ASUS Crosshair III Formula Motherboard Review :: BIOS and Overclocking

ASUS uses a modified version of the American Megatrends AMIBIOS. The BIOS is split into several menus including: Extreme Tweaker, Main, Advanced, Power, Boot, Tools and Exit. The Main Menu is where the usual Date, Time Language and drive detection lies. The Storage Configuration is where you configure your RAID in the BIOS for the onboard SATA controller. System Information is where the CPU, Memory, BIOS Date and Build Date of the BIOS are listed.

Advanced is where the CPU Configuration, Chipset, Onboard Devices Configuration, USB Configuration, PCIPnP, LCD Poster and LED Control and iROG configuration is set. CPU Configuration is where the various settings including C1E, Virtual Machine, GART Error Reporting and Advanced Clock Calibration are set. Chipset settings are where the configuration settings for the Northbridge and RD790 are set. Onboard devices are where the Firewire Audio and LAN are set.

Maximum overclock

The overclocker will want to look at the Extreme Tweaker menu. The menu has the Target CPU Frequency and Target DRAM Frequency on top. CPU Level Up is next, followed by Ai Overclock Tuner, CPU Ratio, CPU Configuration, DRAM Frequency, DDR3 Memory Profile, CPU/NB Frequency, HT Link speed and more. The CPU Level Up deserves special attention. When I first put the CPU through its paces, I wasn't able to overclock the CPU more than 230MHz with the default voltages a 15% overclock. With CPU Level Up I set the 810 CPU to Phenom II 955 and the BIOS overclocked the 810 to 247MHz or a clock speed of 3.21GHz. This brought the ASUS Crosshair with the 810 CPU to a 23% overclock or much higher just with a click of the button. Here's a chart of the available settings in the BIOS:

Setting	Range
CPU Level Up	Auto, Phenom II 925, Phenom II 945, Phenom II 955
Ai Overclock Tuner	Auto, Manual, CPU Level Up
FSB Frequency	200-600
PCIE Frequency	100-150
CPU Ratio	Dependent on CPU
DRAM Frequency	Auto, 800, 1067, 1333,1600MHz
DDR3 Memory Profile	Enabled Disabled
CPU/NB Frequency	Auto, 800k, 1000, 1200-2000MHz
HT Link Speed	Auto, 200MHz, 400MHz-2400MHz (2000MHz default)
Bank Interleaving	Enabled, Disabled
Channel Interleaving	Disabled, Address bits 6, Address bits 12, XOR of Address bits (20:16,6) XOR of address bits (20:16, 9
Enable Clock to all DIMMs	Enabled, Disabled
MemClk Tristate C3/ATLVID	Enabled, Disabled
Memory Hole Remapping	Enabled, Disabled
DCT Unganged Mode	Auto, Enabled, Disabled
Power Down Enable	Enabled, Disabled
DCQ Maximum bypass counter	Auto, 9x, 10x, 11x, 12x, 13x, 14x, 15x
Bank Swizzle	Disabled, Enabled
TCL	Auto, 4 CLK, 5 CLK-11 CLK, 12 CLK
TRCD	Auto, 5 CLK, 6 CLK-11 CLK, 12 CLK
TRP	Auto, 5 CLK, 6 CLK-11 CLK, 12 CLK
TRAS	Auto, 15 CLK, 16 CLK-28 CLK, 29 CLK
TRTP	Auto, 4 CLK, 5 CLK, 6 CLK, 7 CLK
TRC	Auto, 11 CLK, 12 CLK-24 CLK 25 CLK
TWR	Auto, 5 CLK, 6 CLK, 7 CLK, 8 CLK, 10 CLK, 12 CLK
TRRD	Auto, 4 CLK, 5 CLK, 6 CLK, 7 CLK
TRWTTO	Auto, 3 CLK, 4 CLK-16 CLK, 17 CLK
TWRRD	Auto, 2 CLK, 3 CLK-9 CLK 10 CLK
TWTR	Auto, 4 CLK, 5 CLK, 6 CLK, 7 CLK
TWRWR	Auto, 3 CLK, 4 CLK- 9 CLK, 10 CLK
TRDRD	Auto, 2 CLK, 3 CLK-9 CLK, 10 CLK
TRFC0	Auto, 90ns, 110ns, 160ns, 300ns, 350ns
TRFC1	Auto, 90ns, 110ns, 160ns, 300ns, 350ns
TREF	Auto, Every 7.8ms, Every 3.9ms
DCT0/1: CKE drive strength	Auto, 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x
DCT0/1 CS/ODT drive strength	Auto, 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x
DCT0/1: MEMCLK drive strength	Auto, 0.75x 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x
DCT0/1: Data drive strength	Auto, 0.75x 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x
DCT0/1: DQS drive strength	Auto, 0.75x, 1x 1.25x, 1.5x
DCT0/1: Processor ODT	Auto, 240 ohms +/- 20%, 120 ohms +/- 20%, 60 ohms +/- 20%
Extreme OV	Enabled, Disabledq
CPU Load-Line Calibration	Auto, Disabled, Enabled
CPU/NB Voltage	0.8V-Dependent on CPU
DRAM VDDA Voltage	2.50425V-3.20650V in 0.01325v increments
DRAM Voltage	1.51050V-2.80900V
HT Voltage	1.20575V-2.0075V
NB Voltage	1.11300V-2.00075V
NB 1.8V Voltage	1.180200V-3.00775V
SB Voltage	1.20575V-2.00075V
S5 1.2V Voltage	1.20575V-1.60325V

Bios Screenshots