Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H mATX Motherboard Review

BIOS Features

The Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H uses an Award BIOS that has been tweaked and modified according to the features available with this motherboard.


This motherboard’s BIOS has a host of features that can be personalized to the user’s specific needs. It has a full-featured option list that should accommodate novice users as well as seasoned PC builders.

 
Here is the standard CMOS feature screen. It shows which IDE and SATA devices are installed. This is also where users set the system date and time.

 
The Advanced BIOS section allows users to set the boot device priority and a few other basic features. One unique option users will notice is setting the onboard VGA to their needs. They can use the onboard VGA or HDMI ports or set the BIOS to use a PCI Express video card.

 
Another fairly unique aspect of this board is the BIOS Flash Protection feature. When this is enabled, users will not be able to flash the BIOS without first setting this option to Auto. Then, users can either use Gigabyte’s @BIOS utility or flash the BIOS using Q-Flash.

 
Under Integrated Peripherals, users can modify the SATA, USB, audio, Firewire, LAN, and IDE features of this motherboard.

 
The following options can be configured in the power management section (information taken from user manual):

ACPI Suspend Type: Specifies the ACPI sleep state when the system enters suspend.

Soft-Off by PWR-BTTN: Configures the way to turn off the computer in MS-DOS mode using the power button.

PME Event Wake Up: Allows the system to be awakened from an ACPI sleep state by a wake-up signal from a PCI or PCIe device.

Power On by Ring: Allows the system to be awakened from an ACPI sleep state by a wake-up signal from a modem that supports wake-up function.

Resume by Alarm: Determines whether to power on the system at a desired time.

HPET Support: Enables or disables High Precision Event Timer (HPET) for Windows Vista operating system.

HPET Mode: Allows you to select the HPET mode for your Windows Vista operating system. Select 32-bit mode when you install 32-bit
Windows Vista; select 64-bit mode when you install 64-bit Windows Vista.

Power On By Mouse: Allows the system to be turned on by a PS/2 mouse wake-up event.

Power On By Keyboard: Allows the system to be turned on by a PS/2 keyboard wake-up event.

KB Power ON Password: Set the password when Power On by Keyboard is set to Password. Press <Enter> on this item and set a password with up to 5 characters and then press <Enter> to accept. To turn on the system, enter the password and press <Enter>.

AC Back Function: Determines the state of the system after the return of power from an AC power loss.