Tyan Tomcat K8E-SLI S2866

BIOS:

Another one of the noticeable differences between the Tyan K8E and K8E-SLI is the BIOS utilized. Although both utilize an Award BIOS from Phoenix Technologies, the SLI S2866 chooses to go with an Award Workstation BIOS rather than the traditional desktop version. Launching the CMOS setup utility the pages available are Standard BIOS Features, Advanced BIOS Features, Advanced Chipset Features, Integrated Peripherals, Power Management Setup, PnP/PCI Configuration, PC Health Status, and Frequency/Voltage Control. Jumping right onto the Advanced Chipset Features page, the CPU frequency as well as the HT frequency and HT width can be adjusted. The CPU frequency can be altered from 200MHz to a mere 250MHz in varying steps from 0.5MHz to 2.0MHz, the overclocking limits for the motherboard are certain diminished with the 250MHz limit but it should be suitable for those who have purchased the motherboard for its designated use in the server/workstation arena. The Hyper Transport frequency can be adjusted from 1x to 5x as well as an automatic setting being available while the HT width is 16 down - 16 up, 8 down - 16 up, 16 down - 8 up, and 8 down - 8 up. Under the DRAM Configuration option, only the memory clock index value (MHz) and CAS latency can be altered. Moving onto the Frequency/Voltage Control page, as the BIOS remains nearly identical to Phoenix's default template, the CPU voltage can be decreased up to -0.10V in 0.025V increments and maximizes out at +0.15V also in 0.025V steps. In addition to the default voltage, the Chipset can be supplied up to an extra +0.06V in 0.02V increments. Finally, the memory voltage regulator supports up to a +0.03V increase (+0.01V increments).