RD2 PC Geiger

Making it work

Now that you have everything installed its time to fire it up and see what happens.The first time I started up after installing the RD2 I was met with nothing.Tho after reading the manual I found out that some PCI slots may not work with the RD2 and sure enough after switching it around I found it was happiest in the 3rd PCI slot on my board.After finding the card a slot it was happy with everything was smooth sailing from there.Upon boot up it displayed various POST codes.All of the codes I encountered were normal and once it was finished I never saw one again.However if you are having troubles these codes can be useful in trouble shooting.

Using the button I was able to switch through the different display modes.

Frequency: Which displays the PCI bus clock.And by using the Multiplier setting on the RD2 I was able to see exactly what my FSB speed was.

Bus Utilization: This mode shows the ratio in percentage of actual data transfer on the bus.

PCI Bus Data Transfer: Displays the total transferred data displayed in kilobytes and megabytes.

Port 80/84H: Port 80H is a debug port which outputs POST debug code.Which can come in handy if your having trouble getting a motherboard to boot.The manual even includes a list of the different codes and what they mean.

The USB ports worked without a hitch as did the switch hooked up to the Clear Bios jumpers.

Conclusion

The RD2 has some very unique features.The Display with its various modes can help you trouble shoot or just plain see what's going on with your computer.With the extreme overclocking seen today this information can be helpful in many ways.Having switches on the front of your case to clear the bios or change the settings of your harddrive cane save you the time and effort of yanking the side off you case.(Which I love seeing as my case is stuck in a corner and access to the side panels is a pain in the butt!)Having USB and Firewire connections also can be handy for those using video and game related USB/Firewire equipment.One thing I would like to see is maybe a 5th display mode for a temp sensor.Other than that I couldnt find any problems with the RD2.

All in all IOSS has produced a top quality piece of hardware.Assembly and installation is fairly easy.The display unit is a welcome feature to the front of your case and not an eye sore at all.The features provided in the RD2 would be a welcome addition to any Overclockers' case.

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