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BIOS
Epox uses Phoenix Award BIOS with normal colours and layout. So most settings are easy to find and adjust.
Power BIOS Features
Power BIOS Features consist of several processor speed and chipset properties related adjustments. 8HDA3+ support also Athlon 64s CoolnQuiet feature and processor multiplier adjustment.
CPU Clock CPU Clock Ratio
It is possible to adjust FSB only between 200-250MHz, whereas motherboard itself easily achieved 300MHz on our overclocking test. So little more headroom would be preferable. Processor multiplier adjustment naturally works only below default multiplier.
Voltage Control
Processor, AGP and memory voltages are adjustable. Processor voltage can be adjusted between 1.35-1.75V and both AGP and memory voltages can be bumped up as much as 0.3V. So highest AGP voltage possible is 1.8V and highest memory voltage 2.8V. AGP voltage is also used for chipset and helps chipset to achieve higher FSBs.
DRAM COnfiguration
Memory related settings are unusual comprehensive. Memory dividers make it possible to keep memory speed down at 166MHz or 133MHz if needed. Memory latency settings are very comprehensive and provide good control over various settings, which cannot be normally adjusted. Our test setup somehow didnt work very well with very tight memory timings and especially using two memory modules at the same time resulted some instability if CAS latency 2 was used. 8HDA3+ also used tighter memory latency settings at default than any other Athlon 64 motherboard, which we have recently tested here in Metkumods.
LDT & PCI Bus Control
For chipset related adjustments there is lots settings. LDT bus speed can be adjusted accurately and most common PCI bus settings are also configurable.
PC Health Status
PC Health Status monitors most important temperatures and voltages. Epox 8HDA3+ monitor also AGP and memory voltages, so all voltages that can be adjusted can be also monitored. PC Health info can be also set to show up on post screen. One interesting problem that occurred on our tests was that if PSUs 3.3V rail was over 3.45V PC Health Status stopped working and system didnt even boot to Windows.
Epox 8HDA3+ have quite comprehensive and working BIOS almost with no problems. Due the K8T800 chipset AGP/PCI bus speeds cannot be locked, which would have been very nice. Memory voltage setting range is quite narrow and some integrated settings are also little problematic since there is no way of disabling them.
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