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Features
Before I proceed on, given below is a brief feature list
of the P3B-F :
JumperFree BIOS
In addition to easy selection of frequency and core voltages,
the BIOS offers a bootup block write protection against
virus infection, a Suspend-To-RAM (STR) function and IDE/SCSI
HD/MO/ZIP/CD-ROM/Floppy bootup options. STR provides a function
akin to notebook suspend modes and causes the computer to
be in a state of suspension after a period of inactivity.
To give the machine a rude awakening, a nudge of the mouse
or a key tap will suffice. The constraint here is that the
maximum suspension period is only 40 minutes. A duration
longer than that means that you will have to rely on OS
suspend options like the one available in Win95/98/NT. In
addition, STR requires an OS which supports it (Win95/98/NT
again) and does not support ISA cards, reason being that
they may fail to work coming out of STR mode. Another point
to mention is the board uses the new Award 6.0 BIOS which
packs a windowed and context-menu driven interface which
really is an improvement over the former 4.51PG that we
are familiar with. The BIOS interface is intuitive and has
a text-box at the right of the display giving information
about each option in the menu.
Multi-device Wake-Up
Multi-device Wake-Up a describes the P3B-F's ability to
"un-STR" the machine through a modem and supported LAN cards
in addition to the keyboard and PS/2 mouse. So far, only
the ASUS-made PCI-L101 Fast Ethernet card is supported.
PC Health Monitoring
PC Health Monitoring allows an easier way to examine and
manage system status information such as CPU and system
voltage, temperature and fan status through the bundled
software. I will touch on the software later.
UltraDMA/33 Bus Master
IDE
Something's missing here all right. It was disappointing
to see that there wasn't any onboard UDMA/66 support. Users
wishing to squeeze the juice out of their UDMA/66 drives
would have to pay good money for an Ultra ATA/66 controller.
Bummer.
IrDA Support
Yup, you guessed it. This means that the board supports
an optional infrared port module for a wireless interface.
Onboard LED
The onboard LED acts as a reminder for the user to turn
off the power before plugging and unplugging devices so
as not to damage the motherboard, peripherals and components.
It lights up when there is standby power to the PCI bus
and thus warns the forgetful user trying to fiddle around
with the internals when the machine is in suspension.
Power
Management Options in the BIOS
The
Various Wake-On Options in the BIOS
Other
BIOS Options such as Bootup Options and Virus Protection
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