Msi 745 Ultra

[Technoid]

I have got one of these and are preparing for "Major Surgery"

Anyting special I should think about?


The Chipset, does it need extra cooling?
(The Damn KT 266 & kt 333 does )

[Dr Mordrid]

No cooling necessary. Just remember to un-install your 4-in-1 driver components (AGP, IDE etc.) from Windoze before installing the new board and have the SiS CD ready when you boot up the first time.

I'd also check SiS's site for upgrades to its AGP and IDE drivers as well as AMD's Win2K AGP patch;

http://www.sis.com/support/driver/utility.htm

Dr. Mordrid

[Gurm]

Well, that SPECIFIC board has a couple quirks.

You MUST use a newer BIOS than what came with the board... as shipped most 745 Ultras fail to keep the 133mhz bus speed. Oops!

The best BIOS right now is 1.3 - many people think 1.4 is fine, but for me it just results in lots of resets and stepdowns (running an Athlon 1800+).

You will want to install the SiS "AGP Patch", which is currently on version 1.10, and available from their site.

That's it.

- Gurm

[The PIT]

Technoid didn't you say you had no Via problems a few hours ago.

[Technoid]

I have no problems what so ever with my current mobo….

But:

1. It has onboard raid and I want to break “lose” from having it integrated.
This has really been a complication as a promise card was hard to get below 170 in Sweden and now I got one for 125, Highpoints on the other hand is practically thrown at you
2. It don’t support higher than XP 1800… (And that one is only 233mhz from my TB 1300)
3. I was about to change Mobo a couple of moths ago and then the RAM prices took the shuttle halfway to the moon
4. My mobo is the over voltage of the year! About 1.5 too much!
5. Everyone else seems to have them and recommend them
I’m just joining the party

[The PIT]

Shit I thought I got you then.

[Technoid]

And I have I have been doing the “I’ll wait just a month” game too long and I’m getting feed up with it.

I have a friend who’s started to do that and he is still trying to tell himself and everyone that his P450 is good enough (not to mention that he visited my shop and gagged for an hour about it)

[The PIT]

Simple rule for anything if you've got the money go for it. Otherwise play catch up for ever and still feel guilty.
Oh Shit I still didn't get you.

[Technoid]

Oh, I got the money:
Tax return next week!

[The PIT]

Lend me any????

[Technoid]

hmm....
Oves my dad 450
Still have 800 to pay of for my DVD and Palm....
Sorry....
don't think so (I realy wich I was so rich that I could lend you money )

BTW:
If we keep this up its likely to get booted to SB

[The PIT]

I'll be your pimp.
Only kidding.

[Wombat]

Once you're sure the board is good you might want extra cooling. It just has a heatsink taped/epoxied onto the 745 chip. Since Greebe got his up to 187MHz FSB, you might want to think about it

I found everything in the BIOS really easy to configure. Didn't have to fight too much to turn off all the unneeded ports and integrated stuff.

[Technoid]

Back To buisnes!

Don't I have to reinstall from scratch to get Apic working?

[The PIT]

Presuming winxp/win2k I would say yes unless someone knows what reg key to delete.