How would you guys 'confront' a board manufacturer? Because I'm starting to have enough of MSI. I'd like some help or advice on what to do now, as I've bought a product that doesn't work as advertised.
The board in question is the KA790GX, a garden variety AMD 790GX-based board. The first one had problems, I've since dealt with warranty, but the new replacement has the exact same symptoms, which now enables me to rule out "bad luck" or "accidents". The problem has to be in the BIOS.
There was another thread about it, which is not important, so I'll cover the basics:
* The board doesn't support ACC, which is making me angry beyond comprehension, AMD's latest OverDrive version reports the SB as 700 instead of 750 and also grays out far too many options (a sign of garbage firmware).
* The board doesn't allow you to change the processor's memory controller speed (also known as "NB frequency" in OverDrive), keeping the multiplier at 9 which is severely limiting my overclocking headroom.
* The board has definite problems with the south bridge (that's what deals with PS/2 and PCI slots, or am I wrong?) - if I'm using my good old PS/2 keyboard while my Audigy is playing audio, it will crackle periodically, but nothing ever happens if I'm not using the keyboard. Imagine this while gaming, where you practically hold down some buttons for long. Creative is not at fault this time - everything worked flawlessly on my previous board, which was even cheaper.
MSI supplied me with a beta BIOS when I had these issues the first time around, but it didn't help. Since then (1 month ago) they've posted a new official BIOS, which also doesn't help. It was MSI who recommended me to RMA the board the first time, and I was hoping they'd be right about it, but no, it looks as if all of these are having the same issues. All I need is the ability to set the memory controller's frequency and to have this buggy south bridge fixed (PS/2, PCI, advanced clock calibration et al.), how hard can it be to make the right BIOS?
Should I consult AMD to help me kick some nuts in Taiwan? They could help, right? After all, someone is cracking jokes on their own product(s).
Discuss.
I'm mainly looking for advice I would actually be able to carry out.