Gigabyte X48-DQ6 (Intel X48)
BIOS
The BIOS of Gigabyte X48-DQ6 is based on the Award BIOS Phoenix version.
The memory settings are gathered in the section to deal with the overclocking, and you don't have to press the "Ctrl+F1" combination in the BIOS main menu (probably, that will be changed in the release BIOS version).
There is also the parameter in charge of setting memory operating frequency.
Unfortunately, our assumptions on that X48 is able supporting reducing memory multipliers have not come true. That means - while overclocking the FSB to 600 MHz the user would need expensive overclocker-friendly DDR2 memory that runs stably at 1200 MHz. Evidently, that is a way Intel is using to push overclockers to moving the systems that support DDR3 memory whose capabilities allow for attaining the topmost FSB speeds.
Among the parameters that optimize the memory operation is the "Performance Enhance":
and the "Command Rate":
Now move on to the section to do with the system monitoring.
The board displays the current temperature values of the CPU and the system, as well as the rotational speed of the four fans. Like the previous top-end model X38-DQ6, Gigabyte X48-DQ6 displays the current voltage levels.
Note that the CPU cooler is able adjusting the rotational speed depending on the CPU temperature.
The board also allows controlling all the modern features of the CPU.
Besides, you can trace the system monitoring readings from within Windows as well. To this end, there is the Gigabyte EasyTune Center utility which works fine with XP but shows a few shortcoming under Vista:
This program includes all Gigabyte's developments for motherboards' utilities and is some sort of a system control center. In particular, one of the sections includes the @BIOS utility which is meant to update the BIOS:
a few more - solely for information:
By tradition, Gigabyte's high-end offers two BIOS chips onboard and supports the [Virtual] DualBIOS. X48-DQ6 is no exception: it uses two SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) chips (the left-hand - the main one, the right-hand - backup).
In conclusion, we note the feature for saving the BIOS settings as a profile:
Gigabyte X48-DQ6 maintains 8 profiles, and part of them is saved by the board itself:
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MoBo:
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VGA Card:
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CPU & Memory:
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