IC7/G AGP Voltage mod

[Amperage]

A few pictures below show the locations for the mod.. this also changes the northbridge voltage along with agp so be careful how much voltage you apply.

once again our little winbond friend is responsible for takin care of the voltages we need to change

http://www.elmos.com/grafix/amp/AGP_winbond.jpg

this first picture shows the pin which reads the agp voltage and adjusts the driving voltage accordingly.

I also circled the place I soldered the trim pot. this is also the point you need to connect to ground through a set resistance.. I used 33kohm

http://www.elmos.com/grafix/amp/AGP_trace.jpg

This picture shows the trace that needs cut.. there is no resistor between the winbond chip and the agp supply voltage so you will need to cut this trace. I found it convenient to cut mine here but feel free to do it anywhere you like along the path.

http://www.elmos.com/grafix/amp/AGP_output.jpg

This final picture shows the power mosfet that handles the current for the agp slot.. the arrow points to the leg you will need to solder the other leg of the trim pot to. I used a 10kohm 15 turn trimmer from radioshack.. you can use whatever you are comfortable with just so long as it provides up to the ohm value you need for the voltage you want. To increase my agp voltage .15v above what was set in the bios i had to adjust my trim pot to 4k exactly. the higher the value the more voltage you get.

[Xenogias]

Amperage. I am looking to perform this very mod because I would love agp voltage over 1.65. I think this abit mobo is held back most by a lack of agp voltage options. Could you share some of your latest results with us? I would love to see what more NB voltage is doing for fsb overclocks.

[LikwidKool]

Thanks amperage, this is good info. I just did the vmem today, and it is working quite nicely. I just don't like cutting traces. I guess we'll see what the vmem get's me.

[Amperage]

hey guys :)

as for what it gave me... more stability at tighter mem timings. still can't do better than 300fsb stable :/ .. I'm almost positive it's a IC7 bios issue at this point. I noticed that using 1.55v agp setting I couldn't ru better than 290fsb stable. increasing to 1.65v gave me 300fsb stable but unfortunately I've run up to 1.85v agp with no gains fsb wise.. only increased memory stability.

[Xenogias]

maybe some sub-ambient cooling on the nb is in order....I know this board is capable of high fsbs...There are several doing better than 325mhz on that japanese High FSB ranking list.

[LardArse]

Hi Amperage. I'm a little confused on this mod so I hope you can shed some light. Is the following correct?

First, I solder a 33kohm resistor at circled spot and ground this resistor. Next, I cut the trace right beside the words R122, the trace at the extreme right excluding the traces that make a much tighter turn. Next, I solder a 10kohm VR to the longer end of the trace and then solder the other end of VR to mosfet leg. I turn this VR to adjust.
Is this correct?

[CATCH22ATPLAY]

Strange that raising agp volts would raise northie volts as well. You do know that agp volts go into the northie chip. But that it's not actually northy supply voltage. you would need to use a 500k ohm or 250k ohm variable resistor from pin 5 to pin 8 on the lm358 chip located left of northie to increase northie volts. Also instead of doing all that stuff you did why not just mod the lm358 chip next to that mosfet in your pic. The one right below and to the right of agp slot. Possibly pin 6 to pin 4 with a 50k ohm Vr would work. Seems to me it would work perfectly. If i didn't fry my ic7 from condensation i'd test the last one. But i'm fairly sure it'll do the trick. :)

[LardArse]

Catch, I did both mods you suggested, VR to pin 5 and also VR to pin 6 but no changes were noticed from AGP voltage or any other voltages monitored in bios.

[CATCH22ATPLAY]

Strange but i'm fairly sure i used the lm358 to do it. Wish i didn't fry the mobo or i wish i took better notes. Hmm perhaps removing R134 and doing it just like you do the VDD mod would also work. Although i didn't do it that way i just ohmed it out on this fried mobo and that looks like the correct resistor imo. If i'm wrong don't worry. It's a 0 ohm resitor anyways. So just make a solder joint across both sides to repair it. I'm usually not wrong though. But i am known for frying other peoples stuff. hehe

[LardArse]

Catch, do you mean like the Vdimm mod? As in connecting the 2 traces with a 1kohm VR?
The Northie voltage mod, is it monitored throught the bios AGP VDDQ monitor or do I need to manually maesure it? For the 2 mods you suggested, I measured the VAGP manually through mosfet leg but it remains at 1.66v throughout. I need to know the measuring method else I wouldn't know if the mods work or not.

[LardArse]

Catch, silly me. Did the wrong LM358 chip. There's another at the lower end of board. Did pin 5 on the one above AGP slot and measured mosfet leg above AGP slot. Didn't have 500kohm pot, used a 50k and NB (I assume?) voltage drops from 1.47v to 1.40v. I'll try 100k to see if it ups it or lower it.

[LardArse]

500k ohms give me 1.47 which is the default on my board. I think I need a 1000k ohm VR to tweak with.

Edit: Did the pin 5 and 8 instead of pin 5 to ground. 300k ohms give around 1.7v from default of 1.47v. Think 500k ohms is a good start.

[CATCH22ATPLAY]

Originally posted by LardArse
500k ohms give me 1.47 which is the default on my board. I think I need a 1000k ohm VR to tweak with.

Edit: Did the pin 5 and 8 instead of pin 5 to ground. 300k ohms give around 1.7v from default of 1.47v. Think 500k ohms is a good start.

LOL were my instructions that hard to understand?? OK glad you got the Northy mod to work. Now try the AGP mod again with any of the 3 mods i suggested. Let us know which works the best. Oh and 1.70 volts for my northy was way too much. I found 1.625 perfect and 1.650 absolute max. But it's like a cpu in that yours may like higher voltages and or if your cooling is better than mine i'd think above 1.625 would be fine. My northy cooling is a very decent heatsink/fan i've been using for a year or so now. "Caution" be careful with pin 8 on that lm358. It's 12v if i remember correctly. Pin 8 is VCC and pin5 is IN2+ and pin6 is IN2-. Usually lowering resistance of IN2- to ground increases volts. If that doesn't work then lowering resistance from pin8 (vcc) to pin5 usually does the trick. PIn2 IN1- and pin3 IN1+ can be used as well. pin4 is ground. Don't ever mess with pin1 or pin 7. Mosfet gate drivers i'll assume. :p:

[LardArse]

Originally posted by CATCH22ATPLAY
LOL were my instructions that hard to understand?? OK glad you got the Northy mod to work. Now try the AGP mod again with any of the 3 mods i suggested. Let us know which works the best. Oh and 1.70 volts for my northy was way too much. I found 1.625 perfect and 1.650 absolute max. But it's like a cpu in that yours may like higher voltages and or if your cooling is better than mine i'd think above 1.625 would be fine. My northy cooling is a very decent heatsink/fan i've been using for a year or so now. "Caution" be careful with pin 8 on that lm358. It's 12v if i remember correctly. Pin 8 is VCC and pin5 is IN2+ and pin6 is IN2-. Usually lowering resistance of IN2- to ground increases volts. If that doesn't work then lowering resistance from pin8 (vcc) to pin5 usually does the trick. PIn2 IN1- and pin3 IN1+ can be used as well. pin4 is ground. Don't ever mess with pin1 or pin 7. Mosfet gate drivers i'll assume. :p:

Hmm I'll hold off the AGP pin 6 mod for the moment, doesn't seem that useful and it didn't boot up once when I tried it. Regarding the DDR VTT, do you think there's any help modding this since I've already vdimm modded?

[CATCH22ATPLAY]

It's possible modding VTT may help stabilty. But since it tracks to 1/2 of VDD even after you did the Vdimm mod i just don't see a need for it. The 2 resistors that set VTT are located above where you did the Vmem aka VDD mod. Just left and slightly above where you modded for VDD is a blue/purple capacitor between dim2 and 3. Just above that capacitor the first 2 resistors is the resistor divider network to set VTT. Bottom of resistor on the right is ground. Bottom of left resistor is VDD. Tops of both resistors is VTT. I don't know how everyone else sets VTT. But that is where it should be done. That's where abit sets it and that's where i'd set it. I checked my IC7 before i fried it. When i set VDD to 3.2 then VTT was 1.60 exactly. Uncommonly perfect imo. I've tried raising VTT above more than 1/2 of VDD and didn't notice a performance or stability increase. But some mobos i've had required me to do an independant VTT increase. My opinion is check and see if your VTT is 1/2 of VDD. If it is maybe just leave it alone. However i'd like user opinions on wether running VTT above 1/2 of VDD has benifitted anyone. OK back to Pirates Of The Caribbean :D

[Szymek]

Originally posted by CATCH22ATPLAY
LOL were my instructions that hard to understand?? OK glad you got the Northy mod to work. Now try the AGP mod again with any of the 3 mods i suggested. Let us know which works the best. Oh and 1.70 volts for my northy was way too much. I found 1.625 perfect and 1.650 absolute max. But it's like a cpu in that yours may like higher voltages and or if your cooling is better than mine i'd think above 1.625 would be fine. My northy cooling is a very decent heatsink/fan i've been using for a year or so now. "Caution" be careful with pin 8 on that lm358. It's 12v if i remember correctly. Pin 8 is VCC and pin5 is IN2+ and pin6 is IN2-. Usually lowering resistance of IN2- to ground increases volts. If that doesn't work then lowering resistance from pin8 (vcc) to pin5 usually does the trick. PIn2 IN1- and pin3 IN1+ can be used as well. pin4 is ground. Don't ever mess with pin1 or pin 7. Mosfet gate drivers i'll assume. :p:


So will

L358 pin 5 -> VR -> ground

increase Vnorth ?

[CATCH22ATPLAY]

No it won't. Have can use the lift pin 6 method or cheat like i do and use a 250k or 500k ohm resistor from pin 8 which is 12v or from any 5v line or from any 3.3v line to pin 5. Raising the volts on pin 5 will raise Vnorth. Semi dangerous mod but it does work great. :D

[Szymek]

Originally posted by CATCH22ATPLAY
No it won't. Have can use the lift pin 6 method or cheat like i do and use a 250k or 500k ohm resistor from pin 8 which is 12v or from any 5v line or from any 3.3v line to pin 5. Raising the volts on pin 5 will raise Vnorth. Semi dangerous mod but it does work great. :D

So:

On the LM left to the NB:


pin5 -> vr(500k) -> pin8 or pin5 ->vr(500k)->ie 5V


will do the trick ?

Starting VR from the max value down...


Can I use it on both LM's (AGP one & NB one) ?

Cheers catch

PS,
Stop me if I'm wrong before tommorow coz I'm going to mod my IC7 at will :D

[Szymek]

Hello all readers



I've just modded my NB voltage the Catch22' way

Did the same on the AGP LM regulator but it has NO INFLUENCE on voltage AT ALL


Catch22 - you read this ? Where are you ?

The LM that controls AGP supply won't let to be fooled by your method... WHY ??


YOU vMODDERS are great :toast: :banana:

[CATCH22ATPLAY]

I mod so many mobos and my notes are so terrible i haven't a clue. I'll have to test it again. I recently tried modding my ic7 and it didn't work for me. But there's always a way. I'll figure it out or find it in my notes somewhere.

[shortcircuit]

Originally posted by CATCH22ATPLAY
No it won't. Have can use the lift pin 6 method or cheat like i do and use a 250k or 500k ohm resistor from pin 8 which is 12v or from any 5v line or from any 3.3v line to pin 5. Raising the volts on pin 5 will raise Vnorth. Semi dangerous mod but it does work great. :D

Hehe, I tried that mod but screwed up and used a 50K VR instead of 500K. It was late at night. The board started snapping and popping like popcorn. :(

[CATCH22ATPLAY]

wooops!! Well i guess you can be like me and buy 3 or 4 of em.

[Szymek]

hey catch.

would it be safe to ground pin 6 trough a vr like you said ? i don't want to try that and said 'it fried my mobo don't try this at home...'

how did you perform your agp vmod ?

[Shadrag]

Where are you guys measuring the NB voltage? I have an IS7 and I tried this mod on the LM that is to the left on the NB. I connected pin 5 and 8 (which is the first and last pin on the side opposite the bold white line on the mobo around the chip?) with a 1M ohm pot. I have turned the pot down pretty low, but with no noticable results. Once I know where I can measure the voltage then I can see if my mod is working. Thanks.

[Shadrag]

There is a mosfet between the LM chip and the agp slot, measuring a leg and ground gives me 1.45-ish v, which seems to be the correct amount...

[Shadrag]

Well I can confirm that my mod does nothing to help my NB voltage. The mosfet between the LM and the APG always reads 1.458v. The leg of my pot connected to pin 8 reads 12v and the leg connected to pin 5 reads the same 1.458 that the mosfet reads. Are the IS7 and the IC7 that different?

[Szymek]

Originally posted by Shadrag
There is a mosfet between the LM chip and the agp slot, measuring a leg and ground gives me 1.45-ish v, which seems to be the correct amount...

You're right

[Shadrag]

I could really use some help because right now I've got nothing. Does anyone have anything to say about the IS7? If anyone knows how to mod it, that would be great.

[Szymek]

Hey Catch

I'll try to mod my AGP voltage with LM pin6 to ground with 50k VR. As I said before raising pin 5 was no go so 'll try to lower pin 6...


Wish me luck :)

[Shadrag]

Szymek - did you get around to trying that on your agp voltage? If so, did it work?

[Szymek]

Originally posted by Shadrag
Szymek - did you get around to trying that on your agp voltage? If so, did it work?

Yup. Tried to 'fool' AGP voltage regulator by increasing +IN voltage. Also tried to lower -IN and it was no-go.

Catch are you still here ? I was using 50k VR. Maybe it was too high ? Got as low as 20k ish and noticed NO change in voltage at all (not even .001 change)

[CATCH22ATPLAY]

I think i was confused earlier. Do so many mods i can't keep track. I ended up doing it similar to the original posters direction.

I cut the trace
Solder from cut trace winbond side
soldered from agp mosfet
soldered a ground as well
used a 2k ohm variable resistor
middle leg of vario to trace
left leg to mosfet
right leg to ground
set resistance between left leg and middle pin at 100 ohms to start. Haven't actually tried it yet. I'm hoping this mobo still runs. I was having issues before the mod

Also i think the v north mod the way i've been doing it sucksass. I may have to try another method. I'll post results etc.

[Shadrag]

Let us know if you find anything, I'm anxious to find a way to vmod the northbridge on my IS7.

[wolfgang]

Originally posted by CATCH22ATPLAY
I think i was confused earlier. Do so many mods i can't keep track. I ended up doing it similar to the original posters direction.

I cut the trace
Solder from cut trace winbond side
soldered from agp mosfet
soldered a ground as well
used a 2k ohm variable resistor
middle leg of vario to trace
left leg to mosfet
right leg to ground
set resistance between left leg and middle pin at 100 ohms to start. Haven't actually tried it yet. I'm hoping this mobo still runs. I was having issues before the mod

Also i think the v north mod the way i've been doing it sucksass. I may have to try another method. I'll post results etc.

From reading the vdimm thread this mod works. I assume I could raise pin 34 on the winbond chip instead of cutting the trace and sodering to it. I know I cant soder to a trace. The pin sounds like a good soder point. As long as the pin doesnt break. Hot glue a wire to the winbond chip raise pin 34 dab of soder? I really want to make sure that pin 34 is correct. My multi is too fat for all that little stuff.

[Szymek]

Originally posted by wolfgang
From reading the vdimm thread this mod works. I assume I could raise pin 34 on the winbond chip instead of cutting the trace and sodering to it. I know I cant soder to a trace. The pin sounds like a good soder point. As long as the pin doesnt break. Hot glue a wire to the winbond chip raise pin 34 dab of soder? I really want to make sure that pin 34 is correct. My multi is too fat for all that little stuff.

If you're not sure just Ohm between mosfet and this pin. Must read 0 resistance (short circuit)

Of course If you're able to lift pin 34 feel free to do that... I 've cut the trace and soldered to it !

[Shadrag]

Malves said in another thread that he got vnorth adjustment on an IS7 by using a 1k pot between pin 6(not cut) and the FET leg. An thoughts on how good this method might be?

[wolfgang]

I should post and say it works lifting the pin. It just seems easier to me that way and there is no damage to the board.

[Shadrag]

Really? Malves tried lifting the pin first and got no results. I have tried this method on my IS7 and have gotten some results, but it seems that increasing resistance gives me higher voltage so 1K is not nearly enough. You would need around 10K to have a decent voltage change assuming the voltage change is constant.

[wolfgang]

How much resistance did you have between ground and pin? Mine is pin to mosfit ~85ohms and pin to ground ~1900 ohms. That seems to be enough I get about .03 over bios setting. Had it up to 1.85 be carefull with high agp.

[Shadrag]

Hm well I was only using a 1k and that only showed too low an increase. stock at 1.456v then with 1K at 1.467v then I lowered all the way to about 300 and got 1.461. Just today I tried with a bigger pot at 10K it was still only 1.467, however I disconnected the mod and then got 1.473! This is very wierd, I am sure of what my voltag was before the mod, I measured it 3 seperate times and got 1.456-1.458 every time.

wolfgang - what fsb increase have you gotten with the voltmod, before and after?

[CATCH22ATPLAY]

Well i finally managed 333fsb. AGP mod helped. I used Vnorth mod but i still don't think that helped. I ended up removing the v north mod. I did however end up doing if differently. I used pin 2 to my 5v line via a 500K ohm vario set at 500K. That did end up being a better method. But like i said it really didn't seem to help. But if yours is low like that 1.456 i'd do the mod my way and give it at least 1.50 which Intel says it should be. Mine without mods on this mobo is like 1.510 My old ic7 default was 1.479 and at the time i thought raising the Vnorth did help on that mobo. I think the best thing to do though and something i will do shortly is just adding another capacitor for Vnorth that's rated the same as the existing one. I've done that to a lot of mobos in the past. Doesn't help a lot but a few fsb morre o/c is worth it 2 me.

[Shadrag]

Great! Thanks Catch, I'll try going from pin 2 to 5v then since nothing else has worked. Now I just have to wait until I have enough free time to take her apart again.

[Shadrag]

Oh well, time for a new board. I don't know if the mod worked or not Catch....

It was all connected fine and I turned the pot from 500k lower and nothing was happening then all of the sudden I heard a sizzle noise and saw the pot start glowing... I pulled the wires off, but the voltmeter was rising drastically and I saw it go over 1.9 before the wire I was using to read the voltage melted off the voltage regulator... My board is dead... well the only bad part is the NB voltage reg, it's a little melted, the NB doesn't appear any worse though.

SO I'm thinking of getting an AI7 or a IC7, leaning towards AI7, any recommendations?

[DeadHeart]

Originally posted by CATCH22ATPLAY
Well i finally managed 333fsb. AGP mod helped. I used Vnorth mod but i still don't think that helped. I ended up removing the v north mod. I did however end up doing if differently. I used pin 2 to my 5v line via a 500K ohm vario set at 500K. That did end up being a better method. But like i said it really didn't seem to help. But if yours is low like that 1.456 i'd do the mod my way and give it at least 1.50 which Intel says it should be. Mine without mods on this mobo is like 1.510 My old ic7 default was 1.479 and at the time i thought raising the Vnorth did help on that mobo. I think the best thing to do though and something i will do shortly is just adding another capacitor for Vnorth that's rated the same as the existing one. I've done that to a lot of mobos in the past. Doesn't help a lot but a few fsb morre o/c is worth it 2 me.

What 5v source did you use? ATX plug? Thanks :)

[Shadrag]

I was planning on soldering to something on the motherboard, probably the ATX connector, but just for the initial testing I was using the 5v from a molex connector.

[Shadrag]

BTW hipro5 just posted a great mod article on the IC7 at http://www.thelab.gr/reviews/ic7mods_en1.php enjoy, makes me wish I had an IC7...

[CATCH22ATPLAY]

Originally posted by Shadrag
I was planning on soldering to something on the motherboard, probably the ATX connector, but just for the initial testing I was using the 5v from a molex connector.

Damn dude i've done the v north mod on 3 different ic7 mobos. 1 was a max3. I've even tried using 12v for my source without problems. Curious what type of vario you used. Sometimes if you want to be safe add a 10 ohm 1.8th or 1/4 watt resistor to whatever vario you use. That way only 1/4 of a watt goes to whatever pin you're landing on and you won't fry sheit. pin 1 is bottom left pin and pin 2 is bottom second from left. Like this

|8765
|1234

ok now that would make how many products i've fried of other peoples stuff? hmm let's call it 101 :eek: