BIOS options and tweaking software
Mid-range motherboards tend to be favored by enthusiasts looking to overclock the snot out of affordable processors, so a wealth of BIOS options is really essential. Both boards get off to a good start by offering control over the CPU multiplier, although that option curiously disappears with the MSI board if you load its "optimized defaults."


The Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI's overclocking menu

On the front-side bus, er, front, you get quad-pumped options up to 3000MHz on the Abit board and 2500MHz with the MSI. Technically, the FP-IN9 gives you more headroom, but we've yet to have any LGA775 motherboard's front-side bus running stable above an effective 2000MHz.

To keep a system's memory from having to keep up with the front-side bus, both boards allow you to set a target memory bus speed between an effective 400 and 1400MHz. The BIOS automatically chooses an appropriate multiplier based on that target speed, and both the Abit and MSI boards appear to have access to a similar pool of multipliers.

The FP-IN9 and P6N stay relatively even in the voltage department, too, although they each go about CPU voltage adjustments in different ways. With the Abit board, you can set CPU voltages between 1.325 and 1.7V in 0.025V increments, while with the MSI, you're given the option of increasing the CPU voltage by between 0.0125V and 0.3875V in 0.0125V increments. The P6N SLI Platinum gives you finer granularity there, and you can also set its memory voltage slightly higher than you can with the Fatal1ty board; the P6N's DDR voltage options go up to 2.8V, but the FP-IN9 tops out at 2.5V.


Memory tweaking with the P6N SLI Platinum

When it comes to memory timings, similar options are available with both boards. You get access to all the usual suspects, including the DRAM command rate. However, we couldn't get the Fatal1ty board to run our DIMMs with a 1T command rate with either the current release BIOS or a beta BIOS provided by Abit. The company is working to resolve the issue, but a fix isn't available yet.


No µGuru, but still better than MSI's fan speed control

No one does hardware monitoring and fan speed control better than Abit, so we had high hopes for the Fatal1ty on that front. Unfortunately, the board doesn't come with a µGuru chip, so its capabilities are quite a bit more limited than we expected. Fan speed control is available for the CPU and system fan headers, and it's easy to set temperature ranges and fan speeds, but that's where the fun ends. Gone is the ability to tweak automatic fan speed controls for all the other onboard fan headers. You also lose µGuru's support for BIOS-level alarm and shutdown conditions for all onboard voltages, temperature sensors, and fan speeds.

Even without a full suite of µGuru options, the FP-IN9's BIOS still gives you more options than that of the P6N SLI Platinum. The MSI board only offers automatic fan speed control for the CPU fan header, and you don't get any shutdown or alarm conditions.

If all this BIOS-level tweaking is freaking you out, don't worry; both boards can be tweaked and even overclocked from the familiar confines of Windows. Nvidia's nTune system utility is compatible with both boards, although only with limited functionality.


nTune's monitoring app, for example, can't track system voltages or temperatures on either board. And it gets worse when we move to nTune's tweaking utility.


On both boards, your tweaking options are limited to adjusting memory timings and bus speeds. Voltage and fan speed controls are greyed out because neither Abit nor MSI has included the necessary hooks in their respective BIOSes for full nTune support.

Abit and MSI may be reluctant to fully support nTune because both companies have their own tweaking software for Windows. And like most apps provided by motherboard makers, these are a little over the top in the interface department.


Abit's latest tweaking utility


MSI's Dual Core Center software

Abit's software brings back most of the µGuru functionality that's missing from the BIOS, but it's a little short on overclocking options. MSI's Dual Core Center suite is better if you're looking to overclock from Windows. However, its hardware monitoring and fan speed control options aren't as extensive.