above 375MHz only with a particular CPU model, namely Core 2 Extreme X6800. There is no such trouble with the Core 2 Duo E4300.

Trying to find the top FSB frequency for the Core 2 Duo E4300 on the MSI P6N SLI Platinum we wanted to lower its frequency multiplier to 7x, for example. But we couldn’t! Although there is an option for changing the multiplier in BIOS Setup, and the value does change, nothing really happens. The CPU starts up with its default multiplier irrespective of that setting. So, it turns out the MSI P6N SLI Platinum cannot lower the frequency multiplier of CPUs other than the Core 2 Extreme X6800 which has an unlocked multiplier.

When we set to checking the overclockability of our MSI P6N SLI Premium we hadn’t suspected the results would be so intriguing. Having checked out two CPUs, we wanted to see more and put a Core 2 Duo E6300 on the mainboard. Popular among overclockers, this model has a default frequency multiplier of 7x, allowing to find the top FSB frequency for a CPU with a locked multiplier.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t reach a 475MHz FSB as we had done with the Core 2 Extreme X6800. Even after we increased the CPU voltage by 0.25V and the CPU VTT voltage by 12% and set the chipset voltage at 1.45V, we had to stop at 440MHz. The mainboard would normally shut down and start up at such settings and pass every stability test, which was good, considering the earlier results.

Unfortunately, the MSI P6N SLI Platinum could not lower the CPU multiplier for that processor, either, and we are not sure what was the obstacle to a further frequency growth, the mainboard or the CPU or a FSB wall.

Our overclocking tests with the MSI P6N SLI Platinum mainboard produced very ambiguous results. It’s hard to tell what is the top FSB frequency you can achieve on it. This mainboard is very capricious when it comes to overclocking. It behaves differently with different CPUs and there is no logic and order in its behavior. It can overclock your CPU to some extent, but does not give you any promises.

This mainboard obviously has good overclockability as is confirmed by our experiments, but it cannot show its full potential because it lacks a stable and flawless BIOS. You are going to have a number of various troubles even with the latest versions of its BIOS.