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Is the MPX2 designed for overclockers?

Iwill publicly aim their new dual-AMD motherboard at 'workstation' through to 'entry-level server' markets . . . but:

Anyone with two brain-cells - or Athlon's - to rub together will see from the specification & our comments alongside that the MPX2 was designed to appeal to those wishing to squeeze every last MHz from their CPU's:

The MPX2's Overclocking tools:  

Of the above; C & E are there to stabilise things [given adequate cooling] when pushing CPU's & DDR to or over their comfortable limits.

The others look like a huge luxury of choices, don't they? . . . 100>250MHz . . . 5.5>15 multipliers . . . .  . . but it all comes down to the PCI-buses: if kept within the usual limits of +10% of standard . . 

 . . so all that these dreary numbers & symbols demonstrate is that the overclocking potential of any data-critical system based on the MPX2 is crucially multiplier-bound. 

If Iwill enable the advertised adjustment of CPU multipliers in 0.5x steps [= 66MHz steps at standard FSB], then even data-critical systems can perhaps indulge in a little quiet 'clocking.

How many MPX2 multipliers? 

Iwill's first publicly released BIOS' [dated 12th June 2002] allows no multiplier adjustment at all for those with Athlon MP CPU's or L1-unlocked XP's.

The beta BIOS before this [dated 23rd May 2002] allowed very limited multiplier adjustment, with the multipliers available strangely inconsistent from MP model to model: our pair of 1.2GHz MP's had a choice of the whole-number 7x, 9x [default], & 11x; while a pair of '1800+' MP's was reported to have a choice between 11x & 11.5x [default] only.

Since the MPX2 is multiplier-bound [as a 'clocking server-board], we would recommend waiting to see if Iwill can sort out the MPX2's BIOS before buying: it's a not entirely trivial problem for Iwill, since the recent extension of Athlon multipliers to 15x uses an extra L10 'bridge' to sort the pairs. 

If Iwill are unable to provide working multiplier-adjust; the MPX2 is less desirable as a serious work-platform [with a bit of safe tweaking allowed]; but will remain a good 'clocking platform.

MPX2 Dividers:

Using a VICS/Ioss RD2 Pro PCI Bus analyser - its readout of PCI-bus speed is to the mid-left of the picture below - we confirmed the MPX2 has only the 1:4 divider from 133MHz on up. This device links by cable to a special PCI-card with an onboard processor, crystal, & Cypress bus control PLD, so gives an independent hardware reading of PCI-bus frequency. 

As you see; at 137MHz FSB, the 32-bit PCI-bus is at 34.2MHz & the 64-bit bus at 68.4MHz:

The obvious problem with the MPX2 is that it's missing one vital tool: a 1:5 [or even a 1:6] divider. With these, the table might read . . . . 

Without dividers higher than 1:4, a serious workstation or entry-level server based on the MPX2 is limited by sanity & data-security to an absolute maximum FSB below 150Mhz - it simply doesn't matter whether or not the thing will run at FSB's higher than this.

Balls-out overclockers, & users of low-end machines with known-durable IDE hard disks [with no valuable data on 'em] might amuse themselves with trying for FSB's of 160MHz or greater; but the markets Iwill publicly target for the MPX2 have at most 17Mhz of the advertised '133>250' to play with.

We found the MPX2 to be an easy 'clocker up to the low 170'sMHz FSB - at 167FSB, as you see, the PCI-bus is at 41.7MHz:

Does the XP work?

Yes, unlocked XP's work fine, & are recognised & work as MP's.

Wottle she do then?

The MPX2 is a superb overclocking motherboard: stable, simple, & with fine-grained adjustment through combinations of the 1MHz FSB-stepping, & [theoretically] the 0.5x multiplier adjustments.

Our 'workstation' system - with 2 x '1700+' XP's - ran easily up to 155MHz, & is 24/7 stable at 11x 149FSB [1639MHz]:

Our 'server' system - with 2 x 1.2GHz MP's - settled down to a dull, dreary, responsible, 24/7 stable overclock of 11x 137FSB [1507MHz].

We stripped out one system [the 'server' - funnily enough] down to a 64-bit/66MHz SCSI-HBA in a 32-bit slot controlling a single 10K rpm U3W SCSI-HD - we knew this card would tolerate PCI-speeds up to to 78MHz.

This system ran Windows 2000 with every appearance of stability at 167MHz FSB; where we took a range of benchmarks. It continued to run calmly up into the low 170's; but would not run stably at 175MHz FSB. We didn't max out the VIO &/or vcore settings to press on further.

There seems no reason to doubt that a dedicated overclockers' MPX2, with active cooling, could attempt 200MHz FSB.

This performance is without rival among MPX-chipset motherboards, & is a tribute to Iwill's skill in design, careful selection of quality components, & quality-control in manufacture.