BIOS Setup

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 mainboard that we have already reviewed before, was the first Gigabyte board on Intel P45 Express chipset. You may be surprised, but it turned out that the BIOS functionality of the junior model in the lineup are practically the same as those of one of the top models. Of course, we can’t say they are absolutely identical. The boards are physically different that is why the BIOS of Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6 mainboard has a few options that GA-EP45-DS3 could have never had. For example, the options dealing with numerous additional controllers. However, most of the functions names and descriptions are overall the same. Moreover, the increments and supported value ranges are also similar, and in some cases the junior model boasts even broader capacities than the top one.

As you remember, Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 made a pretty good impression, however, we mentioned that its BIOS was way too complex for a simple board like that. I believe we owe Gigabyte an apology for misinterpreting the situation. Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 BIOS wasn’t purposefully complicated by adding extra functions. Gigabyte developers simply didn’t want to limit the BIOS functionality of their junior model and left it the way it is for top models in the lineup. I don’t think we should complain about it…

In our Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 review we have discussed all the details about the interesting BIOS Setup functions. So, this time we will not dwell on them again and just take a general look at the functionality of the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6 BIOS.

We were once again very pleased to see that MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.) section with almost all important overclocking related functions is the first in the list. The section itself is very big and contains a lot of parameters, however, it has been structured in a very convenient and logical manner. Numerous parameters are grouped into categories, assigned to different sub-menus, feature contextual descriptions and other information, so it is very easy to work with this section.

Robust Graphics Booster parameter allows to overclock a graphics card automatically and can be set to Auto, Fast or Turbo. CPU Clock Ratio parameter sets the clock frequency multiplier, Fine CPU Clock Ratio parameter will allow setting fractional processor frequency multipliers for 45nm CPUs. The informational parameter called CPU Frequency will display the resulting CPU speed.

By setting CPU Host Clock Control to Enabled, we can get the desired FSB frequency by adjusting CPU Host Frequency parameter in the interval from 100MHz to 1200MHz. PCI Express Frequency parameter allows adjusting the PCI-E bus frequency in the interval from 90 to 150MHz with 1MHz increment. C.I.A.2 parameter helps overclock the CPU automatically under heavy workload and can be set to Cruise, Sports, Racing, Turbo and Full Thrust.

• Cruise implies overclocking the CPU by 5-7%;
• Sports – by 7-9%;
• Racing – by 9-11%;
• Turbo – by 15-17%;
• Full Thrust – by 17-19%.

The options for fine chipset configuring are singled out to a separate page called Advanced Clock Control.

DRAM Performance Control group deals with the memory subsystem. Performance Enhance is set to Turbo by default. You can try and change it to Extreme, but if you want to achieve maximum frequencies during overclocking, you should start by setting it to Standard. ЕIf your system is equipped with memory modules supporting Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.) technology, i.e. containing overclocker settings profiles in their SPD, you can enabled them with the help of a corresponding parameter.

 (G)MCH Frequency Latch parameter sets the bus frequency: 200, 266, 333 or 400MHz. The list of available memory dividers will depends on this setting. If it is set to Auto, then System Memory Multiplier (SPD) will display all existing multipliers at the same time.

The letter behind the multiplier stands for the bus frequency this multiplier refers to. There are corresponding hints that will remind you what they stand for:

The informational parameter called Memory Frequency will display the resulting value.

It is very convenient that you can see the current settings for the main memory timings, but unfortunately, we noticed that they don’t always correspond to the real values. Namely, when we overclocked the processor by increasing the FSB frequency, the board set memory timings to 5-7-7-25, though the BIOS still read 5-5-5-14.

All additional timings are available on the Advanced Timing Control page:

Some timings can be set individually for each memory channel. Moreover, you can also set the Performance Level using Static tRead Value parameter.