BIOS
AOpen knows that every big-name motherboard manufacturer that concentrates on the premium end of the market provides robust, tweakable BIOSes. Users now expect to be able to shove huge amounts of voltage through the CPU and DDR, as well as explicitly control DRAM latencies.
Interesting how 200x11 can equal both 2.20 and 2.21GHz. The test BIOS, dated 7th March, simply allows for bus frequency manipulation. Earlier BIOSes opened up the opportunity for multiplier selection. There's also no mention made of AMD's Cool'n'Quiet technology, sadly. Bus frequency scales from 200MHz - 300MHz, although the effectiveness is reduced by the chipset's lack of AGP/PCI bus locking. For example, look at the same BIOS shot with a raised FSB.
Notice how the AGP and PCI divisors are maintained at /3 and /6, respectively. That's an enthusiasts' problem that will be rectified by the revised K8T800 Pro chipset. Voltage-wise, the CPU's a disappointment, topping out at 1.55v, although we can set a minimum level of 0.8v. DDR voltage, however, is better, with 2.8v on tap. Memory frequencies are set in usual Athlon 64 fashion, that is, the user can prescribe a maximum memory clock of DDR200, DDR266, DDR333, and DDR400.
DRAM latency adjustment is good. Going from top to bottom, we set timings of 2,9,10,2,2,6,2,2,1,4, and 1x2064. The board applies these settings but then shows some as auto. The BIOS lacks a configuration saving feature, the handy extra that we've recently found on DFI and ABIT boards.
We like how the CPU's fan speed can be set to a percentage of maximum. The feature works in tandem with AOpen's SilentTek OS-driven utility. Fan mode is either Full or Smart, just like AOpen's XC cube. There's the usual features list and power settings. From an enthusiasts' point of view, the BIOS is letdown by a lack of CPU adjustment and DDR voltage reporting. The chipset itself isn't really open to much overclocking abuse, especially if drives are to be run of the primary and secondary controllers. What we can say, though, is that the board allows a default setup that's geared towards speed.
