So it starts...

[Svenn]

(For those movie buffs, who can tell me what the title is from? heh)

My Max3 has arrived! CPU is out for delivery. I've got to head to work but when I get home it's fair game. I've cleared my schedule as much as possible for the weekend (except Sunday we got a suprise party for my grandmother, she's turning 65). So, I'll be updating here as I go along. For those of you who don't know, here's what the final setup will be:

P4 3.0c, Prometeia cooled
IC7-Max3
9800XT (9700Pro until I can get one), MCW50-t cooled
2x512 Corsair XMS3500 (later upgraded with an additional 2x512 Mushkin level 2 black 3500 for a total of 2GB)
2x36GB Western Digital Raptors (10k RPM SATA drives)
8x Plextor DVD+/-RW
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

So, before I begin, I'd like to take any and all suggestions on setting up the Max3, extra cooling, etc needed. Also, suggestions on good BIOS settings or BIOS settings to try. I do have a few questions to start such as:
1) What are the game accelerator options or whatever? I saw them in the manual and I have no clue what they are for...
2) For SATA RAID, should I be using the southbridge SATA or the separate SATA chip?
3) Would I be able to and would I benefit any from connecting my Plextor DVDRW to the SATA instead of the IDE using an IDE->SATA converter (got some laying around from my many NF7-S). This would mean completely disabling IDE and solely running SATA devices.

So, I'll be back on after work to check out the suggestions and update you on the status! I can't wait!

[sandman]

that raid setup will slow down benchies a little bit, won't it?

Other than that, it looks nice a great set-up.

[antipop]

Originally posted by sandman
that raid setup will slow down benchies a little bit, won't it?

Other than that, it looks nice a great set-up. Why would it? Raid will give an advantage in all bench that requires access to the hdd (not a lot of bench i agree)

It'll be a great we for you, i think you'll be sad when it'll be over

[shray]

was it lord of the rings :D or was that so it begins, or is it the matrix [2]...

[Soulburner]

The ICH5R Southbridge should be a little faster than the Silicon Image chip, but you will have to see what options each one offers (stripe size, etc).

[Svenn]

W00t W00t! I walked into work and we had the 9800XT on the shelf! I wasn't expecting it for line another week or two! AHAHAHA! It's going together now! Give me a few hours...

Keep guessing on the movie....

[Svenn]

W00t! After many many hours of rebuilding, I've got the system up and running! I'm in bios right now messing with some settings, about to install WinXP... I can't believe it booted first try, hehe. I completely reworked everything from water-cooling to case mods, heh. I'll be back to report again soon.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that bios is reporting temps of -22C :)
Voltages on the other hand, are at 3.36, 5.05, 12.03 for 3v, 5v, and 12v respectively. The one thing that worries me is the core is set to 1.525 and is showing 1.48 in bios....

[jmg823]

Originally posted by shray
was it lord of the rings :D or was that so it begins, or is it the matrix [2]...

i thought it was matrix also

[baker18]

LOR...

[L0$t Pr0PhEt]

Good Luck with your rig Svenn!!! :)

[althes]

Good luck with the rig.Max 3 undervolts on vcore overvolts vdimm.

[Svenn]

Heh, well, fell asleep trying to install drivers last night, hehe. So I don't forget, what all do I need and what order should I install?
Windows Updates
DirectX
chipset drivers (where are they? on Abit's page they have intel inf, I downloaded that and I think that's the chipset drivers, is that right?)
video card drivers (are 3.8 safe? not that I care since if it dies in 30 days I can just get a replacement, no questions asked, heh.)

Anything else? And where can I get the latest Max3 bios? The abit page for the max3 bios isn't working right now.... Also, what is this intel application accelerator? Should I install it?

[shray]

The Lion King.

[L0$t Pr0PhEt]

Originally posted by shray
The Lion King.

I just bought the Special 2disk edition, it rox!

[Svenn]

I think shray saw me post it in IRC :-P

anyway, doing some benching now... results very soon! W00t!

[althes]

Cant wait.:D

[Svenn]

19160 stock 3dmark01!
6571 stock 3dmark03!

I'll have compare URLs up in a bit... doing more testing.

[JCviggen]

quit the boring crap OC that FX already!

[Soulburner]

Originally posted by JCviggen
quit the boring crap OC that FX already!
FX? Don't you mean XT?

[Svenn]

Originally posted by JCviggen
quit the boring crap OC that FX already!

Eheh, I'm going, I'm going... Gotta do cpu first though!
Btw, 48,514 stock Aquamark...

[JCviggen]

i got smth like 47,5K stock aqua with 9800pro and 4,00 GHz P4 so that sounds about right...its mostly graphics

Originally posted by Soulburner
FX? Don't you mean XT?

whatever, all those 2-letter things are confusing me :( :stick:

[X-Ecutioner]

fx ti se xt ... bullcrap they try to confuse u like the 4800se stuff...

hate that

nice rig... oced benches?? results??? :stick:

;)

X

edit: god i love the stick smilie

[Svenn]

Is there any issue with corsair xms3500 and Max3? This stuff did 220FSB at 2-5-2-2 at only 3.0v on my nf7-s no problem, now it's taking 3.2v at 2-5-2-2 to run 200FSB, and when I pump the cpu up, I have to run 3:2 cl2.5 to make it through 3dmark?!

[charlie]

C'wood NEVER likes cas2, 5,2,2....
Try cas2, 6,3,2
XMS3500 on the max 3 should do 240ish 1:1...
there's LOTS of threads with IC7 BIOS settings, stuff like GAT auto, disable cpc, etc, etc, etc.
C

[Soulburner]

Umm it takes 3 volts for that? Mine will do 223 on only 2.85 and I hear this board undervolts the vdimm....

[LikwidKool]

Originally posted by charlie
C'wood NEVER likes cas2, 5,2,2....
Try cas2, 6,3,2
XMS3500 on the max 3 should do 240ish 1:1...
there's LOTS of threads with IC7 BIOS settings, stuff like GAT auto, disable cpc, etc, etc, etc.
C

Just like charlie said. I know my IC& will not take a RAS to CAS under 3. Try 2-3-2-6 like he said and see what happens.

I have XMS 3500 v1.1 and it does 235 2-3-2-6 at 3.0v

[Svenn]

Originally posted by Soulburner
Umm it takes 3 volts for that? Mine will do 223 on only 2.85 and I hear this board undervolts the vdimm....

I messed with the GAT settings and now it's running 270 5:4 at 2-5-2-2...

[Soulburner]

Originally posted by Svenn
I messed with the GAT settings and now it's running 270 5:4 at 2-5-2-2...
Yeah thats only 216mhz. Is it still at 3.0v?

[Svenn]

It's at 3.2v... I haven't bothered trying anything else.

[Soulburner]

If you go too high on the voltage and its clocked low it can fail memtest and bomb out of 3DMark, it only needs as much as it needs really.

[Svenn]

Right now the core on the 9800xt appears to be going up to 480 without artifacts and on the memory 420-425... This is without vold mods mind you, but is using a MCW50-T block. I think I need to find a way to cool the memory chips and I could get a bit more... They're running real hot. I'm still doing testing though, bout to try a 3dmark01 run at 480/425 so let's see what this baby can do.

[charlie]

Svenn,
I'm a bit concerned about that...on my first R9800 Pro, I used an MCW50-t and chilled water and it went 530 with a few artifacts here and there...with 1.9V it went like 545.
The memory on your XT looks great!!! Maybe 450 with super chilly air and volt mods...
What would be really helpful is just tell me what is the highest clock you can pass "1" 3Dmark test...like Car Low detail, nevermind artifacts, just finish the test. This will give an indication of where it's at. You REALLY should be able to hit 500 at stock voltage...
edit: the mem chips have factory heatsinks right?? The giant copper hairdryer covers the mem chips too, right? How about the back? Just a big copper plate?
c

[Svenn]

Oh, it did 500 easy for several tests, but started artifacting so I lowered it...

I removed the default heatsink to add on the mcw50-t so I have nothing on the ram chips right now... I've got a bunch of heatsinks lieing around that I may toss on em. My old 9700Pro (http://w3.mivlmd.cablespeed.com/~svenn/9700.jpg) was crazy looking.

I hit 23,762 at 475/425 with some artifacts, I'm doing 475/420 right now and I'll let you know how it goes. I'm going to bed after this set of benches but I'll upload all my scores and post compare links...

[Svenn]

Btw, disable unused PCI Clock, should this setting be enabled or disabled in bios?

[st0nedpenguin]

Good to see that XT is doing better than the review ones, looks like the itch may be kicking in for me soon. :eek:

[Naasar]

Originally posted by shray
The Lion King.

yea, Timon said that to pumba...heheh:D

[Liquide]

1) What are the game accelerator options or whatever? I saw them in the manual and I have no clue what they are for...
That's ABIT's name for the PAT hack

[Svenn]

Hrm, keeps saying I can't publish any of my scores. It's not due to detected CPU speed variation either. I think it's because for some reason under Graphics Chiset it's showing up as Generic VGA.... What the heck?

Btw, any suggestions on settings for anything to try? Also, what's the best radeon overclocking program. I use powerstrip usually.

[Svenn]

What's the best combination of drivers for windows xp w/ sp1? I noticed most people bench with DX 8. Maybe I'll try that... I want to just hit 25k...

[Soulburner]

Cat 3.2

[Svenn]

Originally posted by Soulburner
Cat 3.2

Well, apparently not even the cat 3.7s work with the 9800xt... Looks like I'm limited to Cat 3.8...