MSI P55A-GD65 Motherboard

Overclocking Options

The MSI P55A-GD65, like several other models from MSI, has an overclocking function called “OC Genie.” When this button is pressed, the motherboard automatically overclocks the system (it must be pressed when the computer is turned off). Previous automatic overclocking functions available from MSI and other manufacturers increased the base clock to preset values. OC Genie relies on a chip that overclocks the system on-the-fly, based on your hardware configuration. You can also manually increase or decrease the CPU base clock in 1 MHz steps by simply pressing “+” and “-” buttons located on the board.

In Figure 8 you can see all buttons available on this motherboard, OC Genie, the “+” and “-” buttons, reset and power.

Figure 8: Buttons

The main overclocking options we could see in the motherboard setup were:

• CPU base clock: Can be adjusted from 100 MHz to 600 MHz in 1 MHz increments
• PCI Express clock: Can be adjusted from 90 MHz to 190 MHz in 1 MHz increments
• CPU voltage: From 0.9 V to 2.1 V in 0.006 V increments
• CPU VTT voltage: From 0.451 V to 2.018 V in 0.006 V increments
• Memory voltage: From 0.300 V to 2.400 V in 0.015 V increments
• Chipset main voltage (PCH 1.05): From 0.451 V to 1.953 V in 0.005 V increments
• Chipset PLL voltage (PCH 1.8): From 1.000 V to 2.400 V in 0.05 V increments
• Memory data reference voltage: From 0.450 V to 1.150 V in 0.025 V increments (for each channel)
• Memory control reference voltage: From 0.450 V to 1.150 V in 0.025 V increments (for each channel)

Figure 9: Overclocking menu

Figure 10: Overclocking menu (Cont’d)

These are basically the same options available on the MSI P55-GD85; we could only see two options missing: “PCI Express amplitude control,” which increases the voltage used by the PCI Express clock signal, and “CPU amplitude control,” which increases the voltage used by the CPU base clock.