![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Tuesday , March 22, 2005
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
GIGABYTE GA-K8NXP-SLI
GIGABYTE’s premier socket 939 offering, the nForce4 based GA-K8NXP-SLI, comes bundled with its own single card SLI video card. Read on to find out just how well this motherboard stacks up to the competition.
BIOS
GIGABYTE used the Phoenix AwardBIOS design as the basis for the GA-K8NXP-SLI’s BIOS implementation. The BIOS illustrated below is version F6.
The Advanced BIOS Features menu contains options for setting the order of attached boot devices, as well as setting the default video card type. When a USB 2.0 drive is connected at system startup and properly detect by the system, the drive shows as a selectable option within the Hard Disk Boot Priority submenu. The ordering of specific items in this menu can be changed using either the + and – keys or the PageUp and PageDown keys.
All onboard and integrated system devices can be configured through the Integrated Peripherals menu. The NVIDIA RAID controller is enabled using the IDE/SATA RAID function option, with all tied IDE and SATA ports/channels able to be individually assigned as standalone or RAID capable. If a port is configured for RAID operation, it will not be detected on system initialization, but will show as available through the NVIDIA RAID BIOS. The NVIDIA GigE controller status is configured using the On-Chip MAC Lan option, while the Marvell GigE controller is configured via the Onbaord LAN control option. The Silicon Image RAID controller is enabled using the SATA RAID-4 Function option. Note that the Silicon Image controller was found to only support RAID arrays in Windows XP. Any standalone drives connected to this RAID controller are properly detected by the RAID BIOS, but are not accessible through Windows XP.
The PnP/PCI Configurations menu allows for user configuration of the IRQ number assignment for various onboard devices. IRQ assignment options can be set to Auto, which allows for automatic IRQ determination, or can be custom selected for each of the listed settings.
The PC Health Status menu contains real-time statistics on all monitored voltages, temperatures, and fan speeds as well as an option for configuring system response to key situations such as high CPU temperature, CPU fan failure, or automated CPU fan control. The CPU Warning Temperature option allows for issuance of a warning sound if the CPU temperature exceeds a specified threshold, with a maximum value of 90C allowed.
The MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.) menu is a centralized location for all voltage and frequency related board settings.
The CPU FSB speed is set using the CPU Frequency option. This setting allows for a maximum CPU FSB of 400MHz. The PCI-Express bus speed is asynchronous to the CPU FSB, and is configured using the PCIE Clock option. The PCI-Express bus can be configured for a maximum running speed of 150MHz. The K8 CPU Clock Ratio option controls the CPU multiplier, which allows values ranging from 4X to the default multiplier as determined by the current system CPU. The overall CPU speed can be determined by multiplying the selected CPU multiplier setting and the current CPU FSB setting. The Robust Graphics Booster option allows for gross configuration of the timing and bandwidth settings for the PCI-Express video bus, using various pre-configured level type settings. The most aggressive setting available through that option is the Turbo setting.
The CPU Voltage Control option determines how much power is supplied to the CPU, with a maximum of 1.750V allowed. The Core Power voltage option controls the chipset voltage for the nForce4 chipset, with a maximum voltage of 0.3V above the default chipset voltage allowed. Similarly, the HT-Link voltage control option allows for up to a 0.3V increase to the base HyperTransport bus voltage. The DDR voltage control option allows for a mere 0.2V increase over the default DDR voltage. While the allowed voltage maximums are not great when compared with those allowed on other boards, specifically recent examples from DFI, the allowable voltage maximums should be enough for some overclocking.