Overclocking with this board is very easy, as there are many settings you can play with. The BIOS automatically changes the multipliers for the PCI and AGP bus at a constand 33MHz and 66MHz whenever the FSB is modified. Keeping these buses within their specs definately keeps the system more stable. There was no real need to change the PCI or AGP buses, so I kept their speed and voltages at default, and concentrated more on the speed and voltages of the FSB.
RAM can be the weakest link in your overclocking ability. Using the right RAM, I could achieve a 166MHz FSB for a 3.06GHz core clock, but I am using different brands of RAM with varying quality, and was only able to reach a stable 146Mhz FSB using all RAM (2.79GHz core clock speed). The memory voltage had to be raised to the maximum 1.65V to achieve this reliably. Since DDR33 is running at 166MHz, I thought I should be able to clock to at least 166MHz FSB. After some research, AOpen reveals that their memory runs at a fixed 4:5 ratio, but can be adjusted with a BIOS update, allowing RAM to run at a normal speed when overclocking. This update also allows an 800MHz FSB when using DDR400, but is not officially supported. Above is a WCPUID screenshot of the final stable clock setting.
Overclocking the FSB provides additional memory bandwidth. This simple overclock achieved an additional 400MB of bandwidth, for a total of 2.6GB / sec! This type of overclock isn’t unusual for an 845PE-based motherboard. Intel chipset-based motherboards are the only way to go if you’re an extreme overclocker.
Conclusion
This is AOpen’s first real attempt at the high-end enthusiast market. The product is not perfect, but they are on the right track. There are more than enough features to keep an experienced overclocker busy, and enough safety features to make it enjoyable. The many caveats that must be remembered really keep this product from being directly competitive, but is still offered at an attractive price. Most people will find different features more useful than others, but there are so many features that there is something that everyone will like. This new generation of AOpen motherboard gets a well deserved 8 out of 10, and the OCmodshop seal of approval!
Pros
- Excellent Feature set (Watch Dog Timer, Ez Win Flash, Silent PC)
- On board Serial ATA
- 3 IDE channels
- On Board NIC
- USB 2.0 and Firewire
- High overclock configurability (1Mhz stepping and independent bus multipliers)
- Die-Hard BIOS
- Hyper-Threading support
Cons
- Must use DDR333 to take advantage of 533MHz FSB
- Only 1 ATA133 port
- Only 1 memory slot can handle double-sided RAM
- Poor experience “out of the box”
