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Home » MSI 890FXA-GD70 Motherboard

Overclocking Options

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One of the highlights of MSI 890FXA-GD70 is the presence of the new “OC Dial” feature, a knob that allows you to adjust the CPU base clock by turning it clock-wise or counter clock-wise (you need to press the button located on the left first to enable the knob). This feature is controlled by hardware and thus doesn’t require any software installed to work, but it must be enabled inside the BIOS Setup (“OC Dial Function”). On the motherboard setup you can also adjust how many MHz you will be increasing or decreasing each time you turn the knob.

MSI 890FXA-GD70 motherboardFigure 10: OC Dial.

This motherboard has an automatic overclocking feature, called “OC Genie Lite,” that is available inside the BIOS Setup, differently from other motherboards from MSI that have this option enabled through a physical button on the motherboard.

MSI 890FXA-GD70 is clearly targeted to overclockers, providing a myriad of overclocking options. Below we list only the main ones available on 1.6 BIOS.

  • CPU base clock: From 190 MHz to 690 Hz in 1 MHz steps.
  • PCI Express clock: From 90 MHz to 190 MHz in 1 MHz steps.
  • CPU voltage (VDD): From 1.1000 V to 1.5500 V in 0.0125 V steps.
  • Memory controller (VDDNB) voltage: From 1.1000 V to 1.5500 V in 0.0125 V steps.
  • CPU clock multiplier (VDDA a.k.a. PLL) voltage: From 1.702 V to 3.132 V in 0.010 V steps.
  • Memory voltage: From 0.978 V to 2.485 V in 0.007 V steps.
  • Memory referen
    ce voltage: From 0.490 V to 1.166 V in 0.026 V steps.
  • Memory termination (VTT) voltage: From 0.490 V to 1.166 V in 0.026 V steps.
  • North bridge voltage: From 0.884 V to 1.393 V in 0.005 V steps.
  • South bridge voltage: From 0.950 V to 1.580 V in 0.030 V steps.
  • HyperTransport voltage: From 0.800 V to 1.830 V in 0.010 V steps.
  • PCI Express voltage: From 1.136 V to 3.974 V in 0.034 V steps.

Memory timings can also be tweaked.

This motherboard has a core unlocking feature, available as “Unlock CPU Core” under “Cell Menu” in the motherboard setup. This function allows you to unlock hidden CPU cores on selected AMD CPUs.

MSI 890FXA-GD70 motherboardFigure 11: Overclocking menu.

MSI 890FXA-GD70 motherboardFigure 12: Overclocking menu (Cont’d).