![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Tuesday , March 11, 2003
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
MSI 655 Max Review
This is one of the first boards to market to support dual channel memory mode for the Intel P4 family. Find out how it stacks up against the other fierce competitors...
BIOS
The 655 Max uses the AMI BIOS, which offers a familiar user interface. MSI chose to implement the standard BIOS menu options, with some added settings for use in pushing the board to the extreme.
The Advanced Chipset Features menus offers increased control over system settings having to do with memory and the AGP bus. The options offered are adequate, but leave something to be desired. The manually adjustable memory settings include CAS Latency, and DRAM command rate options settable on a per channel basis - CH0 MA 1T/2T Select and CH1 MA 1T/2T Select. Most memory timings are controlled via the Timing Setting Mode option, however. The BIOS also tells you the current mode of memory operation.
The Frequency/Voltage Control menu controls the CPU, PCI, and AGP FSBs as well as a variety of voltages. With the Auto Detect CPU and DRAM Frequency option disabled, you are able to manually set the CPU Frequency and the CPU/DRAM Frequency Ratio options. The CPU Frequency can be set using the + and – keys from 100 MHz to 250 MHz. The overwhelming choices available within the CPU/DRAM Frequency Ratio option allows for running the memory at any speed desired. A definite bonus in my book. The AGP/PCI Frequency (MHz) option allows for independent speed operation from the CPU/DRAM FSB of the PCI and AGP slots. Note that increasing the FSB of the system AGP/PCI devices can cause software lockups as well as permanent hardware damage.
As far as voltage control is concerned, you are able to manually configure the CPU, AGP and DRAM voltages. The CPU voltage is configurable using the + and – keys and goes from 1.500v to 1.650v. This voltage is adequate for slight overclocking, but a higher voltage maximum would have been nicer. The AGP voltage can be set as high as 1.8v, and the DRAM voltage goes to 2.8v. Both the AGP and DRAM voltages can be set high enough to please even the most adamant overclocker.
The PC Health Status menu offers very minimal system monitoring of various system voltages, CPU and system temperature, and fan speed monitoring of the CPUFA1 and SYSFA1 fan headers. However, there is a major hole in the monitoring. There is no method to enable preset limits for temperature or fan speed related catastrophic events.