![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, August 13, 2008
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
GIGABYTE X48T-DQ6
GIGABYTE’s latest release seems to sport a formidable mix of engineering prowess and raw power. With the Intel X48 chipset under the hood, this board looks to be a champion. While it is still brightly colored, don't think that this motherboard is a clown.
BIOS
GIGABYTE chose to pair up the X48T-DQ6 with a Phoenix AwardBIOS style BIOS. The BIOS used in testing and shown below is version F4.
F5 is officially released, but you might want to be aware that some folks are experiencing bad flashes so make sure you follow flashing instructions exactly. F6a BIOS is floating around as Gigabyte Support has released it to a few and had this to say, “Thank you for your kindly mail again. About the issue you mentioned, in fact, new beta BIOS may fix some known system problem or improve H/W compatibility. But, sometimes, new version BIOS is possible to cause new system problem with some specific system configuration. “
The BIOS itself has in-built customizable profile management, with the F11 key allowing for creation of BIOS profiles, and the F12 allowing for loading of previously saved BIOS profile sets. Note that the screen shots shown below display enhanced BIOS features that become user accessible after entering the Ctrl-F1 key sequence from the main BIOS screen.
The Advanced BIOS Features menu contains boot related settings, as well as the CPU specific internal function settings. The configurable internal CPU settings include: CPUID max value limit; execute disable support; C1E support (CPU advanced halt); CPU thermal monitor support; EIST function support; and virtualization technology. The Hard Disk Boot Priority submenu displays all detected hard drive type devices connected to the system at boot time including properly detected USB 2.0 devices.
The Integrated Peripherals menu contains all options for configuring the system integrated devices, including the two onboard RAID controllers, the USB and IEEE 1394 ports, the GigE LAN controllers, and the Realtek HD audio controller. The ICH9R SATA ports are configured using the SATA RAID/AHCI Mode and SATA Port0-3 Native Mode options. The integrated RAID boot BIOS displays with the SATA RAID/AHCI Mode option set to RAID and at least 1 SATA device connected to the ICH9R controlled ports. The Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode setting, which sets the operation mode for the GIGABYTE controlled SATA ports, becomes user configurable with the Onboard SATA/IDE Device option set to Enabled. The RAID boot BIOS tied to the GIGABYTE controller displays on system startup with this option set to RAID/IDE.
The PCI/PnP Configurations menu contains the system PCI and PnP relates settings. The BIOS allows for customization of the IRQ assignment for the two onboard PCI slots, as well as direct manipulation of the PCI latency timer setting. The IRQ pool assignment settings are configured via the IRQ Resources submenu, which becomes user accessible with the Resources Controlled By option set to Manual.
The PC Health Status menu contains real time status on all BIOS monitored voltages, temperatures, and fan speed settings. In addition, you have the option of configuring the speed model used for the CPU fan, with the BIOS configuring the fan operation based on temperature with the CPU Smart Fan Control option enabled. With this option disabled, the CPU fan runs at full speed.
The board overclocking related settings, which include bus speed, voltage and memory timing settings, are located within the MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.) menu. The Robust Graphics Booster option controls internal chipset timing settings for the PCI-Express x16 slots, with the Turbo setting giving the highest performance. The CPU speed is set by multiplying the settings within the CPU Clock Ratio and CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) options. The CPU FSB can be set to a maximum of 700MHz via the CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) option, while the PCI Express Frequency setting allows for a maximum 150MHz speed. The C.I.A.2 setting controls GIGABYTE dynamic overclocking BIOS, with the Full Thrust option giving the highest performance. The Enhance System Performance option determines how aggressively the internal chipset settings are configured, with Extreme setting the most aggressive settings. The DDR3 memory module speed is set via ratio options within the System Memory Multiplier (SPD) option, with the ratios allowing for a 4x maximum of the CPU FSB.
The memory timing settings become user configurable with the DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD) option set to Manual. The configurable memory timing settings include the following: CAS latency; RAS to CAS delay; RAS precharge delay; active to precharge delay (shown as Precharge delay(tRAS)); RAS to RAS delay (shown as ACT to ACT Delay(tRRD)); write to read delay; write recover delay (shown as Write to Precharge Delay); row refresh cycle delay (shown as Refresh to ACT Delay); read to precharge delay; memory performance level (shown as Static tRead Value and Static tRead Phase Adjust); and command rate. Note that on the memory timings listed, the numerically lower setting forces more aggressive memory operation. The CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control setting controls the voltage amplitudes for the CPU, Northbridge and PCI-Express bus clocks. The CPU Clock Skew Control allows you to set the CPU clock to lag the Northbridge clock, while the (G)MCH Clock Skew Control setting sets the lag of the Northbridge clock behind the CPU clock.
The user configurable system voltage options become accessible with the System Voltage Control option set to Manual. The system memory voltage is set using the DDR3 OverVoltage Control option, with a maximum voltage overage of +1.55V allowed. The PCI-E OverVoltage Control setting sets the PCI-Express bus voltage to a maximum of +.75V over default, with the CPU bus voltage set via the FSB OverVoltage Control option to a +.35V maximum. The Northbridge chipset voltage is set through the (G)MCH OverVoltage Control option, with a +.775V maximum settable. The Loadline Calibration option determines whether or not the BIOS performs fine-tuning on the CPU voltage. The CPU voltage itself can be set to a massive 2.35V maximum. Note that the base CPU voltage is shown in the read-only Normal CPU Vcore option.
Pressing the F8 key from the main BIOS screen executes the Q-Flash applet, which allows for loading new BIOS from a storage device, or saving the current BIOS to a storage device.