Why can't I access thread #1432???

[XyBeRz]

My account has been validated yet when I try to access

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1432

This site says I'm not authorized. Why? It's just a voltage mod guide for the ABIT KX7-333R.

:confused:

[Comp-Freak]

You're sure about the link? I can't see it either, so I don't think it's just a topic you can acces via the mods subforum.

[XyBeRz]

You're sure about the link? I can't see it either, so I don't think it's just a topic you can acces via the mods subforum.

Yeah, it's a direct link off of the Vmods Archive Thread (Sticky) topic under the Xtreme mods - Xtreme Motherboard Mods. Check it out and look for the ABIT KX7-333R link. This is exactly what it says:

"XyBeRz, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation."

Dunno why I couldn't have access to see the thread. Any ideas? :confused:

[ozzimark]

possible that it got deleted.

[XyBeRz]

possible that it got deleted.


That sux, does anyone have the voltage mod instructions for the KX7-333R???

[alexio]

"XS Review Staff Only" ;)



Hello again my friends:

I've been asked many times on many forums about the Abit volt mods and decided to put together a pictorial guide, one in which even the casual or newbie modifier can follow and absorb easily. There are numerous guides out on the web, I hope this one can offer clarity to the first time enthusiast who wishes to perform the volt mods.

WARNING: These modifications will void the warranty on your motherboard. I nor the XtremeSystems.org website will be held responsible if you inadvertantly ruin your board either thru following the procedures below, or if you accidently raise the voltage beyond the boards capability, particulary the VMem mod, as its proven to ruin the AGP controller if the volts exceed acceptable limits, ie: You slip and the Mem volts spike to 3.5V+...you are guaranteed to be dead in the water. Also...you will need exceptional cooling when doing the VCore mod...as anything from 1.9V and up, especially if you are pushing a high overclock, will raise CPU temps considerably.....so be forewarned and get a GREAT HSF....or make the switch to watercooling

These volt mods became necessary for the Abit enthusiast as Abit boards, tho the highest performance on the market for an AMD based system, don't offer the necessary voltage for the overclocker who wishes to push the memory to high MHZ and also sustain aggressive timings, or voltage enough to push a CPU to its limits. The current KX7-333(R), AT-7 and KR7A have Vcore maxed at 1.85V, and memory topping out at 2.85V in the bios. The KG7 will go as high as 3V on the memory and 1.85Vcore.

We'll begin by talking about the target voltage regulators on the motherboard. The following pic points out the target voltage regulators for VCore and memory:



The Vcore regulator, commonly known as Hip6301, is used on the KX7/AT-7/KR7A and KG7...along with older generation Abit motherboards. It is responsible for providing the CPU with voltage as specified by what you set in the bios.

The Memory Voltage regulator, known as Hip 6521, is responsible for providing voltage to your memory, also as specified in the bios.

The 2 target pins on the Vcore regulator are Pins 7 and 10. Pin 10 in many circumstances does not need to be modded...especially on the KX7/AT-7 and KR7A, but I've found always needs to be done on the KG7.




THE PINS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS

Pin 7, also know as the FB pin, or feedback pin, is the essential mod here. A small guage wire (or fan plug pigtail wire) will be soldered to this pin...or for those not handy at soldering you can utilize an SMD grabber. You can read about those here SMD Grabber Discussion or purchase them here SMD Grabbers. By installing a VR on this pin and reducing it's resistence...you are fooling the voltage regulator into believing it's not putting out enough voltage, and the VR will increase your voltage above and beyond the stock 1.85V. On ALL KG7's...and only SOME KX7/AT-7's and KR7A's...the pin 10 mod is necessary.

Pin 10, also known as the OVP pin, or Over Voltage Protection, is responsible for preventing the voltage regulator from going over a certain threshold. On the KG7..this threshold is anywhere from 2.05v to 2.13V. By attaching a VR to this pin and reducing its resistence you effectively raise the OVP to a level which you deem is sufficient to attain a high enough voltage from your Pin 7 Mod. As an example....I would adjust the Pin 10 VR just enough so I could get a top voltage of 2.3V on my KG7 with the bios set at 1.85V when adjusting the Pin 7 VR. Then I can adjust the bios setting down to the voltage which allowed my cpu to function stabily..say 2.2V. As far as the KR7A and KX7/AT-7....the majority only need the Pin 7 mod....while a few have reported needing to do the additional Pin 10 mod to achieve over 2.1V. It's a chess game on that one, so you'll only know after trying out your board.



The VMEM REGULATOR AND PIN 3

On the VMem regulator, pin 3 is the target as shown in the following pic




Pin 3 is, as Pin 7 is on the Vcore regulator....a FB or Feedback pin. Reducing the attached VR or trimmer's resistance raises the DDR voltage. It is of note here to remind you again that adjustments of VMem on the KX7/AT-7/KR7A should be done slowly and precisely so as not to spike the voltage on the VMem regulator. The reason is that it also controls AGP voltage..and sudden or prolonged spikes of excessive voltage will destroy theAGP controller.


MATERIALS FOR THE MODIFICATIONS


These modifcations will require the following items:
A roll of light guage wire
2 Cermet variable resisters of 50K Ohm or 100K Ohm /OR
2 Tapered potentiometers of 50 or 100K Ohm(Radio Shack)...the above multi-turn Cermets are preferable to the Pots
1 30K Ohm trimmer for VMem(Radio Shack) NOTE: You can also use a Cermet VR for this
A fine tip soldering iron
Rosin soldering flux (paste) Radio Shack PN. 64-021
Light guage(.032dia.) 60/40 Rosin core solder Radio Shack PN. 64-005Bv
Case fan plug lead pigtails and extension wires
A Multimeter, to set each VR to it's maximum resistence
A pair of fine tipped needle-nose pliers

In my mods...I use fan plug leads exclusively to plug my ground wires into the fan headers...which leaves only 2 soldering points on the MB (3 if you do the Pin 10 mod) These fan plug leads can be bought at Computer stores or Computer fairs very inexpensively($1.99-$2.99) The leads also negate the use of the above listed roll of wire, except for the Vmem Pin 3 wire....which still needs to be a conventional length of wire to the "hot" side of the VR.



DOING THE MODIFICATIONS

The first order of business is to set up the multimeter to read Ohms...or continuity. Once set up...attach the leads of the multimeter to the ground pin and "hot" pin of the VR or Pot/trimmer. These are as follows: the ground pin is the center pin of a Cermet VR...and on a potentiometer style trimmer. The "hot" pins on a cermet are the front or back pins...on a pot style trimmer it will be the left or right pins.

Another little tip is as follows: I like my VR to raise voltage when turning it clockwise, reduce voltage when turning
it counterclockwise. This is accomplished by utilizing the front "hot" pin on a Cermet VR (the pin closest to the adjustment screw) or the left pin on a pot/trimmer...left being as you look at it from the adjustment screw side.

Ok..now that we are oriented in which pins to use...attach the multimeter leads to the "hot" and ground pins. Adjustment will now done by turning the adjustment screw counterclockwise until you see the Ohms increase to the VR's rated resistence ie: 50K OHM or 100K OHM or whatever it may be. You MUST always remember to do this before installation or you will inevitably fry your board..install the VR's with MAXIMUM resistence.

You are essentially RAISING voltage by REDUCING resistence once the mod is done.

Once you have attained maximum resistence...its time to prepare for soldering. Wire prep is half the battle in a successful solder job. Prep by having that pencil tip soldering iron hot and ready to go. Clean the tip by squeezing a touch of soldering flux on it..then tin the tip immediately with a little solder...not globs..just enough to cover it.
Strip back about a 1/16" of insulation off the wire..and dip it in the solder flux tube. You'll now take the soldering iron and coat the exposed wire with solder, again...not globs...just a nice even coat. Take the needle-nose pliers and bend the end of the wire over....and test fit it to the voltage regulator Pin you are working with, along with making the necessary routing of the wire to the regulator. This will make it much easier to hold in place when soldering. Once it fits comfortably...dip the end of the pre-tinned wire in the soldering flux..and position it over the pin you are soldering to. I can hold it most of the time there with finger pressure..but some of you may find a small screwdriver or similar will be easier. Once you are satisfied that is positioned correctly..take the tip of the soldering iron and gently touch the wire with just a touch of pressure. It will adhere itself in a matter of a seconds....so don't dwell with the soldering iron..as you can cause damage from excessive heat. Thats all there is to it.

I suggest to newbies that finding an old dead electrical component with an IC in it would make a great practice target before attempting your motherboard, this is how I fine tuned my soldering skills


Each pin will be done in this same matter. This wire will be attached to the "hot" pin on the associated VR or pot/trimmer.
Following is the finished Pin 7 and Pin 10 mod



Next up is the finished VMem mod



Of course...if you utilize the SMD grabbers you will avoid the aforementioned soldering procedure.


DOING THE GROUNDS

There are several options for placement of the ground wires. As stated earlier, I utilize fan plug leads..and use the fan header grounds as it makes it much easier to unplug a mod when troubleshooting a board. You can also solder your grounds to these fan header ground pins. Another alternative is to use the motherboard mounting rings, either solder to one or crimp a non-solder loop on the ground wire which would be held by the motherboard mounting screw. Lastly, you could attach a ground anywhere in/on your case chassis. Here is a pic of my system utilizing the fan plug leads to attach to the fan header grounds.
PLEASE NOTE: This PIN 7 ground is mislabled..it should be PIN 10 GROUND



ATTACHMENT TO THE VR'S

Again..several different methods can used here. You can hard solder the wires to the VR's and install some shrink tubing over the solder joints for a clean job. If you use fan header leads...the 3 wire kind, I remove the center wire...and plug my cermets directly into them as shown here, which also enables me to unplug the VR's for troubleshooting.



With potentiometer style trimmers...I hard solder fan extension wire leads to them and plug them into the aready installed fan plug leads....which allows the pots to be brought out into an easier position for adjustment, and also allows them to once again be unplugged for troubleshooting.



If you use the RadioShack 30K Ohm trimmer on the VMem mod as I do..it will look like this




ADJUSTING YOUR VOLTAGES

The final phase of the modifcation, once the motherboard is reinstalled into your system, is adjustment of your newly found increased voltages. Go directly into your bios, in the Soft Menu section, increase your VCore to 1.85V and DDR voltage to 2.85V. Press F10 to save and reboot. Go back into the bios and enter the PC Health status section. Here you will monitor your voltages as you raise them to the desired levels. Remember you are raising the top voltage threshold of each mod. When you are done..you may use the Soft Menu 3 section of the bios to reduce your voltages to what you need.

Start with Vcore....slowly turn the adjustment on the VR until you achieve the desired voltage. I usually start at about 2.1v. Next move to your DDR voltage...and this one is VERY IMPORTANT: When adjusting DDR voltage...be very slow and deliberate as the memory regulator also controls AGP voltage. One slip and a voltage pike will take out the AGP controller quickly. I like to adjust the top DDR voltage to approximately 3.22 volts.
NOTE: If your system blacks out or fails to boot running at 2.05v or above...the Pin 10 mod will need to be done. The adjustment on this VR is to turn it clockwise to its limits...which will allow you more voltage (raises the OVP threshold) on the Pin 7 mod. If the system shuts down when adjusting the Pin 10 mod..turn the VR back a bit and reboot. You had only hit its limiter and needed to back off a bit.

I hope once again that this guide offers some clarity and ease of use for the newbie along with intermediate enthusiast, those who have been looking for direction in the volt mods without all the technical jargon of the hows and whys with the voltage regulators, just how to do the mod for themselves with clear direction.

Take care my friends, and Happy Modding !!

Randi



;)

[perkam]

It would seem it was moved in the wrong forum by mistake I'm sure.

Perkam

[ProphetX]

I think i can access it now

[XyBeRz]

I think i can access it now

Still can't access it.

[XyBeRz]

"XS Review Staff Only" ;)



;)

Thanks for the info, any pics though? I like pics. :D

[Negative Design]

I cant access it either :(

[NickS]

Weird... someone PM a Mod/Admin? I can access it fine.

Nick

[Jupiler]

The topic is located in a section, which is only accessible for staff and news staff members. That's why most of you won't be able to view it.
alexio copied the content of the article to this topic, but there are no pics available, so you'll have to do it with regular text without pics.
Hope this clears it up a little more for everyone.

[Negative Design]

Well in that case I demand to be a staff member,make me a mod...or an Xtreme Legend :)

kidding ofcourse lol.

[XyBeRz]

The topic is located in a section, which is only accessible for staff and news staff members. That's why most of you won't be able to view it.
alexio copied the content of the article to this topic, but there are no pics available, so you'll have to do it with regular text without pics.
Hope this clears it up a little more for everyone.

How come information would be accessible only to a select few? I thought forums are here for everyone to share and learn from. Of course if it involved in the devlopment of this site or something really important, then that's different. Just a thought. ;)

[FUGGER]

Not sure why that is in the review staff section, any reason it cannot be moved back to AMD? Lots of good info

[XyBeRz]

Not sure why that is in the review staff section, any reason it cannot be moved back to AMD? Lots of good info


Very very true. The KX7-333R isn't dead yet and would be a good setup for the first time overclocker that wants to get their feet wet.