![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Sunday , October 05, 2003
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
AOpen AK79D-400 MAX
The AK79D-400MAX is AOpen’s bid for dominance of the AMD arena. Read on to find out how well this board takes on the rest of the nForce and KT-600 based solutions…
BIOS
The AK79D-400 MAX features a Phoenix AwardBIOS, with some customizations to take note of. The most obvious additions are the Load EEPROM Defaults and Save EEPROM Defaults options in the main menu. These options control loading and saving user customized BIOS settings to the backup DIE-HARD BIOS chip. In practice, this is a very nice thing to have and saved me a lot of hassle with this board.
This has been one of those features that we first saw on AOpen mainboards quite some time ago. We really expected that it would become a "normal" soft bios feature that every enthusiast board builder would adopt. Sadly this has not been the case. With that said, DFI is now offering preset BIOS configurations with up to four presets. Somebody obviously saw the marketing power of great feature. Marketing aside, it allows you to recover your tweaked out settings that you know work, if that is how you saved them.
The Advanced Chipset Features menu gives access to various chipset related settings, including those controlling the memory and AGP buses.
Setting the Memory Timings option to Manual allows for user configuration of the memory timing related options. Timing options available include CAS latency, RAS Precharge delay, RAS to CAS delay, and Active to Precharge delay. On all memory timing settings, a lower number is more aggressive.
The Silent BIOS/HW Monitor menu allows for monitoring of various system level voltages and temperatures, as well as configuration for system response to catastrophic system events.
The CPU Warning Temp. option allows you to set an upper safe threshold temperature for the CPU. If the CPU temperature exceeds this upper limit, any fans powered through the motherboard headers are run at 100% and a BIOS warning alert sounds through the on board speaker. The CPUFAN1 Boot Speed option determines the speed of the fan connected to the header from when the system first boots until the OS loads. The CPUFAN1 OS Speed option determines the fans speed once the OS has initialized. Note that both these settings are overridden if the temperature defined under the CPU Warning Temp. option is exceeded. The Fan Mode option determines how fast the fans run. When set to Full Speed, the fans run at 100% all the time. When set to Smart Control, the fans run at the speed set in the BIOS until the CPU warning temp is exceeded. When set to Fixed Speed, the fans run at the speed set in the BIOS all the time.
The Frequency/Voltage Control menu contains options for controlling the various system bus speeds and voltages.
The CPU Bus Frequency option allows for manual manipulation of the CPUs operating speed through manipulation of the FSB setting and the multiplier setting. The CPU FSB can be set from 100 MHz to 255 MHz, with the multiplier going from 5x all the way up to 23x. Note that changing the multiplier will only work correctly on a BIOS unlock-able processor, such as an AMD Tbred-b or Barton CPU. Changing the multiplier on a locked CPU can cause a non-booting board, forcing a CMOS reset. AOpen also chose to give a lot of leeway in the AGP Bus Frequency option, allowing from the default speed all the way to 100 MHz. Notice that the PCI Bus Frequency option is not user configurable and is locked at 33 MHz. The DRAM Bus Frequency controls the operating speed of the system DRAM modules, through the use of multipliers. I have not seen this type of system used before to determine the DRAM bus speed, but after using it for a while, I grew to like it. By using multipliers instead of pre-set speeds, you have a greater amount of control over the exact DRAM operating speed. However, it is not recommended to run your memory asynchronous to the CPU FSB speed due to latency issues inherent in the AMD platform. Therefore, the optimal memory multiplier to use is 2.00.
With the incredible bus speed options available, the available voltage settings were a bit of a let down. The CPU Voltage Setting option allows for a maximum CPU Vcore voltage of 1.85v. This is more than enough for normal operating and some overclocking, but limits you to how high you can push the CPU. The DDR Voltage Control option is a bit more lacking, with its maximum of 2.8v. This voltage is adequate for running modules at a little over stock speeds, but again is not adequate to really push the envelope much. The AGP Voltage Control option is better, with a maximum voltage of 1.65v. The one surprise was the CHIP Voltage Control option. This option controls the voltage supplied to the Northbridge chipset. Allowing for 1.7v to the chipset gives greater latitude in overclocking, but the Northbridge itself may need a HSF upgrade to remain stable.
The Integrated Peripherals menu contains various options for controlling the on-board devices, including the on board SATA controller. The SATA ports themselves are enabled through the Onboard Serial-ATA option.
The most unique aspect of this BIOS implementation, in my opinion, is the boot up screen itself. You are shown both the default settings as well as the user defined settings for various system bus speeds and voltages. This little addition can be very helpful in diagnosing system issues, and in determining system settings on boot up outside of the BIOS.