![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Thursday , August 07, 2008
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Intel DX48BT2 Motherboard
Intel’s own motherboard answer to its X48 chipset, the DX48BT2, holds a lot of promise. From its sleek looks to its feature rich design, is this board is lining up to be a serious choice for those wanting to go an unbeaten enthusiast path?
BIOS
Intel based the DC48BT2’s BIOS on an AMIBIOS style template. The BIOS shown below and used in testing is version 1538. Notice that on the Main screen the processor specs are listed within the read-only Processor Type section.
The Advanced screen contains a series of submenus for configuring all board integrated peripherals as well as chipset boot related settings.
The Boot Configuration submenu contains various system relate settings, including fan control options for the CPU and System fan headers, and the CPU configuration option for limiting CPUID MaxVal. The Video Configuration submenu shows real-time status on the current devices seated in the PCI-Express x16 slots, as well as an option for running a video calibration test. The USB Configuration submenu contains all USB 2.0 related configuration settings.
The Peripheral Configuration submenu contains control settings for the system integrated devices, including the onboard audio, LAN, eSATA, and IEEE 1394 controllers. The Secondary SATA Controller Mode setting configures the Marvell RAID controller operational state, with the RAID boot BIOS showing on system startup with the RAID option selected. The Drive Configuration submenu contains settings for configuring the ICH9R RAID controller. The Configure SATA as option must be set to RAID with a valid device connected to at least one of the onboard SATA 2 ports in order for the Intel RAID boot BIOS to show on system startup.
The Hardware Monitoring submenu displays real-time statistics on all BIOS monitored devices, including fan header activity and connected fan speeds, board temperatures, and system voltages.
The Performance screen is the centralized location for all board overclocking related settings, with the options themselves organized in to a series of submenus.
The Processor Override submenu contains all system voltage settings as well as processor related speed and bus settings. The base CPU voltage is configured via the CPU Voltage Override setting, with a maximum of 1.60V allowed. The CPU Voltage Offset option gives a slight voltage increase to the set CPU voltage when enabled. The Northbridge chipset voltage is determined via the Front Side Bus Voltage override, with a 1.50V ceiling. The Southbridge voltage can be set to a 1.70V maximum through the MCH/ICH Voltage Override option. The Processor Multiplier option, used for changing the base CPU multiplier on an unlocked processor, becomes accessible when the Processor Multiplier Override option is enabled. Similarly, the Host Clock Frequency Override option enables user access to the Host Clock Frequency (MHz) setting. The user has the ability to set the CPU FSB to a massive 720MHz maximum using this option. Note that the physical CPU speed is determined by multiplying the CPU multiplier setting with the CPU FSB setting. The processor C1E support is disabled by enabling the C1E Override setting.
The Memory Overrides submenu contains all memory related speed and timing settings. All memory settings become user configurable with the Performance Memory Profiles setting set to Manual - User Defined. The memory speed itself is set through the Memory Frequency option, with the listed memory speeds corresponding to ratios based on a 200MHz CPU FSB, with speeds ranging from 800MHz to 1600MHz. The frequency ratios shown is determined by the Reference Frequency setting, which sets the base FSB speed used by the chipset memory controller. The available memory timing options include the following: CAS latency (tCL); RAS to CAS delay (tRCD); RAS precharge delay (tRP); active to precharge delay (tRASmin); row refresh cycle time (tRFC); RAS to RAS delay (tRRD); write recovery time (tWR); write to read delay (tWTR); row precharge time (tRTP); and command rate. Note that on the memory timings listed, the numerically lower setting forces more aggressive memory operation. The system memory voltage can be set to a maximum of 2.50V.
The Bus Overrides submenu contains PCI bus related settings. The PCI-Express bus can be set to a maximum speed of 109.24MHz through the PCI Express Burn-in Mode Percentage setting. Note that the board automatically adjusts the PCI bus frequency based on the set PCI-Express bus frequency, displaying the PCI bus frequency as a read-only option. The PCI Latency Timer option is also configurable from this submenu, with optimal settings being either 96 or 128.
The Boot screen contains boot device related settings, including the setting controlling boot device access order. When connected to the system and powered on at initialization, a USB 2.0 device will show as a valid boot device in this menu.
The Exit screen contains various BIOS save options, including settings for saving and loading a single user configurable profile. The Load Custom Defaults and Save Custom Defaults settings control the user configured BIOS profile.