Introduction

So, you noticed the Phenom II CPUs are now available, right? I bet you're thinking about purchasing one and upgrading some other hardware at the same time, aren't you? A new motherboard maybe? Well, not if you have the MSI K9A2 Platinum Ver 1. But MSI K9A2 Platinum Rev 1 is only a Phenom 1 motherboard, I bet you're thinking. Not anymore. MSI has made the K9A2 Platinum Rev 1 Phenom II compatible! Of course, AMD had a hand in making that possible, also, by making Phenom II CPUs work on Phenom I motherboards, but let's not forget the motherboard makers for sticking in there and not forcing us to upgrade. So what exactly does this mean for you? It means that you do not need to go out and spend another $150+ on a new motherboard that was specifically designed with the Phenom II CPUs in mind.

Upgrading your motherboard can be a pretty daunting task also, so instead of disassembling your entire computer why not just leave that motherboard in there? The MSI K9A2 Platinum Rev 1 also comes back to life when using the Phenom II CPU's with renewed overclocking, stability and speed. During our time with the K9A2 and Phenom II X3 720 CPU, I will honestly say that I did not experience any hiccups, reboots or oddities. And believe me when I say I put it through its paces.

In 2007, MSI released, what was at the time, a mid ranged AMD motherboard with Cross-fire and overclocking in mind. It wasn't all roses for this motherboard as it had its fair share of problems, the most notable of them was the SB600 chipset it used, which was an extremely poor chipset compared to its predecessors and the current SB700 chipset, along with a USB controller that was plagued with problems (this was not isolated to MSI boards) but nothing that made it unusable or truly undesirable. But what it did have was 4, yes, count them, 4 full sized 16x PCI-E slots for running multiple mid to high end ATI video cards, and a BIOS with enough overclocking options to take my Phenom II X3 720BE to 3.8+Ghz along with the stability we have come to expect from MSI products.

In this article we are going to take a look at the MSI K9A2 Platinum Rev 1 and how it is able to not only use a Phenom II CPU but also get a respectable overclock and performance out of them.