X-bit labs

Biostar TP35D2-A7 and TP35D3-A7 Deluxe Mainboards Review (page 8)

Category: Mainboards

by Doors4ever

[ 08/27/2007 | 12:51 PM ]

Overclocking with T-Utility OverClock II

There are no overclocking utilities these days that could compete successfully with the overclocking-friendly BIOS options. However, if the BIOS features are limited, the users of non-overclocker mainboards may have to use universal or other special tools. Maybe Biostar TP35D2-A7 mainboard performs better during software overclocking. Let’s find out.

The overclocking tool that we discussed in our Biostar TForce P965 mainboard review got a completely new look. Now when you start the T-Utility OverClock II a nice golden dragon greets you:

The reptile seems to have problems with math, so the processor frequency is displayed incorrectly. In reality the CPU was running at its nominal frequency of 1866MHz, but the power-saving technologies were enabled, so the multiplier was automatically dropped to 6x and the CPU frequency actually equaled 1600MHz and not 1921.7MHz.

The utility displays correct version number and controller types:

If you clock on the dragon’s right shoulder, a ball with some very strange info will emerge in one of its claws. The CPU temperature is evidently higher than 30 degrees and the CPU fan rotation speed cannot possibly be 0rpm as well as the system fan speed cannot equal 1.280V.

If you click on the dragon’s left shoulder, a panel with sliders will emerge from under its tail (!). These sliders allow adjusting FSB, memory, PCI-E and PCI frequencies and the “+” and “-“ symbols allow changing the voltages. The maximum FSB frequency you can set from here is 466MHz.

However, when we attempted to set the FSB to the maximum 466MHz, we got a scary warning and then the system froze dead.

Despite the promises, it never recovered. Unfortunately.