Tweaking Issues with the 6167

Tweaking the MS-6167

As mentioned earlier, most settings related to Athlon overclocking are located on the Athlon itself and can't be adjusted by the motherboard. Some motherboards (the ASUS K7M being the most notable example) allow additional front side bus speeds beyond the standard 100MHz bus. Unfortunately, if you're looking for an Athlon motherboard with multiple front side bus settings the 6167 will disappoint you, as the only setting it offers is the standard 100MHz.

This is somewhat disappointing, as the build quality of the 6167 motherboard suggests it has the potential to be a wonderful board for overclocking. Sadly, MSI's engineers decided to leave additional bus speeds out of the overclocking equation.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as overclocking the front side bus on Athlon systems isn't nearly as mature as it is on BX-based motherboards, frequently offering bus speeds equal to or greater than 150MHz.

Once motherboards are released based on the KX133 chipset, we expect to see additional front side bus speeds available as well as additional tweaking options.

Manual and Software Bundle

We were a little disappointed with MSI's 6167 manual. While it offers excellent instructions on installing memory in addition to good CPU installation instructions, the manual never discusses the physical procedure of installing a motherboard inside a case! While motherboard installation isn't terribly difficult to an experienced computer builder, the inexperienced may need to seek the assistance of a friend with installation experience.

Other than that obvious omission the manual is well-labeled offering several illustrations and a pretty good BIOS setup section.

Since the 6167 BIOS has no hardware monitoring features present in the BIOS menu itself MSI included several hardware monitoring applications in addition to anti-virus software on a bundled CD. Included on this "Super Package" CD is 3D!Turbo II, SoftCooler II, PC Alert III, MoSpeed, and PC-cillin '98. While we didn't get a chance to test the included utilities we're confident there are power users out there that will give them a whirl. An AGP miniport driver for the AMD-751 Northbridge is also included on the CD.