![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , December 08, 2003
- Author:
- Keith Dugger
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
P4S800D-E Deluxe
ASUS keeps the market motivated by developing the P4S800D-E Deluxe based on the SiS655TX chipset. Will that and a ton of features allow this "Deluxe" board to compete with the Intel chipset boards?
BIOS
ASUS has selected the American Megatrends AMI BIOS to drive the P4S800D-E Deluxe. The main screen is shown here and offers the ability to disable the chipset-powered SATA controller as well as modify drive configuration options.
The Advanced menu displays a set of submenus to control various board functionalities. This is the location of the JumperFree and CPU configuration (read overclocking) and available memory timings. Voltage tuning is also located here.
The JumperFree Configuration submenu gives the tweaker options to manually set the DRAM Frequency (200/266/333/400 MHz). In addition, voltage of the CPU VCore, AGP, and DDR power systems can be modified. Notice that the only option for VCore is for a +0.1V offset. This really will not offer much room for those power-hungry overclocks. The AGP voltage (1.50V – 1.80V) and DDR voltage (2.55V – 2.85V) are adequate with only the DDR voltage setting needing a bit more headroom. Most modern DDR sticks will need at least 2.8V as a recommended minimum (in our experience).
The CPU Configuration submenu displays the current installed CPU and settings. The important configurable option here is the CPU multiplier (Ratio CMOS Setting). This has a range of 8 – 28. Notice that we are using an unlocked 2.6 GHz chip for this portion of the review.
Further down the Advanced menu is the Chipset submenu. ASUS provided the user the option to modified functionality in both the North and SouthBridges. Most importantly is the NorthBridge submenu as this is the portion of the BIOS where the DRAM timings are located. Available settings are DRAM CAS Latency (By SPD, 2T, 2.5T, 3T); DRAM Precharge Delay (Auto, 6T – 9T); DRAM RAS to CAS Delay (Auto, 2T – 5T); and DRAM RAS Precharge (Auto, 2T – 5T). These options are the most needed to squeeze out the most RAM performance or maintain the most stability, but are not as inclusive as other implementation.
The SouthBridge submenu gives the user control over the onboard sound device (Enable/Disable).
Within the Onboard Devices Configuration submenu one finds the ability to disable the SATA controller (SiS 180 chip), the IEEE 1304 controller, and the LAN controller. Back at the Advanced menu and down a few options is the USB Configuration submenu. This gives the option to disable or modified the functionality of the USB devices.
Finally, the Hardware Monitor (found in the Power menu) displays current CPU and motherboard temperatures, fan speeds, and voltages. The only available setting is to Enable or Disable the CPU Fan Control (decreases CPU Fan RPMs at low temperature using ratios [11/16 – 15/16]).