ATI's RD580: ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe

The BIOS:

ASUS is using an AMI AwardBIOS on the A8R32-MVP Deluxe - the layout is a little different to the BIOS' that most other motherboard makers use, but it's generally very easy to navigate once you've got used to the unorthodox layout. All of the tweaking options are located under the Advanced menu, with most overclocking options located under the JumperFree Configuration sub menu.

All of ASUS' recent motherboards have a feature known as AI Overclocking; this option can be set to Manual, Auto, Standard, AI N.O.S. (Non-delay Overclocking System) and Overclock Profile. The latter loads overclocking profiles with optimal parameters for stability when overclocking, while the AI N.O.S. (Non-delay Overclocking System) option is said to intelligently determine the system load and automatically boost the performance when the system is under load. When you set the AI Overclocking option to Manual, it unlocks options for CPU FSB frequency - adjustable from 200-400MHz in 1MHz increments - along with PCI-Express frequency, which can be adjusted from 100-150MHz in 1MHz increments, too.

In order to change the CPU multiplier and CPU core voltage, you need to set the FID/VID Change option to Manual. This gives you the option to increase the CPU multiplier from 4.0x, all the way up to 25.5x if your CPU is completely unlocked. If you've got a standard Athlon 64 or Athlon 64 X2 processor, you will only be able to reduce the CPU multiplier. The CPU core voltage (vCore) is adjustable from 0.800v to 1.450v in 0.025v increments.

There is also a feature called vCore over voltage; this allows you to increase the vCore to +200mV over the CPU core voltage that has been selected. Memory voltage (vDIMM) is adjustable from 2.6V to 3.20V in 0.05V increments and it's also possible to over-volt both North and South Bridges. However, we've already mentioned that chipset over-volting is not required to experience insane HTT overclocks with this motherboard.

The memory configuration page comes with a plethora of options for tweaking memory timings to your hearts content. It's possible to set the memory clock manually to 100, 133, 166, 183, 200, 216, 233 or 250MHz. Setting the MCT Timing Mode to manual allows the adjustment of CAS, tRAS, tRP, tRCD, tRRD, tRC, tRFC and tRWT timings, while setting the MCT Extra Timing Mode to manual enables even more fine tuning for tREF, DDR Input Strobe Skew, DDR Data Driving Strength and Burst 20pt timings. There are also more options to unlock under the User Config Mode option too, with options to change Read Preamble, Asyc Latency and CMD-ADDR Timing Mode (Command Rate). Finally, there are options for Bank Interleaving, Burst Length and Software Memory Hole.

Stability & Overclocking:

We were a little disappointed to find that this motherboard wasn't as stable as the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe. We put our initial sample through two 24-hour stress tests, consisting of an endless 3DMark05 loop, along with Prime 95 and IOMeter to stress other parts of the motherboard. The board was set up with two Radeon X1900's operating in CrossFire mode, to ensure that we were stressing the motherboard as much as possible. On both occasions, we were surprised to find that 3DMark05 had dropped back to the desktop at the 15-to-17 hour mark.

We then tried running the same stress test on another A8R32-MVP sample courtesy of our sister publication, TrustedReviews, to ensure that what we were seeing wasn't a sample specific issue. Low and behold - after 16 1/2 hours - 3DMark05 dropped back to the desktop. Starting the 3DMark05 loop again caused a program error, but didn't cause Windows XP to crash - the board completed the remainder of the stress test (on all three occasions) without any further issues.

Having said that, the stability of the ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe was nothing to turn your nose at - the board was fantastically stable during general use and the fact that it managed 17-hours of complete stability is commendable. The fact that stability didn't shy away when we overclocked the board was even more impressive.

We found that the board was 100% Prime 95 / IOMeter stable at 276x11.0 with all voltages left at their default values and the memory bus running at 1:1.

Even more impressive was the fact that we could leave the HTT multiplier forced to 5.0x, giving a HTT bus speed of 1380MHz - this is far beyond anything we've ever seen before. The fact that the board was as stable as we found it at its default clock speeds was verging on hard to believe. We were able to replicate these results with an Athlon 64 FX-60, too.

To say that we were impressed by the overclocking capabilities of this motherboard and chipset combination is something of an understatement.

We're going to be taking a further look at overclocking with the RD580 when we've got a couple of other motherboards in the labs - we expect good things. For now, it looks like Macci has done his job well.