BIOS
Extra features should necessitate a fuller BIOS. EPoX sticks with the proven Phoenix AwardBIOS setup.
Easy to use and navigate, Award's BIOS is probably the most user-friendly to date. EPoX's main configuration screen lies under the heading of Power BIOS. Let's take a look.
System performance options range from Normal to Fastest. Testing showed little performance difference between the two settings. CPU's driven clock ranges from the default 200MHz through to 250MHz. What's not explicitly mentioned is the presence of an AGP or PCI lock. That's worrying from the outset. The fact that individual AGP frequencies, ranging from the default 66MHz - 100MHz, suggests that clocks are driven off different lines. CPU frequencies are also adjustable, from 8x - 22x.
Voltages don't see as much flexibility. For example, 1.55v - 1.70v for the CPU, 2.5v - 2.8v for DDR, 1.5v - 1.8v for AGP, and 1.6v- 1.75 for the chipset. It's just as well, then, that the single bridge has a passive heatsink. What we'd like to see is specific mention of AGP and PCI speeds, much like for Intel's dual-channel motherboards. The fear of damaging hard drives with an unlocked PCI bus is all too present and real.
The advanced BIOS features section is home to both DRAM timings and general chipset functions. Given that the nForce3 250Gb is a single-chip design which connects directly to the Athlon 64 via what's dubbed the HyperTransport link. With that in mind, the original nForce3's 600MHz link, running 16-bit downstream and 8-bit upstream, was looking poor in comparison to VIA's 16-bit 800MHz HT offering. NVIDIA has rectified this by matching VIA's bus speed. There's even an option of running at 1000MHz (5x multiplier, above), which gives a whopping 8GB/s bandwidth. We've already seen the level of high-speed peripheral integration, so it's a wise move.
There's not to much to the DRAM timings' section, as you can see. Maximum memory clock can be adjusted to 133MHz, 166MHz, and Auto, which translates to 200MHz. Remember that the DRAM controller's speed is always a divisor of the CPU's overall clock speed. The board had no problem in running 2-2-2-6 timings. What we did encounter problems with, however, was with changing multipliers and attempting to run with a HyperTransport frequency of 5x. The latter can be excused, the former can't.
A few of the board's plentiful features. Storage setup is also impressive. This shot highlights just what kind of wonderful arrangement's open to you. Hitachi has recently announced 400GB drives. Imagine the sheer storage that's soon to be available to an ordinary consumer.
Our test sample held steady lines under prolonged load. Average voltage, too, was a notch above what's set in BIOS. EPoX knows how to produce a reasonable BIOS. This one is just that. What the company really should do is follow the lead of ABIT and ASUS, whos latest BIOSes include fan-control functions and on-the-fly settings as standard.
