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The Bios has a structure common to other MSI boards I have used, which is reassuring as I love the MSI bios layout, it is so easy to navigate and normally lends itself well to easy overclocking. I use MSI boards all the time for our AMD test beds.
Above we can see the core i7 920 D0 stepping CPU, which is one of our favourites – this particular one hits 4.2ghz with relative ease.
We are pleased to see the bios update option is included on this board, it is one of our favourite features on the MSI boards, as you can flash a bios easily from a USB drive without a hitch. I have had to do this before when I was using a 1055T on an older bios. Its a life saver.
Various options for CPU related functions, hyperthreading, power saving options as well as overspeed protection.
The overclocking panels offer a familar structure which is extremely straightforward to work with. You will notice this is very similar in layout to the AMD 1055T overclocking article we published recently.
Various memory options are available and support for low VDroop (Viagra for motherboards) – this helps massively when overclocking to raise stability.
Phase control options as well as Green power Genie readouts.
A good place to always check after the first system build. With detailed temperature and voltage readouts. The bios is pretty accurate according to our diode setup, its only overreading by 1c.
In here you can configure your boot sequence as well as changing boot options. We have our operating system installed on a Corsair 32GB USB drive for installation speed, you need to change priority to ensure it boots from USB first however.
bugger me with a bargepole, thats bloody impressive.
MSi really are pulling out all the stops recently to get seen in high end circles. I think its working !
Looks like a mega product again from MSI. price is high but I expected that after reading the review.
Love the design, they look to have covered everything from design to connectivity. the OC genie is a great idea and I was surprised to hear it worked well, thats a bit of a shocker.
Very good review Zardon, thank you.
That bundle is crazy good, so much in it, no wonder it costs so much. Seems a good price I think its cheaper than the asus rampage board just released.
Seems to be low stock levels of this everywhere, must be popular or a low build rate for MSI.
hard to get in some parts of the world, so ive heard, yah.
They need to realise a board like this for the 1156 platform also. that platform has such crappy boards throughout the ranges.
Good review and I was interested to see the power drain was lower than competiting products. thats always a good sign.
MSI are underrated in the motherboard market, but I love to see them creating these products to go head to head with ASUS and the top level players on the market right now. This looks to be better than the Ramage from what ive seen on kitguru and other review sites.
Its a really good looking board, I hate all the ordinary capacitors we normally see around the CPU socket, but those HIc capacitors are a huge selling point, for me anyway.
I think AMD motherboards are better equipped, but this one really helps Intel 1366 buyers. so much on it and a great variety of high quality components onboard.
I currently own a gigabyte board which i love, but I want to move to 1366, I think this would be top of my list, its well priced considering the quality throughout.
Its impresive, but I feel ASUS still have the quality edge. the rampage board is the cream of the crop.
@ Derek, normally I would agree, but I cant see there being any better 1366 motherboard on the market right now. MSI are really doing their homework before releasing these products.
excellent, really excellent. way out of my price range, but I can dream
MSI rock, they really do, I loved the review of the R5870 card on kitguru last month. all their changes arent just for show or talk,. they really make a difference
Very good product, the price isnt as bad as I thought, I had surmissed it would be £320.
No real weaknesses indeed. even the sata ports are in the right places. so many makers (yes im looking at you intel), put sata ports right under a long graphics card which is useless, even with a 90 degree designed connector.