![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , June 25, 2007
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
GIGABYTE P35T-DQ6
GIGABYTE comes out of the gate swinging, with the latest addition to their much vaunted DQ6 motherboard line. The P35T-DQ6 boasts full support for the latest Intel technologies, including a 1333MHz CPU FSB and DDR3 memory, and seems to be GIGABYTE’s latest bid for the performance crown.
BIOS
GIGABYTE chose to base the P35T-DQ6’s BIOS on the popular Phoenix AwardBIOS format. The BIOS shown below is version F2. Note that GIGABYTE chose to hide more advanced options from the end user, which can be accessed only by pressing the CTRL-F1 key combination from the main menu.
The Advanced BIOS Features menu contains options controlling system initialization characteristics, including drive access order. With a properly detected USB 2.0 hard drive type device connected to the system, the device is listed within the Hard Disk Boot Priority submenu. The access order of the items listed can be changed using the PgUp and PgDn or the (+) and (-) keys.
The Integrated Peripherals menu contains configuring settings for the various integrated devices, including the SATA 2 ports, the USB 2.0 ports, the IEEE 1394 ports, the LAN controller, and the audio solution. The operational states of the ICH9R chipset’s SATA 2 ports are controlled via 2 options, SATA RAID/AHCI Mode and SATA Port0-3 Native Mode. The SATA RAID/AHCI Mode option set to RAID, the Intel RAID boot BIOS shows on system startup. The SATA Port0-3 Native Mode option determines whether the SATA 2 ports operate in Native mode or Legacy mode. In Legacy mode, individual IRQs are assigned to each SATA 2 device port. The Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode option determines the operating mode for the GIGABYTE IDE and SATA 2 ports. With the option set to RAID/IDE, the GIGABYTE RAID boot BIOS shows on system startup. Note that on the GIGIBYTE controller, only SATA 2 connected drives can be configured for use in a RAID array. The boot BIOS does not allow for inclusion of IDE connected devices to be included in a RAID array.
The PnP/PCI Configuration menu contains setting for configuring the board’s IRQ and interrupt assignments, as well as the PCI latency timer. While the board does allow for manual device based IRQ assignment, only the 2 on-board PCI slots can be manually assigned to IRQs between 3 and 15. With the Resources Controlled by option set to Manual, the IRQ Resources submenu becomes user configurable. Note that this submenu only allows for configuration of IRQs to a specific resource pool
The PC Health Status menu displays actual monitored statistics on fan speeds and device temperatures, as well as status on the system voltage, with the word OK signifying that the monitored the voltage falls within expected BIOS parameters. There are also settings for controlling system behavior based on temperature and fan related events. The CPU Warning Temperature option controls system emission of a warning beep if the CPU temperature goes above the user selected threshold temperature. The Smart FAN Control Method option sets the fan headers to operate with a specific fan type, with the Intel (R) QST setting used for 4-pin fans and the Legacy setting used for the 3-pin variety. The Smart FAN Control Mode sets the BIOS fan header voltage control state.
The BIOS contains support for the saving and loading a user configured profiles. The BIOS profile save menu is accessed by pressing the F11 key, while the BIOS profile load menu can be accessed by pressing the F12 key.