![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , September 08, 2003
- Author:
- Keith Dugger
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS P4P800S-E Wireless Edition
ASUS adds an enhanced entry to their new value line. This mainboard has everything you need for a wireless access point in the box. Does the i848 chipset have the performance that will draw a crowd?
BIOS
ASUS installed the AMI BIOS from American Megatrends on the P4P800S-E. The main entry screen is home to the system date and time as well as floppy, language, and IDE support options.
The IDE Configuration submenu offers options for IDE operation mode and if the SATA controller is to be configured as a RAID device. The Serial-ATA BOOTROM option will display the controller BIOS during boot when enabled.
Next to the Main menu (on the top navigation bar) is the Advanced menu. This is of most interest to enthusiasts as it is the home to the coveted CPU and DIMM settings.
The JumperFree Configuration submenu (labeled as the Configure System Frequency/Voltage once inside) is the place in which most overclockers will spend their time. Of particular interest to the novice overclocker is the AI Overclock Tuner. This gives a new user the ability to get into the wading end of the OC pool without knowing much about the inner workings of overclocking. By selecting a percentage mark, the user can blindly jump up from 5-30%. Included are options for newer DDR specifications. The manual setting will be of most use here.
Jumping down a minute to the AGP/PCI Frequency option and one can see the AMI BIOSes ability to keep these buses locked in at a specified MHz. This will keep things like video and hard drive controllers running well within specification while pushing the envelope in other errors.
Moving back to where I left off is the CPU External Frequency setting. As one can see in the upper right of the screen, a full range of 100-400 is offered. Next down is the CPU ratio (multiplier). There isn’t a popup, but I have included a picture of the low of 8 and the high of 28. This should satisfy most enthusiasts especially when coupled with the FSB range.
Voltage adjustments to juice that power-hungry overclock are also available in the JumpFree Configuration submenu. The CPU Vcore Voltage settings range from a low of 1.5250V to a high of 1.9500V. This isn’t as high near as high as a desired 2.2V would be, but 1.9500V should support all but the most extreme overclocks.
The DDR Reference Voltage can be set from 2.55V to 2.85V which almost meets our requirements. We have consistently seen the need for 2.80V minimum when attempting to overclock and a 0.05V option above that doesn’t leave much room for growth. AGP voltage can also be changed from the default of 1.60V up or down in a range from 1.50V to 1.80V.
The Advanced Chipset submenu opens up the opportunity to manipulate DRAM timings. The available options for use are: DRAM CAS# Latency (2.0, 2.5, 3.0 Clocks); DRAM RAS+ Precharge (2, 3, 4 Clocks); DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay (2, 3, 4 Clocks); DRAM Precharge Delay (5, 6, 7, 8 Clocks); and DRAM Burst Length (4 or 8 clocks).
The Hardware Monitor displays various health statistics of the system. The user can choose to disable monitoring of any of the available options. It is a shame that there are no options to control CPU temperature warning or shutdown as we are familiar with on so many Phoenix BIOSes.
Additionally, the AMI BIOS allows the user to selectively disable support for on-board sound, NIC, and various ports as required to lessen any system impact unused components might have.