ASUS Crosshair V Formula Motherboard

Overclocking Options

The ASUS Crosshair V Formula offers several overclocking options. There is an overclocking button next to the power and reset buttons, which allows you to load overclocking presets.

Figure 12: Overclocking, power, and reset buttons

The motherboard allows you to monitor the CPU main voltage, CPU PLL (VDDA) voltage, memory voltage, north bridge, HyperTransport, south bridge, and VDDNB voltages using a voltmeter. See Figure 13. ASUS calls this feature “ProbeIt.”

Figure 13: Voltage monitoring points

There are four sets of LEDs with a green, a yellow, and a red LED on the motherboard. The first set, labeled “CPU,” allows you to monitor either the CPU main voltage, the CPU VDDNB voltage, or the CPU PLL (VDDA) voltage. The second set, labeled “DDR,” can monitor either the memory voltage or the memory bus (VDDR) voltage. The third set, labeled “NB,” monitors either the north bridge chip voltage or the PCI Express voltage. And the fourth set, labeled “SB,” monitors either the south bridge chip voltage or the HyperTransport voltage. You configure which voltage the LEDs will monitor inside the motherboard setup.

The green LEDs mean voltages are around their normal range, the yellow LEDs mean voltages are high, and the red LEDs mean voltages are very high, or “crazy,” as ASUS calls it. The colors will change depending on the voltages you configure, and on page 2-15 of the product manual, there is a table showing the ranges that each color represents.

Figure 14: The “NB” and “CPU” voltage monitoring LEDs