BIOS and Overclocking
The BIOS on the ABIT AG8 is similar to any ABIT motherboard featuring uGuru, so if you’ve used one of these boards recently you know exactly what to expect. All overclocking and tweaking features are under a special menu called uGuru which is broken down into overclocking (‘OC Guru’) and system monitoring (‘ABIT EQ’).
OC Guru (overclocking options)
|
Clock Frequencies |
100 – 400MHz (400 – 1600MHz Bus Speed) |
|
CPU Multipliers |
14x – 18x (1x increments) |
|
CPU Voltages (VCore) |
1.3625V – 1.7125V (image) |
|
DDR RAM Frequencies |
333MHz, 400MHz |
|
DDR RAM Voltages (VDIMM) |
2.50V — 3.20V (image) |
|
CPU:DRAM Ratio (NB Strap) |
533, 800, Auto |
|
Chipset Voltages |
1.50V — 2.05V (0.05V increments) |
|
PCI Express Frequencies |
99-255MHz |
|
PCI Frequencies |
33, 36, 40MHz |
Left: Frequency and voltage options.
Right: Computer power cycle statistics.
ABIT EQ
These settings are great for overclockers, but it’s also beneficial to those looking to run quiet computers. By adjusting your monitoring settings and fan speeds, you can finely tune the noise and cooling of the system.
Left: Temperature monitor with shutdown and beep options.
Right: Voltage monitor with shutdown and beep options.
Left: Fan RPM monitor with shutdown and beep options.
Right: Fan throttle control. Adjust the low and high RPMs you want,
and the temperatures at which they are activated.
Memory Adjustments
Your 4 basic memory timings.
Memory timings can be found in the Advanced Chipset menu. The AG8 offers your typical 4-setting memory adjustment.
Overclocking
Now let’s put ABIT’s enthusiast support to the test. To test overclocking, I dropped the multiplier to 14x (from the default 18x) and the memory frequency to 333MHz instead of 400MHz and pushed the CPU bus frequency as far as I could (bumping the voltages as necessary). This helps ensure that any instability will likely be the result of the motherboard itself and not the RAM or CPU.
I was able to push the clock frequency up to 261MHz for an incredible 1044MHz bus frequency. It’s a bit short of the 1066MHz I was hoping for, but if I were using an ATA100/133 drive instead of SATA, I’m sure I would have had better success. SATA is tied to the clock frequency, thus overclocking will increase the frequency of these components as well (i.e. there is no SATA “frequency lock”).
So far the ABIT AG8 is the best overclocking Intel 915P we have tested here on PC Perspective! A 261MHz overclock is amazing and I’m sure it can go further given better cooling and if I weren’t using SATA.
