ECS PX1 Extreme 965P Motherboard Review :: BIOS and Overclocking

The ECS PX1 Extreme board uses a modified version of the Phoenix Award BIOS. Unfortunately, this board is not designed for the overclocking enthusiast as other boards in the ECS Extreme series are targeted to. The board has limited overclocking options, meaning you are stuck with the FSB changing only and few overvolting options.

CPU overclocking on the board is limited to changing the Front Side Bus and limited overvolting. The FSB can be changed from 133MHz to 333MHz in 1 MHz increments. Most boards on the market today have a FSB that can reach at least 400MHz in options and some as high as 600MHz (though that FSB is unattainable with current CPUs.)

Battery

Voltage options for the CPU are between 0.05V and 0.15V. Many boards offer a much wider range of over voltage options for the CPU. Memory voltage options are between 0.05V and 0.35V in 0.05V increments, also a very low range. ECS Extreme boards of the past have been targeted to the enthusiast and these options, in addition to the minimal FSB range make it more for the stable crowd.

As already mentioned in the bundle area, ECS did not include the Top Hat Flash device. This allows the motherboard to boot with a corrupted BIOS by booting to the Top Hat as the BIOS instead of the BIOS chip on the board. More than once I've had my bacon saved by Top Hat on an ECS board due to a problem with the BIOS. The area where it is normally at is marked with the Top Hat markings, and it is a bit disappointing that it is not included.

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