MSI K9A2 Platinum review - overclock friendly mobo for AMD

MSI K9A2 Platinum BIOS

The MSI K9A2 Platinum BIOS is full options to set, quite typical for this class of motherboards indeed. Let's have a more detailed look on what it can do:

The main screen assures us that AMI BIOS is in charge, along with its usual sections + MSI's Cell menu.

Integrated Peripherals relates relates to the integrated in the motherboard devices :). It allows you to switch them on or off. The non-advanced user is advised not tho meddle with this settings, while extreme users often turn off anything unneeded in attempt to save the all so precious system resources.

The Hardware monitor menu allows you to keep an eye on RPM's of three of the four fans, processor temperature, motherboard temperature and vCore, +3.3v, +5v, +12v и +5v standby voltages.

But probably most interesting for our readers is the Cell menu. Here is stacked everything an overclocker needs. Settings are plentiful and allow lot's of tinkering around:

• FSB frequency – from 200 to 600 MHz
• HT Ratio – from 1х to 13х
• CPU voltage – from 1.351v to 1.626v
• vDIMM voltage – from 1.80 to 3.10v
• North Bridge voltage – from 1.125v to 1.525v
• HyperTransport voltage – from 1.175v to 1.525v

For the more advanced users the menu allows a great opportunity of memory timings settings. In fact great isn't the right word - EACH timing can be set, and is you know hat are you doing you can squeeze each and every megahertz and kilobyte from your memory...

The BIOS has boot too, it can be activated by pressing F11 during POST - nothing new or unseen, but indeed some motherboard manufacturers still forget about it (mostly in the low-class boards).

Now for our test configuration and tests...