![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, July 09, 2003
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Soltek SL-86SPE-L
Soltek’s i865PE based speed demon, sure to knock even the most hardcore enthusiast’s socks off. And it's purple too.....
BIOS
The SL-86SPE-L uses an AMI based BIOS, customized with various performance related enhancements and options. The most interesting performance related enhancements dwell within the Advanced BIOS Features and Advanced Chipset Features menus.
The Advanced BIOS Features menu is broken in to a number of submenus containing non-chipset specific user configurable options.
The CPU Configuration submenu contains processor related information, including frequency and processor multiplier, as well as the ability to enable Hyper-Threading and modify the CPU multiplier on an unlocked CPU. However, we could not get the manual CPU multiplier settings to stick in our testing. The IDE Configuration submenu contains options for configuring various ICH5 related options, including the enabling and setting of the on board SATA ports. The Hardware Health Configuration submenu contains current information on various system temperatures, voltages, and monitored fan speeds.
From the Frequency/Voltage Control submenu, you have full control over your CPU’s FSB and well as various board voltages. The AGP Voltage Control options allows for up to an impressive 1.8v for your power starved graphics card. The DIMM Voltage Control allows for a maximum of 2.8v for your memory. The allowed memory voltage is adequate for running at a 200 MHz FSB and a bit beyond, but will not provide enough juice to push the memory to extremes. The CPU voltage control options allows for the greatest breadth, allowing from a minimum of 1.1v to a maximum of 1.85v. That should be plenty of voltage even for the most power crazed CPU.
With the CPU Linear Frequency option set to Enabled, you are able to manually manipulate the CPU FSB settings. Note that the minimum and maximum settings available depending on the CPU currently in the board and the position of the on board CPU FSB jumpers. When the jumpers are set to Auto, the board automatically detects the CPU’s FSB. Setting the jumpers to any other settings overrides the CPU default FSB. The following FSB presets are available:
CPU Type | FSB settings available from CJPU Clock option |
100 MHz CPU | 100 MHz – 250 MHz |
133 MHz CPU | 133 MHz – 283 MHz | 200 MHz CPU | 200 MHz – 350 MHz |
The Advanced Chipset Features submenu contains various options for controlling how aggressively the main board’s two chipsets interact with system devices, including system memory. Notice that the menu is divided into Northbridge Configuration and Southbridge Configuration submenus.
The Northbridge Configuration submenu offers various options for manipulating system graphics, memory, and on board LAN related settings. The C.S.A Gigabit Ethernet option controls the current state of the on board LAN controller.
The DRAM Frequency option controls the FSB of the system memory. Note that a 400 MHz option is available only with a 200 MHz FSB CPU installed in the system. All memory related timing options become user changeable when the Configure DRAM Timing by SPD option is set to Disabled. Memory timing available to manipulate include CAS latency, RAS Precharge, RAS to CAS delay, Precharge to Active delay, and DRAM burst length. On all memory timing options, the lower number is the more aggressive setting.