Shorty: DO NOT USE EXTRA VOLTAGE! For some reason, if I up the voltage from 1.5v it wont post, but if I leave it where it is, even when overclocking, it's fine (wierd, eh?).
Currently is is running at 2202Mhz (220Mhz FSB) and here are some benches (RAM is running at crappest timings possible. I said it was my old Motherboard keeping me back, couldn't get past 185 on that Epox pos...) Running Prime95 now just to make sure this is stable, then I will continue on up .
Right, I don't seem to be able to go over 220 otherwise my system goes crazy. It starts trying to boot off my network card for some unknown reason and it generally doesn't like it. I have a feeling it is more likely to be my RAM still holding me back.
Ok, found a really, really stupid problem with this motherboard. Every time you reboot, the CPU voltage drops down 0.001 in the BIOS, so every so often you need to top it back up again. I have also downloaded the latest of their uGuru software and it still says "This liveupdate software is too old, you must download the latest version".
Install borked half way through... so Ive done some checking. This memory is good for the A64.. but might be slightly undervolting... so ive upped the VDimm a notch (I did the same with this memory in my NF7-S).. so tryin again
Install borked half way through... so Ive done some checking. This memory is good for the A64.. but might be slightly undervolting... so ive upped the VDimm a notch (I did the same with this memory in my NF7-S).. so tryin again
What speed RAM is it and what voltage is it at by default?
I have had trouble with Abit videocards in the past but I decided to try the IC7-Max 3 (Intel board) and I love it! They truly make wonderful motherboards! Good choice on going with the Abit! Hope you like your A64 too I would have gotten an A64 but money was gettin up ther if I did that!
I have had trouble with Abit videocards in the past but I decided to try the IC7-Max 3 (Intel board) and I love it! They truly make wonderful motherboards! Good choice on going with the Abit! Hope you like your A64 too I would have gotten an A64 but money was gettin up ther if I did that!
Well at the moment I am seriously not impressed. There are now 3 clear issues with this board (that they better fix with BIOS updates or I will be VERY annoyed). Firstly, if the Damage alarm goes off (not entirely sure what triggers it) it doesn't go off, EVER. You need to pull out the mains and pull out the CMOS battery. Secondly, every boot the processor voltage goes down. After 10 reboots it will be 0.01v lower (its actually set the voltage control down a notch), which is alot when overclocking an A64. Thirdly, their Windows BIOS flash software is stupid. First it says the version I have it too old, download the new one. So I do, and it's STILL too old, so I manually DL the BIOS and tell it to flash with that. Right, it's fine... or so I thought. Yay. I no longer have a SI SATA or VIA SATA controler. NO BOOT DEVICE. So, I download the BIOS and the flasher and make a boot disk with another machine, boot to that and flash again, and that fixed that.
All in all, I don't recommend this motherboard, it seems to be in Beta stages at best.
Shorty: I have that RAM. It is ASS. It wont do CMD1 at anything higher than 180Mhz, and it won't do anything higher than 2-3-3-3 CMD-3 at 220Mhz. It is only PC3200 at semi-lax timings. I currently have it at 2.8v. Anything higher and I no-longer have a display, anything lower and it is unstable (although that depends on your speed).
Just a quick question on ram. Which should one choose. Whilst selecting the asus board in komplett it shows accessories and an this case for memory it has selected Corsair XMS TWINX PRO3200LL 1024MB but according to asus site one can use ordinary ram to, or am i missing something. Which memory should one use for socket 754?
Just a quick question on ram. Which should one choose. Whilst selecting the asus board in komplett it shows accessories and an this case for memory it has selected Corsair XMS TWINX PRO3200LL 1024MB but according to asus site one can use ordinary ram to, or am i missing something. Which memory should one use for socket 754?
Decent 3200 is really the minimum. Something like the Corsair XMS 3200 or so like you already have selected. I don't know if getting the Asus board is a good idea though as there are reports of the capisitors on them bursting.
Just a quick question on ram. Which should one choose. Whilst selecting the asus board in komplett it shows accessories and an this case for memory it has selected Corsair XMS TWINX PRO3200LL 1024MB but according to asus site one can use ordinary ram to, or am i missing something. Which memory should one use for socket 754?
Pretty sure you can use any unbuffered RAM you like with an A64, though the system will be limited by RAM speed on anything lower than DDR400.
Decent 3200 is really the minimum. Something like the Corsair XMS 3200 or so like you already have selected. I don't know if getting the Asus board is a good idea though as there are reports of the capisitors on them bursting.
Pretty sure you can use any unbuffered RAM you like with an A64, though the system will be limited by RAM speed on anything lower than DDR400.
Thanks for clearing that up. I must have confused the ram needs for what socket 940 needs. I think i'll go with the corsair 3200LL non pro. Cheaper than the pro version. I'll read some reviews to see if i can find more info on that capasitor thing you're talking about. If it's that bad than the only boards left seems to be msi and epox. Perhaps going for 754 isn't so good after all.
Thanks for clearing that up. I must have confused the ram needs for what socket 940 needs. I think i'll go with the corsair 3200LL non pro. Cheaper than the pro version. I'll read some reviews to see if i can find more info on that capasitor thing you're talking about. If it's that bad than the only boards left seems to be msi and epox. Perhaps going for 754 isn't so good after all.
Yeah, the socket 940 machines need registered ECC sticks.
There isn't anything wrong with the Epox and MSI boards as far as I am aware, so you may as well look into those.
My Athlon 64 was failing all last night on F@H, so I changed the RAM back to automatic from CAS2 and it has completeled one and a half work units in 9 hours, so, it seems to be stable at 2.2ghz and the only thing holding me back is the RAM . Wonder how much I could get for my old AthlonXP 1800 and Epox board (the processor does 1950Mhz, but the board isn't good for overclocking )
You should be alright with the Max3 to be honest actually. Turns out all but the decreasing RAM are down to my RAM being crap. The processor is a rock at 220 but I can't do anything at 230 which leads me to believe the RAM is being crap as the processor isn't likely to drop out that fast, also the fact that it is already running at dire timings too. This is what caused the Alarm too.
Turns out that the voltage doesn't decrease every boot, it decreases each time I go in the BIOS, so as long as you remember to knock it up +1 point every time you are in there, it's fine.
So, I retract my previous statement about this board. When they fix the voltage, this will be the perfect board. Interesting too as reviewers couldn't get it above 215Mhz FSB and they had to massively increase all the voltages too. I have a feeling Abit may have improved it since.
I'm going to see if I can lower my memory timings even more and up the FSB some more.
Thrax: Can you draw on my previous RAM timings shot and show my which way to change them to lower their performance please. Some of them are obvious, but others seem to go the other way in the BIOS, so lower doesn't always seem to be better. I just need clarification.
I still think i'll go with the top boards anyway. BTW is it true that the kv8 comes with rounded idecables. If so i might save some money since i was planning on getting them anyway. I'm reading some reviews on the board now. If nothing really bad is mentioned i'll go with that one instead.
Shorty: DO NOT USE EXTRA VOLTAGE! For some reason, if I up the voltage from 1.5v it wont post, but if I leave it where it is, even when overclocking, it's fine (wierd, eh?).
Currently is is running at 2202Mhz (220Mhz FSB) and here are some benches (RAM is running at crappest timings possible. I said it was my old Motherboard keeping me back, couldn't get past 185 on that Epox pos...) Running Prime95 now just to make sure this is stable, then I will continue on up .
From the top down on your memory shots, the tightest the memory can get is:
2
2
2
6
maybe 7
maybe 9
I would worry about getting it into 2/2/2 before playing with the other timings. You might find a sweet spot on the 6/7/9 I picked that are lower or higher than what I've picked.
From the top down on your memory shots, the tightest the memory can get is:
2
2
2
6
maybe 7
maybe 9
I would worry about getting it into 2/2/2 before playing with the other timings. You might find a sweet spot on the 6/7/9 I picked that are lower or higher than what I've picked.
Well, I won't be setting them anywhere near that as I needed to know the scale to make them WORSE, to try and get a higher FSB (I can't get any better than my current timings at 220MHz). I can't even use CAS3 which is worse
I still think i'll go with the top boards anyway. BTW is it true that the kv8 comes with rounded idecables. If so i might save some money since i was planning on getting them anyway. I'm reading some reviews on the board now. If nothing really bad is mentioned i'll go with that one instead.
One Rounded black ATA133 cable (ATA66), a Rounded black Floppy cable, 4 SATA cables and 2 dual SATA power connectors.
Right. New bench with the new timings. I can't use CAS2 or RtC 2 as they both end up crapping out eventually (I tried them before), but here are some of the minor timings changed. Strange Abit doesn't give access to the DRAM Idle Timer...
Thanks for the info. As for overclocking isn't the first boards to come out always bad at overclocking. Then maybe it's a good idea to just let the boards run stock. It seems that you've gone through alot of trouble but not gained much.
Thanks for the info. As for overclocking isn't the first boards to come out always bad at overclocking. Then maybe it's a good idea to just let the boards run stock. It seems that you've gone through alot of trouble but not gained much.
Er, I have gained a 10% increase in Processor and Front Side Bus speeds which has directly increased everything else. The only thing stopping me from overclocking more and getting better timings is this crappy RAM.
Comments
Grats NS. Nice system you got there for sure.
Currently is is running at 2202Mhz (220Mhz FSB) and here are some benches (RAM is running at crappest timings possible. I said it was my old Motherboard keeping me back, couldn't get past 185 on that Epox pos...) Running Prime95 now just to make sure this is stable, then I will continue on up
Yay for Abit.
Ive tried installing WinXP three times.. and three times.. its failed
Just one stick of memory in and currently installing Windows 2000. Just gotta be sure its not bad media.. as this CD has seen better days.
What speed RAM is it and what voltage is it at by default?
Its TwinMOS PC3200 with Winbond.. stock 2.65
Gutted.
Well at the moment I am seriously not impressed. There are now 3 clear issues with this board (that they better fix with BIOS updates or I will be VERY annoyed). Firstly, if the Damage alarm goes off (not entirely sure what triggers it) it doesn't go off, EVER. You need to pull out the mains and pull out the CMOS battery. Secondly, every boot the processor voltage goes down. After 10 reboots it will be 0.01v lower (its actually set the voltage control down a notch), which is alot when overclocking an A64. Thirdly, their Windows BIOS flash software is stupid. First it says the version I have it too old, download the new one. So I do, and it's STILL too old, so I manually DL the BIOS and tell it to flash with that. Right, it's fine... or so I thought. Yay. I no longer have a SI SATA or VIA SATA controler. NO BOOT DEVICE. So, I download the BIOS and the flasher and make a boot disk with another machine, boot to that and flash again, and that fixed that.
All in all, I don't recommend this motherboard, it seems to be in Beta stages at best.
Shorty: I have that RAM. It is ASS. It wont do CMD1 at anything higher than 180Mhz, and it won't do anything higher than 2-3-3-3 CMD-3 at 220Mhz. It is only PC3200 at semi-lax timings. I currently have it at 2.8v. Anything higher and I no-longer have a display, anything lower and it is unstable (although that depends on your speed).
Decent 3200 is really the minimum. Something like the Corsair XMS 3200 or so like you already have selected. I don't know if getting the Asus board is a good idea though as there are reports of the capisitors on them bursting.
Pretty sure you can use any unbuffered RAM you like with an A64, though the system will be limited by RAM speed on anything lower than DDR400.
I like my system screenshots.
Thanks for clearing that up. I must have confused the ram needs for what socket 940 needs. I think i'll go with the corsair 3200LL non pro. Cheaper than the pro version. I'll read some reviews to see if i can find more info on that capasitor thing you're talking about. If it's that bad than the only boards left seems to be msi and epox. Perhaps going for 754 isn't so good after all.
Yeah, the socket 940 machines need registered ECC sticks.
There isn't anything wrong with the Epox and MSI boards as far as I am aware, so you may as well look into those.
My Athlon 64 was failing all last night on F@H, so I changed the RAM back to automatic from CAS2 and it has completeled one and a half work units in 9 hours, so, it seems to be stable at 2.2ghz and the only thing holding me back is the RAM
Turns out that the voltage doesn't decrease every boot, it decreases each time I go in the BIOS, so as long as you remember to knock it up +1 point every time you are in there, it's fine.
So, I retract my previous statement about this board. When they fix the voltage, this will be the perfect board. Interesting too as reviewers couldn't get it above 215Mhz FSB and they had to massively increase all the voltages too. I have a feeling Abit may have improved it since.
I'm going to see if I can lower my memory timings even more and up the FSB some more.
Thrax: Can you draw on my previous RAM timings shot and show my which way to change them to lower their performance please. Some of them are obvious, but others seem to go the other way in the BIOS, so lower doesn't always seem to be better. I just need clarification.
You should be reading reviews on all of the boards, not just 1. You may find there is no point at all in getting one of the more expensive boards.
I can't get this RAM to run any faster, it goes insane if I set it to CAS3, so I basically need better RAM to get anymore out of this system.
From the top down on your memory shots, the tightest the memory can get is:
2
2
2
6
maybe 7
maybe 9
I would worry about getting it into 2/2/2 before playing with the other timings. You might find a sweet spot on the 6/7/9 I picked that are lower or higher than what I've picked.
Well, I won't be setting them anywhere near that as I needed to know the scale to make them WORSE, to try and get a higher FSB (I can't get any better than my current timings at 220MHz). I can't even use CAS3 which is worse
One Rounded black ATA133 cable (ATA66), a Rounded black Floppy cable, 4 SATA cables and 2 dual SATA power connectors.
Heh, 380% Bandwidth Efficiency can't be bad
Er, I have gained a 10% increase in Processor and Front Side Bus speeds which has directly increased everything else. The only thing stopping me from overclocking more and getting better timings is this crappy RAM.