![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, February 21, 2007
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS P5N32-E SLI PLUS
With the rising popularity of the NVIDIA Intel 6 series chipset, it is only natural that ASUS would want to revisit previous design wins to make them stronger and overall better products. The P5N32-E SLI PLUS is new again.
BIOS
ASUS chose to use a modified version of the popular Phoenix AwardBIOS design for the P5N32-E SLI PLUS’ BIOS, arranged with a series of tab like screens. The BIOS version shown below is version 0404.
The Advanced screen is split in to numerous submenus related to chipset and onboard device configuration. With in the Onboard Device Configuration submenu are submenus and options controlling the operating state of the various system devices, including the IDE and SATA ports, the chipset integrated RAID controller, the onboard audio controller, the NVIDIA LAN controllers, and the IEEE 1394 ports. IDE related drive functionality is located under the IDE Function Setup submenu, while the SATA specific and SATA RAID functions are within the Serial-ATA Configuration submenu. Note that only the onboard SATA II ports are RAID capable. The USB Configuration submenu contains configuration options for all USB 2.0 system ports.
The Hardware Monitor submenu, accessed from the Power tab menu, is broken in to a series of submenus contains statistics for all BIOS monitored items, as well as fan speed configuration options. The BIOS monitored statistics are viewed across three submenus, the Voltage Monitor submenu, the Temperature Monitor submenu, and the Fan Speed Monitor submenu. With in the main Hardware Monitor submenu itself is the CPU Fan Speed Warning option, which initiates a system tone through the connected system speaker should the fan connected to the CPU FAN header fall below the selected speed threshold. The Fan Speed Control submenu allows for fine control of the various system fan speeds. Each of the system headers can be set to Duty Cycle Mode, allowing for manual control of the connected fan’s speed via a list of percentages, or the Q-Fan Mode. Q-Fan Mode enables automated system control of the attached fan based on factory pre-set threshold temperatures which are not user configurable.
The Boot screen contains numerous settings related to system initialization, including those relating to hard drive boot device access order. With a properly detected USB 2.0 type device attached at system boot time, the device will show as selectable within the Hard Disk Boot Priority submenu. Priority of devices listed in this submenu can be changed using either the + and – keys or the PageUp and PageDown keys.
The Tools screen contains submenus for configuring the included ASUS specific BIOS tools. The ASUS Music Alarm submenu allows for configuration of a BIOS initiated alarm to sound at a specified time for a pre-set duration. The ASUS EZ Flash 2 submenu contains a BIOS flashing mechanism that has the ability to read and write BIOS files from any connected device, including USB 2.0 devices. The ASUS O.C. Profile submenu contains numerous submenus for loading and saving current BIOS settings in to 2 different profiles. Through the Start O.C. Profile option, you have access to an interface similar to the EZ Flash 2 interface, allowing for loading or saving the current BIOS settings to a file from any detected drive type device, including USB 2.0 devices.
The Extreme Tweaker screen is a centralized location for all overclocking voltage, device speed, and memory related options. Using the AI Tuning option, you have the ability to select from the various ASUS automated overclocking options, A.I. N.O.S. or AI Overclocking, Standard mode, or Manual mode. With the AI Overclock option selected, the Overclock Options setting becomes accessible, allowing for system overclocking via the available pre-set percentages. Using the AI Overclock option forces the system to control the voltages and bus speeds to obtain the selected overclocking level. In AI N.O.S. mode, the N.O.S. Options setting becomes available, allowing for BIOS controlled overclocking through a series of selected pre-set percentages. Unlike the AI Overclock mode, the system dynamically determines when it is best to apply the overclock settings based on system usage. The Manual mode selection under the AI Tuning setting allows for full user control over system device and bus speeds and system voltages. The board allows for use of the NVIDIA enhanced GPU control, through the NVIDIA GPU EX setting. Note that this setting can only be enabled or disabled. With properly detected SLI memory modules seated, the SLI-Ready Memory option becomes user configurable. This option allows for system controlled memory overclocking based on SLI coprocessor data located on the memory modules. The coprocessor determines the optimal memory settings based on the desired overclocking percentage selected under the SLI-Ready Memory option. If your memory modules are not SLI enabled, this setting will have no impact.
The System Clocks submenu contains bus speed configuration options for the onboard PCI Express slots and the HyperTranport bus, connecting the North and Southbridge chipsets. Each of the 3 onboard PCI Express slot speeds are individually settable, each having a maximum 200MHz ceiling. The HyperTransport bus speed is set via the SPP <-> MCP Ref Clock, MHz option, with a 500MHz speed maximum allowed.