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- Date:
- Monday , March 15, 2004
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
MSI PT880 Neo-FISR
VIA's PT880 shows up in a value oriented form but will it lend itself to amazing the enthusiast and keeping up with the likes of i875 boards? This may be one inexpensive upgrade you do not want to miss.
BIOS
MSI chose to use the American Megatrends (AMI) BIOS template in designing the PT880’s BIOS menu. The BIOS itself has been customized throughout for enthusiast use.
The Advanced Chipset Features menu contains a number of submenus and settings for configuration of all system performance aspects including the CPU, chipset, and all onboard devices. The Top Performance option controls how aggressively the internal chipset timings are set, with the Enabled option providing better overall system performance. The VLink 8X Supported and VLink mode selection options control how aggressively the physical connection between the PT880 Northbridge and VT8237 Southbridge operates, with the mode selection offering 5 different operational modes to choose from.
The DRAM Timing Control submenu contains various memory related performance options. Note that all options within this submenu are not drop down lists, and but show a single selection requiring the use of the arrow keys to scroll through the available choices, as demonstrated in the DRAM Timing option screen shot. With the DRAM Timing option set to Manual, all memory options become user configurable. The user has the ability to configure the following memory timing options: CAS latency; Bank Interleave; RAS precharge delay (shown as Precharge to Active (Trp)); RAS to CAS delay (shown as Active to CMD(Trcd)); precharge to active delay; refresh row cycle time (shown as REF to ACT/REF to REF(Trfc)); and DRAM command rate. Note that on all memory timings listed with the exception of the Bank Interleave option, the numerically lower setting forces more aggressive memory operation. For the Bank Interleave option, the 4-way selection is the more aggressive setting when 2 or more DRAM modules are in use. The DRAM BUS Selection option allows the user to force the system to access the memory in Single or Dual Channel mode.
The Integrated Peripherals menu contains various options for controlling the motherboards on board devices. The integrate VT8237 based SATA controller is configured through the Internal SATA Controller and BootROM Function options. Enabling the BootROM Function option allows for configuration of connected drives in to RAID arrays, while disabling forces the attached drives to work in stand alone mode. The USB Controller and USB Device Legacy Support options configure the operation of the onboard USB 2.0 ports and headers. Note that for USB bootable devices to show during system startup, the USB Device Legacy Support option must be enabled. When a USB device is attached to the system at boot time and is properly detected by the system, it will show in the pull down device menu within the Boot Sequence submenu selectable from within the Advanced BIOS Features menu.
The PC Health Status menu contains real time statistics on various system temperature, voltages, and fan speeds from fans attached to system monitored headers.
The Frequency/Voltage Control menu contains a multitude of user configurable options for system bus and voltage settings.
The CPU Frequency option controls the CPU FSB speed, with a maximum allowable FSB of 455 MHz with an 800 MHz FSB CPU installed in the board. Note that the CPU Frequency option does not have a pull down list associated to it. The DRAM Clock option allows for user configuration of the DRAM FSB through selection of predefined ratios based on the currently selected CPU Frequency setting. The DRAM Frequency option displays the current operating FSB of the system memory. The Dynamic Overclocking option controls how aggressively the CoreCell chipset operates. There are six operating modes available, with the Commander mode offering the most performance with an up to 15% over current CPU FSB overclock. The AGP Frequency (MHz) option controls the speed of both the PCI and AGP buses, with a hefty maximum allowable setting of 100.9 MHz. Note that the PCI FSB is determined by the system using the AGP/2 rule.
The CPU Voltage (V) option controls the voltage supplied to you precious CPU, with a paltry 1.60v maximum setting. While this may be enough voltage for a decent overclock with the right CPU, it will definitely become a limiting factor. The DDR Voltage option controls the system memory voltage, with a decent 3.1v maximum allowed. With this amount of voltage at your disposal, you should be more than able to push your memory to new FSB heights. The AGP Voltage (V) allows for a maximum voltage of 2.20v for your AGP based video cards. This is the best voltage range offered out of all the setting available on the board, and will definitely give you a lot of headroom for really pushing your prized AGP card. MSI chose to include voltage configuration settings for both the Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets. The North Bridge Voltage(V) option allows for a maximum of 1.80v to be fed to the Northbridge chipset, while the South Bridge Voltage(V) option allows for a hefty 3.0v maximum setting.