"Into the great wide open, under them skies of blue..." as Tom Petty would say, in our case it is the BIOS of blue. The BIOS we are looking at is not the EVGA BIOS, it is the P03R2 NVIDIA reference board BIOS. EVGA has since released P04, P05, P05b, and P06. P04~P05b show no real differences and the only additional options are the inclusion of the P1/P2 options that were already available in P03R2. P06 seems to be a bit different story with stories of bandwidth lowering for users. Perhaps chipset latencies loosened a bit to help with the corruption issues that were apparently fixed in P05 (I think). Either way, P03R2 should look exactly the same as the newer BIOSs so these will not be updated any time soon.

Main Menu // Standard CMOS Features // Advanced BIOS Features

The BIOS is your typical Award BIOS and we all know there is nothing really exciting here so well, yeah, let's leave it at that. The layout is very obvious and all the overclocking resides in one section which is nice. Speaking of the overclocking section...that’s what is up next.


Advanced Chipset Features // System Clocks

As mentioned, everything for overclocking is right here, including the ability to save 3 timing/voltage profiles. I would prefer it saved all the BIOS settings but you can't complain with at least the ability to save the important stuff.

The System Clocks page provides us access with CPU multiplier control as well as the PCI-E and SPP<->MCP frequencies. To get half multipliers simply enable the CPU N/2 Ratio which becomes available when the 8x multi is selected with the E8400. The PCI-E frequency options are 100~200MHz at 1MHz increments. The SPP<-> frequency can be adjust from 200~230MHz in 1 MHz increments then from 230~500MHz in 2MHz increments. The HT multiplier options are 1x~5x for both upstream and down from the SPP to MCP.


FSB & Memory Config

Moving on to the FSB & Memory Config section we are getting into the meat of the overclocking diet. I like how there is a display showing what CPU multiplier we have selected and what the ultimate frequency will be...what I don't like is that NVIDIA continues to use the QDR FSB frequency. We get it, you want to be different from Intel chipsets but come on...quit making me use a calculator in the BIOS. In nTune you list FSB as the actual frequency, why not in the BIOS? Hmmmm? Either way, FSB is adjustable between 400~2800 or 100MHz~700MHz so the BIOS selections won't be holding us back any time soon.

The other major feature of the NVIDIA chipset that we are all well aware of is the fact that we can 'un-link' the memory from the FSB for all kinds of crazy FSB/memory frequency combinations. It isn't a true un-linked memory where we can adjust both independently as ratios are still at the heart of this ability but there is definitely a greater memory/FSB freedom with the NVIDIA chipset than there is the Intel chipset. Of course, we also have standard linked ratios of 5:4, 3:2, and Sync (2:1).

At the very bottom of this page before the Memory Timing Settings we see the elusive P1 and P2 options. These are the much discussed options that appear to be disabled at 475FSB (some users report at 450FSB+) and beyond resulting in horrible memory bandwidth. With the P03R2 beta BIOS and up, we have the option to override these settings and manually keep them enable keeping memory bandwidth and performance where they belong at higher FSB frequencies. This of course puts more stress on the chipset and may require more vSPP or even limit overclocking for some users.


Memory Timing Setting // CPU Configuration // System Voltages

The Memory Timing Setting page is just that, the section for adjusting memory timings. They have the timings broken up into two sections with the main timings at the top and secondaries at the bottom, plus, the timings are in 'typical' order keeping it nice and simple. This will make it less confusing for the rookies to get their uber l33t memory timings set and should lead to less whining in the forums about RAM not running at what it is rated for saving the 'Beards, Tony, Eric, Greg, Michal and others some hassle. The other nice feature is that the column to the right shows what is currently set...very nice to have sometimes. I will mention that the timing list is limited and there is no tRFC available from the BIOS but you 2x2GB owners fear not as this board sets ridiculously high tRFC at all frequencies and Memset allows the tuning of that down for us benchers.

Looking at the CPU Configuration section we can see the typical CPU features listed here for enabling or disabling along with the ability to shut down individual cores of the processor, another nice touch.

The last of the screenshots above is that of our voltage options. Again, nothing fancy going on here with our basic voltages but we do have individual GTL reference voltage adjustments. These range from -155mv ~ +155mv at 5mv increments. The rest of the voltage ranges are as follows...
Code:
CPU Core    = 0.51250v ~ 2.00000v in 0.00625v increments
CPU FSB     = 1.10v ~ 1.45v       in 0.05v increments
Memory      = 1.500v ~ 2.275v     in 0.025v increments
nForce SPP  = 1.30v ~ 1.55v       in 0.05v increments
nForce MCP  = 1.500v ~ 1.750v     in 0.050v increments
GTL Ref	     = -155mv ~ +155mv     in 5mv increments

Integrated Peripherals // Power Management Setup // PnP/PCI Configurations

Yeah, well...what do you want me to say about these sections? Ohhhh, you can enable or disable all of the integrated peripherals. I think the screenshots speak for themselves so I will just go sit in a corner until you finish looking at them.

System Monitor // Dynamic Fan Control

The System Monitor page isn't loaded with temperature readings but we have the basics. What is odd is that newer versions of Everest pick up a couple more like SPP/MCP temp in Windows so I'm not sure why they are not listed here. As you will see, Everest picks up SPP and MCP temps which are very nice to have access to. It also picks up vDIMM and the rest of the voltages and since v4.50.1383 of Everest, the vDIMM reading as well as all other voltage readings appear to be bang on. Older versions of Everest provide an elevated vDIMM reading. The one interesting line here is the CPU Current which shows the Amps that the CPU is drawing. I am not sure how accurate it is but it certainly scales with clocks and vCORE.

Dynamic Fan Control gives us full control over the CPU, Chassis, chipset, and auxiliary fan speed. The options available are pretty straight forward but having this control from the BIOS without the need for additional software to be installed in Windows is always a welcome feature for 24/7 users. That wraps up this boat ride so...like..."good trip eh?".