BIOS
EPoX's Power BIOS is usually a robust implementation
A modified AwardBIOS is what we've come to expect from EPoX. Enthusiasts' eyes automatically head over to the Power BIOS section, so let's take a look.
The most important factor, as far as we enthusiasts are concerned, is the ability to lock AGP/PCI buses. Previous S939 boards have purportedly implemented them, but have been found wanting when tested. Driven clock can be adjusted from 200MHz up to 400MHz, all in 1MHz increments. The latter figure may sound daft, but forum reports suggest that 300MHz driven clock, CPU and memory permitting, is on the cards. CPU voltage ranges from 1.55v-1.70v. Increments could be better, though, as voltage rises by 0.05v at a time. DIMM voltage tops out at 2.8v, supposedly, but what's worrying is a load figure of closer to 2.65v. Premium RAM is often specified to run with at least 2.75v, so the undervolting here is of concern. AGP and chipset voltages rise to 1.8v and 1.75v, respectively.
Coming back to Advanced Chipset Features for a second, DRAM frequencies can be limited to 100MHz, 133MHz, 166MHz and 200MHz. It's effectively the same as using ratios on other boards. I'd recommend using synchronous RAM whenever you can. Thanks to the resurgence of low-latency memory in recent months, running 2-2-2-5 1T at DDR400 was no problem.
IDE and SATA are both RAIDable, and NVIDIA/EPoX allows you mix and match storage protocols for best performance.
Here's what I was alluding to above. Note the 2.68v DDR line. That's with 2.8v inputted in the Power BIOS section. Other key voltage lines, however, are just where they should be. There's no way to ascertain if the low DDR voltage line is peculiar to this sample or affects 9NDA3+s in general. I'd like to see EPoX push the boat out and incorporate some of the features found in competitors' BIOSes, such as explicit fan-speed manipulation, a BIOS-saving facility, and on-the-fly overclocking. Again, more functional than exciting.
