![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Thursday , January 17, 2008
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe
ASUS’ latest offering for the AMD camp holds much promise, designed around their latest 790FX chipset with full support for socket AM2 and AM2+ processors. Is it strong enough to stand up to its Intel counterparts though?
BIOS
As is common with ASUS motherboards, the M3A32-MVP Deluxe uses an AMIBIOS style BIOS layout. The BIOS used in testing the board and shown in the screenshots below is version 0307.
The Storage Configuration submenu, available as a selectable link from within the Main screen, Accessed from the SATA Configuration link within the Main tab, contains configuration options related to the SB600 tied SATA ports. With the OnChip SATA Channel option set to enabled, the SATA port operation can be set via the OnChip SATA Type setting. Note that the RAID boot BIOS becomes accessible with this option set to RAID and drives connected to the SB600’s SATA 2 ports.
The System Information submenu, also accessed from a link within the Main screen, contains read-only settings detailing the current BIOS, CPU, and memory settings
The Advanced tab contains a series of submenus containing options for configuring all onboard and chipset integrated components.
The Jumperfree Configuration link from within the Advanced tab opens to the Configure System Frequency/Voltage submenu. This submenu contains all voltage and bus speed related configuration options, as well as submenus containing memory specific settings. The AI Overclocking option controls how much control the automated overclocking BIOS has over system operation. For automated overclocking, the BIOS offers 2 options – Overclock Profile and AI N.O.S. Both options allow configuration of a preset overclocking target, with the system controlling the FSB only. The differences between them are when the overclocking is put in to effect. The Overclock Profile option sets the overclock mode at all times, while the AI N.O.S. option only sets the system to the desired overclock speed on an as needed basis. Ultimately, the user has ultimate control of the system with this option set to Manual. The FSB Frequency option sets the base CPU FSB, with a maximum 600MHz FSB settable. The PCI Frequency option sets the PCI-Express bus frequency, with a 150MHz ceiling. The Processor Frequency Multiplier option sets the CPU ratio, with a minimum 4x multiplier available. The physical processor speed is determined by multiplying the Processor Frequency Multiplier and FSB Frequency settings. The CPU vCore voltage is controlled via the Processor Voltage setting, with a maximum 1.6875 voltage settable. The CPU power regulation circuitry voltage is determined through the CPU VDDA Voltage option, with a 2.8V maximum. The Hyper Transport bus connecting the CPU and Northbridge chipset has its speed ratio set via the CPU-NB HT Link Speed option, with the listed values representing ratios based on a 200MHz CPU speed from 1x to 5x (1 GHz option). The DDR2 module voltage is set through the DDR voltage setting, with a 2.5V offered maximum. The Northbridge chipset related voltage options become accessible with the Northbridge Voltage option set to Manual. The Hyper Transport base voltage can be set to a 1.5V maximum, while the Northbridge itself maximum is 1.4V as set via the Core/PCIe Voltage setting. The NB PCIE PLL option controls the voltage supplied to the chipsets power regulation circuits, with a 2.1V maximum available. The Southbridge voltage can be set to a 1.4V maximum. The Auto Xpress option controls how aggressively the internal bus timing options are set and accessed, with the Enabled option giving the best system performance.
The system memory timing options available are split between 2 submenus – Memory Configuration and DRAM Timing Configuration. The options listed within the Memory Configuration submenu are the more esoteric settings, and are mostly enable or disable only type options. The DRAM Timing Configuration menu contains the memory speed and timing options. The memory speed itself is set via the Memclock Value option, which itself becomes accessible with the Memory Clock Mode option set to Manual. The memory speed setting available are listed based on a default 200MHz CPU bus, with the speed scaling up with the CPU FSB. However, the BIOS internally limits the memory speed based on the selected CPU speed regardless of the actual memory ratio selected with a manually set CPU FSB. The memory command rate is set via the enable / disable option 2T mode, with the more aggressive setting enabled with this option disabled. The memory timing setting available become user settable with the DRAM Timing Mode option set to DCT 0. The following options are available for user configuration: CAS latency; RAS to CAS delay (TRCD); RAS precharge delay (TRP); active to precharge delay (TRAS); write recovery delay (tWR); row refresh cycle delay (tRFC#); row cycle time (TRC); RAS to RAS delay (TRRD); write to read delay (tWTR); row precharge time (tRTP); read to write data turnaround delay (tRWTTO); write to read termination delay (tWRRD); write to write delay (tWRWR); and read to read delay (tRDRD). Note that on the memory timings listed, the numerically lower setting forces more aggressive memory operation.
The CPU Configuration submenu contains statistics on the CPU currently seating in to the board, as well as options for controlling CPU specific functions. The configurable CPU options include: secure virtual machine mode; AMD Cool n Quiet support; ACPI SRAT table support; and AMD Live!.
The Chipset submenu contains additional submenus with options controlling the PCI Express slot and Hyper Transport bus operation, including settings related to enabling CrossFire support for the 4 onboard PCI-Express x16 slots.
The Onboard Devices Configuration submenu contains settings controlling the various onboard devices, including the Marvell RAID controller, the GigE and wireless LAN controllers, the IEEE 1394 ports, and the HD audio device. The Marvell IDE/RAID function option becomes user configurable with the Marvell Option ROM option enabled. This setting controls the operating mode of the Marvell controlled SATA ports, with IDE, RAID, or AHCI based operation selectable. Note that the Marvell boot BIOS will not display on system startup unless the Marvell Option ROM is enabled.
The Advanced PCI/PnP Settings submenu controls the operation of the system PCI and PnP subsystem. While the BIOS offers direct PCI Latency timing configuration, the individual system IRQ cannot be manually assigned to interrupts. IRQ assignment is limited to a pool assignment only.
The USB Configuration submenu contains USB port related configuration options, with a submenu displayed with a USB device connected which contains configuration options for device specific emulation. The USB Mass Storage Device Configuration submenu is used for configuring these emulation options. The Emulation Type option within this submenu allows for configuring device specific emulation modes for the system detected USB devices.
The Hardware Monitor submenu is accessed from the link within the Power tab. This submenu displays system read out of monitored system temperatures, fan speeds, and voltages. The BIOS also offers fan operation oversight through the Smart Q-FAN options. These options control the fan speed based on BIOS determined temperature operating thresholds. As the device temperature increases, the fan speed increases to dissipate the heat.
Using the Hard Disk Drives link from within the Boot tab, the Hard Disk Drives submenu shows all viable hard drive type boot devices. Note that this menu will show a USB hard drive type device that is connected prior to system initialization.
The Tools tab contains all ASUS specific BIOS tools, including a BIOS flash utility and profile generation and load capability. The ASUS EZ Flash 2 submenu runs the proprietary ASUS EZFlash2 BIOS update applet. This application allows for flashing the board from BIOS update files from any connected system device, including properly detected USB 2.0 devices. The O.C. Profile Configuration submenu controls creation, storage, and load for up to 2 BIOS profiles. The Start O.C. Profile option allows for saving or loading customized BIOS profiles from a file. The interface is 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.