H110 plus 6500
H110 plus 6500
You're trying to repair a friend's computer and found out it needs an HTPC board. You have a 7th gen Pentium but no DDR3 RAM, so you're using your last built HTPC. You're considering the MSI H110IPRO and wondering if it fits an I5 6500. You're planning to check the board's compatibility and are curious about the BIOS requirements for the G4560 chip.
Spoiler alert! The story unfolds with key twists you won't want to miss.
Each motherboard maker has its own method for identifying the original BIOS version. Some include a label directly on the chip, others provide it on the packaging, some allow you to search by serial number to determine manufacturing date and thus the BIOS version, while others make it impossible to trace. Since this board is quite advanced, it’s likely the original box isn’t present, and most MSI models tend to avoid that. Checking the compatibility list I shared confirms it supports an i5 6500 with BIOS revision 3.0. Visiting the BIOS download page shows that revision 3.0 was the first release for this board, meaning it should work with an i5 6500 as long as everything functions correctly.
Thanks for sharing your insights! It seems the package arrived used from Newegg, not original equipment manufacturer. Your reasoning is solid, and I appreciate your confidence in proceeding.