MSI has posted a new how-to guide regarding its Memory Extension Mode, revealing how the feature, which now includes a “high-efficiency mode,” can boost the gaming performance of Intel’s new Core Ultra 9 285K GPU by as high as 21%. The benchmarks below, which were derived from a system with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and DDR5-7200 or DDR5-8200 memory, demonstrate how the feature also delivers what MSI says is 10% faster gaming performance vs. Intel XMP (Extreme Memory Profile). MSI Memory Extension Mode can be found on its 800 Series motherboards by entering the BIOS (defaulting to EZ Mode) and switching to Advanced Mode by pressing F7, according to instructions that MSI shared.
Memory Extension Mode introduces a new High-Efficiency Mode, adding to the existing Performance, Benchmark, and Memtest modes. With an RTX 4090 GPU and DDR5-7200 or DDR5-8200 memory, tests demonstrated a 6%-14% increase in 1080p gaming performance with XMP compared to the default DDR5-4800 settings, depending on the game. Using both XMP and the High-Efficiency Mode, DDR5-8200 memory can further increase gaming performance by 5%-10%, varying by game. For DDR5-7200 memory, enabling XMP and High-Efficiency Mode together delivers up to 21% performance improvement over default settings.