MSI K7D Master-L Motherboard Review

The BIOS is the standard AWARD layout, you can see that the BIOS contains most of the same main sections as other motherboards do. There are some sections which other motherboards wont have because they aren’t server motherboards like this one.

The standard CMOS features section of the BIOS is where you can set the time, IDE devices, and a few of the other things for your system. The Advanced BIOS Features menu is where you can set your boot sequence and some of your memory options.

The Advanced chipset features section has a lot of AGP and memory options. This motherboard is designed for servers so it only takes registered RAM. The term “registered” refers to how the memory module processes signals. Registered modules contain a register that delays all information transferred to the module by one clock cycle. Along with taking registered RAM it also uses ECC, which stands “error correcting code.” If you have a single-bit memory error, ECC memory will detect and correct the error. If you have a double-bit memory error, ECC memory will detect and report the error. I set my ECC setting to correct and scrub which will correct the error and wipe it away. There are a lot of AGP and memory settings for you to choose from so that you can get the most out of your system depending on what kind of hardware you are using.

There are a good amount of power management settings that you can choose from. Depending on what kind of server and setup you are running will determine how this all is setup. Generally you will probably not want anything powering down or anything like that. The BIOS health section displays a lot of information about your system such as temperatures, voltage, and RPM for fans. There are only warning options and no shutdown options which would have been nice to see.

The frequency/voltage control has a few options for overclocking but not many since this is a server motherboard. There are the following FSB settings: Default, 100/33 MHz, 103/34 MHz, 105/35Mhz, 110/37 MHz, 113/38 MHz, 117/39 MHz, 133/33 MHz, 138/34 MHz, 140/35 MHz, 144/36 MHz and 150/38 MHz. The CPU Ratio can be set to auto or 5 through 12.5. There are a few other options and the voltage cant be raised very high but there really isn’t a need.