KX7-333R... no improvement so far :(

[Marci]

Well, fitted the KX7 with CPU VMod and so far 3DMark scores the same. System won't overclock as high anymore either and has now developed a low 5v rail which was never there with the Epox... I'll assume due to the vMod, so now I need to mod my Enermax...

3DMark scores exactly the same, and it appears even with the ridiculous cooling of an 80mm SHE Screamer & 60mm SHE Screamer on my Radeon and a pencil gpumod I can't get past 309Mhz on GPU/MEM without major artefacts and a dramatic FPS drop... Corsair XMS3200 won.t run on Ultra timings which I assume is because i Need to do the VDimm mod. CPU won't go anywhere NEAR as high on this board... as soon as I turn Vmod up to get more than 1.95v the system refuses to boot... (due to low 5v perhaps as well?? drops lower the higher I raise the CPU Voltage)


EDIT -----

Just had MajorMav on the phone who's just fitteds his with all vmods done n checked ok. He's having even more problems... we've set his bios up to same as mine but with lower FSB and he gets no post.... and my bios is set to anything but aggressive...

These were the exacty same problems that caused me to ditch my KR7A-R for an IWill XP333-R, then the Epox 8K3A+...

I've flashed BIOS to latest ver which seems to have made little difference... brick wall + head banging = kx7 so far...

Only improvement I've seen so far is in cpu temps which are 10 degrees lower than the epox, and ram bandwidth under sandra which gets 400 points more at a less aggressive stting, but this hasn't afffected my 3DMark scores at all (??!!)

[macci]

Corsair XMS3200 won.t run on Ultra timings which I assume is because i Need to do the VDimm mod.
Do you mean the "CPU Command decode" setting @Ultra? Set that one to "FAST" cos its usually the board and not the RAM thats limiting the FSB w/ ULTRA command decode.


as soon as I turn Vmod up to get more than 1.95v the system refuses to boot
I assume that you have done the Pin7 - GND resistor mod only? It is possible that the Vsense is limiting the Vcore to ~2V (I have never heard this to happen at such a low voltage but it is possible). If you turn the pot while the system is on how high Vcore can you go before it shuts down?

ALso what kind of FSB are you trying to run ? Its more than likely that you won't reach the same FSB MHz you got on your Epox but that is because the Epox BIOS tends to slow things down when you up the FSB.. This means that you can easily outperform the Epox w/ KX7 using lower FSB but faster settings.


Only improvement I've seen so far is in cpu temps which are 10 degrees lower than the epox
I wouldn't call that an improvement :D
its only because the EPOX reads the internal CPU temp diode (hence higher temp) and abit uses the good old extrenal sensor that only measures the temp of the backside of the CPU.
THe Actual CPU temp is obviously the same it was on EPOX but it just reports the temp differently.

[Marci]

lets just say this board's temp reading makes me feel more comfortable ;) and my alpha is back to being my friend again...

anyways, got it up to same speeds as epox now but it won't go further.

Also now matching the epox 3dmark scores at same settings.
The Ultra i was on about is the equivalent to Epox's Ultra ram timings...

Cas2-4bank-2-5-2-2-2 (as they read down in abit bios)

I now have CPU Command set to fast. 200x9.5, 1.95/8v (it fluctuates). System shuts off as soon as hits 2v if adjusted when turned on, which is exactly the same point as it won't turn on when set by voltmeter when switched off. 1.99 will do but fluctuations cause it to slightly notch up to 2 and then off she goes.

So I now have all the settings set exactly same as epox, and it scores exactly the same, and it won't go any higher so I'm a bit stuck now... basically, the board can't go any faster according to the settings I have it set to other than dropping last ram setting to 1t which is NOT LIKELY!! I've tried it... this corsair won't do it...
cpu won't go higher due to voltage probs, so basically I'd say this board is equal to the epox in every way in my case. In majormav's case he's having that many problems trying to get it to even match the epox with all voltmods done, and is boxing it back up and getting rid of it and going back to his epox... literally all he's changed is the board, whereas I've changed the ram and cooling on the radeon as well, which does mean there's less juice free in the psu as I've added yet another 80mm SHE...

I think it's more a combination of conveniences... I've obviously got every piece of hardware tuned to it's maximum settings...

1. It isn't a "Built By" Radeon 8500, but comes as stock at same clockspeeds, but looks to have inferior quality memory.

2. CPU is a green XP2000+ which was a bugger to unlock. In these summer temps over here it's at it's peak at 1.9Ghz. Will move it on and get a brown XP2100 and try and get that unlocked without killing it.

3. Corsair is running as fast as can be xpected of it, at 2.85v which is quite good when it comes down to it... there is only one option left in the ram section of bios to speed it up, but I only know a handful of ppl that have evr managed to get there ram to run at that.

4. This board's voltage limit is unfortunately 2v. Move it on, get another and vmod it and hopefully it'll be a bit more friendly on that side of things.

5. ENermax Problem has shown it's face in the low 5v rail, so time to do the mod.

6. Can't get any better aircooling in there, unless an AlphaPAL8045 is capable of running pelt, but my PSU won't cope with it, and I have no room for another.

I've had a good run out of all these components and beaten all my personal bests, so I think it may be a case of moving it all on pre-modded for the extra cash and replace it all...

[MrIcee]

Marci:)

I sent you an email concerning your issues:)

These boards all respond differently to the VCore mod. You will likely need to do the pin 10 mod(same as Pin 7) to overcome the OVP(overvoltage protection) and be able to go above 2v. I did one KX7 that would go as high as I turned the VR with the pin 7 mod..I did anotherthat wouldn't go over 2v...and had to do the pin 10 mod(with 50Kohm VR) to be able to get to 2.2v.

The advantage with the KX7 is running 1T command at high FSB...this where it dominates in bandwidth. Once you get the VMem done...it willprobably take 3 to 3.1v to run 1T successfully...if the Corsair will do it. My Samsung Original does as does OPP's Mushkin.

Keep us posted on how you're making out:)

Randi :D

[N8]

plz do keep us posted...interesting hearing the opionion of this KX7 from a former 8K3A owner :)

I'm sure u'll get everything worked out and be beating ur 8K3A scores...question is, by how much? ;)

[N8]

u sure 8K3A is so bad?

http://roadrage.sports-gaming.com/slo/teamslo/imup/n8sp0242.gif

hehe, this is low-res 4200's btw...and i'm still the top AMD/4200 in default res :D

[Marci]

cheers icee... reply on it's way to ya... N8, from what I've seen so far I should get an improvement of 500-600 points hopefully when probs ironed out... never had any complaints about epox myself, just had got to the point where with my hardware combination I'd squeezed as much out of it as I could, so figured may as well try the KX7 to see if it'd give me any more...

[Marci]

do i assume the pin 10 mod is basically instead of connecting grnd to a fan header grnd point connect it to pin 10??

[KAIN]

No not at all Marci, that would not be good :D

It means you also use another resistor between pin 10 and a GND.

See this thread for details: http://www.icronticforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=16942

[SKATAN]

Marci


what bios did you use on 8k3a that matches kx333 at the same settings?

i would think 2312 am I right?

if not i´d say whoaaa

(mohaa rules :D)

by the way what are the same settings you use on both boards and respective scores


[8]


just thought

the guy behind you is running winXP if he was using win2k he would be all over you ;)

and he may have more fsb but I bet your ti4200 overclock is much better than his


ehehehe

gotta get me a ti4200 to beat yer ass ;)

peace

:smileysex

[Marci]

Yes 2312, and read the thread... all the settings are listed in my second post. The only relevant settings are ram timings and cpu settings, all of which are given above. These were set to the same for both mobos.

[majormav]

well dont know how its done but im getting madder and madder with the kx7..... chip wont o/c like the epox ........ the vcore and vmem mods done ok shoving 2.1 into chip and 3.1 into mem and still a no go 140+mhz down on the epox and 5v rail even further down. IT is getting a few more hrs then my epox is going back in im sick of it it is crap....... just my opinion and glad i didnt flog my epox but might be flogging the kx7 with a hammer

[SKATAN]

Originally posted by Marci
Yes 2312, and read the thread... all the settings are listed in my second post. The only relevant settings are ram timings and cpu settings, all of which are given above. These were set to the same for both mobos.

to me relevant is fsb , ram timings and bandwidth performance

[macci]

Marci, my advice is that you don't shoot directly to 200FSB there is no point running high FSB if you need to slow down memtimings.
The 203FSB you got w/ epox may seem high in terms of MHz but in terms of bandwidth and speed it is not very good.
Just check this out:
http://service.madonion.com/compare?2k1=3751745
its at 166 (ULTRA command decode) x 10 and its beating you in every test (no offence just trying to prove my point) ;)

Set it to say 166FSB and use max timings - 1T command too (maybe even ULTRA command decode...). Then start upping it and see how far you can get (and drop to FAST command decode if the ULTRA won't work at higher FSBs).

[Marci]

[SKATAN] - I mean relevant as in to the problems I'm having, not relevant to overclocking entirely.... anyways, fsb & ram/bandwidth timings are all listed above... bandwidth score (can only remember top bar result at mo) went from 24something to 26something I think...

[Macci] - Now managed to get full timings (except 1t Command) with CPU set to fast. Have a boat load of 50k variables arriving tomorrow [*PLUG* - will be available on our site within next 2 days for those in UK/Europe -*UNPLUG*] so will get the second CPU Vmod (pin10 to grnd), vMem mod & vIO Mod done tomorrow hopefully, then will drop speeds down to defaults and start from scratch with the info you and icee have provided... clean hdd, win2k sp2 (drive 1) clean hdd, win98se (drive 2) and just attach whatever drive I want to boot up as to the system so get best of both worlds. Hopefully will be on water by end of next week, and possibly even with a Matrox Parhelia (£259 exc VAT) to play with courtesy of my man in the know at Boston... what can we expect from these things?? beat a gf4 ti4600 or not? I dunno!!

Just out of curiosity, what are the fastest radeon drivers in your experience??

[Marci]

Right, set cpu to 166x10, FAST command (won't do ULTRA - no post), set ram to cas2-4bank-2-5-2-2-2.

Here are the sandra benches...

CPU ARITHMETIC (http://www.over-clock.co.uk/marc/benches/cpuarithmetic166x10fast.gif)

C{U MULTIMEDIA (http://www.over-clock.co.uk/marc/benches/cpumultimedia166x10fast.gif)

MEMORY BANDWIDTH (http://www.over-clock.co.uk/marc/benches/membandwidth2425222166x10.gif)

[mackanz]

Marci,

If you have time, try use 2,5,3...it gave me incredible stability at high fsb, as for Paul.
That helped me to get to 200fsb at ultra and better bw than at 185 at 2,5,2.
As yourselv i have a :banana::banana::banana::banana:e psu which i will change on friday (antec 400) so i cant provide you with any screenies, but ask Paul he might have a few.

Cheers!

Mac

[majormav]

well ive gone back to my epox and its doing better than b4 ... must be the copper coldplate that im using rather than an aluminium one ...... hope you all do well with your abits but ive given up on it ........ waiting for an epox now with the 400 chipset

[Marci]

And I've swapped my KX7-333R for MajorMav's KX7-333R so now have the cpu & vmem mods done... got a new cpu... XP2000 Aroia "Y" stepping 0211... so hopefully I'll get chance to play soon and beat that score (majormav just had a play with mine... managed to get me another 30 points so now on 10437 - will uplpoad when I get home)

I'm gonna keep hold and have a play... give it a month, then see what's on the market if I haven't got to where I want to be by then....

[majormav]

theres plenty of room to go yet marci in that rig the rad will clock higher and so will that chip go for it m8 lets see some whopping scores