BIOS
We used to get lots of pictures to show some of the BIOS functionality but I’ve found that it is a lot easier just to have a video clicking through all of the options where you can pause and check anything out. MSI has their Click BIOS 5 for the MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFi and like most, it is split up into the EZ mode and the advance mode. When you first boot in you are in the easy mode which helps prevent inexperienced people from changing things they shouldn’t change. The easy mode has one-click options to turn on the XMP profiles and a basic CPU boost and you can also drag and drop to change the boot priority. They also let you get at M-Flash which is what you use to update your BIOS and turn things like the lighting and audio controller on and off.
The advanced BIOS still has the same one-click boosts up top as well as the drag and drop boot options that are available on every page. You also have information on your hardware and current temperatures and clocks speeds. They then break things down into three sections on the left. Normal settings, overclocking, and then M-Flash. Like I said before M-Flash is where you can update your BIOS at. The normal settings page has a few options. The first is system status which just shows you information like your current BIOS revision, serial numbers, and shows you what is plugged in. You can also change the date and time.
The advanced tab in the settings menu is where nearly all of the chipset settings are at. They break things down by subsystems like PCIe, Thunderbolt, USB, and so on. This is where you can turn on legacy settings for example but even settings like power loss settings which I would think would be in the boot section are also here. I should also point out that every option anywhere in the BIOS does offer a hint or description over on the right side of the BIOS to help you figure out what things are. I somehow skipped boost and security, sorry about that, but they have the standard options in them. There wasn’t anything that stood out for me.
The overclocking section is where MSI has moved any option that is overclocking related which included overclocking your CPU and your memory and all power settings. Early on you can get into the advanced CPU configuration which you can change power and turbo settings including turning MCE or what MSI called Enhanced Turbo on or off. Power limits can be set which control a lot of the auto overclocking. Overclocking the base clock is there as well as more detail options like the amplitude and slew rate. Memory is below all of that and again they have the main few features on the main overclocking page then everything else is hidden in the advanced configuration page. MSI also has their Memory Try It! Option which can test and try to help make memory more compatible. Then below memory is all of the voltage settings for everything, CPU specifications, memory information by the stick, and CPU features.
