- Joined
- Jun 1, 2001
Board link. http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=1&model=2068&l1=3&l2=11&l3=563&l4=0
There has been a lot of misconceptions and people saying this board sucks for overclocking. just google the name and all you get is people bitchin about it. well, the board does not suck, but the programmers who translate bios settings at asus do indeed, suck. They label bios settings all funky and non standard.
This board has most of the settings anyone could need to overclock.
the main problem with the bios, is the memory divisor. If you have a processor like mine which defaults to a stock fsb of 200, then the only settings you will see for memory divisor are 800 and 533. You won't get the normal 2:5 1:1 etc like most boards have. Why they did this? I do not know, but it is only a cosmetic problem with the bios. in fact, the 800mhz settings is 1:1. The 800mhz setting does not mean 800mhz(unless youdont overclock and are at 800mhz), it just means you're ram is set to the same speed as the fsb. This 800 and 533 settings will stay with the 200mhz processor no matter what you change the fsb to. My fsb is at 340, and i still get the 800mhz,533 setting. Checking in the operating system, as well as memtest86+ comfirms that the 800mhz setting is 1:1 no matter what i set the fsb to.
as an xample, if i set my cpu to 266fsb, the ram to 800mhz (1:1) and the multiplier to 10 and boot up memtest86, my ram is running at 1066mhz, my fsb is at 1066mhz, and the cpu is at 2.6ghz. but yet the bios shows the ram running at 800.... My best guess is they labeled the ram speed wrong. They should have labeled is 1:1 instead of 800mhz. that would be a lot more clear to most people. You could argue that at stock speeds the ram would be indeed running at 800mhz, but this board is advertised as overclocker friendly.
Does anyone get what I am saying now?
now, if you have a processor that defaults to 1066, then the bios would show an option of 533, 800 and 1066 for the ram. This is where the quirkyness comes into play. The 1066 setting for the ram now becomes 1:1. 800 becomes 533, and I do not know what 533 becomes because i do not have that cpu and that option.
quirky? yes. but totally viable once you work around the weird bios. This is a cheap board, about $50-$80. with this board i have yet to have one not overclock past 300mhz fsb with a 200fsb cpu.
the bios also has options for controlling the voltage of the cpu, ram, northbridge, etc. you can always paint the bottom of the cpu with conductive paint if the bios options are not enough (generally allows .2v increase) full multiplier and ram cas ras etc control. It has basically every option you need. they are all labeled wrong, but they are there.
This board also needs good fast ram to overclock the fsb. Not having a tonne of memory divisots means you need good fast ram to crank that fsb up. so count on using 1066mhz ram for a e5200 like mine.
With my current setup, ocz fatal1ty 4gm ram, e5200, I get 340fsb stable(1360mhz), 10x multiplier, 6-6-6-12 ram timing, using the 533 option for the ram in the bios which means my ram is running at roughly 1133mhz.
cpu +.3v, ram +.2v.
Windows xp, vista, 7 stable. also stable in u/kubuntu.
Bottom line is this is a budget overclockers board. it's not as nice as the $150-4200 boards out there, but for 1/4 the price you can still overclock pretty well. as long as you don't need a full atx board anyways.
There has been a lot of misconceptions and people saying this board sucks for overclocking. just google the name and all you get is people bitchin about it. well, the board does not suck, but the programmers who translate bios settings at asus do indeed, suck. They label bios settings all funky and non standard.
This board has most of the settings anyone could need to overclock.
the main problem with the bios, is the memory divisor. If you have a processor like mine which defaults to a stock fsb of 200, then the only settings you will see for memory divisor are 800 and 533. You won't get the normal 2:5 1:1 etc like most boards have. Why they did this? I do not know, but it is only a cosmetic problem with the bios. in fact, the 800mhz settings is 1:1. The 800mhz setting does not mean 800mhz(unless youdont overclock and are at 800mhz), it just means you're ram is set to the same speed as the fsb. This 800 and 533 settings will stay with the 200mhz processor no matter what you change the fsb to. My fsb is at 340, and i still get the 800mhz,533 setting. Checking in the operating system, as well as memtest86+ comfirms that the 800mhz setting is 1:1 no matter what i set the fsb to.
as an xample, if i set my cpu to 266fsb, the ram to 800mhz (1:1) and the multiplier to 10 and boot up memtest86, my ram is running at 1066mhz, my fsb is at 1066mhz, and the cpu is at 2.6ghz. but yet the bios shows the ram running at 800.... My best guess is they labeled the ram speed wrong. They should have labeled is 1:1 instead of 800mhz. that would be a lot more clear to most people. You could argue that at stock speeds the ram would be indeed running at 800mhz, but this board is advertised as overclocker friendly.
Does anyone get what I am saying now?
now, if you have a processor that defaults to 1066, then the bios would show an option of 533, 800 and 1066 for the ram. This is where the quirkyness comes into play. The 1066 setting for the ram now becomes 1:1. 800 becomes 533, and I do not know what 533 becomes because i do not have that cpu and that option.
quirky? yes. but totally viable once you work around the weird bios. This is a cheap board, about $50-$80. with this board i have yet to have one not overclock past 300mhz fsb with a 200fsb cpu.
the bios also has options for controlling the voltage of the cpu, ram, northbridge, etc. you can always paint the bottom of the cpu with conductive paint if the bios options are not enough (generally allows .2v increase) full multiplier and ram cas ras etc control. It has basically every option you need. they are all labeled wrong, but they are there.
This board also needs good fast ram to overclock the fsb. Not having a tonne of memory divisots means you need good fast ram to crank that fsb up. so count on using 1066mhz ram for a e5200 like mine.
With my current setup, ocz fatal1ty 4gm ram, e5200, I get 340fsb stable(1360mhz), 10x multiplier, 6-6-6-12 ram timing, using the 533 option for the ram in the bios which means my ram is running at roughly 1133mhz.
cpu +.3v, ram +.2v.
Windows xp, vista, 7 stable. also stable in u/kubuntu.
Bottom line is this is a budget overclockers board. it's not as nice as the $150-4200 boards out there, but for 1/4 the price you can still overclock pretty well. as long as you don't need a full atx board anyways.
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