![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Sunday , July 13, 2003
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
EPoX 4PCA3+
The 4PCA3+ is EPoXs entry into the fiercely competitive Intel motherboard arena. Our review will show how well it can hold its own against the onslaught of the current i875P and i865PE-based speed demons
BIOS
EPoX chose to use a Phoenix AwardBIOS for the 4PCA3+. The BIOS itself has been heavily customized in the EPoX tradition to include a variety of overclocking performance options.
The Advanced Chipset Features menu sports a multitude of performance settings for optimizing various system components, including the memory subsystem. Changing the system memory settings can vastly improve system performance, while at the same time causing a myriad of system stability issues.
When the DRAM Timing Selectable option is set to Manual, the system memory timing options become user configurable. The configurable memory timing options include CAS latency, active to precharge delay, RAS to CAS delay, and RAS precharge delay. With all settings listed above, the lower number is more aggressive.
The Integrated Peripherals menu contains a number of submenus containing settings for configuring various system integrated devices, including both onboard RAID controllers and the integrated LAN controller. The Intel ICH5R controller is configured through the SATA Mode option within the OnChip IDE Device submenu. The SATA Mode option must be set to RAID to enable the Intel boot BIOS. Both the HighPoint controller and Broadcom GigE controller options are located within the Onboard Device submenu. The state of the Highpoint controller is determined through the HighPoint device option, while the Broadcom GigE controller is enabled through the Onboard LAN device option.
The PC Health Status menu contains real-time statistics for various system voltages, temperatures, and fan speeds. Through the CPU Warning Temperature and APIC Shutdown Temperature options, you can control system level response to CPU overheating events by defining threshold temperatures. Surprisingly, there is little overlap between the warning and shutdown thresholds available. This is a good thing because realistically, you would want your shutdown temperature option set to a much high threshold than your warning temperature option.
The Power BIOS Features menu contains options for configuring various system level FSBs and voltages. The CPU CLOCK/SPEED option controls the CPU FSB, and can be set from 100 MHz to a maximum of an incredible 350 MHz. The AGP/PCI Clock option controls the speed of both the PCI and AGP buses through an AUTO setting that locks the buses at defaults, a multiplier based setting that sets the buses based on the CPU FSB setting, and a By subtle tuning Item which allows for manual manipulation of the bus speeds. The AGP/PCI subtle tuning option allows for setting of the two bus speeds to a maximum FSB speed of 80 MHz, high enough for decent performance gains but nothing special. The Memory Frequency options controls the speed of the system memory through the use of pre-defined CPU FSB to memory FSB ratios. The ratios available change based on the CPU FSB currently set through the CPU CLOCK/SPEED option:
CPU FSB | Memory Frequency For |
400 MHz CPU | 1:1=>DDR200 |
4:5=>DDR250 | |
Auto =>DDR250 | |
533 MHz CPU | 1:1=>DDR266 |
4:5=>DDR333 | |
Auto =>DDR333 | |
800 MHz CPU | 1:1=>DDR400 |
5:4=>DDR320 | |
Auto=>DDR400 |
The one place that the board really excels is in the voltage manipulation department. The CPU Vcore Voltage sets the voltage going to the CPU through the use of selectable adjustment settings that are added to the default CPU voltage. The allowable CPU voltage ranges from -0.100v to +0.075v, enough to give your CPU a nice FSB bump. The AGP Voltage option is a bit more interesting, allowing for a maximum of +.70v to be added to the base AGP voltage (usually 1.5v for 4x/8x cards). The VDIMM Voltage option is equally impressive, allowing for a settable maximum of 3.3v to be coursing through your memory modules. The maximum settable voltage adjustment is +0.70v, however the board sets the default memory voltage to 2.6v.