![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Thursday , June 12, 2003
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ABIT IS7-G
The Springdale has been the buzz lately as some boards are showing signs of better-than-875P performance. Find out what ABIT "Game Acceleration" is all about.
Editor's Note: As noted in our introduction, we had a late entry BIOS that had some very drastic timing changes in it. So we of course flashed our new BIOS and got to overclocking with our 2.4C. While we were seeing better results, I was not seeing incredible results that I was expecting. Now keep in mind that our results using our own ram tweaks were far from slow. Anyway, the ABIT GAME Accelerator tweaks currently only work if you are using a 1:1 CPU/Memory bus ratio. Using Game Accelerator is done by setting your Ram tweaks to SPD select and then setting Game Accelerator to "Street Racer" or "F1" as told to us by ABIT. Our BIOS still had a non-branded labeling scheme. Otherwise the BIOS is the same as laid out by Morry below. As usual, we will let the benchmarks speak for the board.
BIOS
The IS7-G uses the Phoenix AwardBIOS, which is used across all ABIT boards. ABIT chose to enhance the BIOS with performance related tweaks, implemented through their SoftMenu interface.
ABITs SoftMenu overclocking interface is renowned through the enthusiast community. In one location, ABIT has centralized all bus speed and voltage related tweaking options. The user can control exactly how fast and how stable the system performs from this one menu.
With the CPU Operating Speed option set to User Defined, the Ext. Clock, N/B Strap, DRAM Ratio, and AGP Ratio options become changeable by the end user. Both the Ext. Clock and AGP Ratio options control the relationship between the boards CPU speed and the on-board PCI and AGP based devices. The Ext. Clock (CPU/AGP/PCI) option allows for direct setting of the CPU FSB, from 100 MHz all the way to 412 MHz. This option controls the speed of all system buses, when combined with the AGP Ratio (CPU:AGP:PCI) option. The AGP Ratio option sets the divider for the AGP and PCI buses. Amazingly enough, the AGP Ratio option allows for a divider up to 1/8 to be set, enough for even the most rigorous overclock, or for locking of the PCI and AGP bus speed to their default values for ultimate system stability.
The systems DRAM bus speed is determined through a combination of the DRAM Ratio and N/B Strap options. The chart below shows the settings available through the DRAM Ratio (CPU:DRAM) option when combined with the N/B Strap CPU As option.
DRAM Ratio H/W Strap | DRAM Ratio (CPU:DRAM) |
By CPU | 1:1 (533, 800 MHZ CPUs |
3:2 (800 MHz CPU) | |
3:4 (400 MHz CPU) | |
4:5 (533 MHz CPU) | |
5:4 (800 MHz CPU) | |
By SPD (DDR speed determined by internal memory circuitry) | |
PSB400 | 3:4 |
By SPD (DDR speed determined by internal memory circuitry) | |
PSB533 | 1:1 |
4:5 | |
By SPD (DDR speed determined by internal memory circuitry) | |
PSB800 | 1:1 |
3:2 | |
5:4 | |
By SPD (DDR speed determined by internal memory circuitry) |
The lower portion of the SoftMenu Setup screen contains options for defining system voltages. Setting the CPU Power Supply option to User Define enables user manipulation of the CPU Core Voltage option. The CPU voltage can be set to a maximum of 1.9v, more than adequate for a power hungry P4. The DDR SDRAM option controls the memory voltage setting, allowing for a maximum voltage of 2.8v. This is a bit low for extreme overclocking, but is enough to give your memory a bit of a boost. The AGP Voltage option controls the voltage level feeding your power starved AGP card, with a settable maximum of 1.65v. Again, this should be more than enough for most AGP related overclocking, but more is always a nice to have.
The Advanced Chipset Menu controls how aggressively the boards chipsets operate the system devices, including the system memory. Manipulating the internal system memory timings can offer a good increase in overall system performance.
All memory related timing options become user changeable with the DRAM Timing Selectable option is set to Manual. Memory timing available to manipulate include CAS latency, Active to Precharge delay, RAS to CAS delay, and RAS Precharge delay. On all memory timing options, the lower number is more aggressive.
Both the ICH5R and Silicon Image SATA controllers are controlled through the Integrated Peripherals screen. The ICH5R controller can be set to act as a RAID controller or a stand-alone controller through the RAID Function option within the OnChip IDE Device submenu. The Silicon Image controller can be enabled/disabled through the Serial ATA Controller option located in the Onboard PCI Device submenu.
All system related temperature, voltage and fan speed settings are monitored through the PC Health Status screen. This screen also offers support for customizing system responses to various catastrophic system critical events.
The Fan Fail Alarm Selectable option allows for BIOS health monitoring of a specific system monitored fan header or on all monitored headers when set to Auto. The CPU FanEQ Speed Control option allows for customized fan speed throttling by selecting a speed percentage. This option is ignored by the system when either of the user defined threshold temperatures is exceeded. The CPU Shutdown Temperature allows for setting of a predefined threshold for maximum safe CPU operation. If the shutdown threshold is passed, the system is immediately shutdown by the BIOS. The CPU Warning Temperature setting allows for a threshold temperature to be set for safe CPU operation, from 30 to 120 degrees Celsius. If the temperature threshold is passed by the CPU, a warning alert sounds through the system speaker. One thing that strikes me as odd is that the warning threshold can be set to a much higher threshold temperature than the shutdown threshold.