![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, January 28, 2004
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ABIT AN7
ABIT’s latest board featuring the uGuru processor and its host of features, the AN7 is the newest iteration in the AMD socket 462 line of boards. If the board is anything like its predecessors, then this may be the AthlonXP board to beat…
BIOS
The AN7’s BIOS is designed around the Phoenix AwardBIOS. ABIT has heavily modified to the BIOS to make it more enthusiast friendly as well. Note that the BIOS also includes options for saving and load customized BIOS configurations. Up to 10 customized configurations can be saved at one time. This is definitely a nice to have option that will save a lot of pain in the future if and when you need to reset the board’s CMOS. Note that testing was done using the 12 and 13 AN7 version BIOSes available on the ABIT download site. All screen shots depict the screens as they appear in the 13 version BIOS. In testing, I found that any time the board was powered off and powered back up, the BIOS would reset to the fail safe settings.
The SoftMenu Setup page is ABIT’s signature overclocking BIOS interface. Through this single screen, you have full control over all FSB and voltage related settings.
When the CPU Operating Speed option is set to User Defined, all CPU related FSB settings become user configurable. The External Clock setting controls the base CPU FSB, while the Multiplier Factor option controls the internal CPU multiplier. Both settings together determine the overall speed of the processor. The CPU FSB can be set from a minimum of 100 MHz to 300 MHz, with the allowable multiplier settings starting at 5x and supporting up to a 22x maximum. 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. In testing the board, it was found that the Multiplier Factor option had no discernible effect on any of the test CPUs. The two 2500+ Bartons that were tried were locked at an 11x multiplier, while the 2400+ Tbred-b was multiplier locked with a 7x multiplier. All 3 chips are unlocked, and have had their multipliers successfully manipulated on other boards. However, Kyle was able to successfully manipulate the multiplier using a confirmed unlocked 3200+ AthlonXP CPU.
The AGP Frequency options defines how fast the AGP bus operates, and is fully asynchronous to the CPU FSB setting. Through this setting, you are able to set the AGP FSB from the stock 66 MHz to 99 MHz. Note that the PCI FSB is cannot be manipulated and is locked at 33 MHz by the chipset itself. The CPU FSB/DRAM ratio determines the memory speed using a multitude of available dividers, from a 3/3 (CPU/DRAM) setting up to a maximum available ratio of 6/6 (CPU/DRAM) setting. Note that the 3/3, 4/4, 5/5, and 6/6 ratios are all the same, but the 6/6 ratio historically is the most stable when operating with a CPU FSB over 200 MHz. For best performance, a 1:1 ratio or similar should be selected. The AthlonXP CPUs perform optimally with a synchronous memory bus. The last option in this section, CPU Interface, controls how aggressively internal chipset timings are set. It is highly recommended to enable this option for better performance, unless system stability becomes a major issue.
With the Power Supply Controller option set to User Defined, all system voltages become user configurable. The CPU Core Voltage option controls how much voltage is supplied to the CPU, allowing for a hefty maximum of 2.313v. In testing, the voltage supplied to the CPU was a bit different. In default mode, the CPU voltage was measured as 1.65v through the BIOS. However, in User Defined mode, the CPU voltage was always 2v no matter what voltage was selected from within the CPU Core Voltage option. Hopefully, ABIT will be able to address this issue with a BIOS update before too many CPU become crispy critters.
The DDR SDRAM Voltage controls how much power is supplied to the system memory. The maximum setting allowed here is a massive 3.20v, enough to fry your prized RAM in a flash. In testing, all voltage memory settings seemed to operate correctly, with the measured VTT voltage (DIMM termination voltage) always remaining a bit over half of the VDD voltage which is the expected behavior for the VTT voltage. It would seem that ABIT finally has this high voltage memory issue that has been plaguing their other boards under control. The NB Core Voltage controls how much power is supplied to the Northbridge chipset. However, like the CPU Core Voltage, the chipset voltage remains statically set to 1.65v as measured in the BIOS, no matter what voltage setting is selected. While not as potentially devastating as the CPU core voltage issue, this locked Northbridge voltage issue will definitely cap your maximum achievable overclock. The AGP Voltage option controls the amount of voltage supplied to your video card, allowing for a respectable maximum of 1.65v. While not equaling the voltage breadth allowed for the CPU or DDR voltage, this amount of AGP voltage should be sufficient for most overclocking.
The Advanced Chipset Features menu contains a variety of options for controlling how aggressively chipset related functions interact with the rest of the system. Changing system timing settings, including the memory timings, can lead to major system performance increases when compared with un-optimized settings. The very first option, Enhance PCI Performance, controls how aggressively the PCI bus timings are configured by the chipset. Enabling this option can lead to a nice increase in system performance, but can also lead to system instability if other BIOS options are set too aggressively.
The Memory Timings option contains a variety of preset selections for automatic memory configuration, with the Turbo selection being the most aggressive automatic setting available. When the Memory Timings option is set to Expert, all memory related settings become user definable. Memory timing options available include CAS latency, Active to Precharge delay (shown as Row-active delay), RAS to CAS delay, and RAS Precharge delay (shown as Row-precharge delay). On all memory timing settings, setting a lower number causes the system memory to function more aggressively.
The Integrated Peripherals menu contains various submenus for controlling the board’s integrated peripherals. The Silicon Image RAID controller is configured through the Serial ATA Controller and SATA RAID ROM options within the Onboard IDE Device submenu. The Serial ATA Controller option allows for enabling/disabling of the Silicon Image controller chipset, while the SATA RAID ROM option controls the functioning of the controller. With the SATA RAID ROM option enabled, the Silicon Image RAID BIOS is loaded on system start up, allowing for configuration of hardware RAID arrays. With the SATA RAID ROM option disabled, the drives attached to the controller can only act independently of one another..
The Advanced BIOS Features menu contains various boot related options for the multitude of devices supported by the AN7. Through the Hard Disk Boot Priority submenu, you can select the system boot priority of all detected hard disks, including USB hard disks as seen in the screen shot. USB devices can also be set as boot devices through the three available Boot Device options. USB devices supported through this option include USB floppy drives, USB zip drives, and USB CD-ROM drives.