On the other hand, Foxconn engineers didn’t forget to add options for configuring the memory timings. Besides selecting the frequency of the memory, you can manually select Tcl, Trcd, Tras and Trp timings and choose the 1T/2T Memory Timings mode.

We decided to check out the stability of this mainboard in non-standard modes even though it has deficient overclocking options in the BIOS Setup. The mainboard doesn’t allow reducing the CPU multiplier from the BIOS Setup, so we performed our tests from the OS, using the ClockGen utility that can change the CPU multiplier as well as the clock-generator frequency within 200-400MHz range. For our overclocking not to be limited by the memory, we dropped its frequency to such values as it was guaranteed to support. We also took an AMD Athlon 64 3800+ processor, setting its multiplier to 8x with the ClockGen utility.

It transpired that the scanty overclocking options of the BIOS Setup are a good reflection of what you would have even when overclocking this board from the OS. The WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS looks not that attractive at all during overclocking when we compare the results to those obtained on other mainboards on the nForce4 Ultra chipset.

With the frequency multiplier of the HyperTransport bus set to the maximum supported value of 5x, the mainboard was only stable at clock-generator frequencies up to 214MHz. At higher frequencies the OS would crash. Having got such a disappointing result (other mainboards under these conditions allow reaching 230-240MHz on the clock generator) during overclocking from Windows XP with the help of ClockGen, we decided to overcome this threshold by changing the BIOS Setup parameters. Unfortunately, we had no luck with that: the system wouldn’t boot up if this 214MHz frequency barrier was exceeded.

If the HyperTransport multiplier is reduced to 4x, the maximum stable frequency of the clock generator rises up a little, to 236MHz. Again we see that the WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS overclocks worse than other mainboards in this case.

Although it was clear we couldn’t hope to see any overclocking miracles from the WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS, we still reduced the HyperTransport multiplier to 3x and reached 249MHz frequency. That was all we could get.

These are poor results, I should say: WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS doesn’t suit overclockers, at least until Foxconn releases a BIOS update with a higher maximum clock-generator frequency, with options for controlling the CPU multiplier and with resolved problems concerning overclocking in general. Until then you can’t achieve high clock rates with this mainboard, even when overclocking it from the OS.

Winding up this section of the review we want to dwell on the hardware monitoring tools available on the WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS. This mainboard allows controlling the temperatures of the CPU and system; the rotational speeds of the three fans that you can connect to the WinFast NF4UK8AA-8EKRS; and nine basic voltages. The mainboard supports Cool’n’Quiet technology, but cannot adjust the fan speeds depending on the CPU temperature.