Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Forexample,oneofthemorecommonquestionsIhearaboutasystemrelatestotheBIOS
Setup program. People want to know what the “Advanced Chipset Setup” features mean
and what the effects of changing them will be. Often they go to the BIOS manufacturer
thinking that the BIOS documentation will offer help. Usually, however, people find that
there is no real coverage of what the chipset setup features are in the BIOS document-
ation. You will find this information in the data book provided by the chipset manufac-
turer. Although these topics are meant to be read by the engineers who design the boards,
they contain all the detailed information about the chipset's features, especially those that
might be adjustable. With the chipset data book, you will have an explanation of all the
controls in the Advanced Chipset Setup section of the BIOS Setup program.
Besides the main chipset datasheets, I recommend collecting any data topics on the other
major chips in the system. This includes Super I/O chips, SATA controllers, and of course
the main processor. You will find an incredible amount of information on these compon-
ents in the datasheets.
