The Switch - A Story of Changing Sockets Part IV

Dear Readers,

The time has come to form a conclusion about the switch. It took me some time and yes shame on me :-D, but there are more factors which are named before i write the conclusion.

The factors include 2 additional things: BIOS security features and Overclocking.
I wanted to figure out what features are securing your machine from noobs who want to access your data. Now some of you would say that all files are actually save if you have a Windows password installed, but how about a linux live session? Yeah I know, a noob who wants to access my files using Linux might have enough knowledge to overcome the BIOS security, but who knows ;-). Most BIOSs have the chance to install a boot password which can be deleted after clearing CMOS, but this BIOS has an additional feature: USB Device to be plugged into your PC. So it is a nice feature :-)



Second thing which bothered me was the far to bad overclocking menu. It is not held simple but once knowing what features are needed to get some more juice out of your system. To figure out the secret of the MSI BIOS, I wrote down all the settings which are affected by the overclocking button and then I set it manually and it went sort of well. The 4GHz boot stable screen on the Facebook page of the Unfused Journal are proving it. I am far away from stability yet, but I will figure it out, one day or the other :-)

Conclusion:
Positive Aspects:
- Switching the motherboard didn't require a fresh install of Windows 7
- More Memory at a good price, thus being more wasted by Windows 7
- Quite a low-cost upgrade, overall faster system.

Negative Aspects:
- Complicated MSI BIOS VS simple AsRock BIOS
- K10Stat doesnt allow me to manipulate the multiplier of the CPU anymore
- PCB is shorter and misses 3 screw holes on the side of the memory slots
- .... Which makes me worry that one day the PCB may break

So overall I am sort of happy, and everyone using Windows 7 64-bit could easily follow a similar upgrade path. I would go even that far that a switch from Intel to AMD and vice versa is possible but you have to uninstall some drivers/hardware in the device manager and be patient when you are booting up the first time(Every USB device will be installed at one time and it takes time).

I hope you liked The Switch series, unfortunately I reinstalled Windows 7 to get rid of Windows XP which was still present before AM3 came. I guess it is about time, but the good Windows XP will be in use on my old Turion X2 Based Amilo Pa1510.

Anyway lets hope to get 4GHz booting :-) and stable and I mean rock-solid-stable.

Regards

Andreas Gunkel
Asisstant Director
The Unfused Journal

PART I
PART II
PART III