The BIOS:
As far as the BIOS is concerned, at first glance, we can recognize that we are at Asus. Those who are used to the brand will find it without any difficulty. As a reminder, the tab that will interest us the most is “Extreme Tweaker”.
Before starting, we remind you that it is essential to regularly update your BIOS. Moreover, the Asus team regularly proposes patches which it would be stupid not to take advantage of. The advantage of a card like this EXTREME is to have two BIOS. So you can test a new one while keeping the previous one. For those who tinker, this is a real plus!
The BIOS captures were taken with the XMP profile of our Teamgroup Delta RGB 7200 MT/s CL34 kit enabled. The other new option is ” Memory controller: DRAM Frequency Ratio ” which arrived with Rocket Lake. You can choose between Gear 1, Gear 2 and Gear 4. Be aware that in most cases, it will be Gear 2. The Gear 4 solution is there, for kits > 7000 MHz.
The ” Loadline calibration ” is in auto mode for comparative tests but we will come back to its function when overclocking the i9-13900K. The other sections are present since the previous generations and allow you to flash your motherboard, to control the speed of the fans and to create test profiles.
The different voltages :
In the ” overclocking ” section, we will see the most important voltages for the CPU and for boosting the DDR5 memory. You should know that it is possible to deactivate the E-core but that the performance of your processor then takes a serious blow. We’ll tell you about it in the rest of the article.
Finally, saving profiles is highly recommended when performing tests. It saves time. You can also save them on a USB key.
With the arrival of memory kits with A-Die chips, Asus has added a new memory profile that can reach 7600 MT/s. We’ll be sure to test it during memory overclocking.
The LN2 mode :
There is a LN2 mode, which must be activated via a jumper placed on the PCB. Be careful, this one is really dedicated to cold tests, so don’t activate it for air/water tests as some safety features will be automatically disabled. Once this one is activated, there is a LN2 CPU profile.
We have already tested our i9-13900K and the i5-13600K under liquid nitrogen but with our copy of the Maximus Z690 APEX. Don’t hesitate to ask for advice on our forum and discord if you encounter any problems when setting up your bios.
