Good answers Pete, Short and to the point.
Locust
On Wed, 24 Dec 2003 23:29:23 GMT, Pete Gray wrote:
On Wed, 24 Dec 2003 13:07:54 -0500, "Eric" wrote:
Okay, I just got this motherboard (with a p 4 2.6 800 FSB processor), and
have completed installing XP (service pack 1).
I have some questions.
1. Is there anywhere while IN the bios to see the bios revision number.
Inside the bios it gives an 80009 number. But while booting (when boot logo
is disabled), you see revision 1010.
The 1010 number seems to make sense, but the other number does not. Where
exactly is the bios revision number -- is it only in the boot/post screen?
I don't see a 1010 number anywhere else. When you click on the mainboard
icon while the ASUS CD is in, you don't see 1010 either. You see the 080009
number and a date of 8/20/03.
So is the bios 1010 or is it 080009? Asus's website only gives numbers like
1010 or 1012. So I don't know what the other numbers mean. But 1010 only
shows up during post -- not IN the bios, not using the ASUS CD or any other
method (and it doesn't show at all if the logo is enabled).
Also, assuming 1010 is my current bios, is there any real need to go to 1012
(the latest on Asus's website)?
2. With hyperthreading enabled in the bios, it shows 2 CPUs (both 2.6) in
device manager. Is this correct? I only have one CPU, but does enabling
hyperthreading cause 2 CPUs to appear in device manager? Should
hyperthreading be enabled or not? Does it help or hinder performance to
enable hyperthreading, if the applications you have don't currently take
advantage of hyperthreading?
Moreover, REGARDLESS of whether hyperthreading is enabled in the bios, the
general tab on system properties shows what appears to be 2 CPUs -- one says
2.6 Ghz, and the other says 2.61 Ghz. What is going on here? Is this
something wrong? Everything seems to work fine, but this is really weird.
3. In the Bios, you can configure "performance mode" under the Jumper Free
Configuration menu. The default is "auto" but there is a setting for
"turbo" and "standard". It is clear what turbo does, but what does
"standard" do. Does standard give a performance boost above "auto" but less
than "turbo" -- if so, how much?
4. Under the PCI/PNP settings in the bios you can set "plug and play OS" to
either yes or no. I have it set to "yes" since I have XP (service pack 1)
installed. But is it better to let the OS or the bios configure the plug
and play devices? Should I change that to "no".
Note that IRQ 16 currently has 2 USB host controllers AND my video card. Is
this bad that my video card shares IRQ 16 with two of the USB host
controllers? There are no other shared IRQs at all.
5. Under the USB configuration menu in the bios, you can set USB Function
to 8 usb ports (the maximum), or to 6 or to 4. I only have access to 6
ports, since I have 4 in the back, and two in the front of my case. The
other two are not currently available to me. That is fine (I don't need
all 8), but should I set the USB function to 6? How does it know which 6?
Or should this be left at 8, since the board supports 8? If I set it to 6,
will it know to activate the specific 6 that are activated on my board?
Will this save resources by setting it to 6?
6. Q fan control. Currently I have it set to disabled. Does it do any
good to set it to some other setting -- and if so, which is the BEST
setting. There is no guidance as to which setting is best if you have q-fan
enabled. What do the different ratios do exactly? Is the sole purpose to
save some fan noise?
7. 1394 Net Adapter? Why does the firewire connection show up as a
"network adapter" in device manager and under network connections? Is this
correct that it shows up as a "network adapter" where you can add tcp/ip and
other protocols to it? Currently I have no protocols or anything set on
this "adapter", but I thought fire wire was just a connection (similar to
USB)?
8. Temperatures and fan speed: What are good temperatures for the CPU and
the mother board? What is the range it should be before I need to worry?
What good is monitoring this if ASUS doesn't tell you what is good or bad?
Note that I don't overclock (performance mode is set to "auto"). I do have
memory acceleration enabled.
Also, what should the chassis fan speed and the CPU fan speed and the power
supply fan speed be?
9. Finally, the mother board came with a cable that I don't know what it
does. It has power plug on one end and two very thin and long connections
on the other? I'm not talking about the SATA cables, this is something
else. The thin connections are longer and thinner than USB. Anyone know
what this cable is for?
Thanks for any help. Sorry about all the questions.
1. Your BIOS is 1010. It only shows up during boot.
2. No need to go to 1012 unless you are having problems with 1010 or
you need a feature that 1012 provides.
3. Yes, with HT enabled, it is supposed to appear as if there were
two processors. Nothing is wrong.
4. Not sure on this one. Try them all and see if you notice or
benchmark any difference.
5. The ports are numbered in pairs (1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8). The BIOS
starts with 1/2 (two ports) then adds 3/4 (four ports) then adds 5/6
(six ports) and finally adds 7/8 (8 ports). if you set the BIOS to
six ports, it will disable ports 7/8.
6. I don't use Q fan either. I would leave it disabled.
7. My IEEE 1394 shows up under Network Adapters and also as a IEEE
1394 Bus Host Adapter. This is normal.
8. Lower temps are better, naturally, but it depends on a lot of
factors. Somewhat dependent on CPU fan speed, room temperature, and
airflow through your case. My CPU varies between 90-120 F, depending
on what I'm doing. Once you know what is 'normal' for you, you
monitor it to be sure it doesn't go much higher than what your
'normal' is. With fans, the faster they spin, the more noise and the
more air. Again, they are monitored to make sure they don't stop or
go appreciably below their 'normal'. Fan speeds can vary all over the
place (from about 2000 to 6000 RPM), depending on brand, size, and how
much air they are designed to move (CFM).
9. I can't tell from your description what the cable is.
Pete
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