![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Tuesday , May 06, 2008
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe
ASUS comes out swinging with their latest NVIDIA chipset based AMD offering, the M3N-HT Deluxe. Based on the AMD version of the NVIDIA nForce 780a chipset, the board packs a lot of promise.
BIOS
In designing the M3N-HT Deluxe’ BIOS, ASUS used a Phoenix AwardBIOS template. The BIOS version shown and used in testing was version 0701.
The Advanced menu contains all options for controlling the board’s devices, with individual configuration options contained within the listed submenus.
The JumperFree Configuration submenu contains the majority of system device speed and voltage related settings. The AI Tuning option configures the ASUS’ automated overclocking mechanism. With this option set to AI Overclock, the Overclock Options setting becomes active, allowing for a maximum 10% selectable overclock. The selected overclocking values are put in to effect automatically by BIOS algorithms that determine when those settings would have the most impact on system performance. Setting the AI Tuning option to Manual gives the user complete control over the system voltage and component speed settings. The VDDA Voltage option sets the CPU supply voltage, with a maximum of 2.83V settable. The memory voltage can be set to a 2.5V maximum. However, it is recommended to use active cooling on your memory modules when pushing anything higher than 2.1V. The NF200 CHIP Voltage controls the Southbridge chipset voltage, with a 1.56V ceiling, while the Northbridge chipset voltage can be set as high as 1.70V. The HyperTranport link voltage can be set to a maximum of 1.5V. With an AMD Phenom processor installed in the board, the CPU-NB Multiplier and CPU-NB Voltage options show as selectable settings. These settings control the speed and voltage supplied to the CPU’s internal memory controller and L3 cache for Phenom’s only, due to an AMD internal CPU power routing design enhancement. The speed of the IMC (internal memory controller) and L3 cache is determined by multiplying the CPU Frequency setting with the CPU-NB Multiplier setting. The CPU Voltage options controls the base CPU Voltage, with a 1.6875V maximum setting. The CPU speed is determined by multiplying the CPU Multiplier setting and the CPU Frequency setting, which can be set to an impressive 600MHz. The PCIE Clock setting goes to a 200MHz maximum.
The CPU Configuration submenu contains configuration settings for controlling CPU internal functions, including the memory controller related settings. The SLI-Ready settings control automatic memory configuration and overclocking for SLI enabled memory. When enabled, the BIOS automatically sets system memory speed and timing settings for optimal operation based on the selected overclocking value from the SLI-Ready Memory CPUOC option and data from the SLI coprocessor located on the memory modules themselves. If your memory modules are not SLI enabled, this setting will have no impact.
The DRAM Configuration submenu contains all board memory timing and speed related settings. The Memory Clock Frequency option sets the system memory speed, with the selectable settings corresponding to ratios based on a 200MHz CPU FSB. The memory speed settings listed correspond to the following ratios in the format DDR speed:CPU FSB: DDR2 533 – 4:3; DDR2 667 – 3:2; DDR2 800 – 2:1; DDR2 1066 – 7:3. The following memory timing options are configurable from within the top level menu: CAS latency (Tcl); RAS to CAS delay (Trcd); RAS precharge delay (Trp); active to precharge delay (Tras); command rate (1T/2T Memory Timing); and memory channel clock skew. Note that on the listed memory timing options, the numerically lower setting forces more aggressive memory operation.
The following more advanced memory timing options are settable through the Advanced Memory settings submenu: CPU termination; row cycle time(Trc); write recovery time(Twr); RAS to RAS delay (Trrd); read to write delay (Trwt); write to read delay (Twrt); row precharge time (Trtp); write to read time (Twrrd); write to write time (Twrwr); read to read time (Trdrd); refresh period (tREF); row refresh cycle time (Trfc); dram termination; idle cycle timer; idle cycle limit; DCQ bypass maximum; burst length; bank interleave; and bank swizzle mode. Note that on most memory timings listed, the numerically lower setting forces more aggressive memory operation
The DRAM Timing Control submenu contains various configuration settings for controlling the delay and setup times for the 2 onboard memory channels. For these options, the numerically lower values are more aggressive.
The Output Driver Control submenu controls the signal strength settings for the system memory modules. On all drive strength options, the numerically higher value is the more aggressive setting.
The Chipset submenu contains options for configuring the chipset controlled devices, including the integrated video device and the HyperTranport bus. The speed of the HyperTransport bus is controlled via the K8<->NB Speed setting, with the speeds listed corresponding to multipliers based on a base 200 MHz CPU FSB. With a non-Phenom CPU in the board, this setting can be set to a maximum sped of 1.0 GHz, or a 5x multiplier. With a Phenom CPU, the maximum speed goes up to 1.8 GHz, translating to a 9x multiplier. The K8<->NB HT Width controls the HyperTransport bus bandwidth. For optimal system performance, it is highly recommended to set this option to 16 up and down.
The PCIPnP submenu contains all settings related to IRQ and PnP board functions. While you cannot set specific interrupt assignments for the system devices, you do have the ability to assign individual IRQs to specific device pools for BIOS controlled interrupt assignment. This pool assignment is done via the IRQ Resources submenu, which activates with the Resources Controlled By option set to Manual.
The Onboard Device Configuration submenu contains settings and submenus for controlling the system integrated devices, including audio, network, and IEEE 1394 ports. The IDE Function Setup submenu contains IDE and SATA non-RAID related options, while the MCP Storage Configuration submenu contains options for configuring the SATA port operation mode. The NVIDIA RAID boot BIOS will only show on system startup with the SATA Operation Mode set to RAID and one or more drives connected and assigned to the RAID controller.
The USB Configuration submenu contains all available USB port related configuration settings.
Access from the top level Power menu, the Hardware Monitor submenu displays real-time statistics on all BIOS monitored temperature, voltage, and fan speed settings. Automated fan speed configuration options are settable using the Q-Fan Control settings. Once the header specific Q-Fan Control option is enabled, the fan header can be configured for low noise or performance operation through the header specific Fan Profile option.
The Boot screen contains a series of submenus used for configuring system initialization settings. The Hard Disk Drives submenu contains a list of viable hard drive boot devices, whose order can be manipulated the PgUp and PgDn or the (+) and (-) keys. A properly connected and detected USB 2.0 hard-drive type device will show up in this list as well.
The Tools screen contains a series of submenus for ASUS proprietary system utilities, including a BIOS flash utility, a system start environment utility (dubbed Express Gate), and a BIOS profile load/save utility. The ASUS EZ Flash 2 submenu runs the proprietary ASUS EZFlash2 BIOS update program. This applet has the ability to read and write BIOS files from any connected system device, including properly detected USB 2.0 devices. The Express Gate submenu contains settings for configuring the Express Gate system startup environment. Through this startup environment, you have the option of using many different applications including a web browser without the need for entering the system OS.
The ASUS O.C. Profile submenu contains submenus which allow for creation and usage of up to 2 backup BIOS profiles. The profiles themselves can manipulated through the Load BIOS Profile and Save BIOS Profile submenus. BIOS configurations saved or loaded from files via the Save to File or Load from File options, located within the respective load and save submenus. The BIOS file manipulation interface is very similar in design to the EZ Flash 2 interface, with access to all attached system devices for save and load operations, including detected USB 2.0 devices.