Tuesday, November 27, 2001

Introduction

Micro-Star, in its infinite bounty, has always managed to keep up with the ebb and flow of the chipset market by constantly revitalizing its product-line. As a result, their catalog tends to include quite a large, and varied assortment of motherboards. For its part, the MSI MS-6337LE5, also known as the 815EPT Lite, is the fifth revision of the 815EP Pro. What separates version 5 from its predecessors is essentially its support for Intel Pentium III "Tualatin" CPUs through the i815EPT B stepping chipset, and its lack of an integrated RAID controller.

So, without further ado, lets head to the review...

The Lite version

As we mentioned in the introduction, the MSI MS-6337LE5 also goes by another name; the 815EP Lite. The "Lite" moniker goes a long way towards signifying that the MS-6337LE5 has been stripped of many functions. Among those features from previous versions that got the axe, we can count: PC-2-PC networking, the LED diagnostic panel, the integrated RAID controller, and one of the memory slots.

Configuration

Configuration of the MS-6337LE5 is accomplished primarily from within the BIOS. Only a single jumper, labeled SW1, relates to the configuration of the CPU, and it can be used to force the FSB to 66MHz, 100MHz, or 133MHz.

Contrary to many other "Tualatin"-compatible boards on the market, though, the MS-6337LE5 is equipped with a wide range of Overclocking features.

First, we found it possible to set the FSB to frequencies ranging from 66MHz to 166MHz in 1MHz increments.

It's also possible to set the clock multiplier value to between 4X and 12X, though that particular feature is ineffective if a multiplier-locked CPU is installed.

Next, we can count the ability to adjust both the Vcore and Vio voltages as indicated by the table above.

And finally, its also possible to set the independent memory bus to operate at 100MHz, or 133MHz, or to allow the system to determine the proper frequency automatically.

Next: Technical details.