i820 Motherboard Roundup - January 2000

Jumperless CPU & Voltage Configuration

Ever since ABIT and QDI produced the first ever motherboards with a fully jumperless CPU and voltage setup, the goal of many manufacturers has been to bring that level of ease of use and operation down to their products as well.

The AWARD BIOS Setup v6.00 features a built in CPU Frequency & Voltage adjustment setup; it is the job of the manufacturer to take advantage of the option and enable it on their motherboards.  There is no excuse for an i820 motherboard that uses the AWARD v6.00 BIOS to not have a jumperless CPU & voltage configuration. 

There are certain features which you should be able to adjust, and those features do take a little more work on the part of the manufacturer to implement, especially in a jumperless configuration. 

Features such as voltage supplied to the MCH and MTH (if applicable) can always be of use when overclocking, and control over the RDRAM clock multiplier (RDRAM operates at a multiple of the FSB frequency) is a feature that would be quite useful to have. 

The number of FSB frequencies supported is a function of the particular clock generator on the motherboard, but being able to support the entire range of FSB frequencies is something that must be implemented within the BIOS setup if the board boasts a jumperless configuration.