Asus P4T

Thursday, August 09, 2001


Introduction

We're ecstatic to have finally received Asus's P4T motherboard for testing. The P4T is a Socket 423 board, based on the Intel 850 chipset, and, obviously, designed with the Pentium 4 processor in mind. To tell you the truth, we were immediately quite anxious to see whether the P4T lived up to the Overclocking reputation set by Asus' other products. Now, we have the response.

So, let's skip the formalities and head into the review!

Characterisitics of the Asus P4T
CPU
Intel Socket 423 Pentium¨ 4: 1.3GHz ~ 1.8GHz+
Chipset
Intel(R) 850 chipset. 82850/82801BA/82802AB
Form factor
ATX 30.5cm X 24.4cm
Expansion
5 PCI - 0 ISA - 0 CNR - 1 AGP Pro - 4 USB
Memory
4 X 184-pins SRIMM 2Gb RDRAM PC600 or PC800
FSB
100Mhz, 103Mhz, 105Mhz, 108Mhz, 110Mhz, 112Mhz, 115Mhz, 118Mhz, 120Mhz, 122Mhz, 125Mhz, 128Mhz, 130Mhz and 133Mhz
Vcore adj.
1.75v. 1..775v. 1.8v, 1.825v, 1.850v
Vio adj.
NA
Audio chipset
NA


Configuration

The P4T can be configured either through the use of jumpers & DIP switches, or through the integrated functions of the BIOS system.

As most often the case than otherwise, users are presented with a Jumperfree setup option which will allow them to make most system changes from within the confines of the BIOS menus.

To access the board's various Dips and jumpers however, users must set jumper JEN to position 1-2. To setup for a Jumperfree configuration process, JEN should be set to 2-3, and the interrupts of DIP switch SW1 set to the Off position. User's who opt for the former can use SW1 to set the FSB to any of the following frequencies: 100Mhz, 103Mhz, 105Mhz, 108Mhz, 110Mhz, 112Mhz, 115Mhz, 118Mhz, 120Mhz, 122Mhz, 125Mhz, 128Mhz, 130Mhz or 133Mhz.

SW1 can also be used to set the clock multiplier to between 8X and 16X

To access Overclocking functions from within the BIOS, the board must be set for a Jumperfree configuration. If not, corresponding BIOS options will not appear in the menu system.

As you might expect, the BIOS accurately reproduces the functionality of SW1, and then some (one can):

  • Set the Vcore voltage as indicated by the table above.
  • Enable or disable RAMBUS Turbo Mode
  • Set the memory bus ration to 3X or 4X
  • Set the FSB frequency as indicated by the table above

    ... and many other functions too numerous to list here.

    We would like to note however that we were not able to increment the FSB from 100MHz to 200MHz in 1MHz steps - unlike some other Overclockable P4 boards on the market.

    We also noted the absence of an integrated sound-card.

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