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- Date:
- Wednesday, May 28, 2008
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS P5N-T Deluxe
Our last 780i NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI chipset review, seems to hold a lot of promise with its solid design and with the features that the NVIDIA chipset brings to the table. Just how well does this board compare with the rest of the Intel board, or even the other NVIDIA based boards?
BIOS
ASUS used an AMIBIOS style template in designing the P5N-T Deluxe’ BIOS. The BIOS revision shown below and used in testing the board was version 0703.
The Extreme Tweaker screen contains all BIOS settings for controlling voltages, bus speeds, and memory timing options. The Ai Tuning option controls BIOS based overclocking, allowing for both system automated and manual control. The Overclock Options settings, which becomes accessible with the AI Overclock setting selected from the AI Tuning option, allows for system controlled overclocking with a maximum of 20% settable. The NVIDIA GPU Ex option controls BIOS regulated video operation for NVIDIA graphics cards. The SLI-Ready Memory option configures the BIOS controlled FSB overclocking settings. Note that this setting only affects the CPU FSB and memory speeds, voltages must be set manually by the end user.
The System Clocks submenu contains settings for chipset specific bus speeds. The PCI Express x16 slot bus speeds are controlled via 2 options, with the PCIEX16_2 Frequency (MHz) option controlling the speed for the secondary PCI Express x16 slot. The PCIEX16_1 3 Frequency (MHz) option controlling the slot bus speeds for PCI Express x16 slots 1 and 3. All PCI Express slot bus speeds can be set to a maximum speed of 200 MHz. The HyperTransport link speed, which links the Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets, is controlled through the SPP<->MCP Ref Clock, MHz option with a maximum speed of 500 MHz settable.
The FSB & Memory Config submenu contains settings for configuring CPU FSB and memory speed. These speed can be configured for 2 different modes of operation via the FSB - Memory Clock Mode option - Linked mode and Unlinked mode. In Linked mode, there is a single speed setting for that determines both speeds. The FSB (QDR), MHz option controls the base CPU FSB setting, with a maximum speed of 3000 MHz (which translates to an actual bus speed of 750 MHz). The memory speed in linked mode is configured through the FSB – Memory Ratio option. When this option is set to Sync Mode, the memory speed is set to half of the selected CPU FSB setting In Unlinked mode, the CPU FSB and memory speed are independently configured. The system memory speed can be set to a maximum of 2600 MHz through the Mem (DDR), MHz option.
The Overclocking submenu contains CPU specific configuration and memory timing settings, in addition to read-only options detailing information on the current system CPU. The CPU configuration settings that are user configurable include the following: CPU Thermal control; CPUID value limit; C1E support; Execute Disable Bit; Vanderpool virtualization technology; and Intel SpeedStep. The CPU Multiplier setting controls the base CPU ratio, with the available ratio settings determined by the current CPU in use. The CPU speed can be determined by multiplying the CPU Multiplier option setting from the FSB (QDR), MHz setting located within the FSB & Memory Config submenu. The LDT Frequency option controls the speed of the speed of the HyperTransport link connecting the Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets, with the physical speed of the link determined by multiplying the selected ratio with the bus setting from the SPP<->MCP Ref Clock, MHz option within the System Clocks submenu.
The Memory Timing Setting submenu contains the user configurable memory timing settings. The following memory timing settings are available for user configuration: CAS latency; RAS to CAS delay (tRCD); RAS precharge delay (tRP); active to precharge delay (tRAS); command rate (Command Per Clock (CMD)); RAS to RAS delay (tRRD); row cycle time (tRC); write recovery time (tWR); write to read delay (tWTR); refresh period (tREF); row precharge delay (tRD); row refresh cycle delay (tRFC); and asynchronous latency. Note that on the memory timings listed, the numerically lower setting forces more aggressive memory operation.
The Over Voltage submenu contains all user configurable system voltages. The CPU voltage is set via the VCore Voltage option, with a maximum 1.900V available. The CPU VTT Voltage setting controls the CPU threshold voltage, with a 1.55V ceiling available. The Memory Voltage option controls the system memory voltage, with a maximum value of 3.11V available. The Northbridge chipset voltage is split between 2 different settings, the NB BR04 CHIP Voltage option with a 1.35V maximum and the NB CHIP Voltage, with a 2.46V ceiling. The board’s HyperTransport voltage is set via the 1.2V HT Voltage option, which is settable to a maximum 2.00V maximum setting. The Southbridge chipset voltage is set through the SB CHIP Voltage with a ceiling of 1.85V. The GTLVREF option controls the voltage supplied to the bus connecting the system memory with the CPU, with the voltage supplied to the bus based on a ratio of the CPU Vtt voltage setting.
The Advanced tab contains numerous submenus with options for onboard device and chipset related configuration settings.
The PCIPnP submenu contains all system PnP configuration related settings. However, the BIOS does not support direct manipulation of the IRQ interrupt or pool assignment settings.
The Onboard Device Configuration submenu contains options and submenus for configuring the various board integrated devices, including the onboard NIC, the HD audio device, the Marvell eSATA ports, and the IEEE 1394 ports. The IDE Function Setup submenu contains settings controlling the integrated IDE ports. The Serial-ATA Configuration submenu contains menus for configuring the NVIDIA SATA 2 ports. The SATA 2 ports are configured for RAID option via the RAID Enabled option, with each of the 6 ports able to be individually configured for RAID operation.
The USB Configuration submenu contains USB related configuration settings available for user configuration.
The Hardware Monitor submenu, accessed through the Hardware Monitor link within the main Power screen, contains real-time statistics on BIOS monitored temperature, fan speed, and voltage settings. The CPU and Chassis fan headers can be configured for manual or BIOS controlled operation via their specific Q-Fan Control settings as well.
The Hard Disk Drives submenu, accessible via the Boot screen, displays of all system detected hard drive type devices connected to the system at boot time including connected USB 2.0 hard drive type devices.
The Tools screen contains links to the various integrated ASUS designed BIOS utilities, including applets for BIOS flashing and profile load and save operations. The ASUS EZ Flash 2 link initiates 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 ASUS O.C. Profile submenu contains submenus with settings controlling creation, storage, and loading of up to 2 BIOS profiles. The Load from File and Save to File options within the 2 submenus allow for file based storage and loading of BIOS profiles. The interface is very 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.