MS-6163 Feature Set

CPU: Support Intel(R)Pentium(R) II/III & CeleronTM processor up to 500MHz.

Clock: 66/68/75/83/100/103/112/117(2)/ 124/129/133/138/143/148/153* MHz clocks are supported.

Memory: 3 DIMM. Max. 768MB SDRAM (Supports ECC)

I/O: 2 Serial, 1 Printer, 2 USB, Floppy, IrDA, Audio, Game

LAN Wake Up Function: Yes

Modem (Internal/External) Ring Wake Up Function: Yes

Keyboard Power On Feature: Yes

System Hardware Monitor: (Optional)

Audio: Creative(R) ES1373 (Optional)

CPU Plug & Play: Yes

PC Alert II: Yes

Soft Cooler II: Yes

3D! Turbo II: Yes

Form Factor: 30cm x 18.6cm, ATX

Chipset: INTEL(R) 440BX

There is very little that is missing from the feature set of the MS-6163. The only thing a power user may want is 4 DIMM slots instead of 3. However I don't really miss that feature. Besides, how many of you need more than 768 megs of ram? :-)

The MS-6163 is basically the same size as the Abit BH6, with all the features of the bigger BX6-2. If you have a case that is too small for a BX6-2, the MS-6163 is a good choice. Even if you have a case big enough for the BX6-2, the MS-6163 is a great choice.

The MS-6163 uses the now classic 1 AGP, 5 PCI and 2 ISA slots. Personally, I can't wait till they get rid of all the ISA slots.

There are a total of 3 fan connectors on the MS-6163, just like on the Abit BX6-2. However the MS-6163's connectors are position in better places than the Abit board. My Alpha heatsink is so big that it covers over one of the fan connector on the Abit BX6-2, making it useless. This doesn't happen with the MS-6163. It's fan connectors are further away, clearing the huge heatsink. Overall, the layout and design of the motherboard is excellent.

The MS-6163 comes with 2 temperature sensors. One is located right next to the Slot 1. The sensor comes up about an inch and makes contact with the CPU heatsink to measure it's temperature. The second temperature sensor is call Top Tech II and is connected to pin JT3. MSI even supplied a 20cm length thermistor! You can attach this thermistor to whatever you want to take a temperature reading from. I stuck it into the heatsink of the Viper 550 video card, turned off the attached fan and watch the overclocked Viper's temperature rise to an alarming 55C! Turning back on the fan lowered the Viper's temperature to a much more reasonable 34C.

MSI included a few software goodies with it's motherboard. There is PC Alert II to monitor the temperature and fan speed of the board. This is a very cool program that all MSI motherboard owner will want to install.

Softcooler II is like Waterfall Pro or CPU Idle. Softcooler II works by using the HLT command. It makes the CPU use less power, thereby reducing CPU temperature. That's the claim anyway. Don't know how good it really works since I never used it. I don't believe in using software coolers when overclocking a CPU.

3D Turbo II is used to make your graphic card run better. It's similar to PowerStrip. However it's not as powerful. I did not use this program either.

All these softwares are neat but let's face it, people are going to buy this motherboard for overclocking. So the question is how good of an overclocker's board is the MSI 6163? Let's find out

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