BIOS/UEFI
The Biostar A68N-5000 has arrived with the latest UEFI version which is 500AW422. Now let’s take a closer look at the options we are able to change.
Main page
On the main page we can see the current motherboard status. There is info about the CPU and memory speed, voltages, CPU temperature and fan speed. We can also check the BIOS version and adjust the date and time.
Advanced
Next tab has been called Advanced and here we have many more options to adjust. This part has been divided in nine categories that you can see below. Most of the options have a description on the right side of the screen. Here we can change the CPU, SATA, USB, fan and ACPI settings as well as the hardware voltages and temperatures in the H/W Monitor tab.
Chipset
In the Chipset tab we can change options related to the south bridge, north bridge and onboard devices. In short, the graphics, audio and network settings do not have many other options to choose. Some applications may use a higher frame buffer so it is good to change it to higher value from the standard 256MB if we have enough RAM.
Boot
The Boot tab, like it suggests, help us to pick the settings that will affect the computer during the booting process. We can enable or disable the startup logo, the BIOS flash protection and the beep sound after successful boot.
Security
The Security tab allows us to set passwords and manage the secure boot option available in the latest operating systems like Windows 8.
Performance
I will not hide that I was expecting at least to be able to adjust the APU bus frequency but overclocking is not possible on this motherboard. We can set a lower APU clock and lower the voltage which will help us to achieve even lower power consumption from this platform.
The motherboard is officially supporting DDR3-1333 memory but the APU is capable to run with DDR3-1600 memory. I have used the Kingston Savage 2x4GB 2400 CL11 memory kit which was working at DDR3-1600 9-9-9 1.50V settings without any issues. I could also adjust some sub timings but the list is not very long. For this motherboard’s needs it is still plenty.
Save & Exit
The end page allows us to save and exit the UEFI, restore default settings or launch a shell from a device. The boot override option is also available.
