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The UEFI BIOS is an impressive configuration with an ‘EZ' mode (easy) for people who only want to touch the basics. An advanced mode is available for overclocking and finer tuning of settings.
Within the advanced panel, the ‘main' tab offers a basic overview of the hardware configuration. An easy to read, reference point.
The AI Tweaker panel is the main section for overclocking. With a decent air cooler, 4.6ghz was easily achievable from this motherboard @ 1.42 volts. More should be possible with improved cooling, however the hard core audience are likely to invest more on a high end motherboard, specifically just for overclocking.
The ‘Advanced' panel lets the user adjust many of the onboard configuration settings. such as the SATA drives and USB configuration.
The monitor tab is ideal for right after the system build. Checking that temperatures, fan speeds, and voltages are all falling within parameters.
The boot tab allows for adjustment over full screen logo, boot drive options and boot override settings.
The ‘tool' panel has options for flashing the bios, and for storing/recalling overclocked settings. It is at the level we would expect from ASUS, especially the intuitive layout.
Yeah, hard to grumble for £90. AMD motherboards are still expensive for their high end processors. always a problem iMO.
Good cheap board, but I think someone buying a 2600k might spend £40 more. Surprised on the lack of heatsinks, but it looks as if it doesnt effect overall performance which is good to hear.
I am holding fire on a new system until summer next year, i expect a new range by then,.
one silly question why they have diff clips for blue and black ram slots
Thanks, been waiting for a review of this for a while. I agree the sata cable deal is bad, two cables? they probably cost 10c to asus. immore interested in the board though for a potential 2500k build.
Yeah, thats unusual, two different clips for the memory? maybe they use left over stock for these boards? not that it really matters.
+ meant to add in the last post. i dont mind about the bundle, i have tons of satacables. two is ok for the price. did you use them for the SATA testing? I bought an asrock board earlier this year and they supplied some terrible cables which killed my drive performance (by 100mb/s)
What ASROCK board was that Ian? never had a problem with any cables on ASROCK boards. Yes, used one of the cables they supplied for the PATRIOT drive testing. good quality.
If I was using this board im afraid id want a huge fan over it at all times, especially when overclocking. there are no heatsinks at all around the CPu socket, and those resistors will get very hot under load.