Board Highlights #3: Miscellaneous Offerings
Apart from the two major additions above, the WO2-R possesses several incremental offerings that increase its overall appeal and distinctiveness:
- VCore / VIO Adjustments: Although these are not settable in the BIOS, the WO2-R allows Vcore / VIO adjustments through 2 jumpers onboard. These allow +5%, +10% over their default values. Granted that this isn’t as “tweaking friendly” as other boards supporting 0.05V increments via soft-settings, the jumpers on the WO2-R are strategically placed for easy accessibility. Still, for Celeron II overclockers that require substantial wattage increases, this may be insufficient.
- Iwill Micro-Stepping Overclocking: Although voltage tweaking is not supported in the BIOS, FSB alterations and CPU multipliers (where applicable) are. As Micro-stepping so implies, FSB may be incremented by 1MHz steps, from 66 to 200MHz. In addition, memory is operable at preset values of either SPD, 100 or 133MHz. But notably, the 133MHz memory setting is only available if the processor speed exceeds / equals 133MHz as well.
- “Long-headed” Jumpers: At first glance, this may seem a rather novel but insignificant addition. Yet, the extra grip plays a pacifying role for agitated overclockers in frequent need of altering jumper settings. In that light, perhaps all jumpers should have been fashioned as such, rather than their present-day reclusive and retracted nature with most other boards. This may inevitably degrade aesthetics, but really they’re not large enough to be intrusive and offer practical value.
The "Giraffe" Jumper you simply love...
- Notable Mentions: Really, what was previously discussed encompassed the bigger highlights of the board. Yet, the WO2-R also features an additional 2x USB connectors (optional), another COM port attachment (included), CNR, AMR, SM Bus connectors, SPDIF connector, etc. In addition, placement of components are generally well laid-out, especially the PSU connector that resides unobtrusively in front of the DIMM sockets.
Nice placement of the PSU connector at the rim…
My only qualm perhaps, is the inclusion of a CNR slot in place of a PCI. But having said that, the board with its 5 x PCI slots should suffice for most. On the same note, the 3 DIMM slots available for memory expansion shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for many. Iwill has wisely opted for this, going in line with the official I815E specifications.
The CNR slot (on the far left) amongst its PCI counterparts
|
