![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Tuesday , June 15, 2010
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Google +1
ASUS P6X58D Premium Motherboard Review
ASUS has taken its new Intel X58 chipset based motherboard to the next level, integrating support for Intel's Core i7 six core processors, SATA 6Gbps drive support, and USB 3.0 support. Just how well will this board fare in this overly competitive market space?
BIOS
For the P6X58D Premium board, ASUS decided to go with an AMIBIOS style BIOS template. The BIOS used in testing and shown below is version 0808.
Accessed via the link from the Main menu, the Storage Configuration submenu houses all option for configuring the ICH10R controlled SATA 2 ports. The SATA Configuration setting configures the base operating mode for the controller. The Compatible mode setting enables only 4 of the SATA 2 ports, with those ports emulating a 2 port IDE master/slave configuration. Setting the SATA Configuration option for Enhanced mode allows use of all 6 ports, as well as enabling use of the Configure SATA as option. More importantly, the RAID operating mode of the chipset can be enabled via the Configure SATA as option. Note that the Intel RAID boot BIOS will only show on startup with drives connected to the onboard ICH10R’s SATA 2 ports with RAID mode active via the Configure SATA as option.
The System Information submenu can also be accessed via a link from within the Main menu. This submenu contains display settings concerning the current BIOS revision, as well as CPU and memory related setting information.
The Ai Tweaker menu is a centralized menu containing all system performance related settings. The Ai Overclock Tuner setting configures the system for either automated or manual performance tuning, with BIOS settings coming under manual control with the option set to Manual. Setting this option to the D.O.C.P. configuration allows for use of preconfigured memory performance profiles, which auto-adjust the board's base clock frequency setting. With the X.M.P. setting active, the BIOS automatically configures the CPU ratio and memory parameters to factory configured performance settings. The CPU Ratio Setting option controls the CPU multiplier setting, with a MAX+1 setting available by default without the need for enabling the Intel Turbo Mode setting. When the Intel (R) SpeedStep(TM) Tech option is set to enabled, the Intel(R) Turbo Mode Tech option becomes visible. This options sets the system up to use a MAX+1 multiplier, ignoring the current setting of the CPU Ratio Setting option. The Xtreme Phase Full Power Mode setting controls how many power phases are currently active, the full 16 phase power system active with this setting enabled. The BCLK Frequency option, which controls the board's base clock frequency setting, can be configured for operation at up to 500MHz. Note that the CPU speed is found by multiplying the BCLK Frequency setting and the CPU Ratio Setting. The PCIE Frequency option configures the PCI-Express bus operating speed, with a 200MHz maximum speed. The memory speed is set via the DRAM Frequency setting, with speeds based on preconfigured ratios. Note that the memory speed shown in the setting list is the actual memory speed to be configured. Similar to the memory speed setting, the UCLK Frequency and QPI Link Data Rate options configure the Uncore and QuickPath Interconnect bus speeds, both based on preconfigured ratio settings shown real time in the options list. The ASUS/3rd Party UI Priority setting configures the board's preference for Window's based performance tools, with the ASUS tools being automatically disabled with this setting set to 3rd Party Utility mode.
The CPU Voltage Control setting configures how the user configures the CPU voltage, via direct manipulation or via a voltage offset amount. The CPU voltage itself can be set to a maximum of 2.10V, with the CPU overvolt jumper enabled. The CPU PLL Voltage option configures the CPU's power regulation circuitry voltage, with a 2.50V setting possible. The QPI/DRAM Core Voltage setting controls the Uncore and QuickPath Interconnect bus voltage, with a 1.90V maximum setting if the QPI overvolt jumper is enabled. The Northbridge chipset voltage is set via the IOH Voltage setting, with a 1.70V ceiling, while the Southbridge chipset voltage is configurable to a 1.40V maximum via the ICH Voltage setting. The PCI-Express bus voltage is split between 2 settings, the IOH PCIE Voltage and the ICH PCIE Voltage, with the maximums allowed 2.76V and 1.80V respectively. The DRAM Bus Voltage configures the base memory voltage, with a 2.46V ceiling possible with the DRAM overvolt jumper enabled. The DRAM DATA REF Voltage and DRAM CTRL REF Voltage options control the memory reference voltage settings for the board on a per channel basis, with the settings shown corresponding to voltage ratios based on the base DRAM Bus Voltage setting. For all DRAM reference voltage settings, the maximum ratio value allowed is 0.630x.
The Load-Line Calibration setting configures the BIOS regulation of the CPU VDroop voltage, with the Enabled option allowing for automated BIOS control of this voltage setting. The CPU Differential Amplitude setting controls the CPU base clock driving control voltage, with a 1000mV maximum setting allowed. The CPU Clock Skew option sets the CPU base clock delay, with a maximum delay of 1500ps available. Similarly, the IOH Clock Skew sets the Northbridge clock delay, which is also settable to a maximum 1500ps delay value.
Accessed via the DRAM Timing Control link from within the Ai Tweaker menu, the DRAM Timing Control submenu houses all memory timing related settings, which include: CAS latency; RAS to CAS delay; RAS precharge delay; active to precharge delay (DRAM RAS# ACT Time); RAS to RAS delay; row refresh cycle delay; write recovery delay; read to precharge delay; four activate window delay; CAS to CAS delay; command rate (DRAM Timing Mode); per channel latency; write to read delay across DIMMs; read to write delay across DIMMS; read to read delay across DIMMS; and write to write delay across DIMMS. The write to read delay across DIMMs, read to write delay across DIMMS, read to read delay across DIMMS, and write to write delay across DIMMS settings are broken in to three categories: different DIMM modules (DD); same memory chip placement between modules (SR); and different memory chip placement between modules (DR).
The Advanced menu houses settings within the listed submenus for controlling the board's various integrated devices.
The CPU Configuration submenu contains real-time statistics on seated CPU, as well configuration settings for the internal CPU functions including: CPU multiplier (CPU Ratio Setting), C1E support, hardware prefetcher support, adjacent cache line prefetch support, Intel virtualization technology, CPU Thermal Module function (CPU TM Function), Execute Disable Bit, HyperThreading control (Intel(R) HT Technology), core operational controls (Active Processing Cores), A20M support, Intel SpeedStep support, and CPU idle C-state support. Note that the Intel SpeedStep and C-state support related settings are located within the Intel PPM Configuration submenu.
The NorthBridge Chipset Configuration submenu, located as a link from within the Advanced Chipset Settings menu, contains settings for configuring the onboard PCI-Express x16 slot operational modes. Using the PCI Express Selector option, the secondary and tertiary video slots can be configured for x8 operation or x16 and x1 operation respectively.
The Onboard Devices Configuration submenu houses settings for configuring the following integrated devices: the Marvell 9123 SATA 6G controller, the Marvell GigE LAN controllers, and the Realtek HD audio subsystem. Note that the Marvel SATA 6G controller does not have built in RAID support.
The USB Configuration submenu contains configuration settings for the onboard USB 2.0 and 3.0 device ports. The USB Mass Storage Device Configuration link displays when a USB device is connected to the system. This submenu allows you to configure device specific options, including the device emulation settings.
The Advanced PCI/PnP Settings submenu contains the user configurable plug and play and PCI bus related configuration options. Note that ASUS chose to enable settings for direct manipulation of the IRQ interrupt or pool assignment settings from within the BIOS.
The Hardware Monitor submenu, accessed through a link from the Power menu, displays BIOS monitored statistics on system fan speeds, and device temperatures and voltages. The CPU and Chassis fan headers can be configured for BIOS controlled fan speed setting via their respective Q-Fan Control and Fan Profile settings.
The Hard Disk Drives submenu, accessed from within the top level Boot menu, shows all detected hard drive type devices connected to the system at system boot time including USB 2.0 type devices.
The Tools menu is a centralized repository for all of the ASUS created BIOS utilities, including the EZFlash2 BIOS update utility, a BIOS profile storage mechanism, and configuration options for the Express Gate startup screen. Express Gate is ASUS’ proprietary startup screen, which allows access to various applets without the need for OS interaction. The ASUS EZ Flash 2 utility is accessed via the ASUS EZ Flash 2 link in the Tool menu. The application allows you to update the system BIOS from any connected drive device, including properly detected USB 2.0 devices.
The O.C. Profile Configuration submenu allows for storage of up to 8 BIOS profiles, which are full BIOS copies at the time of creation. The generated profiles can be custom named, and saved or loaded to the one of the BIOS slots or a drive device. The Start O.C. Profile option from within the submenu allows for file based storage of the current BIOS settings or retrieval of previously save BIOS profiles. The interface is very similar in design to the EZ Flash 2 interface, with access to all attached system storage devices for save and load operations, including attached USB 2.0 devices.