Tuesday, August 14, 2001

Introduction

The Micro Star 850 Pro 2 is a revised edition the 850 Pro from the same manufacturer. That may not sound like much, but let us assure you that the two boards could hardly have anything else than a similar name in common. Where the Pro possessed no Overclocking abilities, for instance, the 850 Pro 2 is well endowed. The MSI 850 Pro 2 is based on the Intel 850 chipset, but that it seems is the end of the family resemblance.

Without further ado then, let's start the review.

Configuration

Configuration of the 8150 Pro 2 can be accomplished without playing with jumpers. In fact, not a single on-board jumper even relates to the CPU, or its configuration.

Within the BIOS, one function permits users to modify the clock multiplier. That said, it probably won't be of much interest to most users, who's P4s come complete with a multiplier lock. In fact, even a original engineer's model can't be set to a higher multiplier than normal - only reduced.

Elsewhere within the BIOS lies a function allowing the Vcore voltage to be altered.

Another allows the memory bus frequency to be set 3 or 4 times higher than that of the FSB.

Finally, a single on-board jumper labeled J20 allows the voltage supplied to the RDRAM sub-system to be set to 2.5v, 2.59v, or 2.68v - a feature that could prove useful when Overclocking.

Next: Technical details