14 DAY TRIAL // INTEL has quietly introduced its Desktop Board codename D975XBX2 (also known as Bad Axe 2). The board has 3 PCIE slots, 2 for Crossfire use with the 3rd usable for PhysX Cards. What's really new about an INTEL board manufactured and sold under the same brand is that it can also can overclock CPUs through BIOS and set memory to work at 800MHz clock-speed which is an unsupported speed for 975X boards (officially).
The juice when it comes to this new board is the fact that it has pretty solid overclocking features regarding the CPU. The new motherboard allows users to modify CPU voltage from 1.1V to 1.6V with 0.025V increments, and the system bus voltage from 1.2V to 1.5V with 0.025V increments. Adjusting CPU multiplier from 6x to 20x is also possible if your CPU is unlocked and you can also adjust PSB frequency from 200MHz (800MHz quad pumped bus) to 433MHz (1732MHz QPB) in 1MHz increments. Memory voltage can be raised to a whopping 2.8V (this could make Micron D9 fans happy!)
I have to say that INTEL's change regarding overclocking was somewhat predictable. Starting with the success of the Core 2 Duo platform regarding both stock performance but also overclocking, INTEL has realized that the huge sales can grow even further if they discretely introduce overclocking features into their motherboards, motive for which the first Bad Axe was a hit. And I am pretty convinced that this second edition will turn into quite a bang. My only complain goes to the 433MHz PSB limit, which is kind of low, especially when running overclocked CPUs that can do 500x7 setups. But I guess that the glitch can be fixed with the release of a revised BIOS version.