![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Thursday , June 19, 2003
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
GIGABYTE 8KNXP Ultra
The 8KNXP Ultra heads up GIGABYTEs i875P line of motherboards. Does this board hold its own against other Canterwoods? Or does it really need to?
BIOS
The 8KXNP Ultra uses the Phoenix AwardBIOS. At first glance, the BIOS appears fairly mundane with little or no enthusiast friendly options to offer. However, various overclocking options, including the Advanced Chipset menu, become available after the CTRL-F1 keys are pressed simultaneously while in the main BIOS screen.
The Top Performance option controls how aggressively the system runs. When enabled, the memory timings are set to their most aggressive settings and the CPU and memory FSB are sped up by 4MHz as well.
The Advanced Chipset Features menu contains a variety of options for squeezing every last ounce of performance from your system components, including the system memory. Changing your system memory settings can lead to system performance improvement, but can also cause system instability issues to surface.
With the Configure DRAM Timing option set to Manual, various memory related timing options become user configurable. The user configurable memory timing options include CAS latency, active to precharge delay, RAS to CAS delay, and RAS precharge delay. With all settings listing above, the lower number is more aggressive. Also configurable is the Refresh Mode Select option. This option allows for manual adjustment of the memory refresh interval, with a higher number giving better performance. However, if the refresh interval is set too high, memory related instabilities and data corruption can occur.
The Integrated Peripherals menu contains settings for configuring various system integrated devices, including both onboard RAID controllers. The Intel ICH5R controller is configured through the On-Chip SATA and SATA RAID Function options. The ITE controller is configured through the GigaRAID Function option.
The PC Health Status menu allows for monitoring of various system voltages, temperatures, and fan speeds. You are also able to control the system's response to catastrophic fan related events, and control system fan speed based on temperature. With the exception of the CPU Warning Temperature option, all options are Enable/Disable settings. The CPU Warning Temperature option allows for customized setting of a CPU threshold temperature, above which a warning siren sounds through the system speaker.
The Frequency/Voltage Control menu allows for user configuration of the system FSB as well as various system voltages. When the CPU Host Clock Control is set to Enabled, you can manually set the CPU, AGP, PCI, and memory bus speeds. The CPU FSB can be set from 100 MHz to an impressive 355 MHz maximum. The AGP/PCI/SRC Fixed option allows for manual configuration of the PCI and AGP buses, asynchronous of the CPU FSB. The Memory Frequency For option allows for selection of a multiplier that sets the memory FSB to the multiplier x CPU FSB. The multipliers available change based on the CPU FSB selected.
CPU FSB | Memory Frequency For |
400 MHz CPU | 2.0 x |
2.66 x | |
Auto | |
533 MHz CPU | 2.0 x |
2.5 x | |
Auto | |
800 MHz CPU | 2.0 x |
1.6 x | |
1.33 x | |
Auto |
The board includes adequate voltage controls, enough for decent overclocking, but not enough to push the CPU and memory to their extreme upper limits for enthusiasts that want to take it to the edge. For most Pentium 4 mainstream overclocking now days it seems fully capable though. The DIMM Overvoltage Control option allows for a maximum memory voltage of 2.8v, enough voltage to give your memory a little push, but allowing up to at least 3v would have been welcomed. The AGP Overvoltage Control option allows for a maximum AGP voltage of 1.8v, which should be more than enough for any graphic card overclocking. The CPU Voltage Control is the most surprising, allowing for a voltage range from 0.8357v to 1.60v. The upper CPU voltage limit is adequate for minor overclocking, but is will not let you anywhere near that 355 MHz maximum CPU FSB with your killer processor. We think 1.75v should be an absolute minimum for Pentium 4 boards of today.