MSI X58 Platinum SLI BIOS, what CPU are supported

[ARhodes01075]

I have an MSI x58 Platinum SLI motherboard which I am hoping to update to a Xeon W36xx (right now I have a W3670 available).  Currently it is running an i7-920 at stock speed with 24 gig RAM and MSI bios 3.9 (the most modern one available from MSI).

I have not yet tested it with the Xeon, but I will do so tomorrow.  The BIOS update info suggests that they added Gulftown processor support prior to the v3.9 bios.  But I suspect it may be only for the 980x, 990x family, and maybe not the Xeon versions of those cpus.  I am not sure what will happen if the CPU is not recognized by the BIOS.

Do I need a modded bios for the W36xx series of xeon cpus?  If yes, is there one already made that has support for the w36xx series or even more modern LGA1366 Xeon CPUs?  Where would I find it?

If the W3670 works well, then I may look for a good price on an unlocked W3680/W3690, or maybe a later CPU as long as I can be pretty sure it will function properly on the mobo.

-Tony

[ARhodes01075]

No answers from the forum. I installed the W3670 into the MSI x58 Platinum with the newest v3.9 BIOS.

It was a bit of trouble with the big air cooler I also got to keep it cool.

The instructions for the air cooler were sketchy. It has nuts that need to be tightened down onto a bracket on the bottom of the mobo. No recommendations as to HOW TIGHT. So, I tightened the nuts so they would surely not loosen themselves up with thermal cycling.

No boot at all MOBO lights up, but nothing else.

I pulled the W3670 and reinstalled my i7-920. This DID boot and run properly. At least it did so very temporarily. Then it simply stopped. No BSOD, just a stopped responding to any user actions.

I then removed the big air cooler and reinstalled the little stock heatsink. I was suspicious that I had tightened the big cooler too tightly (I heard that this can be a problem). The 920 worked fine with that way. So the Mobo wasn't dead!

So, I went back to W3670 and the big air cooler. And I tightened the nuts finger tight using the little socket that came with the cooler. It has a phillips recess for the user to tighten the nuts with a screwdriver. I simply used the socket with my (strong) fingers.

THAT WORKED FINE.

The MSI x58 Platinum mobo recognized the Xeno W3670 properly and it works well.

Now to try to overclock.... Raising the BCLK from 133 to 140 makes it crash pretty soon, even with the RAM running at stock speeds. I wish the W3670 has an unlocked CPU multiplier. But that is why the -80 and -90 versions are a lot more expensive!

My RAM can run at 1333. So I will set the RAM to "extreme memory" specs and leave the CPU at stock speeds. It will be a lot faster than it used to be with a stock 920 and RAM at 1066.

-Tony

[ARhodes01075]

I have an MSI x58 Platinum SLI.  I can access the newest MSI BIOS for this board using MMTool.  Under the "CPU Patch" tab, I see 12 entries with CPU ID ranging from 06A0 to 06C2 with several repeated with differing revision levels.

The CPUID codes do not seem to pertain to any CPU code and stepping as far as I can tell..

I want to see if the BIOS had the microcode for, for example) the Xeon W3690

How can I find out what all of the supported CPUs are from the BIOS ROM file?

-Tony

[DeathBringer]

How can I find out what all of the supported CPUs are from the BIOS ROM file?

You can't.

[ARhodes01075]

How can I find out what all of the supported CPUs are from the BIOS ROM file?

You can't.

Hmmm.  I am surprised.  If the computer (BIOS) can decide what microcode to use based on the CPU that is found to be present, then it ought to be feasible to determine what CPUs it knows about.  It could have been as simple as reading back some data out of the BIOS.

-Tony

[DeathBringer]

BIOS loads microcode corresponded CPUID and platform ID. Many models of CPU have identical CPUID and platform ID. So BIOS can't reliably determine whether the microcode is suitable or not for the current CPU.