BIOS
We used BIOS version 0403 for this roundup.
| Bios Voltage Settings | |
|---|---|
| FSB frequency | 100 - 450 MHz (Bios settings) |
| CPU Core voltage | 1.200 - 1.700 V |
| Memory voltage | 1.80 - 2.40 V |
| FSB Signal voltage | 1.20 - 1.50 V |
| Northbridge (MCH) voltage | 1.50 - 1.65 V |
| Sourthbridge (ICH) voltage | 1.05 - 1.20 V |
If you run this motherboard at FSB800 speed (200 MHz), memory speeds up to DDR2-800 may be selected, although the chipset is only specified for a maximum of DDR2-667.
At FSB1066 (266 MHz) you could deploy DDR2-1066 memory.
Asus allows you to modify certain processor parameters.
The option "Hyper Path 3" helps to increase the memory bandwidth.
| Possible Memory Configration | ||
|---|---|---|
| FSB1066 (266 MHz) | 1:XX | FSB800 (200 MHz) |
| DDR2-400 | 1.50 | n/a |
| DDR2-533 | 2.00 | DDR2-400 |
| DDR2-667 | 2.50 | n/a |
| DDR2-711 | 2.66 | DDR2-533 |
| DDR2-800 | 3.00 | DDR2-600 |
| DDR2-888 | 3.33 | DDR2-667 |
| DDR2-1066 | 4.00 | DDR2-800 |
The BIOS offers an item called "Performance Mode". If you set this to "Turbo", the motherboard will increase the FSB speed by 2 MHz, but without telling you about it at boot time. In order to ensure a fair comparison, we used the "Standard" setting.
Asus provides a graphics overclocking feature called "PEG Link Mode". "Slow" does not change anything and runs the graphics card at default speeds. All other options will automatically overclock the graphics card by a noticeable margin.
