P5GD2 BIOS
Both boards' BIOSes were flashed to the latest available, 1004 Rev007.
The main configuration screen's overclocking options can be can set to manual, automatic, standard, overclocking profile, and AI NOS. AI NOS. The latter is the most interesting, as it features dynamic overclocking based on system load. From a manual point of view, the CPU's FSB ranges from 100-400MHz in 1MHz increments. It's nice that you can key in whichever FSB you desire. We'll be investigating if there's any real merit in specifying FSBs much over 200MHz, for previous 915/925 boards have shown considerably less potential than S478's i865/875 range. DRAM frequency is an interesting case. The BIOS supports a synchronous 400MHz speed, 533MHz, and even 600MHz. Corsair's recent announcement of DDR667-capable memory makes the last option readily usable.
PCI Express frequencies range from 90MHz-150MHz, although there's no explicit guarantee that the bus is locked. PCI frequency, however, can be manipulated to range with the CPU (unlocked) or to 33.3MHz (locked). The user is free to choose their own RAM timings but, speaking from experience, DDR-II's not a fan of low-latency access. We ran at SPD settings of 4-4-4-12 for our testing. DRAM voltage, though, ranged from 1.8v-2.1v. Lower operating voltage is one of DDR-II's chief features. CPU voltage ranged from a default-ish 1.3875v through to 1.7v. The board tended to under-volt a touch at every setting.
If, like us, you're fortunate enough to be in possession of an unlocked LGA775 processor, the board allows multiplier ratio adjustments, too.
It's difficult to believe that the board is correctly reporting the processor's temperature. On a warm, humid day when the ambient temperature was in the high 20s, it seems startling that the CPU is sub-40c. There's also no reporting of DDR voltage values or, for that matter, chipset voltage. ASUS needs a little work in this area.
A huge feature list is highlighted by a lengthy BIOS shot.
Configuring Intel's ICH6/R SATA properties is simplicity itself.