BIOS Implementation

BIOS Interface

The CUSL2 uses the same interface we've seen in the newer ASUS motherboards - five main menus (Main, Advanced, Power, Boot, Exit) with menus and submenus underneath. Not the quickest way to get from place to place but it works effectively and has been tweaked several times since its ungainly debut on the K7M last year.

One thing we noticed was the help menu on the right doesn't give information for many of the BIOS settings present on the CUSL2. In the past, the help menu offered basic information and an occasional recommendation based on the setting selected for several settings. In the CUSL2 BIOS, it's unfortunately only a handful.

In its place, the Help menu does offer some basic help for overclockers. For instance, if you crank your FSB too high, once you reboot the system the CUSL2 BIOS opens in Safe Mode and informs you of your error:

BIOS Safe Mode

FSB Settings

Since the 815 features an asynchronous memory bus, you can run your FSB at a speed independent of your system memory. As a result, when it comes to bus speeds, the CUSL2 offers a plethora of settings to choose from.

Manipulating the FSB ratio

FSB Speeds

Once you've determined your FSB:SDRAM:PCI Frequency ratio, (which sets the multiplier for each device accordingly) the CUSL2 offers up to 32 different front side bus speeds to choose from, depending on the ratio selected. The four FSB:SDRAM:PCI ratios available are: [66: 100: 33], (a good choice for 0.25-micron Celeron 500 users) [100: 100: 33], (ideal for 0.25-micron "Katmai" Pentium IIIs and sub-500MHz 0.25-micron Celerons) [133: 133: 33], (for "Coppermine" Pentium III CPU's) and [133: 100: 33] (best for "Coppermine" Pentium III users with PC100 memory)

Each of the four ratios has bus speed options in 1MHz increments, as we stated earlier, some ratios have up to 32 settings available. With this kind of flexibility, we're pretty sure you'll find a bus speed that's ideal for your processor/memory/PCI device combination.

Finally, the CUSL2 has voltage settings up to 0.30V in .05V increments, plenty of juice for most overclocking situations.

Temp Monitoring Screen

Advanced Chipset Setup Screen