The BIOS, times two
While most motherboards make do with a single BIOS chip, the MD-A72P-7509 features two. The second chip is essentially meant to be a backup, and it can be accessed by simply flipping an onboard jumper. Both chips are socketed, as well, so they should be easy to replace or swap should one succumb to corruption during a flash attempt.

Of course, failed flashes are relatively rare, at least among enthusiasts. It's what's inside the BIOS that really counts, and here XFX comes up a little short.

Most of the board's overclocking and tweaking options are consolidated under an appropriately-named JUSTw00t! menu option. XFX, it seems, is not without a sense of humor.

The JUSTw00t! interface starts off well enough, with all the memory timings you'd expect and an adequate range of voltage and bus speed options. CPU voltages scale up to 1.45V in 0.05V increments, and you can push the memory voltage up to 0.35V above stock. The BIOS also provides control over the processor north bridge voltage and the amount of juice supplied to the chipset. There isn't nearly as much granularity in the voltage options as we've seem with some boards, but unless you're really into fine-tuning, that shouldn't be a major problem.

On the bus speed front, CPU reference clock options are available between 100 and 500MHz in 1MHz increments. One can also tweak the PCI Express, DRAM, and HyperTransport link speeds, in addition to fiddling with the motherboard GPU's core and shader clocks.

That all sounds great, but there's one key component missing: control over the Phenom multiplier. Multiplier manipulation works just fine with an Athlon X2, but when running AMD's latest quad-core chips, the only control one has over the processor multiplier is a cryptic set of "P-State" options that don't seem to work. Of course, Phenom X4 9850 and 9950 Black Edition processors with unlocked upper multipliers aren't officially supported by the board, and I suppose that blunts the need for multiplier control.

XFX's BIOS finds redemption with temperature-based fan speed control, giving users the ability to set a target CPU temperature, tolerance, and even the start-up fan speed. We only wish these controls were extended to the board's system fan headers rather than being restricted to the processor fan.

For those who are a little skittish about poking around in a motherboard BIOS, Nvidia's system utility software brings a measure of overclocking and tweaking functionality to Windows. This app does rely on motherboard makers to implement BIOS hooks for certain features, though, and XFX has some work to do on that front.

The latest version of Nvidia's system utility supports individual multiplier control for each of a Phenom's four cores. This capability was previously restricted to AMD's OverDrive software, which only worked with the company's own chipsets. Unfortunately, the options don't range beyond our Phenom's default multiplier of 12.5, which sort of misses the point.

In addition to restricted multiplier control, the Nvidia system utility lets users play with various bus speeds, including the CPU base clock. XFX hasn't made voltage and fan speed controls available to the app, though.

Support for the system utility's voltage and temperature monitoring capabilities is also missing from the XFX board. This certainly isn't the first time we've seen a motherboard fail to take full advantage of Nvidia's Windows tuning and overclocking software, and that's really a shame; the system utility is one of the best applications of its kind, and it's available free of charge from Nvidia's website.

Specifics on specifications
As ever, we've whipped up a handy quick-reference specifications chart for your viewing pleasure.

There isn't much to see here, but do take note that the board only offers a total of 10 USB ports. The nForce 750a SLI chipset actually has a dozen ports available, but XFX apparently lost a couple in translation.