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| System Name | RBMK-1000 |
|---|---|
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 5700G |
| Motherboard | ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming |
| Cooling | DeepCool Gammax L240 V2 |
| Memory | 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X |
| Video Card(s) | Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock |
| Storage | Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB |
| Display(s) | BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch |
| Case | Corsair Carbide 100R |
| Audio Device(s) | ASUS SupremeFX S1220A |
| Power Supply | Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W |
| Mouse | ASUS ROG Strix Impact |
| Keyboard | Gamdias Hermes E2 |
| Software | Windows 11 Pro |
With the Sandy Bridge LGA1155 platform, announced at the start of this year, the PC motherboard industry saw a wide transition to UEFI, a new board firmware that overcomes many of the limitations of the decades old BIOS, including the archaic user interface. The second biggest motherboard vendor by volumes, Gigabyte, wasn't part of that wave. It continued to use dated Phoenix AwardBIOS with a few riders that made it look like the company was dragging its feet over UEFI adoption.
First, it tried to address the 2.2 TB boot volume size limitation by coming up with an address-space tweak it ended up calling HybridEFI (which has nothing to do with EFI). Next, it addressed the need for a more intuitive (preferably GUI) setup program with a Windows-based CMOS setup program called TouchBIOS, it came with the Fisher Price looking interface that every other manufacturer's UEFI setup program had, topped off with touchscreen support. However, faced with the inevitability of facing lack of support for Ivy Bridge (more here) and Sandy Bridge-E, the company decided to take the plunge. It wants to come up with something that's a lot more functional than most others' UEFI setup programs that feel like the same old interfaces skinned. Enter Gigabyte 3D BIOS.
It works like this: When you hit DEL at POST to load up the setup program, it starts up the 3D BIOS home screen. On the home screen, you find a 3D rotatable image of your motherboard. You can use your mouse to spin the board around. And what's the utility of that you ask? Get this - certain parts of that motherboard image can be clicked to open up settings related to it. For example, you can click on a set of SATA ports on that rotatable image, and the program will open up SATA controller settings related to it. You can click on the memory slots, and presto all the memory tuning settings show up in a window.
That's not all, the visual elements are simply stunning, with smooth fonts, curves, and lavish use of alpha. The fine tuning pages don't feel merely like a skinned, mouse-enabled version of the old interface, but some genuine GUI elements such as sliders, tickboxes, radio buttons, and tabs are used. There is an element that looks like Windows Explorer address bar, which gives you a tree view of exactly which configuration page you're on, so you can trace back to other related settings. A video demo of this can be watched here.
Gigabyte is using an AMI UEFI backend, coupled with its own patented DualBIOS technology that protects against bad flashes. Props to Gigabyte for a truly GUI setup program.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
First, it tried to address the 2.2 TB boot volume size limitation by coming up with an address-space tweak it ended up calling HybridEFI (which has nothing to do with EFI). Next, it addressed the need for a more intuitive (preferably GUI) setup program with a Windows-based CMOS setup program called TouchBIOS, it came with the Fisher Price looking interface that every other manufacturer's UEFI setup program had, topped off with touchscreen support. However, faced with the inevitability of facing lack of support for Ivy Bridge (more here) and Sandy Bridge-E, the company decided to take the plunge. It wants to come up with something that's a lot more functional than most others' UEFI setup programs that feel like the same old interfaces skinned. Enter Gigabyte 3D BIOS.
It works like this: When you hit DEL at POST to load up the setup program, it starts up the 3D BIOS home screen. On the home screen, you find a 3D rotatable image of your motherboard. You can use your mouse to spin the board around. And what's the utility of that you ask? Get this - certain parts of that motherboard image can be clicked to open up settings related to it. For example, you can click on a set of SATA ports on that rotatable image, and the program will open up SATA controller settings related to it. You can click on the memory slots, and presto all the memory tuning settings show up in a window.
That's not all, the visual elements are simply stunning, with smooth fonts, curves, and lavish use of alpha. The fine tuning pages don't feel merely like a skinned, mouse-enabled version of the old interface, but some genuine GUI elements such as sliders, tickboxes, radio buttons, and tabs are used. There is an element that looks like Windows Explorer address bar, which gives you a tree view of exactly which configuration page you're on, so you can trace back to other related settings. A video demo of this can be watched here.
Gigabyte is using an AMI UEFI backend, coupled with its own patented DualBIOS technology that protects against bad flashes. Props to Gigabyte for a truly GUI setup program.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
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