Hell Has Frozen Over: AMD In The House

SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
edited January 2005 in Hardware
Anyone who remembers way back when I signed up @ Icrontic in October 2002 remembers how staunch I was about promoting Intel.

Boy was I wrong :)

Well, hell's frozen over. I've officially switched to an AMD CPU (my first primary day-to-day system to have an AMD CPU since the old Slot A days).

Inefficient Prescott and its' 31-stage pipeline can just piss off... this A64 FX flies.

Now if that bloody video card would just arrive... I'd be in gaming bliss.

Final Specs:

AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 (stock for now)
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum Edition
1024 MB OCZ PC3200 Enhanced Latency Platinum Editon Rev 2 (2-2-2-5)
36.7 GB WD Raptor (carry over from another system)
300 GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10, SATA-150 w/ 16 MB cache
ThermalRight XP-90 w/ 92mm Vantec Tornado & AS5
Sapphire X800 XT Platinum Edition OEM AGP8x (9800 Pro used until new video card arrives)
21" Dell UltraScan P1110 Trinitron monitor
Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM
Pioneer DVR-A08 DVD+/-RW (DVR-A06 in use until the DVR-A08 arrives)
SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum (no more wonky Audigy 2 Platinum with the failing capacitors!)
Klipsch ProMedia 4.1's
Dual Gigabit NIC's (onboard)
Matrix Orbital MX211 black/blue on white text 2-line LCD readout panel

Time to put it together and overclock the crap outta it!

The green side of the fence feels great! :)

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    nice! An fx-55 will treat you well. You just bought the fastest gaming processor on the planet :D
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited November 2004
    Im so jealous!!!
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    OMG Simguy!
    Man, that rig is something else. What stepping did you get on the FX and where did you buy it? Monarch?
  • MediaManMediaMan
    thinks he just saw Simguy zooming past...couldn't tell...too blurry. :)

    Nice setup!
     Powered by loose parts.
    edited November 2004
    thinks he just saw Simguy zooming past...couldn't tell...too blurry. :)

    Nice setup!
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2004
    All is not smooth.

    For some reason beyond my comprehension, this system REFUSES to work with ANY ATI AGP video card I have tested in it.

    Anytime I install any version of the Catalyst drivers, upon restart the video display corrupts, the monitor shuts off, then reinitializes and displays a hideous mess of red, green & blue smears across the monitor.

    I installed Win XP Pro, then NVidia 5.10 NForce drivers & then Catalyst 4.11.
    Even installing SP2 before NForce 5.1 didn't help.

    Any ideas you all mighty AMD guru's, because I've tested everything I can think of and nothing helps.

    The funny thing? I tossed in my 3-year old GF4 Ti4400 and installed the latest ForceWare's and it works like a charm (minus the hideous 3DMark score) :)

    Needless to say, this one boggles my mind.
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited November 2004
    No...I've not encountered that problem before...never. :rolleyes:

    The first time it happened was because I forgot to plug the second 4 pin ATX power lead into the board. The second time...I switched PSU leads to the video card and it worked.

    Same symptoms. No ATI product would work but a comparable NVIDIA would and any lesser card would.

    Standard Latest BIOS line but you are probably way ahead of me there.
  • MissilemanMissileman Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    My setup is similar except I have a 3500+ and an X800Pro.

    Mine runs fine. On first video driver install I get the lines - blank - then okay. Doesn't do it on reboot.


    Your load order was right. WinXP - SP1- Forceware - SP2 - Net Framework - Catalyst drivers.


    Somebody else got a bad X800 that did that. Someone else has said there isn't enough amp avail on the power supply when this happened (he wants 22 minumum on the 12V).

    Check here : http://forums.pcper.com/forumdisplay.php?f=12

    and here : http://forum.msi.com.tw/board.php?boardid=28&sid=402c4580e9576064d0548eb0bbdd74e3

    I'll keep my eye open

    Edit : I'm running the 1.37B4 bios - haven't tried the latest beta bios (1.41). 1.37 fixed a lot of stability issues I was having. Here's a link to latest bioses for it : http://www.weckstrom.com/msibios/
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2004
    Thanks for the suggestions so far guys!

    I flashed to the latest beta BIOS I can find for this board (1.37 Beta 4) and it corrupted my Windows install (LOL!) :)

    I've lost count of how many times I've had to run through an XP Pro install, but @ 12 minutes a piece, I really couldn't care :)

    Trying this order right now:

    Win XP Pro Retail :: SP2 :: NForce 5.03 :: Catalyst 4.11

    Just about to install the Catalyst drivers right now.

    I did a little searching and someone said that since I've got an Audigy 2 ZS installed, I should remove it until after video card installation. Will try that. :)
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2004
    Well would ya look at that. It ****ing worked. :)

    Much obliged MediaMan & MissleMan!
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited November 2004
    So taking the Sound card out fixed it?
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2004
    mmonnin wrote:
    So taking the Sound card out fixed it?

    I would imagine so, along with updating to the latest BIOS.

    Doing both of those, with a fresh Win XP, SP2, NForce 5.03 & Catalyst 4.11 installation, everything's working perfectly fine now :)
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited November 2004
    Do you dare put the Audigy back in? :wtf:
  • citrixmetacitrixmeta Montreal, Quebec Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    damn thats alot of gear.... where do u live again... ;)
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2004
    mmonnin wrote:
    Do you dare put the Audigy back in? :wtf:

    It was a tense moment when I booted the first time with the Crapology 2 ZS installed, but it all seems to be working fine right now.

    I guess one of the quirks with the K8N Neo2 is that you have to install just base Windows & your chipset/video drivers without any PCI cards installed.

    After those are installed, you can populate your PCI slots as you feel.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Freezing is good!
  • MissilemanMissileman Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Word is that the Audigy must go in slot 3 to work correctly. 4 has been known to work in some configurations, but 3 is the magic slot.

    Don't forget - Sata 1&2 do not lock so use 3&4 if you gonna jack up the clock.

    Memory in the 2 slots closet to the CPU. (Dual Channel)

    Use the Nvidia ethernet - much faster.

    Use the forceware beta 6.11 Network access manager for firewall controll (it works correctly with SP2 & XP firewall).

    Set AGP speed to 67 to activate the bus locks.

    I think that's all the quirks I've heard about lately.

    ENJOY
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2004
    Thanks for that Missleman. I have the Audigy 2 in Slot 4, but I'll try moving it to Slot 3 the next time the case is open.

    Both Sata HDD's are on Sata 3 & 4.

    Using 5.03 ForceWare's, as I've found them to offer better performance than 5.10.

    AGP set to 67 :)

    After you get by the quirks, this mobo's not too shabby at all :)

    //Edit: @Mack:

    Got the FX-55 @ Canada Computers in Toronto for $990 CDN. Stepping is as follows:

    ADAFX55DEI5AS
    CAA2C 0439UPMW
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited November 2004
    (Drool) FX-55 (Drool)
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    I saw a FX with the exact same stepping as yours do 2.8+ on the stock amd cooler and 1.65 volt. If you have a golden batchnumber, you might get 3 gig on air :O
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2004
    Mackanz wrote:
    I saw a FX with the exact same stepping as yours do 2.8+ on the stock amd cooler and 1.65 volt. If you have a golden batchnumber, you might get 3 gig on air :O

    Just got my XP-90 & Tornado on it last night, but haven't had a chance to overclock yet.

    But... seeing as yesterday I turned the big ol' 21, a real nice present arrived on my desk :)

    A shiny new BFG 6800 Ultra OC :)

    Considering the ship date for the damned X800 XT PE keeps getting shoved back (supplier can't get it), this was the next best thing. :)
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    I agree, ATI have been shooting themselves in the foot with that gpu.

    Now start overclock please! :D
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited January 2005
    Well the jury is still out on how far the memory will overclock, but the CPU runs @ 2800 MHz (200x14 @ 1.55V, memory 1:1 2-2-2-5-11-16-1T) 24/7 and hasn't crashed in the past 2 months. The CPU still has lots of headroom left in it, but with the K8N Neo2's temperature probe's all ****ed up in its' readings, I can't get an accurate temperature from the CPU and don't want to risk damaging it.

    A Vapochill LS may be the answer... but not until the end of the summer...

    For those who want to hear 5 Tornado's @ full bore during POST.... take a gander... (300 KB MPEG)

    Kenny G & Dentist Drills come to mind :D

    Now lets see the beasty!
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited January 2005
    MOAR Pics :)
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    My MSI board died so i'm back to the good old NF2 for a couple of weeks.
    However, my 3000 didn't like being ran at -50c. The dreaded freeze after a few seconds. Most Winchester actually have this problem. But your cpu seems to be a wonder one. Damn, 2.8 stable on air and at semi-low voltage is really good. Hopefully it can handle negative degrees as well if you decide to get a Phase.

    Now, please get on to some memory bandwith action!
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited January 2005
    Just for you Mack :)

    2x512 MB TCCD, 1:1 HTT:MEM, 2.5-3-3-7-11-16-1T, Dual Channel @ 2.85V.

    Not a suicide run either... there's still the OCZ DDR Booster to break out, as this poor K8N Neo2 tops out @ 2.85V VDIMM :(

    Oh... and phase change just might come a little earlier than I suggested :)
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    Ahhh, i see now that you have a newcastle-core based FX. All this time i thought you had a Winchester 3000 just like me. Doooh.

    You have some great power there and all FX runs well with phase. 280 dual 512mb is very respectable. Newcastles have a much better memory controller.

    Let me know when you shoot for 300 htt. I have a few tricks up in my sleeve if you run into problems. You will not need the booster for that memory though. In fact, you can actually lower the vdimm a bit to go higher. More voltage only gives you the ability to use cas 2 which isn't really a gain on A64's. Good job there :)
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited January 2005
    Yep. Newcastle-core based FX (SH7-CG). :)

    I actually shot for 300 HTT last night @ 1:1 HTT:MEM. It wasn't pretty (was testing with ClockGen).

    It will engage & operate at 300 HTT 1:1 2.5-3-3-7-11-16-1T @ 2.85V, but about 30 seconds in... BAM. Black screen & reboot. :)

    Dropping to 2.5-4-4-10 didn't help either, so I'm thinking these modules just won't do 300 MHz. I haven't tried 3-4-4-10 yet, but then those timings really suck and I'd need an incredibly high FSB just to make up for the lost bandwidth from the timings.

    I wonder how far 3-2-2-7 would take me... another day's job :)

    295 MHZ 2.5-3-3-7 @ 2.85V was the highest I've been able to keep it stable at, but for everyday use now I have it pegged @ 280x10, 1:1 HTT:MEM.

    Tricks eh? I'm all ears!
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    The A64 tweaker is a great tool. I assume you already have that. 295 at those timings is actually very good. The memorycontroller might not like more. Let's try to get some bandwith and stability with the a64 tweaker then. You have disabled the ATI and Nvidia stuff in the bios right? Try weak Drive stregnth as well in the bios.
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