![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Tuesday , January 15, 2008
- Author:
- Daniel Dobrowolski
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS Maximus Extreme
ASUS brings us Intel’s latest and greatest X38 chipset in the form of the Maximus Extreme. In the past the DDR3 offerings have fallen a little short when it comes to their overclocking prowess. Does the Maximus Extreme have what it takes to catch enthusiasts’ attention?
BIOS
The Maximus Extreme uses an American Megatrends Inc. BIOS. Version 0302 was used for testing.
The CMOS is typical of ASUS. They’ve chosen the AMI BIOS for the Maximus Extreme. The BIOS is laid out in several tabs. From left to right they are: Main, Extreme Tweaker, Advanced, Power, Boot, Tools and Exit. The main tab screen has the standard time and date settings as well as SATA configuration options and finally there is also a system information screen there as well. Under the SATA Configuration sub menu you will find the RAID, AHCI, and IDE mode configuration option. The System Information screen shows basic CPU information and installed memory information.
At the top of the Extreme Tweaker tab is a grayed out phrase “You can OC manually based on OC By CPU Level Up.” While this phrase reads about as well as a fortune cookie it does give some indication of what the setting below it is for. You simply select the CPU model you want to match performance with and the system does the rest. I did test this feature and it worked all the way up to the highest setting without issue. This unique overclocking method is actually quite handy and it can really help the novice overclocker or anyone just looking for moderate gains in performance to achieve their goals easily and quickly. Beyond this setting you’ll find all the usual settings such as CPU Ratio, FSB Frequency, FSB Strap to North Bridge, PCIe Frequency, DRAM Frequency, DRAM Timing Control, CAS Latency settings and so on. There are many settings her for memory tuning which is always welcome and very important for the overclocking enthusiast looking to squeeze that extra bit of performance from their setup. Underneath the memory settings you’ll find CPU, North Bridge, South Bridge, and voltage control settings. ASUS has indeed made many interface improvements to their more recent board BIOS’.
On the Advanced Tab there are several menu choices that lead to addition sub menus. Here you will find CPU Configuration, Chipset, Onboard Devices Configuration, USB Configuration, and PCIPnP settings. Under the CPU Configuration menu you’ll find CPU Ratio Control, C1E Support, CPU TM Function, Vanderpool Configuration, Execute Disable Bit, and Max CPUID Value Limit. Under Chipset Configuration you’ll find a North Bridge menu selection which leads to yet another set of sub menus. Under this menu you will find the memory remap feature, Initiate Graphic Adapter, PEG Port Control, and PEG Port Force x1. Under the Onboard Device Configuration menu you’ll find the standard HD Audio setting, front panel audio, configuration and various hardware enabling and disabling features. Here you can disabled the LAN Boot ROMs and setup the backlight and LCD Poster behavior. Next there is the USB Configuration menu which has all the Legacy USB settings and EHCI hand off settings. Advanced PCI/PnP sub menu contains only a Plug and Play O/S setting.
The Power Tab has all the standard suspend and ACPI settings as well as the APM Configuration sub menu and Hardware Monitor sub menu. The CPU Temperature, MB, NB, and SB Temperature zones are all monitored here. The temperatures are displayed next to each zone zone in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. Below the temperature readouts are the fan speed settings and Chipset Thermal Shutdown threshold settings. Next is the Boot Tab which contains Boot Priority settings and Boot Device Security settings. The Tools Tab has the ASUS EZ Flash 2 utility for flashing the system BIOS and ASUS O.C. Profile settings for storing overclocking profiles. Also the O.C. Profile setting allows you to create overclock profiles which store CMOS settings that you’ve specified. You can save, load or delete these profiles from the O.C. Profile screen. The ASUS EZ Flash utility allows you to browse the hard drive or a removable device for a BIOS file for updating the BIOS.
You will also find the AI Net 2 network testing utility that can be used as a cable tester to aid in troubleshooting network cable issues in the event that such a problem occurs.