BIOS Features
The Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P uses a Phoenix Award BIOS. The most current BIOS version for this motherboard is F2 (as of 7/5/09).
Once you enter the BIOS setup program, the Main Menu appears on the screen. This screen has all the main features that can be configured on this motherboard.
This BIOS wastes no time in getting to the heart of what PC enthusiasts are looking for — overclocking options. The MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.) has every option consumers will need to overclock the CPU, memory, and chipset.
The first option to configure in the M.I.T. is the Advanced Clock Calibration. Once enabled, the Advanced Clock Calibration option can provide great performance for users with Phenom II Black Edition processors. The ACC enables high power delivers capabilities that exceed 140 watts to help users squeeze every MHz out of their unlocked CPUs.
The CPU Clock Ratio can be modified in .5 increments, which is pretty handy because sometimes a full clock cycle won’t give us a stable overclock, but half of one clock cycle proves to give us a little boost in performance and stability.
The CPU Northbridge Frequency can also be adjusted, but this is dependent upon the CPU being used.
The HT Link Frequency allows users to manually set the frequency for the HT Link between the CPU and chipset.
The DCTs Mode lets users choose between ganged and unganged modes which allow the memory to be configured to single or dual channel.
The DRAM Configuration screen allows users to manually adjust every aspect of their memory modules. It also shows what the SPD and auto configurations are for each module on the right-hand side.
The CPU Northbridge, PCI-E, and PLL devices can also get small increases in voltage through the M.I.T. menu. The CPU NB can be increased in .025v increments.
The CPU voltages are where most moderate overclockers feel sem-comfortable increasing without risking the chance of frying their CPUs. The voltages can be modified in .025v increments to give end users pin-point accuracy to make the most stable OC’ed CPU possible.
Moving on from the overclocking section, we get to the basic BIOS information on Standard CMOS features. This section includes information on SATA, ATA, and floppy devices as well as letting users configure the date and time in the BIOS directly.
The next section is for configuring the advanced BIOS features that include virtualization, hard disk boot priority, password check, Away Mode, and other standard features found on most motherboards.
The Integrated Peripherals menu takes care of the on board IDE, SATA, USB, audio, Firewire, and LAN functions. This board also has extra support for onboard serial and parallel port devices.
The power management section has the usual options and features. Nothing too interesting to discuss here.
The PC health status section is always useful, but rarely changes in the type of information that is available. Current CPU temps, fan speeds, and voltages are the usual suspects in this menu.
I don’t think I’ve come across an $80 board that had this many overclocking options! We’ve tested several Gigabyte boards in the past that had similiar options, but most of them were in the $120-$150 price range. The BIOS doesn’t seemed to be dumbed-down at all either so PC enthusiasts will enjoy seeing some of familiar advanced options for configuring the CPU, RAM, and power for each component in their systems.
