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BIOS
One
thing you can usually be assured of with an Epox board
is a BIOS that's built with the tweaker in mind and
the 8RGA+ doesn't disappoint. All the usual functions
are on offer along with a selection of functions that
are in place with the sole purpose of letting you
push performance as far as you possibly can. In fact
the main tweaks have even been given their own category
called "Power BIOS Features".
From
here you can adjust CPU voltages up to a pretty healthy
2.20v.
AGP
voltage selection is also available all the way to
1.8v.
DIMM
voltage can be ramped up to 2.90v if required.
No
VDD mods needed on the 8RGA+, VDD voltage is selectable
at 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0v. I'm not sure I'd like to run
at over 1.9v long term, particularly with the stock
cooling, but it's there if you need it. VDD voltage
is the voltage fed to the actual chipset by the way
in case you were wondering.
With
a variety of multiplier offered all the way up to
24x and FSB frequency selectable to 250MHz you should
be covered for just about every situation. 24 x 250MHz
= 6GHz!! Hmmmmmm!
The
"Advanced Chipset Features" menu offers
a wide selection of functions. Memory frequencies
are quoted as percentage rather than ratios but all
the same settings are there. Of course we know that
for maximum performance memory and CPU should run
asynchronously, or "100%" as the 8RGA+ refers
to it. Memory timings cover all you're likely to need
though unlike the KT400 there's no CAS latency of
1.0, not that any memory can run at that setting yet.
Frame
buffer size is the amount of system memory used by
the IGP's integrated video and the option is visible
even when you're running a separate video card. The
MSI K7N2G we reviewed recently only made this option
available when there was no graphics card present.
The thermal throttling option was interesting though
even by turning down the fan speed and working it
hard there were no signs of it operating. There's
no information about the specific way this feature
operates so it might be limited to Barton or have
some other peculiarity
AGP
frequency is also selectable upto to 130MHz too.
The
PC Health Status screen is still as comprehensive
as we've become accustomed to from Epox and though
I'm usually a bit wary of taking these voltages too
seriously they look reasonably good.
A
great feature available from the "Integrated
Peripherals" screen is the ability to set a Power-On
hot key combination. With this you can power on your
PC from your keyboard rather than stoop for the button
on your case.
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