A Bit of Info for Abit NF7-S owners

MissilemanMissileman Orlando, Florida Icrontian
edited July 2011 in Hardware
This may have been posted here, but I didn't see anything about it so I thought I'd pass it on.

This little tweak has been claimed to fix everything ever wrong with the NF7 from stuttering in 3D games to crackling on sound cards. It is the NForce2 equivalent of snake oil.

I found this when I was experimenting trying to find a reason for my O/C Barton to be stuttering in a fairly plain 3D game (Horizons) which I was beta testing. It did make my stuttering go away, raised my benchmarks a few points, and generally made the board seem more responsive.

Go into control panel->System->device manager and select the computer and then ACPI Uniprocessor machine. Do properties and update driver. Select and manually choose "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface PC". It will tell you to reboot. It will then find new hardware and reboot again. Now all returns to normal with one exception. All the virtualized IRQ's(18,21,22, etc...) are gone and your IRQ's are back to hardware bios assignments. Same as if the Standard PC HAL had been installed. Except ACPI is still enabled and virtualized IRQ's are still available if needed in case of conflict.

I believe the response increase is due to the removal of the layer that does the IRQ redirecting. I have done this to 3 ABIT NF7-S systems without incident and got improvement on all of them.

I make no other promises and don't know how it works on other brands. Your mileage may vary.

Take it for what it is worth. :screwed:
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Comments

  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    I've not had any problems with my NF7, but thanks for the tip anyway. It might come in handy someday :)
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited February 2004
    That's actually a really good idea. It may fix the crackling sound that someone I know gets with their sb live/KG7 combo, since that's supposedly caused by IRQ conflicts as well.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited February 2004
    Well, I just tried it. Went as smoothly as presumed. My ATTO's have increased significantly, best scores I've ever had. So kudos to MissileMan for that. Haven't had chance to run any other benchmarks yet, will do tomorrow.

    But I'm happy. :celebrate
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited February 2004
    Sounds like something worth trying once I get home.

    Thanks for the heads up MissleMan!
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    TheSmJ wrote:
    Sounds like something worth trying once I get home.

    Thanks for the heads up MissleMan!

    Agreed, Thanks, Missleman.

    Will keep that in mind when I order my board like that... :D

    John D-- Who got a real sweet deal offered to him on Panaflo 80 mm High Volume fans, and has 36 coming and 10 here, so the Barton upgrade waits.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited February 2004
    Ageek... with 46 of those panaflos, you're gonna want to use bungee cords or something to hold teh box down... :D;D
  • MadballMadball Fort Benton, MT
    edited February 2004
    WOW, works great! My machine seems much more responsive now. Good tip Missleman!
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    I don't have my NF7-S running right now and hadn't had any problems but did try it with this NV420 board I'm on right now and it really made it snappier!!! Everything is more responsive and I can see where this would benefit everyone not just NF7 users.

    Great job Missleman!!! ;)
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Wow. I'm barely using my comp. for anything right now. Since I've formatted I've not installed any potent programs or games. But it STILL seems faster, just navigating around Windows.

    HOT DAMN! :clap:

    Thanks Missleman!
  • MissilemanMissileman Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Glad it proved useful.

    I found it to be worth the effort. Just PLEASE be aware when trying it on other boards that you are changing the HAL in WinXp and if your bios doesn't support this "newer" advanced HAL it could leave you with an unbootable hard drive so make sure you have a recent backup or your recovery disks up to date as safe mode booting doesn't always work when the HAL is wrong.

    It has always worked fine on the Abit's but I have never tried it on any others so just be aware that there is a risk. Hate to see someone have a REALLY bad day :)
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited February 2004
    Up in the 'Tweaks and Tricks Thread'. :clap:
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited February 2004
    Missileman wrote:
    Go into control panel->System->device manager and select the computer and then ACPI Uniprocessor machine.
    Check.


    Do properties and update driver.
    Check.


    Select and manually choose "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface PC".
    I have no such option to choose. :(
  • MissilemanMissileman Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    a2jfreak wrote:
    I have no such option to choose. :(

    Did you do the "Install from list or specific location" and then choose "Don't Search. I will choose Driver to Install" ? Mine shows right up even on this IC7 board.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited February 2004
    Got it. Thanks.

    Rebooting in T-Minus 10, 9, 8 . . .
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Weird... I have an NF7-S v2.0 and my HAL was already ACPI... Not Uniprocessor...

    Oh well, guess I'm already "tweaked" ... :confused:
  • MissilemanMissileman Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    primesuspect wrote:
    Weird... I have an NF7-S v2.0 and my HAL was already ACPI... Not Uniprocessor...

    Oh well, guess I'm already "tweaked" ... :confused:


    It could be cause I run XP Pro. Never looked at XP Home. I just know the "Tweak" Driver spells out the whole ACPI wording like this "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface PC" and doesn't use the acronym at all.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Yep, Pro here as well. And yes, I already have the fully-spelled out driver.

    Strange.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited February 2004
    On this WU my times dropped from about 5:55 to about 5:40 in the log. Shaving 15 seconds from each checkpoint is nice. :)
  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited February 2004
    im gonna ram this down my IS7's throat when i get home, see what i can see (if it borks everything thats fine, im getting ready to do a format anyway)
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited February 2004
    Definetly noticing changes. Awesome tweak. WOOT. Now my left rear speaker doesn't crackle real loud at full volume, and to think I thought it was dying on me :)
  • pcscustompcscustom Oklahoma
    edited February 2004
    Damnit, I cant wait to get home.. Friday seems like monday, This whole damn week has been that way.. One word of advice if your thinking bout moving Dont

    Trev
  • HawkHawk Fla Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Works on Asus A7N8X Deluxe too. Noticed a little improvement, but I'm always tweaking settings for stability and speed. Just make sure you backup before tweaking like MM said. Good tweak MM. Thnx
  • hypermoodhypermood Smyrna, GA New
    edited February 2004
    Everyone's been doing this under XP right? Just asking because I'm running 2K and it also has the fully spelled out option.
  • hypermoodhypermood Smyrna, GA New
    edited February 2004
    OK, I took the plunge and tried it under 2K. Went from "ACPI Uniprocessor" to "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC" and everything went fine. ATTO disk scores went up but memory bandwidth went down. Reverted back to "ACPI Uniprocessor" and memory scores went back up and ATTO disk scores went down. Tried twice more with exact same results. I haven't had any sound issues or other oddities so I can't comment there. Nothing felt much different.

    "ACPI Uniprocessor" -> "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC"
    Sandra memory bandwidth went from 3175 to 3056.
    Atto was up about 5% across the board.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited February 2004
    Well, I haven't tried it on my NF7-S yet, but I did try it on one of my other systems. It didn't work... This doesn't really come as a surprise to me though, since I tried it on a Tyan Thunderbolt, which is a dual slot 1 i440GX board. It only detected one CPU after the switch, which is what I expected.

    Oh well. Doesn't work on SMP systems apparently... :(
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Geeky1 said:

    Ageek... with 46 of those panaflos, you're gonna want to use bungee cords or something to hold teh box down....

    Use 2-3 per box, have some to build for customers... But, let me put it this way.... Average FMV is about $7.60 US plus shipping. Average price for the 46 (ten I bought at about $6.50 shipped each), well, if I sell at that will net about $3.50 per fan on average.... I had a big wholesale supplier who emailled me (sales manager, actually) and said they needed to move a thousand this week, and they wanted to move them BAD so I grabbed some.... So, if hold onto whatever is left of them for a month or three, fine....

    Figured folks might want some, around here or wherever....

    The P4 and Barton boxes have 2 08A12H and 2 08A12M each-- just for case fanning.

    The fan on the swiftech flower in the P4 is a YSTech, the Barton box with SLK900 has a Panaflo 08A12H on it.... No CPU fan sense, it runs fine.... Barton is cooler than the P4, naturally, but both are stable.
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited February 2004
    Hmm my Sandra score went down 200 MB/s.
    And my ATTO score dropped as well.
    Guess I'm just unlucky. :bawling:
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Ageek wrote:
    Use 2-3 per box, have some to build for customers... But, let me put it this way.... Average FMV is about $7.60 US plus shipping. Average price for the 46 (ten I bought at about $6.50 shipped each), well, if I sell at that will net about $3.50 per fan on average.... I had a big wholesale supplier who emailled me (sales manager, actually) and said they needed to move a thousand this week, and they wanted to move them BAD so I grabbed some.... So, if hold onto whatever is left of them for a month or three, fine....

    Figured folks might want some, around here or wherever....

    The P4 and Barton boxes have 2 08A12H and 2 08A12M each-- just for case fanning.

    The fan on the swiftech flower in the P4 is a YSTech, the Barton box with SLK900 has a Panaflo 08A12H on it.... No CPU fan sense, it runs fine.... Barton is cooler than the P4, naturally, but both are stable.
    do you want to sell some of those fans??
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited February 2004
    Here is some before and after (top is after, bottom is before) benchmark screenshots. With the exception of PCMark04, all benchmarks taken after the ACPI alteration are higher. With that as the exception, all drivers and system settings remain the same across both benchmark correlations.
    1.jpg 56.7K
    2.jpg 52.9K
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited February 2004
    I am certain my harddrive performance dropped significantly.
    The odd thing is that the drop wasn't very big in ATTO.
    But I did a file search and it took forever, well almost that is.

    Mem performance dropped 200 MB/S.
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