The BIOS is the heart of the PC, and choosing a motherboard with a good set of Advanced user controls can certainly make all the difference if you're an enthusiast.

In the Advanced Chipset Features we have AGP and HT tweaks.

It seems that a lot of manufacturers are not allowing the end user to adjust their memory timings. I wonder why, as they can play a key role in overall system performance. Luckily the Corsair TwinX3200LL we're using have default timings of 2-2-2-6.

Chaintech allows you to adjust the clock speed of the motherboard from 200-400 MHz in 1 MHz increments. You can also independently adjust the AGP speed from 66-100 MHz again in 1 MHz increments. Maximum CPU voltage is 1.7V, AGP 2.2V, memory 2.9V and chipset 1.9V.

Overclocking:

To test out the overclockability of the Chaintech Zenith ZNF3-150 I raised the clock speed slowly from 200 MHz, and at 214 MHz we ran into a few stability problems which were fixed by raising the DDR voltage to 2.8V. To break the 220 MHz mark we had to raise the chipset voltage to 1.8V.... but in the end the board capped out at a maximum speed of 225 MHz FSB. Not bad, but I suspect the passive cooling of the nForce 3 chipset may have had something to do with it. Up next, the benchmarks!