BIOS
We used to get lots of pictures to show some of the BIOS functionality but I’ve found that it is a lot easier just to have a video clicking through all of the options where you can pause and check anything out. Like with a lot of the board features, EVGA went a completely different direction from what every other BIOS has done. So when you boot into the BIOS you will find an EVGA logo and four options to pick from. You can go to the advanced mode, run a default mode with default settings, set a small gaming overclock, and us the EVGA OC Robot to auto overclock. Where everyone else is including an EZ mode for the BIOS EVGA dropped all of that and before you get into anything important they say hey if you want an overclock and you don’t know what you are doing here are a few options. I really like it.
Once in the advanced mode, EVGA drops you right into the OC tab. This has your CPU, clock speed, and CPU temperature right at the top. Then you can get into overclocking it right below that with multiplier and BCLK then voltages. I did find it interesting that the OC page is only CPU specific, everyone else ties the CPU and memory all into the one. Over on the right, they show short descriptions of whatever option you are mousing over and up top, you can see what memory slots are being used and the same for your PCIe slots as well.
Memory is all split off into its own page with the current memory information up at the top. Then XMP options are the first option to make that simple. You then have manual frequency and voltage with all of the timings below that. There are a TON of options here. The advanced tab is split up into 11 different pages. EVGA does a good job of splitting things up into logical sections like the CPU and then the GPU. Some of you will be interested to know that the dark mode is tucked away in the power management section. This is how you can turn off all of the lighting on the board other than the diagnostic LEDs but they can also be turned off in another area (the H/W Monitor Configuration section).
The boot tab has the basic boot options like a fast boot, turning your number lock on or off at boot, and so on. You can also set the boot order as well as hard disk priority as well. Everything you need and exactly what you would expect. Then the extra section is similar to Asus’s Tools section. EVGA has their stress test here, the OC Robot that was also accessible on the original landing page, and this is where you can get into the BIOS updater.
Overall EVGA’s BIOS is easy to use. They do a good job of keeping inexperienced users out of the advanced features while offering simple overclock options. Then when you do get into the advanced settings you are right into the overclocking options. When compared to the ROG Maximus XII Extreme, there aren’t nearly as many small overclocking details but no one other than Asus is really going to that level.
