BIOS layout

We honestly haven’t been the biggest fans of the BIOS interface ASUS has implemented on its newer motherboards. In our opinion the interface ASUS utilizes is less efficient than the traditional Award interface used on most other motherboards. Navigation takes just a bit longer with the ASUS interface, especially if you aren’t familiar with the menus ASUS has provided, although fortunately, ASUS has cut down on the number of submenus placed underneath the main menus. This means that getting to common BIOS settings is a little bit easier than previous AMIBIOS boards we reviewed three of four years ago.

Frequency/Voltage control

Chip config screen

I/O Device config screen

ASUS provides all the settings you’ll need to fine tune the P4R800-V Deluxe. This includes settings for adjusting memory timings, health monitoring, boot sequence, and of course, manipulating the onboard graphics. ASUS also provides settings for overclocking the P4R800-V board, but clearly this is one area that is not the RADEON 9100 IGP’s strong suit, more on this later.

Bus speed adjustments from 100MHz-266MHz are available in 1MHz increments. Simply type in the clock speed you want and the front side bus will operate at that speed once you’ve rebooted. The 266MHz max setting pales in comparison to Pentium 4 motherboards based on SiS and Intel chipsets, which often provide settings above 300MHz, ASUS’ own P4C800 Deluxe tops out at 400MHz for instance. As a result, many enthusiasts are purchasing 2.4C and 2.6C Northwood processors and running their bus at 250MHz or more, but our P4R800-V Deluxe board wouldn’t boot into Windows XP at any speed above 210MHz. Therefore, we’re not surprised to see ASUS keep the clocks down, as speeds of 250MHz or more just aren’t possible with this board. Potential P4R800-V Deluxe users will have to keep this factor in mind when shopping for a new processor to pair the motherboard with.

Hardware Monitor screen

Instant Music screen

Like the bus speeds, voltage options are also limited on the P4R800-V Deluxe. ASUS provides voltage settings of 1.525V, 1.55V, 1.6V, and 1.625V. This falls well short of the 1.9V ASUS offers on their SiS655TX based motherboard, the P4S800D-E Deluxe, but again, the RADEON 9100 IGP chipset just isn’t suited for overclocking, so by limiting the voltage options available, end users are less likely to damage their processor in an attempt to hit a certain clock speed the chipset isn’t capable of achieving anyway.

Besides the processor voltage, you can also adjust voltages for the North Bridge (1.5V and 1.6V), DDR RAM (2.5V, 2.6V, 2.7V, and 2.8V) and finally, AGP voltage (1.5V, 1.6V). But again, you probably won’t be spending most of your time adjusting voltages and bus speeds, but tuning other parameters such as memory timings, onboard devices, and hardware monitoring.