De mannen van iXBT-Hardware brengen ons een review van de Microstar MS-6301, da's een Slot-1 i820 plank met de gevreesde Memory Translator Hub waarmee je het dure Rambus kan omzeilen en gewoon SDRAM kunt blijven gebruiken. Net als veel andere MSI plankjes wordt de MS-6301 ook uitgerust met het D-LED diagnostic system: 4 kleine lampies die tijdens het booten de hele tijd de status van de system bus weergeven waardoor problemen gemakkelijk te achterhalen zijn. Hieronder vast wat info over zijn overklokbaarheid, die helaas wat tegen viel:
MSI MS-6301 supports 13 FSB frequencies: 100, 105, 114, 120, 124, 133, 138, 143, 148, 150, 152, 155 and 160MHz. However, only a part of the listed values is available simultaneously: you may use only the frequencies lying under 133MHz or those over 133MHz depending on the FSB frequency, your CPU supports. For 100MHz processors there is a special jumper on the board. When set into a certain position, it allows considering them 133MHz ones.
Unfortunately, the problem with PCI is not the only disappointment. It is also impossible to manually set AGP frequency divider. Below 133MHz, it is always set to 2/3 and over this value - to 1/2. However, this is still not the end. Overclockers may be pretty upset with the fact that MSI MS-6301 doesn't allow changing the CPU core voltage in any way. But although the system bus may work at 133MHz, the memory can be still a 100MHz one, which is a certain consolation for poor overclockers. It means that you don't need to care about high quality PC133 SDRAM: the good old PC100 will be OK for that.
If you set the FSB frequency in BIOS Setup but the system does not get started for some reason (too much overclocked, for instance), you won't manage to improve the situation without opening the case. Clear FSB settings by means of pressing and holding "Insert" when turning on the PC, which is so typical for most mainboards with Award BIOS, does not work on MS-6301. There is a jumper instead, which allows booting the board with default settings. So, you will have a chance to enter BIOS Setup and change the wrong settings.
![]() |