Foxconn Digitalife A79A-S Motherboard
BIOS
Published: 21st November 2008 | Source: Foxconn | Price: £204.45 |
BIOS
Foxconn chose the American Megatrends Incorporated (AMI) BIOS for the A79A-S motherboard. Once you hit the 'Delete' key to enter the BIOS settings you are greeted by a DigitaLife splash screen, and then the BIOS itself. The first BIOS screen provides the usual layout of BIOS features: System Information, Advanced BIOS Features, Fox Central Control Unit, Advanced Chipset Features, Integrated Peripherals, Power Management Setup, PC Health Status, BIOS Security features and so on.
Foxconn chose the American Megatrends Incorporated (AMI) BIOS for the A79A-S motherboard. Once you hit the 'Delete' key to enter the BIOS settings you are greeted by a DigitaLife splash screen, and then the BIOS itself. The first BIOS screen provides the usual layout of BIOS features: System Information, Advanced BIOS Features, Fox Central Control Unit, Advanced Chipset Features, Integrated Peripherals, Power Management Setup, PC Health Status, BIOS Security features and so on.
After not having used an AMD based motherboard in a good while (DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR, if the truth be known), the BIOS feels a little 'clunky'. Not clunky in an incredibly bad way, but clunky in that all the power features aren't accessible via one page of the BIOS (like ASUS' Jumperfree Configuration). The processor and memory settings are in completely different areas of the BIOS. This makes adjustments tedious at best, and becomes extremely frustrating at times.
Fox Central Control Unit is where all the performance options related to overclocking are found. The Fox Central Control Unit Menu has four submenus and a single setting for Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC). CPU Speed, FSB/HTT speed and current memory speeds are displayed in here. The Fox Intelligent Stepping menu contains CPU/HT Reference Clock, SB Reference Clock, Processor Frequency FID, AM2+ Ratio Adjust, Spread Spectrum, CPU-NB HT Link Speed, NCHT Incoming Link Width and NCHT Outgoing Link Width settings.
The Voltage Configuration Menu contains settings for VCore Voltage Control, HT Voltage Control, DIMM Voltage Control, NB Voltage Control and CPU PLL Voltage. The ACC Setting is the new feature provided by AMD's new SB750 South Bridge. Advanced Clock Calibration can be configured for All Cores, one core, or automatic, or disabled. When enabled for one or more cores it can be adjusted from 0% adjustment all the way to negative or positive 12%. ACC should provide you with more overclocking headroom.
The Advanced Chipset Features Menu has Memory Configuration options and PCI-Express Configuration Options. Under the North Bridge Chipset Configurations there are two submenus - Memory Configuration and DRAM timing. Underneath these two submenus you'll find CAS Latency, RAS, TRP, TRAS, TRRD, and TRC timings for system memory. Under Memory Configuration you'll find bank Interleaving, Channel Interleaving, Clock to all DIMMs, MemClk tristate C3/ATLVID, Memory Hole Remapping DCT Unganged mode, Power Down Enable, Optical Performance Mode, Auto Tweak Performance, and DRAM Config-High Control. Under the DRAM Timings you'll find the Memory Speed Mode, Memory Speed Adjust and DRAM Timing Mode
The PC Health Status displays the usual system temperatures and voltages. Fan speeds can also be monitored here.
Let's head over the page to see how we're going to test the Foxconn A79A-S motherboard.
Most Recent Comments
Is there any possibility of finding out on how it compares with a Intel Q6600?
I was going to do a series of performance numbers from a stock clocked Q6600 as a reference only, but it usually gets misconstrued as a comparison. Hence the reason I left them out.
I'm in the middle of an AMD head to head based on the same chipset so can include a Q6600 result set for a comparison.
Nice read as always PV
.
Nice read as always PV
.Excellent well written review Peevs, good work
Bah, I got disappointed when I left reading the price til the end.
It's a decent mobo - but that's it, decent. Colors are quite alarming, although I'm not sure using red to make it go faster actually worked
If I'd got to the conclusion page and saw a UK price sub £150 I might feel different. £200 for the mobo isn't tastey to me at all. If there was an extremely sexy bundle with it, I might think around £175 because of it alone.
Foxconn make some really great looking and performing Intel mobos, maybe a little overpriced also, but the likes of the Black Ops include test beds, ln2 pots .. other crazy things, but it helps justify the pricing, not totally, but it helps ur conscience.
I'd expect a price drop.
It's a decent mobo - but that's it, decent. Colors are quite alarming, although I'm not sure using red to make it go faster actually worked
If I'd got to the conclusion page and saw a UK price sub £150 I might feel different. £200 for the mobo isn't tastey to me at all. If there was an extremely sexy bundle with it, I might think around £175 because of it alone.
Foxconn make some really great looking and performing Intel mobos, maybe a little overpriced also, but the likes of the Black Ops include test beds, ln2 pots .. other crazy things, but it helps justify the pricing, not totally, but it helps ur conscience.
I'd expect a price drop.
Thanks guys and I'm glad you enjoyed the review.
@ Rast: I totally agree with what you're saying. If the bundle had been better and the price wasn't GBP200 then it certainly would have been a more attractive deal. Given the board's overclocking capability and stability, it's a shame to see it being passed by simply because of an exorbitant price.
@ Rast: I totally agree with what you're saying. If the bundle had been better and the price wasn't GBP200 then it certainly would have been a more attractive deal. Given the board's overclocking capability and stability, it's a shame to see it being passed by simply because of an exorbitant price.
Is there anything to be gained from an eventual AM3 'designed' specific mobo ?
I do in all honesty, think the mobo manufacturers have let their creative juices go stagnant when it comes to AMD design in general.
I mean people would invest in a new AM2+ mobo if they rearranged some of the onboard stuff, socket areas, something beneficial to a cooling setup. Use the feedback that I'm sure AMD users have about little niggles when installing giant coolers, air flow, getting the ati cards in there and still having 3 or so pci slots avilable ??
I dunno. Something purely creative that gives them an advantage and ease for the enthusiast.
These mobos look like pre K7 boards.
I do in all honesty, think the mobo manufacturers have let their creative juices go stagnant when it comes to AMD design in general.
I mean people would invest in a new AM2+ mobo if they rearranged some of the onboard stuff, socket areas, something beneficial to a cooling setup. Use the feedback that I'm sure AMD users have about little niggles when installing giant coolers, air flow, getting the ati cards in there and still having 3 or so pci slots avilable ??
I dunno. Something purely creative that gives them an advantage and ease for the enthusiast.
These mobos look like pre K7 boards.
damm shame about the price,it is not the cheapest board with the 750 chipset,which makes you wonder why you pay that much for a foxconn board
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