MSI Z97A Gaming 6 Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. MSI Z97A Gaming 6: Packaging and Bundle3. MSI Z97A Gaming 6: Board Layout and Features4. MSI Z97 Gaming: BIOS5. MSI Z97 Gaming: Software6. Testing Methodology7. Tests: System-related8. Tests: Processor-related9. Tests: Gaming-related10. Tests: Motherboard-related11. Overclocking: Frequencies12. Overclocking: Performance13. Technical: Power Consumption14. Closing Thoughts15. View All Pages

Manual CPU Overclocking:

To test the MSI Z97A Gaming 6 motherboard’s CPU overclocking potential, we first increased the CPU VCore to 1.31V, Cache/Ring voltage to 1.275V, CPU Input Voltage to 1.90V, and PCH voltage to 1.1V. We also disabled SVID, enabled filter PLL and set the cache ratio to 40x.

All of the main overclocking settings are found on MSI's dedicated page. This makes adjusting voltages and frequencies a simple task in MSI's UEFI.

The maximum stable overclock that we achieved was our chip's limit of 4.7GHz. The board required 10mV more than our usual 1.30V VCore setting in order to maintain complete stability.

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