![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, November 05, 2008
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS P6T Deluxe
There’s a new kid on the block, and he’s out for blood. The ASUS P6T Deluxe comes out of the gate swinging, sporting the newly release Intel X58 chipset and setting new performance standards across the board.
BIOS
ASUS chose to use an AMIBIOS style design in implementing the P6T Deluxe’ BIOS. The BIOS version shown below is version 0501 (0804 was used for later overclock testing with the Core i7 940 which is discussed on the last page).
Accessed from within the Main menu, the Storage Configuration submenu contains settings for controlling the SATA ports tied to the ICH10R Southbridge chipset. The SATA Configuration setting determines the system port access type in conjunction with the Configure SATA as setting. With the Compatible mode setting selected for the SATA Configuration option, the system is restricted to accessing to a total of 4 SATA 2 devices. The Enhanced mode setting allows for use of 6 devices in standalone IDE, AHCI, or RAID mode, configured via the Configure SATA as option. This option becomes user configurable only when the SATA Configuration set to Enhanced mode. Note that the Intel RAID boot BIOS will only show with drives connected to the onboard ICH10R’s SATA 2 ports.
The System Information submenu contains details on the current BIOS, CPU, and memory related default speed and type configuration settings.
The Ai Tweaker menu contains numerous submenus and options directly controlling the system performance settings. The Ai Overclock Tuner option determines the level of user control over system configuration, with settings for BIOS controlled and manually controlled overclocking available. All available settings become user configurable with this option set to Manual. The DRAM O.C. Profile and eXtreme Memory Profile options set BIOS controlled memory voltage, speed and ratio settings. Note these options are mutually exclusive, showing when the tied setting is selected from the Ai Overclock Tuner option. The CPU Ratio Setting option controls the base CPU multiplier, which combines with the setting from the BCLK Frequency option to determine the physical CPU operating speed. The BCLK Frequency setting controls the CPU’s base clock frequency, with a maximum 500MHz setting available. This setting corresponds loosely to the CPU FSB setting on the LGA775 style boards. The PCI-Express bus frequency is set via the PCIE Frequency setting, with a ceiling value of 200MHz. The board DRAM frequency is controlled via the DRAM Frequency setting. This option contains a series of speed setting that are in truth static ratio settings based on the currently set BLCK Frequency setting. The UCLK Frequency option controls the speed of the Uncore clock, which controls the bandwidth for the link between the internal memory controller and the DDR3 DRAM modules. This link speed varies depending on the DRAM Frequency selected, with the settings shown based on BIOS controlled static ratios. The QPI Frequency setting controls the speed of the QuickPath Link clock, which is similar in function to the HyperTransport bus found on other boards. The QPI Frequency options shown vary depending on the BCLK Frequency setting selected, with the options shown representative of static BIOS controlled ratios. The CPU Voltage option controls the board CPU voltage, with a 2.50V maximum allowed with the CPU overvolt jumper enabled. The maximum CPU voltage is limited to 1.70V with the jumper disabled. The CPU PLL Voltage setting controls the voltage supplied to the CPU power regulation circuitry, with an upper limit available of 2.50V. The voltage for both the QuickPath Link and Uncore clocks is set via the QPI/DRAM Core Voltage setting, with a maximum of 1.90V settable with the QPI overvolt jumper enabled. The chipset voltage is controlled through a series of 4 voltage settings, as follows: IOH Voltage (1.70V maximum), IOH PCIE Voltage (2.70V maximum), ICH Voltage (1.40V maximum) and ICH PCIE Voltage (1.80V maximum). The base DRAM bus voltage is set via the DRAM Bus Voltage option, with a maximum of 2.46V selectable with the DRAM overvolt jumper enabled. With this jumper disabled, memory bus voltage is limited to 1.90V. Note that due to the fact that the memory controller is internal for the Core i7 processors, using more than 1.65V could cause permanent internal damage to your costly processor. The DRAM DATA REF Voltage and DRAM CTRL REF Voltage options control the DRAM reference voltage settings for the board on a per channel basis, with the settings shown corresponding to voltage ratios based on the DRAM Bus Voltage setting. For all DRAM reference voltage settings, the maximum ratio value settable is 0.630x. The Load-Line Calibration option configures the CPU vDroop regulation, with the Enabled option allowing for more aggressive control. The CPU Differential Amplitude setting controls the CPU base clock driving control voltage, with a 1000mV maximum setting allowed. The CPU Clock Skew option sets the CPU base clock delay, with a maximum of 1500ps available. Similarly, the IOH Clock Skew sets the Northbridge clock delay also settable to a 1500ps maximum.
The DRAM Timing Control submenu, accessed via the DRAM Timing Control link in the Ai Tweaker menu, contains all memory timing related options. The configurable memory timing settings include the following: CAS latency; RAS to CAS delay; RAS precharge delay; active to precharge delay (DRAM RAS# ACT Time); RAS to RAS delay; row refresh cycle delay; write recovery delay; read to precharge delay; four activate window delay; write to read delay; command rate (DRAM Timing Mode); per channel latency; write to read delay across DIMMs; read to write delay across DIMMS; read to read delay across DIMMS; and write to write delay across DIMMS. The write to read delay across DIMMs, read to write delay across DIMMS, read to read delay across DIMMS, and write to write delay across DIMMS settings are broken in to three categories: different DIMM modules (DD); same memory chip placement between modules (SR); and different memory chip placement between modules (DR).
The Advanced menu contains a series of submenus housing settings for configuring the board’s various integrated devices.
The CPU Configuration submenu displays read-only statics on the CPU currently in use by the board, as well as setting for configuring the internal CPU functions. The configurable CPU specific settings include: CPU multiplier (CPU Ratio Setting), C1E support, hardware prefetcher support, adjacent cache line prefetch support, Intel virtualization technology, CPU Thermal Module function (CPU TM Function), Execute Disable Bit, HyperThreading operation control, core operational controls (Active Processing Cores), A20M support, and CPU idle C-state support.
The Advance Chipset submenu contains several submenus for configuring advanced chipset related settings. The Northbridge Chipset Configuration submenu contains options for configuring the bandwidth settings for the onboard PCI-Express x16 video ports, while the Intel VT-d Configuration submenu contains options for configuring the directed I/O settings when using the Intel virtualization technology.
The Onboard Devices Configuration submenu houses options controlling the state for the board’s integrated devices, including the Marvell eSATA controller, the Marvell SAS RAID controller, the Marvell GigE LAN controllers, the IEEE 1394 ports, and the ADI HD audio subsystem.
The USB Configuration submenu contains all USB related configuration settings, which include port speed mode settings. When an active USB device is connected to the system at boot time, the USB Mass Storage Device Configuration submenu displays to the user. This submenu allows you to configure emulation settings for the attached USB devices.
The Advanced PCI/PnP Settings submenu contains the user configurable plug and play and PCI bus related configuration options. Unfortunately, ASUS chose to no allow direct manipulation of the IRQ interrupt or pool assignment related settings on this board.
The Hardware Monitor submenu, accessed via a link from within the Power menu, shows real-time statics on BIOS monitored fan speeds, device temperatures, and device voltages. You can also configure BIOS controlled fan speed operation for the CPU and Chassis fan headers via the specific Q-Fan Control options.
The Hard Disk Drives submenu, accessed from Boot menu, displays all hard drive devices connected to the system at system boot time including properly detected USB 2.0 type devices. USB boot devices can also be selected from the boot device list from within the Boot Device Priority submenu.
The Tools menu contains the proprietary ASUS BIOS utilities, including the EZFlash2 BIOS update utility, a BIOS profile storage mechanism, and the Express Gate configuration options. Express Gate is ASUS’ proprietary startup screen, which allows access to various applets without having to access the OS. The ASUS EZ Flash 2 utility is accessed via the ASUS EZ Flash 2 link in the Tool menu. The application allows you to update the system BIOS from any connected drive device, including properly detected USB 2.0 devices.
The O.C. Profile Configuration submenu allows for storage of up to 2 BIOS profiles. These profiles can be saved or loaded and contain all BIOS settings active at the time of profile creation. The Start O.C. Profile option from within the submenu allows for file based storage of the current BIOS settings for storage. 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.