- NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI
- Athlon II / Phenom II / Sempron
- DDR3 1600 (O.C.) / 1333 / 1066
Lots of issues, stay away unless you can get this for dirt cheap
03/27/2010
This review is from: MSI NF750-G55 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Pros:
This is my budget build, overall spending a total of ~$350 through various sales and combo deals for everything except the OS, monitor, and hard drive. Here's my stable overclocking results with the Phenom II x3 720 (using MSI's Overclocking Center to read Temps, Prime95 Blend Tests for stability, and CPU-Z and GPU-Z):
CPU @3.6GHz (x18 x 200) using CPU VDD Voltage @1.4375 and NB @2.6GHz (x13 x 200) using CPU-NB VDD VOltage @1.4375 with CPU temps 38C Load
CPU @3.7GHz (x18.5 x 200) using CPU VDD Voltage @1.4625 and NB @2.6GHz (x13 x 200) using CPU-NB VDD VOltage @1.4375 with CPU temps 42C Load
CPU @3.8GHz (x19 x 200) using CPU VDD Voltage @1.525 and NB @2.6GHz (x13 x 200) using CPU-NB VDD VOltage @1.4375 with CPU temps 48C Load
On other boards using the same CPU, I'm not able to get to get a stable 3.7GHz without bumping my CPU VDD Voltage up to 1.525, so being able to overclock it to 3.7GHz at 1.4625 Volts is definitely a plus.
Cons:
When overclocking, the motherboard has trouble with new unstable settings made through the BIOS. The motherboard will go through numerous, and I mean numerous iterations of starting up without posting, shutting off, etc. Originally I thought the board went bad, but eventually it would make its way to post. Clearing CMOS, removing the CMOS battery, and re-installing the
RAM modules doesn't work, just took a lot of patience rebooting several times (anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes). It may because I'm saving User Setting profiles in the BIOS? If I clear CMOS, and the settings are still intact, I didn't really clear CMOS, then, right? The good
news is, when you've got a good and stable configuration, you don't get this issue.
The memory modules I have are specified to run at 9-9-9-24 @1600, I set my DRAM Voltage to 1.76 and on Auto, getting 9-11-11-29-1T @1600. Can't overclock, tRAS auto set only.
Difficult to flash BIOS without a floppy.
I was unable to unlock a stable 4
Overall Review:
I didn't buy this board through Newegg, I got it through another place with a good combo deal, but I usually purchase products from Newegg.
Operating System - Windows 7 x64 Professional
CPU - Phenom II x3 720 BE
Thermal Compound - Artic Cooling MX-2
Memory - A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DR3 (Model #: AX3U1600GB2G9-AG)
PSU - OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
GPU - NVIDIA GeForce 8200 Onboard Video
Hard Drive - Corsair P128 SSD
Monitor - Hanns·G HH-281HPB Black 28" 3ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor
Windows Experience Index @ Stock 2.8Ghz settings:
CPU - 6.9
Memory - 5.6
Graphics - 4.3
Gaming graphics - 5.3
Primary hard disk - 5.9
Windows Experience Index @ Overclocked 3.7GHz settings:
CPU - 7.1
Memory - 5.9
Graphics - 4.7
Gaming graphics - 5.3
Primary hard disk - 6.6
Also: The 5th SATA port works, it just isn't given a Boot Drive option in the BIOS. Use for non-boot drives only.
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- Jun K.
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Owned For:
1 day to 1 week
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