MODTHEBOX.COM - Canada's Premier Case Modding Source - Reviews - Albatron KX18D Pro II Motherboard Review

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The Albatron KX18D Pro II uses the Phoenix Award BIOS which supports ACPI, DMI2.0, PnP, WfM2.0, Green Suspend to RAM (S3), Suspend to Disk (S4) Wake on Keyboard/Mouse and Wake on LAN/RTC Timer functions. The main screen lists and allows users to adjust the Date & Time, Primary/Secondary master and slaves along with other standard parameters found on almost any BIOS. The advanced portion of the BIOS is divided into several main sections which consist of Advanced BIOS features, Advanced Chipset Features, Frequency & Voltage Control and PnP/PCI Configuration. The advanced chipset features screen allows for four main settings of Optimal, Aggressive, Turbo, and Expert to be selected for System Performance, CPU Interface and Memory Timings. Expert mode allows users the options of tweaking their memory timings via adjustments of T(RAS), T(RCD), T(RP) and CAS Latency or selecting one of the pre-configured modes.

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Selecting Expert mode allows for the FSB to be manually set from the FSB Frequency screen, users have the options from 100MHz all the way up to an impressive 300MHz in approximately 1MHz intervals. The DDR:CPU ratio screen has options from 1.00 up to 4.00 for running your DDR and FSB synchronously (2.00) or Asynchronously (2.50). For maximum performance it is recommended to run your DDR:FSB ratios synchronously. This screen works in conjunction with the FSB Frequency. For example, running a FSB of 166Mhz and a DDR:CPU Ratio of 2.50 would effectively give me of 498:333. Most users will use the 2.00 (synchronous) option or leave this to automatic.

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Moving along, the Frequency & Voltage control screen allows users to adjust voltage to several aspects of the motherboard such as the CPU, AGP, DDR and Chipset. Adjusting voltage past default levels is not recommended unless you know what you are doing and are comfortable with the risk. A full range of multipliers is available from as low as 5 all the way up to 24 skipping a few. Consumers running their components at stock speeds need not apply as this section is strictly targeted towards overclocking enthusiasts. The CPU Voltage (VCORE) can be adjusted to an amazing maximum of 2.65V. While such an impressive number, most users won’t go over 2V on high-end air or water cooling. Phase Change cooling systems such as Vapochill will benefit from the extensive voltage adjustments to squeeze the most out of the CPU.