Biostar TPower I45 - P45 unleashed

[Monstru]

http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33581&d=1222518574




P45's launch kept all the enthusiasts busy, but also most of the hardware manufacturers, who invested a lot in promoting their new products based on this new chipset. All big motherboard companies organized vast overclocking events, in which enthusiasts from all over the world would discover the potential of their implementation of P45. I might say that convincing the users that the new chipset can unleash the overclocking potential of 45nm Intel CPU's was a must, taking into consideration the severe FSB limitation that Wolfdales had from the P35 motherboards.
Therefore, once the chipset was launched, most of the big players on the mainboard market came up with whole series of products based on P45. Furthermore, they all introduced new technologies, or refined existing ones, once they have launched P45 based products. Asus included EPU and Express Gate on their high-end products, along with many, many phases for the VRM, Gigabyte produced an extreme model dedicated to extreme users (EP45 Extreme), MSI refined their DR Mos system and offered products seriously oriented towards overclocking. Well, they all had their share of success with their P45 motherboards, but none of them managed to make that golden board that would take FSB to limits never reached before....None but one that is.....

Well.....surprises have a very special way of making appearance once in a while, a huge surprise coming from Biostar this year. They have launched a small number of P45 motherboards, but what fierce motherboards they are...Biostar managed to demonstrate highly engineering skills and really good bios coding, creating two formidable overclocking boards, with a very fair price. We will not talk about TP45HP, which has astonishing performance for it's price tag, but we will focus on Biostar's number one hit, Biostar TPower I45 (http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en-us/t-power/introduction.php?S_ID=365).

[Monstru]

Specs




Chipset:

* Intel P45 / Intel ICH10R

Highlights

http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33588&d=1222522879


Main

http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33589&d=1222522879


CPU SUPPORT

* Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor
* Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor
* Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor
* Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor
* Intel® Celeron® Dual-Core Processor
* Intel® Celeron® Processor 400 Sequence


FSB

* Support FSB 800/1066/1333/1600MHz


MEMORY
* Support Dual Channel DDR2 667/800/1066/1200(OC) MHz
* 4 x DDR2 DIMM Memory Slot
* Max. Supports up to 16GB Memory


EXPANSION SLOT

* 2 x PCI Slots
* 2 x PCI-E x1 Slot
* 2 x PCI-E x16 2.0 Slot (CFX x8)


STORAGE

* 6 x SATA2 3Gb/s Connector
* 2 x eSATA Connector
* 1 x IDE Connector
* Support SATA RAID: 0,1,5,10


USB

* 6 x USB 2.0 Port
* 3 x USB 2.0 Header


Gigabit Ethernet

* Realtek RTL8111C - 10/100/1000 Controller


AUDIO Codec

* Realtek ALC888S 8+2 Channel HD Audio


REAR I/O

* 1 x PS/2 Mouse
* 1 x PS/2 Keyboard
* 2 x eSATA2 3Gb/s Connector
* 6 x USB 2.0 Port
* 1 x RJ-45 Port
* 6 x Audio Connector


INTERNAL I/O

* 3 x USB 2.0 Header
* 6 x SATA2 3Gb/s Connector
* 1 x IDE Connector
* 1 x Floppy Connector
* 1 x Front Audio Header
* 1 x Front Panel Header
* 1 x CD-IN Header
* 1 x S/PDIF-IN Header
* 2 x S/PDIF-OUT Header
* 1 x CPU FAN Header
* 2 x System FAN Header
* 1 x Serial Header


DIMENSION

* ATX Form Factor Dimension: 30.5 cm X 24.4 cm ( W x L )


OS SUPPORT

* Support Windows 2000 / XP / XP 64 / Vista / Vista 64


ACCESSORIES

* 1 x IDE Cable
* 6 x SATA Cable
* 6 x SATA Power Cable
* 1 x S/PDIF Cable
* 1 x I/O Shield
* 1 x CD Driver
* 1 x User Manual
* 1 x DIY Thermal Kit

[Monstru]

Packaging, accesories


The I45 comes in a nice looking, black box, a little bit larger then a normal mainboard box. We can't help noticing the screenoshot with the "FSB achieved 600MHz" logo, which comes as a warranty for the mainboard's overclocking performance. In fact, more details show us clearly that we are talking about a serious overclocking board. The DIY Thermal kit, which can be mounted on the VRM's heatsink, in case active cooling is required, or the on-board buttons, are clear indicators of this motherboard's purpose.

The package includes 6 SATA cables, 6 Molex-Sata power adapters, one IDE cable, one S/PDIF bracket, the I/O shield, the Drivers& Software CD, the User's manual and the cooler we were talking about earlier, the DIY Thermal Kit. We can find a very interesting add-on inside the User's Manual, consisting in a small A4 poster, on which we can see the most important achievements attained by overclockers, using this board. We can also see the maximum FSB achieved with this board up to the printing date of the poster (724MHz).


Pictures of packaging and accessories can be found here (http://forum.crazypc.ro/showpost.php?p=141000&postcount=3). I do not embed pictures here because I want to keep them high-res :)

[Monstru]

TPower II

On the Drivers CD we can find the second version of TPower, Biostar's software for monitoring and changing the parameters of your system, Bios update or eHot-Line support. TPower II has 4 main windows. The first (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33612&d=1222554720) one is meant for overclocking, and it allows us to modify the FSB, but most important, it allows us to modify from Windows the voltages set in bios for CPU, RAM, NB and FSB. Even though the hard-core overclockers will always do their tweaking in bios, this is a very good tool for very fast voltage fine-tunings from Windows. From the same window we can set parameters for Biostar video cards (GPU and GDDR frequency). The second (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33613&d=1222554720) window can be used for voltage, temperatures and fan speed monitoring. First time we open this window, the software does an automatic calibration of the fan speed, for 3 fans that can be connected to the mainboard (CPU PWM Fan, Chip Fan, and SYS Fan). After that, we can manually adjust the desired fan speed using the same window. The third (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33618&d=1222554734) window displays the current bios version. We can back-up the existing version of bios, or flash a new one, using this window. Last but not least, we find the eHot-Line (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33619&d=1222554734), window. The user can get on-line customer support from Biostar, using this window.

More screenshots with Tpower II - here (http://forum.crazypc.ro/showpost.php?p=141001&postcount=4)

[Monstru]

BIOS


The bios is one of the most important component of a motherboard, many times a good bios solving problems and turning a normal board into an overclocking queen. Also, the magic of overclocking happens in the bios.
My I45 came with the latest bios installed, P45AA710 (http://www.biostar.com.tw/utility/biosdl.php?BID=1048), from 10-07-2008.

You can see the complete I45 Bios pictures here (http://forum.crazypc.ro/showpost.php?p=141002&postcount=5). We will focus mainly on the Overclocking Navigator menu, or O.N.E (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33637&d=1222554973).

For beginners, Biostar implemented an automatic overclocking engine, but that is really not interesting for us. Much more interesting is the "Manual Overclocking" mode, which is the one we will use most of the time while overclocking the I45. Obviously, we find the usual settings for a board like this - CPU multiplier adjustment (Intel Speedstep - Disabled / Ratio CMOS setting), FSB (CPU Frequency Setting), Strap (FSB to Northbridge Latch - 200/266/333), DRam Frequency, etc.). There is also one very special setting, which only a few DFI boards had featured before. I am talking about "Over Clock Retry Count", which allows us to choose how many times does the system try to apply the overclocking setings before returning back to default settings, in case the overclocking does not succeed. We can also find the FSB Compensation Finetune setting (Enabled was best for me), DDR2 Enhace Mode (Disabled or Auto worked best for me) and also Memory Test, which is nothing else then MemTest, in good overclocking tradition.

In the O.N.E. menu we can find 4 sub-menus. DRAM Timing Configuration (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33639&d=1222554973) allows us to modify RAM timings, including Performance Level, and also allows us to select one of the 4 RCOMP Configurations. For me, the best by far were Configuration 2 and Configuration 4. Clock Gen Configuration (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33641&d=1222554990) gives us control over the PCI-Express frequency, and over a few advanced parameters of the clock generator. CPU Configuration (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33642&d=1222554990) allows us to enable or disable 4 CPU related parameters, (C1E Support, TM Function, C-State tech si Multi-Processing).

The most important of the 4 sub-menus is, obviously, the one in which we can adjust the voltages, named.... Voltage Configuration (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33643&d=1222554990). For the CPU we can adjust values between -0,05v and +1.3v, related to the VID, which would give us the opportunity to choose, for instance, if we would use a CPU with 1.225 VID, from values between 1.175v and 2.525v, which is more then enough even for the most extreme of us. Silent PC maniacs could have used more under-voltage, at least untill -0.10v. Another aspect which could be improved is the steps in which the voltage can be changed. Right now the steps are to coarse, a more finer scale would be more then welcomed (from 0.150v up, we can adjust the voltaje in 0.05 steps). 0.025 steps would be more then welcomed, giving us the opportunity to fine-tune the vCore much better. This issue is the same for the other voltages too, the stepts beeing quite large from a certain point up. For the RAM, we can set voltages between +0,050v and + 1.850v. From what i have seen, the starting point of the motherboard is 1.88v, so we have at our disposal values in the 1.88v and 3.63vrange, which is a huge value, most likely to be used only for Dry Ice / LN2 Ram overclocking. Again, from 3v up, the steps are very rare, and I hope that this will be changed by a future bios version. The chipset voltage can be set between +0.025 and +0.700 (1.1v - 1.8v), which is just perfect for extreme bench sessions with LN2 on the NB. In my case, the best voltage was 1.55v, and that was perfect for most tasks. Not even -100 oC on the NB would not help the NB scale with higher volts. FSB Voltage (VTT) can be adjusted between 0.025v si 0.750v (1.12v - 1.87v). With my E8600, the best value seems to be 1.44v, both for air and LN2. PLL can have 4 fixed values, from 1.5 to 1.8. The best setting for me was 1.5v. Using the same menu we can play with the GTL for each core, and for the MCH. For me, the default settings worked best.


I would also mention the opportunity to save profiles, with CMOS Back-up Function (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33656&d=1222555046). Also, another important part of the bios is the Advanced (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33622&d=1222554919), menu, from which we can enable/disable more CPU options, monitor temperatures and voltages using Hardware Health Configuration (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33624&d=1222554919) or disable on-board components using Config Onboard PCI/PCI-E Devices (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33628&d=1222554937). Using Smart Fan Configuration (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33625&d=1222554937) we can create profiles for FAN rpm, depending on system temperatures.

Well, all that being said, it was my great pleasure to discover a very well thought bios, very stable, with all the right settings, but without exceeding in using dozens of settings that do no good but are there just because of marketing. I liked this simple and efficient bios, and my only suggestion is using more finer voltage steps.

Remember you can check out the complete BIOS shots here (http://forum.crazypc.ro/showpost.php?p=141002&postcount=5).

[Monstru]

Layout


After we remove the board from the box we can stop and admire it's looks. The PCB is black, and the color scheme is very pleasant for the eye. Biostar used only solid capacitors for this board, another detail that gives us an idea about the overall quality. The cooling system is made out of two parts. On the southbridge we can see a small copper heatsink, and on the chipset and mosfets there are two copper heatsinks united together by a heatpipe. As I was saying earlier, the top side of the VRM heatsink can be taken off, and the extra cooler from the package can be mounted on for a better heat dissipation in that area. Personaly, during all my benching and tests I never felt the need to do this, the board being rather cold. Having a closer look (and a sneak peak in CPU-Z) we can see that the board's revision is 5.1 and the chipset's revision is A02. The chipset is naked, not having an IHS. Also, there is no shim around it, so any operation in that area must be done with caution, not to break the naked chip. We will take off the stock cooling at least once, to replace the stock TIM with some Arctic Silver, or another high-end thermal compound of your choice. The thermal compound on the northbridge is, just like on any other motherboards, a thick white goo. The VRM area however is cooled rather well, using a pad between the heatsink and the fets. From what I have seen, the contact is very good, the heatsink pressing very well on all mosfets. Once we take of the heatsink, we can take a closer look at the VRM. Biostar implemented a classic design 4 phase VRM, each phase using one coil, 2 solid capacitors and 3 fets. I can say without being wrong that this simple system performs a great task, and it does not have problems even at very high frequencies. The socket area is very roomy, and, taking into consideration the low profile of the motherboard's heatsink, I think that there is no aftermarket heatsink that this board would not be compatible with. Anyway, even if this area is very easy to insulate for sub-zero, remember to be extra careful with the upper side, which can freeze very easily due to the lack of components.

Taking a further look in the ram slots area, we find the bios chip, socket type. A little bit lower we find the bios reset jumper, which can give you trouble when using massive cards like GX2. In the same area there are the 6 SATA ports, 90oC angled, for optimal wire management. Also in this area, we can find the on-board display. This also shows the CPU temperature after the initialization process is completed. This reminds me of another thing I would like to point out for the guys at Biostar. Most of the init codes cannot be found in the users's manual, or the internet. A complete documentation would be more then welcomed.
Lower on the board we can see the Power On and Reset buttons, a must on every overclocking board. Moving towards the PCI slots, we can see the Fintek F71887F, which is used for system parameters monitoring.

The board has 2 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1 and 2 PCI-E x16 2.0 slots, which can be used in 16x (one at a time) or 2 x 8x (CrossfireX). This can be selected using the big red jumpers from the middle of the board, just like on old school 939 boards. Under the first PCI-E x16 slot we find the clock generator chip (ICS 9LPRS926EGLF). Right near the back edge we can find the 7.1 channels on-board audio (Realtek ALC888S) and the on-board LAN (Realtek RTL8111C).

Overall, the layout is very good and clean, with no bling bling. The bios jumper could have been placed better, bust besides that I really appreciate the layout. The board does not have too many connectors, but I'd rather have a cheap but effective overclocking board, then a 4 LAN / 12 USB very expensive monster.

You can find a full set of motherboard close-ups here (http://forum.crazypc.ro/showpost.php?p=141003&postcount=6).

[Monstru]

Overclocking

Finally we get to the really interesting part. I say this because this is where this board really shines. Well, you have all seen all sorts of records done with this board. We will now focus on how my board is doing, under air, but especially under LN2. We will see the maximum air FSB, the maximum clocks under LN2 and the way in which this board overclocks the memory.



Testbed

Air

Intel Core 2 Duo E8600
Cooler Master Hyper Z600
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix PC8500
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix PC8000
WD Raptor 74GB
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W


First thoughts

After putting the system together and making some basic BIOS settings, I entered Windows to have a sneak peak at the vdrop and the temperatures. With a medium load, at 4000MHz with 1.31v, the vdrop is only 0.024v, which is a very decent value.


FSB

Some air FSB testing, with 6x multi:


FSB stable - 610MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33296&d=1221589450)
FSB max - 640MHz (http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=418601)

vCore - 1.35v
vNB - 1.45v
vFSB - 1.45v
vPLL - 1.5v

[Monstru]

Testbed

LN2

Intel Core 2 Duo E8600
k|ngp|n F1 EE | Duniek NB pot
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix PC8500
Nvidia 9800GX2 Micutzu modded + Tek9
WD Raptor 74GB
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W / Cooler Master Real Power 1250W


FSB & max clocks - sub-zero

I cooled the CPU down to -164oC and the NB around -60oC, in order to push the system up to it's limits.


3D clocks - 6300MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33406&d=1221976536)
SuperPI 1M - 6500MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33513&d=1222267194)
Valid - 6578MHz (http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=422155)
Screen - 6600MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33515&d=1222267194)


vCore - 2.08v
vNB - 1.55v
vFSB - 1.45v
vPLL - 1.5v


I think that there are no words necesary to describe the above performance. The board is absolutely great, and the achievable FSB is really imppresive. We all have seen much higher FSB, but honestly speaking I didn't feel FSb limited, of course, at one point the CPU will obviously top out. The 3D clocks were attained during a benching session along with my team mate Micutzu, and the board functioned for hours at 6300MHz with 2.08v which confirms what I was saying earlier about this board's simple but effective VRM.
If you ask me, the board does very well in very harsh conditions, and this one went through a number of extreme cold sessions with high volts, and it still does her job right.


Pictures

1 (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33517&d=1222267194)
2 (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33516&d=1222267194)
3 (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33518&d=1222267211)
4 (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33520&d=1222267211)
5 (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33405&stc=1&d=1221976510)
6 (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33432&d=1222033116)
7 (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33419&d=1222033083)

[Monstru]

RAM Overclocking

I used two Crucial Ballistix kits with Micron D9GMH to test this board. I know very well how this kits can do on other boards, and I wanted to see if I45 will limit my overclocking or help me gain more MHz.



Single Channel

SuperPI 1M - 4-4-4-12 - 685MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33543&d=1222373080) - DDR2 1370
Valid - 4-4-4-12 - 690MHz (http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=422725) - DDR2 1380



Dual Channel

SuperPI 1M - 3-3-3-9 - 500MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33570&d=1222431204) - DDR2 1000
Valid - 3-3-3-9 - 505MHz (http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=423008) - DDR2 1010
Max screen - 3-3-3-9 - 522MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33571&d=1222431204)- DDR2 1045

SuperPI 1M - 4-4-4-12 - 675MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33544&d=1222373080) - DDR2 1350
Valid - 4-4-4-12 - 666MHz (http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=422728) - DDR2 1333
Max screen - 4-4-4-12 - 685MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33545&d=1222373080) - DDR2 1370

Valid - 5-5-5-15 - 5:6 - 720MHz (http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=418456) - DDR2 1440
SuperPI 1M - 5-5-5-15 - 2:3 - 720MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33282&d=1221571750) - DDR2 1440
Max screen - 5-5-5-15 - 731MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33300&d=1221601329) - DDR2 1462


4 x 1GB

SuperPi 1M - 4-4-4-12 - 600MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33546&d=1222373080) - DDR2 1200
Max screen - 4-4-4-12 - 675MHz (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33547&d=1222373080) - DDR2 1350
Valids between 600 and 675 will not work, even if I can boot into Windows with 1200 4-4-4

Valid 5-5-5-15 - 700MHz (http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=422733) - DDR2 1400


Well, I think that every man can draw his own conclusions after reading this. I45 is a very good RAM overclocker and it works like a charm with 1:1, 2:3 and 5:6. I've noticed that other P45 users have done great things with 5:8 divider, unfortunately that does not seem to wotk on my board. Nevertheless, I think that the performance this board has to offer is obvious.

[Monstru]

Final thoughts

What could I say more about this board? Let's start with the cons, because the list is very short:

Con's:

- too coarse voltage steps in BIOS
- no documentation for most of the Init errors
- bad placement for bios reset jumper
- 5:8 didn't function on my board


Pro's

- great overclocker
- huge FSB potential
- great RAM overclocker
- very good performance under LN2
- simple
- efficient
- cheap

Biostar has done an amazing job with this little jewel, and they proved that you do not need 16 phases, 12 USB ports or >200 Euros price tag to make a great overclocking board. This board does it's job in a very efficient manner, being straight forward and reliable. If you take the price into consideration, I think that we can only thank Biostar for such a great overclocking board.


P.S. Please excuse me for any spelling error, I am not a native English speaker.

[Alex-Ro]

Yay,lots of testing,lots of work,great job :up:

[philbrown23]

I own this board and it IS just that damn good.

[TheKarmakazi]

Would you mind posting your bios settings for skews and ram profile (I find 2 or 4 is best). Also did you do any bandwidth testing?

[Monstru]

I only use 200pps advance for the CPU Clock Skew control, the rest I leave on auto. My best RAM Configuration ( as I also stated in the thread) is either 2 or 4, just like anyone's else I might add :D

Not being a big Everest fan I didn't do any bandwidth testing. However, If you want to see what you can get with this board in terms of air/ln2 performance untweaked, taking into consideration FSB and ram sub-timings, you can look at these 2 screenshots of mine :

This (http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=33343&d=1221775155) is on air, at 610 FSB.
This (http://firingsquad.com/matrix/view_multimedia.asp?id=2466) is on LN2, at 630 FSB.

Both runs use tRD 8, on the same OS, untweaked. I can use tRFC 24 at 630 also, but I just forgot to adjust it in this particular case.

Also, for 1M, I can use 655 4-4-4-4 under LN2 :)

[Pcuser]

Good work :up:
I own this board as well but for some reason sometime my ram wont run CAS4 at all(it does 600mhz @4-4-4-4 on other boards) even with really lose subtimings:p:

Might try yr settings and leave some options on auto to see the difference:up:

[Monstru]

You should try Configuration 2 or 4, it does miracles :)

[Pcuser]

You should try Configuration 2 or 4, it does miracles :)

I tried 2 before but not 4 .
Will let you know how it goes:up: