Retail Abit IN9 32X-MAX - Pictures, observations and testing... [Archive]

Johnny Bravo

01-16-2007, 03:54 AM

Abits foray into the nVidia 680i ring comes in the form of the IN9 32X-MAX, part of the MAX range of enthusiast orientated motherboards. Being reviewed is the wifi version of the board coming with it's own pci-e dongle included in the package.

So first up, a few pictures of the packaging and box contents:

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0192%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0196%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0195%20(Large).jpg

BIG box! Colourful with some sorta robo-ninja-dragon, whatever floats yer boat. You'll also see a sturdy carry handle and that the box itself has a lid allowing you to peer in, and see the wifi gear, SLi slots and digital PWM heatsink.

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0198%20(Large).jpg
Opening the box presents you with yet another box with a clear plastic lid over it (theres ALOT of packaging) protecting the motherboard, wifi card and twin SLi bridges.

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0201%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0202%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0205%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0206%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0208%20(Large).jpg

Pulling this box out you find another two smaller boxes housing the driver CD manuals etc, and all your free cables:

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0209%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0210%20(Large).jpg

We can see that there is the usual CD and IO backplate, but Abit has also included a few other bits. See the big mental thing in the bag? Thats a PCI blanking plate with a bracket on it to clamp down your SLi bridges! the Smaller bag contains little clips to allow you to fasten your own 40mm fan to the northbridge for OC purposes. Nice little touches I thought!

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0211%20(Large).jpg

Heres the cable selection that you get. One rounded floppy cable, one optical cable, one 4 way USB bracket, one rounded IDE cable and 6 SATA cables!

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0212%20(Large).jpg

The IDE cable is also colour coded ;)
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0215%20(Large).jpg

erwinz

01-16-2007, 04:02 AM

very nice.. :) waiting for your results.. :)

:woot:

Kabauterman

01-16-2007, 04:12 AM

*sabber*

will have this too ;)

damn nice

Johnny Bravo

01-16-2007, 04:18 AM

A closer look at the motherboard

Just a collection of shot of the board as I built it up tried to cover a number of angles here hope you like.
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0238%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0225%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0226%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0242%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0246%20(Large).jpg
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0247%20(Large).jpg

The following are a few details I wanna show about the board
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0234%20(Large).jpg
Good ol' Crucial Anniversary RAM - sturdy stuff :up:

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0235%20(Large).jpg
The NB heatsink has the Abit logo stamped on all the fins

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0236%20(Large).jpg
Detail of above

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0240%20(Large).jpg
Power and reset switches on board, very handy for desk benching ;)

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0243%20(Large).jpg
The green and red LEDs are for 5v and 3.3v check and the blue is an on board power on status.

These are a few pics of the power circuitry for the northbridge/VTT /SB components I'm hoping to figure out vmods for them sometime as the circuit itself is pretty straight forward.
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0218%20(Large).jpg
The marked inductors are where to measure the respective voltages, from the underside of the board. VTT is bang on what uguru reports. NB is reported 20mV low and SB is 40mV. Vddr is spot on with with both uguru and the BIOS settings themselves. Vcore is 10mV out from uguru ( about 5mV lower than the BIOS setting) and drops a further 10mV under load (ORTHOS cpu stresstest). Digital VRM has really good control over the voltage.

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0253%20(Large).jpg
The Winbond W83320G Synchronous Buck Regulator of the choice of controllers for all these voltages. Feedback is on pin 8 and is a simple resistor divider circuit. Vmods should not be too challenging.

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0257%20(Large).jpg
I've included this to show the basic layout of a PWM Buck circuit I just liked the fact it was laid out exactly in line with the operation and gee well I just visually like that sorta thing damnit!

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0221%20(Large).jpg
A shot fo the nVidia 680i core. Abit has chosen to use thermal pads on the heatsinks, I wasn't to taken by this idea and replaced the thermal pad for the NB with some ceramique to hopefully improve temps/FSB clocks. The heatsink is pretty heavy and has a machined surface on the underside that isn't overly smooth. I have not confirmed if it is indeed some form of copper or painted aluminium.

Xptweaker

01-16-2007, 04:34 AM

Nice .... OC results and northbridge temps would be nice ^^

Johnny Bravo

01-16-2007, 04:38 AM

Initial Observations

The board is stable
Abit were a little late getting this out of the house compared with other manufacturers thought it looks like it was due to them taking some time over it. There are a bunch of new technologies on this board including the digital VRM and they have been executed very well.

The board is overclocking friendly
Release BIOS is good, clear and offers a wealth of settings without overwhelming the user. Uguru is on hand and offer straightforward overclocking settings and voltage ranges. I did feel a little constricted by some of the voltage ranges i.e. VTT and NB but as for vddr and vcore you'll have killed your hardware long before you've run out of volts. Vddr also features ref voltage adjustments too which will help with memory tweaking. BIOS also allows for saving of profiles. Recovery from failed boot has never been easier!!! Clear CMOS switch at back is a great touch and works well. Onboard jumper still exists too. BIOS is usually able to reboot on last known settings if you push too hard. HINT if is doesn't press the RESET button and wait till the BIOS readout goes from "A0" -> something else. Then hold the power button, wait about 5 secs and reboot, the BIOS should reload the last working settings and allow you to regain control again. Has worked flawlessly for me :)

Board is feature rich
Lots of goodies onboard no real point in going over them here as you can just as easily read it off Abits site but here's a few of them:

Digital VRM
Solid State Capacitors
Wi-Fi PCI-E card
HD 7.1 audio with HDMI connector
6 SATA with additional 2 eSATA connectors on the backplate
firewire
Silent operation (no overclocking mind!)
The clear CMOS switch
The board has embedded blue LEDs on the underside with trippy lighshow settings :D

Johnny Bravo

01-16-2007, 04:39 AM

Testing Results

Testing the board is a mixed bag. For the majority of the time it's pretty straight forward to use and you can overclock with a fair amount of ease.

However

There are times that it will really annoy. The whole divider issue is one such problem and you will find that you come across "gaps" in the overclocking ability of this board. I recommend that you always push higher, say 10MHz more and see if it's still not working. When I was trying to find the max FSB this became quite a problem and alot of time needs to be dedicated into mapping these holes out for a given divider/strap.

So on with the show....

Test Setup
CPU - E6700
memory - Crucial anniversary 2x1048MB
VGA - ATi 7000 PCI
HDD - WD Raptor 74MB
Cooling - Stock Intel fan

Clean XP install used along with CD Drivers, full nVidia driver suite installed

Maxing the board

Max CPU Speed

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/3900-32M (Large).JPG

Voltages are given on screen, remember this is an Intel stock cooler, not the best cooler out there. I surmise that with a better cooler 4GHz should be feasible at 1.6volts spi32M stable :)

Max Memory Speed

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/660%205-8%201M%20(Large).JPG

Very happy with this as it's currently fastest on the 600MHz table :D What makes it even better is that the RAM voltage is only 2.4v so there's room for improvement. I doubt this is as far as it'll go but just wanted to post this for now.

Max FSB so far

http://valid.x86-secret.com/cache/157262.png
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=157262

This is still a work in progress, I'm starting to understand the board better now so hope to break 500MHz shortly and beyond. Things get hot at these temperatures and a fair bit of tweaking is needed still.

1T vs 2T

The following are just a few images of testing I did seeing how 1T affects performance in comparison to 2T.
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/3600-1T-32M%20(Large).JPG
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/3600-2T-32M%20(Large).JPG
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/3600-1T-latency%20(Large).JPG
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/3600-2T-latency%20(Large).JPG
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/3600-1T-read%20(Large).JPG
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/3600-2T-read%20(Large).JPG

Performance at 650Mhz

Finally a few pics of read/latency performance at a high FSB, don't ask me why I didn't do test at 660MHz I forgot and dialled in the wrong speed :rolleyes:

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/650%205-8%201M%20(Large).JPG
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/650%20latency%20(Large).JPG
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/650%20Read%20speed%20(Large).JPG

I will at some stage get round to BIOS photos being taken and uploaded too.

What else do folk wanna know about it?

Pete

01-16-2007, 05:11 AM

Yay a Uk mobo reviewer...look forward to this

day187

01-16-2007, 06:18 AM

Mine is on order should be here by weekend, so johnny on with the show :)

shawn1998

01-16-2007, 11:04 AM

I plan on getting this board, but it looks as if I'll have to get different coolers for the north and southbridge chips. The heatpipe probably won't work very well if I run it upside down.

Can you tell me how far apart the mounting holes are for the northbridge? The southbridge looks fairly standard, but the nb looks a bit different.

Thanks.

Shawn

day187

01-16-2007, 11:20 AM

I would also like to know this as i looking at getting the Swiftech MCW30

\/ENDE][A

01-16-2007, 11:46 AM

Picked my board up today:woot: . Will start my build later in week, benchies and pics to follow.:D
@ Johnny-Bravo what are default volts for mem at start up, reason i ask i will be using CellShocks PC8000C5 5,5,5,15 2.1v-2.2v and wondered if it was set @ 1.8v.

noobzed

01-16-2007, 12:00 PM

everyone say , i have the mobo, and i'll do some benchies and so on, nobody post concrete things...

Johnny Bravo

01-16-2007, 12:06 PM

doing stock now, might do a few OC on air getting the watercooling sorted tomorrow and maybe a bit of phase for the weekend....

noobzed

01-16-2007, 12:15 PM

so post air cooling, have you SLi issue or SATA issue, how hot NB is when fanless ?

we are all waiting for u !

bro20000

01-16-2007, 03:27 PM

Is this board anybetter for ocing than the evga 680i and reference nvidia boards!

dinges

01-17-2007, 02:26 AM

good stuff so far johnny :toast:

cant wait to see some fsb action ;)

Johnny Bravo

01-17-2007, 04:13 AM

I'm sorry for the delay guys I know your all desparatly seeking alot of answers. At the moment my girlfriend and I are going through alot and it's just a little draining after talking for several hours to come home and start alot of benching. I've got today off tho so willl be getting a few things published.

Just to warn you though:

I will not be doing RAID as I have no second raptor drive
No SLi testing, I don't have even one PCI-E card atm :(
I will not have all the answers as there's ALOT of settings so it'll take some time to find what works best

Sorry if this disappoints but there will be other reviews that hopefully will cover these topics.

Cheers

John

Cranox

01-17-2007, 04:46 AM

Can u test vdroop ( vcore set in bios 1.5v or something , then look how much it is idle an stressed )

Johnny Bravo

01-17-2007, 05:50 AM

Can u test vdroop ( vcore set in bios 1.5v or something , then look how much it is idle an stressed )

already posted mate see above in photos :)

The marked inductors are where to measure the respective voltages, from the underside of the board. VTT is bang on what uguru reports. NB is reported 20mV low and SB is 40mV. Vddr is spot on with with both uguru and the BIOS settings themselves. Vcore is 10mV out from uguru ( about 5mV lower than the BIOS setting) and drops a further 10mV under load (ORTHOS cpu stresstest). Digital VRM has really good control over the voltage.

Johnny Bravo

01-17-2007, 06:36 AM

[A']Picked my board up today:woot: . Will start my build later in week, benchies and pics to follow.:D
@ Johnny-Bravo what are default volts for mem at start up, reason i ask i will be using CellShocks PC8000C5 5,5,5,15 2.1v-2.2v and wondered if it was set @ 1.8v.

Stock volts are 1.8v for the DDR2 but I suspect that it will not be a problem as your memory will prob not boot at PC8000 at the beginning anyway. Also the board supports nVidia EPP which I *think* cellshock have embedded

day187

01-17-2007, 06:52 AM

My items have come this morning :D

3x xclio (Green Led) 120mm fans (Stacker 830)
2X Silverstone FN121 120mm fans (for water-cooling radiator)
1X Corsair Memory cooler
1X Abit IN9-MAX
1X Abit Guru clock panel

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/3429/dsc00684pg4.jpg

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/7842/dsc00682of6.jpg

Xptweaker

01-17-2007, 07:13 AM

Nice dude nice .... when can we expect results ?

Johnny Bravo

01-17-2007, 08:09 AM

day187

01-17-2007, 08:52 AM

almost done just making a raid fllopy disk then installing windows xp 64.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/8431/dsc00685kz3.jpg

ANP !!!

01-17-2007, 09:20 AM

Woah.. awesome stuff u got there :slobber: :slobber: :slobber:

revenant

01-17-2007, 09:29 AM

yes... YES! this will be the 680i board for me. great images there. :D I have a TJ09 waiting to slap it into also. whew. and an enermax galaxy 1kw waiting to power it up.

Johnny Bravo

01-17-2007, 10:25 AM

Benchies are UP!

syne_24

01-17-2007, 11:04 AM

Just a thought...

A few of you have been asking about mounting holes dimensions and what not. I'd like to point out that while I've been benching on air at about 1.6v the temps on the 5 phases has been in the region of 60-70oC. Now while you all may be eager to rip off the heatpipe section You will NOT be able to run the digital VRM naked. It's a simple enough heatsink design to fix this but it will still need to be made and installed before you run you water cooling etc....

I think most people will just cut the heatpipe off the mosfet to get active cooling the the chipset. If that doesnt work out, I'm sure I'll find another way because passive cooling on this is not the answer. IMO they should have at least included a fan with this board, calling it the beast and running passive is not a poor choice. Also from what I noticed, there isnt a 3pin fan header near the chipset, which will be a hassle for guys running chipset cooler. But if you can get those measurement from end to end of the mounting holes I'd be great.

Xptweaker

01-17-2007, 11:07 AM

nice Johnny Bravo could you give us temps of the NB with and without fan ?

\/ENDE][A

01-17-2007, 11:30 AM

I think most people will just cut the heatpipe off the mosfet to get active cooling the the chipset. If that doesnt work out, I'm sure I'll find another way because passive cooling on this is not the answer. IMO they should have at least included a fan with this board, calling it the beast and running passive is not a poor choice. Also from what I noticed, there isnt a 3pin fan header near the chipset, which will be a hassle for guys running chipset cooler. But if you can get those measurement from end to end of the mounting holes I'd be great.

Here is motherboard diagram showing fan header location...

JargonGR

01-17-2007, 12:10 PM

Damn can'r wait till mine arrives next week! Let us know about SLI + Creative Xi-Fi if you can.

day187

01-17-2007, 02:07 PM

Speederlander

01-17-2007, 02:13 PM

Well final got it up and running after to installs of windows,

HD TACH
2 x raptors sata1 (8mb cache) Raid 0
windows XP 64

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/961/raiddk1.jpg
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3152/cpuz1lj7.jpg
Hey nice, can you give a SPi 1M and 32M at that 3.6GHz? That gives me a good comparison.

Thanks!

\/ENDE][A

01-17-2007, 02:35 PM

Damn can'r wait till mine arrives next week! Let us know about SLI + Creative Xi-Fi if you can.

I will be testing SLI but only with 2 MSI 7900 GT0`S and 2 Leadtek 7900GS, I wont have 8 series cards till new revision comes out.

\/ENDE][A

01-17-2007, 02:42 PM

Stock volts are 1.8v for the DDR2 but I suspect that it will not be a problem as your memory will prob not boot at PC8000 at the beginning anyway. Also the board supports nVidia EPP which I *think* cellshock have embedded

My Cellshocks don`t have EPP, they were released before 680 came out, i have been told by Alonso(CellShock staff) that i can RMA for SPD reprogramming. I just don`t like the idea of having to send them from UK to Germany. I`m thinking of leaving them as they are.

day187

01-17-2007, 03:14 PM

superpi 1m
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/9527/super136tp8.jpg

superpi 32m
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/6370/superpi3236ae6.jpg

Speederlander

01-17-2007, 03:37 PM

superpi 1m
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/9527/super136tp8.jpg

superpi 32m
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/6370/superpi3236ae6.jpg

Thanks!

That's actually snappy all things considered.

H0RM0NE

01-17-2007, 04:54 PM

GREAT info Johnny!!!!!!!!!!
Really stellar pics. Great focus, composition, size and color.

Sorry to hear you're having relationship issues...hope they can work themselves out soon.

Finally some real hands on info on the real retail version. Like a lot of us watching this thread, I too am very interested in the performance of this board and appreciate your time and effort getting this info out to us.

Glad to see my wait so far for this board has not been in vain.

Thanks again!!!

@\/ENDE][A

Thx for the MBD diag that helps too...looking forward to your SLI testing results w/ the 7900 cards... keep us posted.

Johnny Bravo

01-17-2007, 05:50 PM

Thanks HORMONE yeah we're getting back on track was a rocky week or so tho.

Also thanks to day 187 for providing some RAID results and comparative Spi results too. Now all we need is some SLi action. I'm really tempted to splurge out on some cheap PCI-E cards like 7300GTs :D

As for the NB cooling there's a fan header right beside the cpu fan header, actually that's the header I use for my NB fan. I'll be exploring the BIOS more in the coming weeks playing with the straps and maybe even starting to map out these "gaps" in the FSB.

its 2am here time for bed !

vowkilmer

01-17-2007, 05:58 PM

What is ETA on this board here in the States ?

Looks promising. :toast:

qdemn7

01-17-2007, 09:32 PM

You will NOT be able to run the digital VRM naked. It's a simple enough heatsink design to fix this but it will still need to be made and installed before you run you water cooling etc....Hey Johnny, how about this Alphacool waterblock (http://www.alphacool.de/product_info.php/products_id/482/cPath/5_18_287/mosfet-coolers/mb-heattrap-regcooler-universal-g1-4:.html) for the VRM? Would that provide enough coverage for cooling?

Speederlander

01-17-2007, 10:38 PM

Looks to be in stock here (at least it says so now...):

http://www.fadfusion.com/selection.php?product_item_number=10024002962

sreedx2

01-17-2007, 10:53 PM

Yes I would also like to know when this board is available in US/Canada ?

thanks

Not many sites seem to have it ?

http://www.fadfusion.com/selection.p...er=10024002962 these guys do not ship outside the USA

H0RM0NE

01-17-2007, 11:07 PM

What is ETA on this board here in the States ?

That's the Million dollar question...and Skiman says:

ABIT IN9 32-Max at retail and in stock in the UK. Unexpected release two weeks ahead of what North American suppliers are telling us. Its here its coming, can't wait to get my hands on it!

Hmmm..., two more weeks...I can wait that long. It will give coolaler, Johnny B, Crotale, day187 and the others time to press on with their testing and write them up before I take mine...carry on. We're all counting on you... :D

sreedx2

01-17-2007, 11:15 PM

That's the Million dollar question...that Skiman has answered:

Hmmm..., two more weeks...I can wait that long. It will give coolaler, Johnny B, Crotale, 187 days and others time to press on and write them up before I take off with mine...carry on. We're all counting on you... :D

duh should have opened my eyes ...thanks cant wait ..:banana: :banana: :D

day187

01-18-2007, 02:09 AM

Johnny Bravo

01-18-2007, 02:54 AM

Welll I was feeling good last nite so I went online and got me 2 7600GS cards so SLi testing will happen. Will also be on the look out for a cheap 74GB raptor or maybe a pair of 36GB ones :D

Xptweaker

01-18-2007, 03:01 AM

Motley

01-18-2007, 05:24 AM

Thanks Johnny for the info and review, i love this board wish raid was a bit faster, but no problems so far. Just need 8800GTX (no food for a month or 8800GTX) :rolleyes:

lol @ no food for a month. At $600 for a 8800GTX, I wouldn't eat for 3 months!:rolleyes:

Johnny Bravo

01-18-2007, 05:47 AM

@ Johnny Bravo

I read somewhere that the temp. of a 8800gtx went up from 55 to 75 degrees because of the change from the aw9d-max to the IN9.
On the IN9 NB was a fan installed ....
Did u recogniced any graphic card temp increase or could u check that

Don't have a 8800GTX card mate sorry. Dunno why there would be in increase in temps tho I do know that the i680 chipset has linkboost which overclocks the PCI-E buses to improve performance. Perhaps the increase in temps is due to the card automatically overclocking?

Johnny Bravo

01-18-2007, 10:51 AM

Dimensions

The NB cooler is 43mm high, the digital VRM cooler is 39mm high.

Mounting hole distances are exactly 60mm for both the NB and SB and a little less for the VRM cooler ~58mm

Ran a completely stock run (cleared the CMOS and went into windows) Temps on the NB didn't exceed 45oC and a little lower for the VRM. Uguru reported that the digital VRM ICs were topping 80oC but doesn't seem to have a NB monitor, instead it reports a "system" temp which hasn't much association with anything. The CPU cooler was the stock Intel one, it was running at a low rpm controlled by EZfan. I'd say you could probably get away with a very mild voltage overclock and stay passive on the NB. Tho this will depend highly on your own setup.

axlros75

01-18-2007, 11:05 AM

I received my IN9 today. Great board but bios has multiplier locked. Someone knows if there is a new bios version that unlock cpu multi????
Thank you

Johnny Bravo

01-18-2007, 03:33 PM

Very quick update. I've been testing 1T to the max, running real loose timings (5-5-5) and limiting my ddr voltage to 2.4 volts. The Sticks of ram are Crucial anniversary (Micron D9GMH) for reference.

OK first things first, testing in "linked" mode so have a few memory dividers 1:2, 5:4, 3:2 and 1:1. Depending on which you choose your max FSB seems to vary, and it seems to decrease as you approach 1:1.

The max I hit for 3:2 was 481MHz 32M Spi stable. At 1:1 its breaking 475MHz 32M stable.

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/481-1T-32M%20(Large).JPG
http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/475-1T-32M%20(Large).JPG

This is very rough and ready stuff with a multitude of things I still have to play with. We'll see what the future brings :)

Johnny Bravo

01-18-2007, 03:59 PM

NEW MAX FSB.....495MHz!!!

http://valid.x86-secret.com/ccpuz.php?id=158272

Link (http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=158272)

:D

noobzed

01-19-2007, 05:43 AM

I currently use a SLI of XFX 8800 GTX, I played few minutes with Dark MEssiah game ( I know this game was sound distorted with ASus Striker and reference board bios prior to P21 ) and my conclusion IS ...

I have no sound issue with 8800 GTX SLi and IN9-32X original bios.

Another info for you I was able to do this score with a X6800 at 4000 ( 400 x 10 ).

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/71/benchqs7.th.jpg (http://img181.imageshack.us/my.php?image=benchqs7.jpg)

Or 16XXX with GTX SLI and X6800 @ 4Ghz under phase.

The negative point for me, is the location of the molex supply for the SLI, is is located at the bottom of the mobo and when you plug a GTX in second slot, the heatsink touch the molex , so I HAD to remove the plastic cover to plug correctly the GTX.

Another point, my X6800 retail the multi are from 6 to 11 only and I wonder why...

noobzed

01-19-2007, 05:44 AM

Jhonny what are your setting for 495 fsb ?

H0RM0NE

01-19-2007, 07:41 AM

Abit says this about it's sound:

Audio
- On board 7.1 CH HD Audio CODEC
- Supports Jack Sensing and S/PDIF In/Out
- HDMI ready header (SPDIF header)

Who's audio chip are they using for on board sound? Intel, Creative X-Fi or somebody else?

Thanks.

noobzed

01-19-2007, 07:53 AM

Yes I'm using onboard sound ATM.

noobzed

01-19-2007, 10:19 AM

OK, finally i'm not happy, my eVGA do it better. I 'll stay with eVGA I think.... I liked the solid capacitor and the blue led backlights ...

Johnny Bravo

01-19-2007, 10:39 AM

why are you not happy noobzed?

ent

01-19-2007, 11:06 AM

Nice board :D Abit is back in the game!

BTW: noobzed could give me the link to your wallpaper? Im also a abit fanboy:p:

outblast

01-19-2007, 11:10 AM

Can any body post links to the other people testing this board right now? Thanks

noobzed

01-19-2007, 11:41 AM

Johnny Bravo

01-19-2007, 11:41 AM

Vmods for the IN9 32X-MAX

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9%20images/DSCF0270%20(Large).jpg

Solder a 100k variable resistor between the each of the points shown and ground.

One to the left is VTT, the one to the right is NB.

Still looking for CPU HT Voltage which is the real winner in terms of high FSB :)

G H Z

01-19-2007, 04:43 PM

Wonder why they include two SLI bridges, is there any performance advantage using both rather than one in SLI mode?

SmokeyTheBandit

01-19-2007, 11:14 PM

Because this mobo is unstable and capricious with my rig, sometimes boot fine at 400x10 and sometimes before going to windows with same settings simply reboots.... my eVGa is ugly , yes, but is more stable.

However i wait for a bios update for the abit one.

I'm experiencing the exact same thing although mine does this as good as always and even at default speed/Bios settings

Its always after windows load screen a spanking reboot ...... :slapass:

Jhonny you tested this board with the same memory i use, have you experienced any boot issues noobzed and i encounter ?

Got a new beta bios from Abit but this doesn't solve anything :mad:

I have the oppertunity to test another one today, if that one does the same im returing it .....

Hazzan

01-19-2007, 11:56 PM

I think that board can run high FSB with new bios.

\/ENDE][A

01-20-2007, 03:25 AM

Wonder why they include two SLI bridges, is there any performance advantage using both rather than one in SLI mode?

I`ve been wondering the same thing, i thought it may be for upcoming physics card but, the brigde is too long to connect to middle slot:confused:
Does anyone have any idea?

Johnny Bravo

01-20-2007, 03:34 AM

well the 8800GTX has 2 connectors does it not ?

Rol-Co

01-20-2007, 03:46 AM

doing stock now, might do a few OC on air getting the watercooling sorted tomorrow and maybe a bit of phase for the weekend....

Put the Tube on it johnny.....:banana:

Johnny Bravo

01-20-2007, 06:15 AM

Put the Tube on it johnny.....:banana:

Haha Rol-Co you can't WAIT till I get that tube cooling something can you :p: Actually It'll be going on something else entirely different ;)

noobzed

01-20-2007, 07:17 AM

I'm facing reboot issue with low OC settings and even default settings, and the mobo suffer from general instability ( BSOD, Reboots ).

Wonder why ... I don't have new bioses ... CAN YOU EMAIL ME OR PM ME PLIZ ?

noobzed

01-20-2007, 07:23 AM

When entering the intergrated peripherals section and telling the motherboard to detect the mouse under BIOS instead of the ‘OS’ it causes a system instability when trying to boot into windows. Changing the setting back to ‘OS’ fixes the problem.

Quote from hexus forum...

Johnny Bravo

01-20-2007, 07:24 AM

Noobzed, what is your setup physically, have you been monitoring temps? Check that the heatpipe system is mounted properly place (ie pins are fully inserted)

noobzed

01-20-2007, 07:28 AM

Yep, pins are fully inserted, temps seems to be around 60 - 70 when doing a 400+ FSB, don't know CPU temp saying 0°c because i'm under phase change, no idea to have the real temp, the mobo dont read negative temp... eVGA do it...

i think this board is suffering bios un-maturity but i'm not very confident ...

noobzed

01-20-2007, 07:32 AM

My setup:

X6800 retail ( can do 4+ GHZ on eVGA ) under Vapochill.
2 Go of Corsair Ram 8500 C5 inserted in blue slots.
2 Raptors 74 + 150 Go.
Zeus 850W PSU.
XFX 8800 GTX SLIed at stock Voltages & Freq, on air.
I replace the heatpiped HSF thermal pad with white thermal paste, and put a 40x40 fan on NB.

noobzed

01-20-2007, 07:43 AM

http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=119094

Check the issue of this user ....

And another one, with same rams as me :

"After five days fiddling with this motherboard I think my head's going to start spinning.

I have a pair of Corsair 8500C5D which will NOT let me run stable @533 5-5-5-15 2T, no matter what I do. And those are the settings they're supposed to run @ straight out of the box.

Although memtest will happily run for 12 hrs straight with no errors, and I can Orthos until my studio looks like a tropical rainforest, in the least expected moment it will greet me with an old acquaitance that I haven't met for about three years: the BSOD "Stop 0x000000F4 (0x00000003, 0xblablabla, 0xblablabla, 0xmorebla)". ( this is a quote )

noobzed

01-20-2007, 07:47 AM

Well I think some IN9 are facing some issues and some don't.

AS Asus Striker is suffering issues too.

SO my conclusion:

I'M NOT A BETA TESTER :banana::banana::banana::banana:ING ASUS AND ABIT SHAME ON YOU

REALLY PISSED OF OF THESE MOST_OVERPRICED_MOBO_OF_THE_MARKET.

tomb18

01-20-2007, 09:08 AM

Sorry for your troubles.
It seems that all of the nforce 680 mb's are having these problems but it seems to me that it mostly happens with Corsair memory and / or inferior power.

I notice that guy on the other forum has a 520W powersupply. Just becasue it worked with a previous system or stripped down on his system,doesn't mean it will work perfect on a new motherboard even stripped down.
In your case though, the PS is perfectly fine.

Can you try other ram?

noobzed

01-20-2007, 09:14 AM

NO, I'm not gaining money like this.... 400€ for 2 Go of good memory, that is the price I paid for Corsair, and my modules are working on eVGA, why not on ABit / Asus ?

SmokeyTheBandit

01-20-2007, 10:51 AM

Well noobzed.

Tested it with an second IN9 exact same issue so i'm sorry Abit but there is something seriously wrong with the bios !
I presume your Corsair also uses Micron chips as the same for my 2 GB of ram.

How can Abit not seen this issue ...... these Micron chips are the most popular with the enthousiasts wich are the one's buying these super overpriced HEADACHE boards.

I'm returning it and am getting the already proven Bad Axe 2 wich should be a lightyear away from these 680's when it comes to stability !

noobzed

01-20-2007, 11:42 AM

Do U tried the beta bioses ?

What is PWm Phase3 temp in uGuru ?

SmokeyTheBandit

01-20-2007, 12:49 PM

Do U tried the beta bioses ?

What is PWm Phase3 temp in uGuru ?

I tried M622A_11.B01 wich i got directly from Abit.
On a few screenshots Johnny posted i saw he has M622A_11.B02

I on the other hand don't have this bios so i can't test it :mad:

The PWM temps are perfectly fine but since my board will not run a second of Windows i cannot test it under load but with a fan i have blowing over it it wont be a big problem and in uguru it shows as ~50 C.

Johnny Bravo

01-20-2007, 12:57 PM

SmokeyTheBandit

01-20-2007, 01:03 PM

Well I have the exact same memory as you SmokeyTheBandit, the Crucial 10th Anniversary. Before I flashed to the B02 BIOS is had NO PROBLEMS with the RAM.

I do notice that both you and Noobzed are using 8800GTX cards. If you have a PCI card lying round or can get if off someone please try that instead?

Will give it a try right away .... but it seriously doubt that the fastest card available won't work .... would be a big :slapass: :nono:

Johnny Bravo

01-20-2007, 01:08 PM

For Noobzed

http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?page=3&articleid=871&cid=5

Hardly a beta tester problem. And this is not technically the fault of Abit, Corsair is the exception to the rule. Consider that everyone else runs at the STANDARD 1.8v, and you default your BIOS vmem to 2.2v then your overvolting an awful lot of other manufacturers memory sticks. It's a sticky situation but I am surprised as these sticks have EPP which in my understanding should have improved compatibility...go figure. This hopefully should improve with BIOS updates.

Johnny Bravo

01-20-2007, 01:16 PM

BIOS

THIS IS A BETA BIOS YOU ARE FLASHING AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.itsjohnnybravo.com/Overclocking/IN9/in9bios/M622A_11.B02

It works for me, but then again I don't have your system so if it's not the silver bullet for all your woes it's not my fault!

Johnny Bravo

01-20-2007, 01:18 PM

Will give it a try right away .... but it seriously doubt that the fastest card available won't work .... would be a big :slapass: :nono:

Well we'll see, guess Abit can't test everything :confused:

SmokeyTheBandit

01-20-2007, 01:26 PM

Tried it with a spare PCI-Graphics card and exactly the same issue

Johnny Bravo

01-20-2007, 01:45 PM

What exactly is the problem?

noobzed

01-20-2007, 02:02 PM

Do u flash under xp ?

SmokeyTheBandit

01-20-2007, 02:22 PM

What exactly is the problem?

When i bootup the motherboard and proceed to the Xp loading screen it goes alright.
When the loading is finished you should see the cursor and proceed to the dektop.

In my case it loads op windows and when the cursor should appear, it suddenly reboots without a bsod or anything. :stick:

When installing a fresh Xp install it does the same in the middle of the installation (DOS Part !) .... so this must be a hardware/bios malfunction.

By the way Johnny thank you for the bios! :toast:
Didn't do his magic but was worth the effort.

Already emailed with Abit but they simply had no aswer regarding this issue.

maxwedge

01-20-2007, 02:30 PM

noobzed

01-20-2007, 02:31 PM

i repeat my question :

do u flash with abit utility under win xp ?

also, disabling epp seems to improve stability.

SmokeyTheBandit

01-20-2007, 02:38 PM

i repeat my question :

do u flash with abit utility under win xp ?

also, disabling epp seems to improve stability.

The Crucial sticks Johnny and i are using don't even support that feature so i doubt that has something to do with my problems :(

noobzed

01-20-2007, 02:43 PM

There is 2 or 3 people flashed their mobo and nobody cant tell me if it is under xp ? ...

Johnny Bravo

01-20-2007, 03:01 PM

What of this is new hardware SmokeyTheBandit ?

Johnny Bravo

01-20-2007, 03:02 PM

There is 2 or 3 people flashed their mobo and nobody cant tell me if it is under xp ? ...

yes use the flash program supplied with uguru

noobzed

01-21-2007, 12:19 AM

I have tried Beta Bios 1.1 no imprvments, and it is worst in fact, cannot change ram freq, this is a not finished bios, but the flash operation worked, going back to 1.0 today.

With 1.0 bios, I can get stable OCCt for 30 minutes burn, 400x10, ram@800 4 4 4 12 2T @2,2v, but the only negative things is the CPU VTT at 1,4 and NB at 1,4v too. On my eVGA all settings on auto except the vCore and it can do 400 easily, so far i have found stability, need more testing.

SmokeyTheBandit

01-21-2007, 12:57 AM

What of this is new hardware SmokeyTheBandit ?

Everything worked fine with the evga wich i had in here before the IN9.
So i know everything can work perfectly on another board.

I have plugged in the minimum of components PSU/RAM/GPU/HDD and it still does exactly the same.

JargonGR

01-21-2007, 01:25 AM

Hold on a sec.. Is it my understanding that up to this point the IN9 32MAX has problems with 8800GTX in SLI?

I am waiting for mine and will use this setup but I have 2GB of OCZ Titanium Alpha Memory instead of the Corsair.

If this is the case i don't know what to say - this must have been the worst mess a company has created and I mean NVIDIA.

How the hell can they not even make their own freaking platform to work. Solve it or release damn SLI drivers for 975 boards.

politenessman

01-21-2007, 01:33 AM

nvidia is not interested in running sli on intel chipset boards. this would only take sales away from their own chipset/motherboard division. since they are not about to cut their own throat, forget about official sli/975.

the error one of the above posters was getting, ie blue screens during xp install and reboots at splash screen is about 80% of the time a memory problem, the other 20% is power supply. i have seen it caused a few times by hdd probs, tho. good luck with that.

very truly yours,
politenessman

JargonGR

01-21-2007, 02:00 AM

Right now I run My E6600 on an ASUS P5W64 WS Pro @3.6GHz on ait and 1.45v and my OCZ Titanium ALpha 2.3v @ 800MHz 4-4-4-12 and its is very stable and never crashes no matter what. This is with a 8800GTX and an AUDIGY 2 ZS Platinum Pro (with ex/box)

I also have a second 88GTX and waiting on this ABIT to arrive next week so I can finally use it in SLI.

All will be watercooled with 3 loops (CPU/VGAs/SB,NB,Voltage regulators).

I hope it goes well and I am expecting at least a 400FSB and I target a 430-440 but depends on the CPU limits).

Crazystang01

01-21-2007, 02:12 AM

G H Z

01-21-2007, 04:09 AM

well the 8800GTX has 2 connectors does it not ?

I need another connector to test this. Any plans for SLI Johnny?

JargonGR

01-21-2007, 06:19 AM

JargonGR what type of GPU waterblocks you going to use just wondering really. I also am getting my In9 32X MAX next week. Still cant make up my mind on if want 2 GTX's or GTS's in SLI.

I will also be watercooling the cards and NB but putting the CPU on phase.

I have gathered the w/c parts already and for the GPUs I went with 2x Apogee 1U Server coupled with the G80 adapter plates. The reason I went with the Apogees instead of the MCW60 is because I felt it might be a bit more future proof since it has a larger contact area.

Ofc you need a lot of BGA RAM sinks and the ones from swiftech cost a lot, meaning that for the same money you can also go with a FULL cover block. However when new cards come out you can kiss a full cover goodbye.

noobzed

01-21-2007, 07:29 AM

Best bios form me the 1.0, shipped w/ the mobo.

\/ENDE][A

01-21-2007, 08:08 AM

I was gonna put my board in today but, the some of my water cooling parts haven`t arrived yet:mad: this is what i`m going with.....
CPU - Storm/ApogeeGT/D-Tek Fusion(waiting for stock of any).
RES - Swiftech MCRES Micro.
RAD - Thermochill PA120.3(custom mount thanks to Vapor).
VGA - EK full cover SLI setup.2 x 7900GTO/2 x 7900GS
PUMP - LAING DDC/Petra`s top.
TUBE - Masterkleer 7/16id(5/8od).

I`m gonna pull the heatpipe and watercool the chipset, DangerDen have released a 680 block which comes with sli fittings but i cant find info to see if will fit on southbridge with both cards installed. I think i`ll order one, see if it fits then order a second. If its no good try a low profile chipset fan like on DFI boards.

noobzed

01-21-2007, 08:14 AM

you waste your time with WC, because the mobo suffer for unstability, try it on aire, then when All OK do it on WC

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 08:19 AM

I need another connector to test this. Any plans for SLI Johnny?

I've 2 7600GS cards coming, REALLY don;t have the cast for a 8800GTAnything SLi setup so I won't be the one tested the duel SLi connector idea.

I'm quite perplexed by these few cases where people are having problems with their setups, SmokeyTheBandit in particular as he has the same RAM as me and says it worked on the eVGA board. I can understand other peoples problem with Corsair RAM as it needs 2.2v and the Abit defaults at 1.8v, but apart from that I dunno.

Have managed to get hold of some more Raptor drives so I'm gonna test RAID0 and see if that problem still exists.

Speederlander

01-21-2007, 08:28 AM

I've 2 7600GS cards coming, REALLY don;t have the cast for a 8800GTAnything SLi setup so I won't be the one tested the duel SLi connector idea.

I'm quite perplexed by these few cases where people are having problems with their setups, SmokeyTheBandit in particular as he has the same RAM as me and says it worked on the eVGA board. I can understand other peoples problem with Corsair RAM as it needs 2.2v and the Abit defaults at 1.8v, but apart from that I dunno.

Have managed to get hold of some more Raptor drives so I'm gonna test RAID0 and see if that problem still exists.

Anxiously awaiting results and further analysis before I do the deed and buy one.

\/ENDE][A

01-21-2007, 08:42 AM

When i bootup the motherboard and proceed to the Xp loading screen it goes alright.
When the loading is finished you should see the cursor and proceed to the dektop.

In my case it loads op windows and when the cursor should appear, it suddenly reboots without a bsod or anything. :stick:

When installing a fresh Xp install it does the same in the middle of the installation (DOS Part !) .... so this must be a hardware/bios malfunction.

By the way Johnny thank you for the bios! :toast:
Didn't do his magic but was worth the effort.

Already emailed with Abit but they simply had no aswer regarding this issue.

Are you using USB keyboard/mouse? I had major problems with an older Abit board that a bios update was supposed to fix but didn`t. In the end i used PS2 mouse/keyboard throughout install and solved problem. You never know it may be worth a try!

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 08:52 AM

For those of you having problems here's a few things to look out for:

a) Check that the BIOS is setting the appropriate voltage for the memory as it defaults to 1.8v and high performance sticks need a minimum of 2.2v. Actually this really bugs me. EPP is supposed to be capable to dictating the voltage of the memory modules. So it would seem either Corsair or Abit have not implemented this feature fully, or that by default EPP is not turned on.

b) Check keyboard and mouse support is set to OS and not BIOS, there has been reports that USB keyboards/mice can cause problems on the nVidia platform too.

c) Disable eSATA (in bios, under Integrated Peripheals, "Onboard SATA") and both the onboard LANs, reports that there are hardware conflicts.

d) If possible, enable EPP in uguru if your memory has an EPP programmed SPD.

e) Check temperatures, it's a rare event but there are reports of peoples setups running very high temps on PWM and "system". REMEMBER TO USE A FAN IF OVERCLOCKING ON THE NB! For reference I used a stock Intel cooler and at 1.6volts core the PWM could go as high as 80oC. Some have reported as high as 100oC as IDLE, this is not a good thing........

f) For those of you watercooling, Abit as a fan protection mechanism that in the case of not detecting a cpu fan wth automatically shutdown the system. You will see the error code on the board, but there's a chance you may not have noticed. This can be disabled by just inserting a fan, going into the BIOS and disabling the feature.

noobzed

01-21-2007, 08:57 AM

PWM#3 going to 140°c on OCCT load, just with 1,4V NB and CPU Vtt and a 120mm blowing to the mobo facing the NB .... disapointing... but it is not high fsb nor high voltages , do not know why is so high ... so far, OCCT can complete a 30 Min burn. I replace pad with paste, and clips are well plug.

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 09:05 AM

noobzed

01-21-2007, 09:42 AM

did not see this "feet" ....

Speederlander

01-21-2007, 09:52 AM

did not see this "feet" ....
As in didn't see it missed it or didn't see it they aren't there?

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 10:18 AM

did not see this "feet" ....

Had to steal a photo to do this....

ok look at this:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/45/362450946_bc971c7f90.jpg?v=0

to the extreme left and right, where the pins come through, do you see how they are raised from the thermal pad. These are the feet and make a gap. They create a space between the HS (heatsink) and the PWM ICs because they are just raw silicon and VERY easily damaged (silicon of quite brittle) so the feet stop you whacking the HS onto the chips and basically breaking them. I think that the gap however means there isn't good contact between the PWM ICs and the HS, so when you applied the thermal paste theres no pressure making it a thin film. Best way to see if I'm right or wrong is to take off the HS again and see if the pastes has been squeezed out, ideally there should be five squares in the thermal paste that are showing the metal HS, if not and its just all paste then there's your problem.

Yellowbeard

01-21-2007, 10:26 AM

Right. EVERYONE WHO WENT AND REPLACED THE PAD ON THE PWM WITH THERMAL PASTE PLEASE REPORT YOUR TEMPS. IF YOU NOTICED THE PWM HEATSINK HAS "FEET" ON EITHER SIDE OF IT ACTING AS SPACERS. WHEN THEY ARE IN CONTACT WITH THE BOARD THERE IS A GAP BETWEEN THE HEATSINK AND THE DIGITAL PWM CHIPS THAT THE PAD TOOK UP. I FEAR THAT THE PASTE YOU PUT INSTEAD IS NOT MAKING CONTACT AND WILL THEREFORE CAUSE POOR THERMAL CONDUCTION!!!
I'll pull mine again and take a look. Can you give a pic of the "feet" we should be looking for. Also, I'll test the EPP deal on my board, which is defaulting to 1.85v Vdimm. I have not tried EPP yet but, if it is not working properly, my guess is that it is the bios, not the memory.

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 10:36 AM

For the feet bit see above Yellowbeard. Also I agree with you on the BIOS front, if it works on other manufacturers boards then why not on the Abit. I have sent an e-mail to the relevant people and hopefully should hear back about it soon.

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 10:40 AM

noobzed

01-21-2007, 11:24 AM

But how to cool the mosfet region ifI WC NB + SB ?

\/ENDE][A

01-21-2007, 11:38 AM

But how to cool the mosfet region ifI WC NB + SB ?

Leave that part of heatpipe in place and attach a fan.

irev210

01-21-2007, 11:46 AM

jonny, did you report the issue with QX6700 and locked upward multiplier?

I am worried this is just like previous ABIT boards, looks cool... but in fact is a dud.

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 11:57 AM

For reference here's the e-mail that has been sent to Abit

Hello Peter, my name is John Walker I recently won an Abit overclocking competition and as a result have been taken onboard to "test" boards to their limits and basically show off the results on various hardware forums.

As it stands I've been given an IN9 board to work on and have been trying out a few overclocks on it seeing what breaks first :) I've been forwarded the two beta BIOSes from Max (M622A_11.B01 and M622A_11.B02) and have tested both. A few things have come up I would like to discuss.

Firstly, the cpu speed is incorrectly reported at the POST screen, correct multiplier but incorrect FSB. Not really a problem but it would be nice if it were right.

nVidia EPP implementation. To what extent has this been programmed? I wonder if it is only for extended timings including subtimings or has any of the voltage information been programmed. There are a number of users with high performance RAM (Corsair 8500C5D being one of them) which have an EPP enhanced SPD. The problem seems to stem from the fact the IN9 default DDR2 voltage is 1.8volts whereas these memory modules require a minimum of 2.2volts Having read the white papers for this technology there is entries for voltage control, so I would have expected that the IN9 would detect this and adjust the voltage accordingly. It would appear however that this is not the case. Can you comment on this matter?

CPU Multiplier Adjustment. There is a lack of upwards adjustment on core2duo and core2quadro processors. IT has proven to be a bone of contention with many overclockers in the community. I would strongly recommend that if it is straight forward enough to implement then to do so, you will please a great many people :)

Voltage Ranges. While I applaud the range of voltages for CPU and DDR I would be grateful if such wide ranges were also available on the other volt settings, especially CPU HT voltage and VTT. The limit of 1.4 volts if holding me back in my pursuit of high FSB and even getting into 1.5volts - ideally 1.6volts would be greatly appreciated.

This brings me onto another matter, the subject of voltage modifications. I have successfully worked out and implemented manual voltage adjustments for the SPP, MCP and VTT voltage controllers but CPU HT has proved to be quite a puzzled. Please find attached a picture of the MOSFET found under the first PCI_E x16 slot on the board. The source leg supplies the CPU HT voltage but I have been unable to locate the feedback and control circuit. I would be most grateful if you were able to advise me on this matter as having control over this would help my pursuit of high FSB speeds!

Thank you for reading this far, I write to you in the hope of helping everyone by getting the wants of the overclocking community conveyed to the right people in Abit, and allowing your products to mature quickly and have the features the market wants, while dealing with problems quickly.

Thanks for your time; I look forward to hearing from you soon.

John Walker aka Johnny Bravo

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 12:01 PM

One other thing, I've just rebuilt the setup but got my x6800 in it now. default setup ORTHOS running at the PWM temps are around 80-90oC. Fair enough I thought. Slapped the CPU up to 1.5volts and now the PWM temps are 90-100oC. Ran at at 1.6volts for about a minute and the PWM temps rocketed to 134oC!!! It would appear that top end chips are gonna really hurt these VRM chips. I suspect those that are using QX6700 cpus will find this problem even more so. I cannot comment on what is an "acceptable" temperature for these ICs to operate at atm.

noobzed

01-21-2007, 01:37 PM

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 01:42 PM

Exactly the temp I had encountered. My eVGA dont get hot as the Abit

Probably because the eVGA doesn't run on a Digital VRM system...plus what is your reference for measuring the MOSFETs on the eVGA?

Yellowbeard

01-21-2007, 01:59 PM

I'm quite perplexed by these few cases where people are having problems with their setups, SmokeyTheBandit in particular as he has the same RAM as me and says it worked on the eVGA board. I can understand other peoples problem with Corsair RAM as it needs 2.2v and the Abit defaults at 1.8v, but apart from that I dunno.

FWIW, my IN9 is booting at default Vdimm of 1.85v after each CMOS clear. Every set of Corsair Dominator I have (PC6400C4D, PC8500C5D, PC8888C4DF, and PC9136C5D) boots at the default Vdimm, bios is 1.0 shipping bios. Unless my board is an anomoly, there is no problem with the memory and this board on initial boot up. .

Johnny, good call on the PWM mosfets. I pulled my heat pipe off again and my mosfets still had a nice coating of Ceramique on them. However, there was no sign of contact between the heat pipe and the mosfets. I reapplied the stock pads, which I had fortunately retained, and my PWM temps dropped from approximately 50c to 32c.

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 02:11 PM

FWIW, my IN9 is booting at default Vdimm of 1.85v after each CMOS clear. Every set of Corsair Dominator I have (PC6400C4D, PC8500C5D, PC8888C4DF, and PC9136C5D) boots at the default Vdimm, bios is 1.0 shipping bios. Unless my board is an anomoly, there is no problem with the memory and this board on initial boot up. .

Hmmm thanks for the input Yellowbeard, this is turning out to be an interesting one.

Johnny, good call on the PWM mosfets. I pulled my heat pipe off again and my mosfets still had a nice coating of Ceramique on them. However, there was no sign of contact between the heat pipe and the mosfets. I reapplied the stock pads, which I had fortunately retained, and my PWM temps dropped from approximately 50c to 32c.

A-ha :D Wondered if that could be a problem. Cheers for checking mate. I'll get something in bold to warn folk ;)

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 02:13 PM

WARNING!!!

DO NOT REPLACE PWM THERMAL PAD WITH A PASTE!

The heatsink does not mount flush with the ICs underneath and requires the pad to "fill the gap" thermal paste will actually prove less efficient in thermal conductivity in this situation!

uberowo

01-21-2007, 02:17 PM

I've personally now tried an EVGA board, which was unusable due to an insane amount of SATA RAID errors, and this new Abit IN9 board. I'm so frustrated now I dont even know where to begin.

The Abit board DOES infact have the same SATA RAID issue as the EVGA, while it does not occur as often. The IN9 also has major stability issues with my RAM it seems, causing lots of random errors even on stock speeds. Upping the voltage to 2.2 may or may not have helped a little, but I am still getting memtest errors on all four of my RAM modules, something I did not experience on any of them on my EVGA. Orthos also crashes after an hour or so..

The Abit IN9 also seems alot warmer then the EVGA.. My PWMs are idling on 110 degrees unless I put an extra fan in my case over my cpu waterblock..

I've also experienced other random incidents of bluescreens and lockups, as well as random reboots and even a BIOS ROM checksum error incident on this ABIT IN9 board.. In fact I would say I kinda miss the :banana::banana::banana::banana:ty EVGA board by now..

I am tempted to send it back and just wait a few months.. Trouble is I bought all my other parts about a month ago so I doubt they'll take it back.. :(

Are there other chipsets I can use that dont have ANY of these issues?

I have a watercooled QX6700 so I would like to overclock it a bit, and I need atleast 4 SATA RAID controllers for my HD's.. Oh and I need SLI for two 8800GTX cards..

Thoughts anyone?

EDIT: I suppose I should mention my RAM type is OCZ PC6400 EL Platinum XTC.. 4x1GB modules.

Yellowbeard

01-21-2007, 02:22 PM

uberowo, just curious, what power supply are you using?

uberowo

01-21-2007, 02:28 PM

Its an Enermax Galaxy 1000 watt.

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 02:30 PM

Could you list the full specs of the system. Out of curiosity what do you use this system for?

uberowo

01-21-2007, 02:35 PM

there, added a sig.. (or atleats I thought I did..)

I just use it for entertainment purposes.. I used to be a pretty hardcore FPS player, so I'm kinda uptight about my framerate. Gaming, surfing, movies..

EDIT:

Intel Core 2 Quad QX6700 | Abit IN9 32X-MAX
Thermaltake Kandalf LCS | 4GB OCZ PC2-6400 EL Plat XTC
SLI Gainward 8800GTX | Enermax Galaxy 1000W PSU
2x74GB WD Raptors RAID 0, 2x500GB WD RAID 0

Johnny Bravo

01-21-2007, 02:42 PM

and your setup is "stock" as in you haven't overclocked anything yet?

uberowo

01-21-2007, 02:46 PM

Right, no overclocking for now, figured I'd get it running stable first. :p: I did increase the RAM voltage to 2.2 after reading about that on a thread somewhere.. might have been this one.. But I'm not sure if that even applies to my RAM.

MORE EDITING:
I also have an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer installed atm..

MrToad

01-21-2007, 02:54 PM

You're not alone... I posted a similar question in another forum right now.

At this point, after seven days trying to put four pieces of hardware together and failing miserably, my self esteem, along with my patience and perspective, are under my heels.

I don't know if I should call my supplier and request an RMA for a faulty piece of hardware or request a replacement for a faulty user.

And I don't know which part of the hardware to blame either. The PSU? the MB? The GPU? The memory? All of them?

I'm sitting here, typing this message, knowing that Firefox will most likely crash before I finish the post.

Now, just in case anyone out there can figure out what's going on I will post my specs and a brief list of griefs.

X6800
Abit IN9 32X MAX
2 x 1Gb Corsair 8500C5D
OcUK 8800 GTX
TP-Link TL-WN650G WLAN
1 x WD Raptor-X
1 x WD Caviar SE 320
LITEON SHM-165PS DVDRW
SB X-Fi Xtrememusic
Corsair HX620 PSU

Running on air with stock cooler.

Summary of problems:

-Any attempt to manually configure RAM settings with EPP disabled will lead to general instability or no boot. This is even worse with 11B02 BIOS, which is not very good for hope.

-Any attempt to manually configure RAM settings with EPP enabled and chosing any other setting but CPUOCMAX will lead to the same consequences above described plus the Hypertransport and NB voltages not responding to manual configuration. They will default to 1.45v NB and max value for Hypertransport and won't move from there. No matter what value I assign to them, after saving settings and reboot they will go back to those values.

-Leaving EPP in "CPUOCMAX", and setting the RAM to 2.2v will autoconfigure the RAM to 400 5-4-4-12 1T. This is the only setting that will actually let me boot into windows.

-Once in windows with this settings Orthos will fail after a few seconds with the following error:

"1:FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
1:Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
1:Torture Test ran 0 minutes 3 seconds - 1 errors, 0 warnings.
1:Execution halted."

This will also produce the nice side effect of a "beep" in the sys speaker and my Scroll Lock turning on and off in sync with it. I have never seen an error in Orthos before so I don't know if this is part of the show or it has been catered specially for me.

Also applications will suddenly produce general execution faults and crash. And if I try to use the onboard LAN, eventually will lead to meet and old dear friend: "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR _EQUAL" BSOD in the nvidia LAN driver.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I have a tiny bit of irrational hope in someone reading it and coming out with a magical solution.

Although inside of me I know that the only feasible solution is trying to get an RMA from my supplier and choose either a different MB or a different memory.

Edit:

Another observation, my system seems to be degrading over time. There was a time when I could boot into Windows with the RAM set to 533 5-5-5-15 2T... Well, those days are gone. Now is this or nothing.

uberowo

01-21-2007, 03:00 PM

Haha! I had the scroll lock thing going yesterday as well after running Othos a while! AND I sometimes get the "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR _EQUAL" BSOD as well. Glad I'm not alone. Well, sorta. ;) /grouphug

Edit:
Well I'm no expert, as I suspect a couple of these others are. But my computer was perfectly stable on the EVGA, RAM and all. So personally, I think this screams crappy motherboard/bios, not so much blaming other components. :D (Only issue I had on the EVGA was the SATA RAID thingy every half hour or so.)

uberowo

01-21-2007, 03:07 PM

Sorry for spamming your thread but:

I would run out and buy a new board immediately if I thought it would help.. But what board should I get? They all seem equally crappy...? If you guys know of a STABLE board that supports 4 disks in raid, SLI and an QX6700 then please tell me asap..

Speederlander

01-21-2007, 03:18 PM

Speederlander

01-21-2007, 03:19 PM

Kudos to Johnny Bravo for working the problem.

So many reviewers purposely avoid showing you the warts and then vanish when the retail hits the shelves and performs far below their review.

uberowo

01-21-2007, 03:24 PM

Speederlander

01-21-2007, 03:29 PM

Has anyone tried running with aftermarket heatsinks on the NB/SB and the mosfets? That way you don't have to sweat spacing issues on the Abit sinks.

Yellowbeard

01-21-2007, 03:31 PM

Uberuwo, only for testing purposes, why don't you try your system with 2 DIMMs and 1 video card for now.

uberowo

01-21-2007, 03:33 PM

I'll try that right now sir. :D

MrToad

01-21-2007, 03:45 PM

Has anyone tried running with aftermarket heatsinks on the NB/SB and the mosfets? That way you don't have to sweat spacing issues on the Abit sinks.

I haven't reached that stage yet, because I wanted to properly test the hardware before assembling the loop, but I've the parts ready, and I think they should do the trick...

Take this with a pinch of salt tho, because is a theory and not something I've tested in this particular MB.

For the SB I found to active cooling alternatives. The omnipresent Evercool VC-RE, which needs a custom mounting clip and a bit of sanding on a few fins to fit (which was my choice), and the Vantec Iceberq (CCB-A1C), which fits just removing the top cover.

For the mosfets I've got the Swiftech MC14 heatsinks and a 60mm fan which I made a clip to mount on the plate of the waterblock, to blow air through them and expel from the openings in the backplate.

Unfortunately due to various issues I haven't reached the stage of assembling it together and testing it, so I can't speak about performance.

adamsleath

01-21-2007, 03:55 PM

Luckily I have a decent backup pc that'll do fine for now.. Very seriously considering sending the motherboard back, selling my 8800GTX cards and praying the new ATi cards will be of similar quality performance wise. Nvidia is asking for it releasing crap like this..

I'll suck it up a few more days though, maybe mr Bravo will magically solve it all. :P

basically sums up what i think...wtf is it with the 680 nb? looks like they just tacked it on to an old sb / mobo and crossed their fingers...

If there was a quick fix for sata and sound with SLI nvidia would have done it by now - r there still sound/sata probs with evga 680i and latest BIOS?

any complaints about abit in9 re sata and sound /sli problems?....YET???? whinge whinge whinge

MrToad - wow at w/c mosfets

uberowo

01-21-2007, 04:17 PM

Well, I removed two RAM modules and was able to run memtest about 25 minutes just fine atleast.. which is progress..

In windows now running the StressCPU test in Orthos on all 4 cores.. Been running for 10 minutes (at STOCK cpu speed mind you) and my PWM temps are as high as 142 degrees.. This with an extra 90mm fan hanging a couple of inches above my CPU waterblock.. (Without this fan they are 100-110 degrees idle.. with the fan they are usually 60-70 degrees idle.) CPu temp is 38-39 at this point and system temp is 48.. All according to the uguru software from Abit.

This is poor engineering** imo!

**Disclaimer: I know nothing about engineering.

\/ENDE][A

01-21-2007, 04:20 PM

Ok i was putting off installing my board till the rest of my w/c parts turned up but, seeing what is happening here i`m gonna put it in tommrow. I hope i haven`t wasted £235 on an unstable pile of crap!

MrToad

01-21-2007, 04:23 PM

Would someone be so kind to post the NB voltage is using?

I managed to (miracle) boot into Windows @533 5-5-5-15 2T 2.2v, but as usual my NB voltage goes to 1.45v in this setting, and it won't move down from there.

Is not something I do, is something the BIOS decides to do, regardless of my input.

\/ENDE][A

01-21-2007, 04:25 PM

uberowo

01-21-2007, 04:26 PM

My NB voltage is 1.36-1.38..

uberowo

01-21-2007, 04:31 PM

So yeah, unless someone makes a SB/NB/PWM all in one waterblock for the 680i I'm :banana::banana::banana::banana:ed it seems.

plumbergeek

01-21-2007, 04:42 PM

[A']HOW HOT:eek:
Surely that amount of heat for any length of time is gonna kill componants real quick. Do the digital PWM on servers run this hot or is it just these 680 boards?

What Irks me about all of this is the "Otes" crap is not even solid copper, just coated that color! For a board that cost over $300 US that is awful! I hope someone comes out with a aftermarket solution for it soon. or a solution is found before my board arrives next week.

\/ENDE][A

01-21-2007, 04:54 PM

Ok i`m gone for now, post back tommorow when and if i`m up and running.

MrToad

01-21-2007, 04:56 PM

Ok, so now is not only the NB which goes to 1.45 because it feels like doing so...

It's also the CPU VTT, which is set @1.20v and uGuru is reading 2.20V... WTF?

Is this some sort of misreading?

This whole business is starting to piss me off... big time...

I'm going to bed... tomorrow I'll decide wtf I do.

adamsleath

01-21-2007, 05:38 PM

mm yes i believe you could fry a very small egg on the nb without a fan ...teehee

re below; well yes you seem to have answered your own question...i'm teetering myself toward a revised 965...

580 then 590
680 then 690?
i think 680 is incompatible with sb..but i know nothing about engineering :) maybe nb and vrm just too damn hot?

i've had my windows totally :banana::banana::banana::banana: up with corrupted .hal and other system files after an unsuccessful oc on my old x850xt..had to repair with windows xp cd....i thought i had fried the gpu..but found that various windows files had just somehow become corrupted all of a sudden; no viruses; did windows repair evrthing hunky dory..still using it now.

i wonder if corruption problems to hdds could be related to chipset running out of spec. / too hot? 680 is very hot and some peopledont do anything extra to cool their chippies down...i'm just curious why some people seem to have problems with 680i and some dont???????????? some dudes still having trubble with latest bios's..do they just wait in hope of a miraculous bios update???

neonflx

01-21-2007, 05:39 PM

i am really considering this mobo however after my EVGA 680 nightmare, i'm a bit reluctant to go with another one, i do not need SLI my system is mainly use for photoshop, video editing and VMWARE running UBUNTU, i have the BAD AXE 2 right now, maybe the COMMANDO is a better choice

syne_24

01-21-2007, 06:56 PM

wtkprol

01-21-2007, 07:30 PM

Where can I buy one of these? :)

uberowo

01-21-2007, 07:33 PM

Removed half my RAM as suggested above. (Now using 2x1GB in the blue sockets only on 2.2 voltage and default timings.) I kept all my other components in for now.

I now have two 90mm fans blowing directly onto the PWMs. Allthough they both about 2 inches above them.

I just finished running 4 instances of Super PI at the same time (one on each core) successfully. I've also been running 4 instances of SP2004's Blend test the same way now for just over 45 minutes without any problems. Unless ofcourse you consider PWM temps of 150 a problem..... The CPU temp was as high as 47 at one point, but generally around 42-43, and the system temp is steady at 48. Again this is stock speed on a QX6700. I literally think my board will catch fire if I overclock. :|

So aside from the HORRIBLE pwm temps and noise my system actually seems a whole lot more stable now that I removed 2 of my 4 RAM modules. Though the RAM modules were all fine when I had the EVGA board.. So I duno..

Is this enough to consider my computer "stable"? I'd leave it on overnight but I'm not really comfortable with the ridiculous pwm temps.. Kinda worried I might damage the board permanently..

adamsleath

01-21-2007, 07:39 PM

It's too early to tell if this thing is a total dud or not. The same thing people said about the Evga 680i and I had no problems with it. The only way is find out for myself, and I guess I'll be overclocking with some faith when this board arrives.

mm faith ... start praying then to the 680i godz...

So aside from the HORRIBLE pwm temps and noise my system actually seems a whole lot more stable now that I removed 2 of my 4 RAM modules. Though the RAM modules were all fine when I had the EVGA board.. So I duno..

Is this enough to consider my computer "stable"? I'd leave it on overnight but I'm not really comfortable with the ridiculous pwm temps.. Kinda worried I might damage the board permanently..
i dunno either :rofl:

Yellowbeard

01-21-2007, 07:42 PM

Uberuwo, do you have the stock thermal pads in place on the PWM portion of the heat pipe, or did you replace it with thermal compound?

Mr. Toad, based on what you are reporting, "something" is very odd about your board. Your VTT reporting etc is making me wonder.

uberowo

01-21-2007, 08:09 PM

I haven't altered the board or anything on it in any way.

You guys have any thoughts on the 2GB vs 4GB RAM situation?

I cant run memtest for 20 minutes without getting errors if I have all four modules.. Any two of the four modules will work, just not all four together..

noobzed

01-21-2007, 08:45 PM

Wonder how Bioses engeeners are working ? Did they try several stuff ?

The molex location problem, the EPP issue, Temperature issue....

revenant

01-21-2007, 09:41 PM

As for the Molex connector for the SLi power stiffening, yeah that was a bad move. Either the could use a 90 degree connector or include a similar cable like that shown below

http://www.chieftec.de/images/_2sata.jpg

For those in the UK, if it's a real problem then why not try this:

http://www.kustom.co.uk/acatalog/info_1951.html

yeah, that's going to be the ticket for fitting the molex with the second card in.. that seems to be my only complaint about this board's layout.

fhpchris

01-21-2007, 10:15 PM

[A']Ok i was putting off installing my board till the rest of my w/c parts turned up but, seeing what is happening here i`m gonna put it in tommrow. I hope i haven`t wasted £235 on an unstable pile of crap!

464$???

Ouch.

JargonGR

01-21-2007, 11:32 PM

I am getting this board in 4-5 days (waiting for it) and I am really teerrified about all those horror stories that appear mainly on SLI setups.

I really wish I had not bought the second 8800GTX and this 30" Monitor with the ridiculously high native resolution of 2560x1600 that forces me to use SLI.

I thought the market and the current products where ready for such a setup but it seems I am wrong. God damn me I wasted money it seems since Nvidia deserves a lawsuit.

How the hell can they release a freaking platfomr that does not even work with their own products and have the adacity to charge those outrageous prices ffs! And what I hate most is they will come out with a revision soon too.

And the problem with this board is that its not easy to return it in my country after I have bought it.

barza

01-22-2007, 12:25 AM

A few more observations on this board from another user

1. I am using an X6800 chip, and niether the shipping bios nor the 11 beta bios allow upward adjustment of the multiplier (by the way, Johnny Bravo - thanks a lot for posting that bios)

2. I couldn't get a stable FSB above 425 no matter what I did with the voltages (Johnny, your 495 is impressive, can you let us know what settings you used to get there).

3. Using a single 8800 GTX card, the video performance was horrible, no matter what I did with Linkboost or the Nvidia GPU ex option in the bios.

4. I started getting disk corruption errors after an hour or so of playing with the board, and without pushing the memory too far.

5. I didn't get any of the digital PWM temp problems others have reported, and it ran my Mushkin XP8000 memory fine straight off the bat (though given other difficulties I didn't tspend too much time testing it all the way up to 1280 I can get out of it on the EVGA board).

I also have the EVGA 680i board, and my experience with this Abit board feels just like the EVGA board when it first came out - at every turn I feel like I need a better bios. Given that Abit have been later to market with this, I expected it to be much more stable and a better FSB overclocker straight off the bat, but it isn't. After a month or so of bios revisions, I can run rock solid stable at 465 FSB on the EVGA board, and have gone back to that for now. This Abit board feels like it has potential, but for me the bios is letting it down.

One final observation. Abit's failure to include the 40X40X10 fan you need to stick on the Northbridge when overclocking is, in my view, unforgiveably cheap given the price point of this board. Abit should be embarassed about that!!

barza

01-22-2007, 12:33 AM

Neonflx - you say are considering this Abit board for a system that doesn't need SLI, and when you already have BadAxe2. Having played with both the EVGA and Abit versions of the 680i board, I honestly can't see why you would even be considering 680i if you don't need SLI support. If it wasn't for trying to keep the SLI door open, I would be steering clear of them. Just my view....

MrToad

01-22-2007, 01:04 AM

Update:

-The odd voltage reading was a "glitch" of uGuru. Used a different version of the app to the one included in the installation disk. Once installed the version included on the installation disk the readings are correct.
In BIOS is set to 1.2v and it reads 1.20~1.22v.

-If from the very beginning after a CMOS reset I never enable EPP it doesn't play around with the NB voltage. It allows me to change it freely without reverting to that 1.45v setting.

Now, Yellowbeard, before I start RMA-ing things, could you please tell me exactly what parameters you used to make the 8500C5D work for you?
And I mean all the relevant parameters. Basically, can you include a SShot of:

- uGuru screen.
- Memory Timing Setting screen.

And also tell me which devices have you enabled, which disabled, which settings of the BIOS you've changed from defaults, and finally which version of the nVidia drivers are your using, the ones included on the CD or the newer ones available on the nVidia website.

I know is a lot of data to gather just for the needs of some idiot that simply can't put four pieces of hardware together, but at this point in time I've run out of ideas.

By the way, I've been in Windows for 10 minutes w/o crashes with 533 5-5-5-2T set manually, and w/o oddities in the voltages.

Silly as it may look, as normal behaviour is abnormal in my experience with this setup, I'm in the borderline of an adrenaline rush :woot:

Johnny Bravo

01-22-2007, 01:23 AM

OK a few things...

Who exactly is having 8800GTX problems??? It seems there are complaints about this but the majority of folks running SLi on these cards can do it easily enough.

As for the molex connector, I have some news. This is only needed if your card DOES NOT have an on board power connector. Basically it "stiffens" the power supply via the PCI-E slot. So everyone with big ass 8800 cards there's no need for you to be putting that connector in, that's why it won't fit!

For those of you with SLi compatible/EPP RAM who find they cannot change their voltages....that's because your RAM is changing the voltages for you, that's what EPP does! If you set it to manual or disable the sli compatible RAM feature then you'll get your control back.

For those of you who are running 4 sticks of RAM don't be surprised if your FSB clocks are low, 4 sticks of RAM is a pretty big strain on the NB chip. THE same goes for users of the QX6700 CPU, it's well known that this cpu does not have a great FSB headroom.

Johnny Bravo

01-22-2007, 01:27 AM

3. Using a single 8800 GTX card, the video performance was horrible, no matter what I did with Linkboost or the Nvidia GPU ex option in the bios.

Can you explain this statement. What is it in comparison with? Where both setups running at the same speed? How did you test this? You're the very first person to claim this compared wit ha number of people who have not had any problems.

barza

01-22-2007, 01:45 AM

MrToad

01-22-2007, 02:06 AM

For those of you with SLi compatible/EPP RAM who find they cannot change their voltages....that's because your RAM is changing the voltages for you, that's what EPP does! If you set it to manual or disable the sli compatible RAM feature then you'll get your control back.

Right... so is the EPP what's making the NB voltage shoot to 1.45v... Well, that's something.

Thank you for the info. 1.45v still looks a bit high to me tho. I'll keep EPP disabled and the NB @1.40v and see how it goes.

72 mins in Windows running some benchmarks and no BSODs... this is my record so far.

MikeMK

01-22-2007, 04:36 AM

Johnny

I did not get as far as running benchmarks and noting down the scores before I switched back to the EVGA board. What I did do was run Aquamark 3 a couple of times, and the scores were about 15k down on what I would normally expect clock for clock. I also took NFS carbon for a couple of spins, and there was a notable lumpiness to the frame rate compared to what I am used to on the EVGA board.

This was with a single 8800GTX, running at stock speeds.

I am sorry I can't be more scientific than that. But the board managed to corrupt my windows install without a particularly severe overclock in place on any of the components, and at that stage I switched back to the EVGA board - to repair my windows install.

Didnt have any of these problems what so ever in my setup. Single 8800GTX everything stock (X6800) ran 11.5k in 06. SLI got me 13,200 same settings - major CPU bottleneck there im guessing, until I start overclocking. Havnt tried many games, but so far so good.

One thing - about the 680i sound issue with SLI & soundcard (I have an X-fi) at first I thought there was no probs COH ran fine, no probs, but i just tried oblivion quickly and got some occasional crackling out of the centre speaker so im not 100% convinced its gone I'll test some more games and post back.

barza

01-22-2007, 07:47 AM

Am I the only user who finds the way Abit has released this board a bit odd? At this stage none of the usual hardware sites have posted a review of this board which goes into any depth - Toms Hardware skimmed the surface with a comparison of 680i boards a while back, but did no overclocking and said they were working with a pre-release bios.

All the information we have had seems to have come from users (and possibly beta testers) like Johnny Bravo, Crotale and Coolaler. That is not to decry those efforts in any way - the info they has posted has been a massive help. But it almost seems this board has leaked its way out to the public, rather than being given a big splash. And the conspiracy theorist in me can't help thinking that is because the bios is a bit underdone....

Johnny Bravo - I realise I owe you a more systematic account of graphics card stuff. But seeing another user report data corruption issues in this thread really puts me off going back to this board for now.

syne_24

01-22-2007, 09:09 AM

question about this board..

what is the length between mounting holes for the mosfet heatsink? I'm not sure if this will fit on the board.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g156/syne_24/alphacoolnv8700.jpg

bro20000

01-22-2007, 09:12 AM

Has anyone tryed this for the sata problems!
http://www.nvidia.com/object/680i_hotfix.html

Ajfina

01-22-2007, 09:26 AM

is this board still no avaliable in teh US?

The Nemesis

01-22-2007, 09:32 AM

Bought mine @ewiz (https://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-IN9-32X)for $314 shipped this weekend (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=130856).

day187

01-22-2007, 10:07 AM

sorry wrong bios

linflas

01-22-2007, 10:08 AM

Has anyone tryed this for the sata problems!
http://www.nvidia.com/object/680i_hotfix.html

Motherboards affected:

EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard
BFG nForce 680i SLI motherboard
Biostar TF680i SLI Deluxe
ECS PN2-SLI2+

That is a bios flash for the reference designed boards, do not attempt to flash your abit with this

Yellowbeard

01-22-2007, 10:28 AM

2 new bioses from abit forums
(http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=115459&page=43)

get them here (http://www.overclock247.com/day187/betabios10.zip)
Read that thread carefully. Some guy starts asking questions about the AW9 board and I believe those bios' are for the AW9, not the IN9.

day187

01-22-2007, 10:31 AM

Read that thread carefully. Some guy starts asking questions about the AW9 board and I believe those bios' are for the AW9, not the IN9.

ok thanks i hope no body flashed to them :(

maxwedge

01-22-2007, 10:32 AM

2 new bioses from abit forums

get them here

Read that thread carefully. Some guy starts asking questions about the AW9 board and I believe those bios' are for the AW9, not the IN9.
I second that! Those are for the AW9D. I suggest you delete your post day187. (Edit: I see you did right after I posted)

Ajfina

01-22-2007, 11:12 AM

adamsleath

01-22-2007, 12:25 PM

no EPP and 2 ram sticks...need performance 2gig sticks for 4gig total...4 gig not mainstream yet - vista may change that

uberowo

01-22-2007, 01:14 PM

adamsleath

01-22-2007, 01:37 PM

i wish intel had amd's integrated mem controller - i believe nehalem 2008 will have imc. ; amd still kicks butt in the mem dep't...o well; can't have evrything
any 4 gig ram sticks around? probably is somewhere at cas6 or sumfin

gah pc's are such buckets of electronic bolts.

asus striker is now in stock as of yesterday in Australia - for a mere 535 AUD
EVGA 680i currently out of stock around 400aud
BFG...in stock 500aud!!!! rip off
p5n32-e out of stock
p5n-e in stock...220AUDappox
abit in9 - what's that? not even advertised for preorder.

If you can't run your ram at spec. dat would really annoy me. In fact I think any 680i board would really annoy me if i bought it.
("so dont buy it" says smart ass shoulder imp)
("but i want sli" says mewling nerdy imp)
stoopid imps.

lowdog

01-22-2007, 02:00 PM

I bought 4gb ram because of Vista.. Apparently 680i doesnt like dealing with more then two sticks.. ideally just 1 it seems.

I can now run memtest fine forever on every stick individually.. but when I put two in I get tons of errors..

I had 4gig GSkill BHZ running without issues on the Striker.

You will need to adjust Read Delay and Refresh Cyclic Time for a start to sort out running 4gig on 680i, try:

TRD-Read Delay-7

TRFC-Refresh Cyclic Time-30

lowdog

01-22-2007, 02:07 PM

Johnny

I did not get as far as running benchmarks and noting down the scores before I switched back to the EVGA board. What I did do was run Aquamark 3 a couple of times, and the scores were about 15k down on what I would normally expect clock for clock. I also took NFS carbon for a couple of spins, and there was a notable lumpiness to the frame rate compared to what I am used to on the EVGA board.

This was with a single 8800GTX, running at stock speeds.

I am sorry I can't be more scientific than that. But the board managed to corrupt my windows install without a particularly severe overclock in place on any of the components, and at that stage I switched back to the EVGA board - to repair my windows install.

M8, this problem with 8800 series and slowdowns/bad preformance is a known issue across all platforms and is 8800/driver specific.

Aquamark shows this up all the time, usually a grafix driver uninstall (using driver cleaner in safe mode) and grafix driver reinstall will fix the slow down problems and bring preformance back up.

Also with 680i, dissable all linkboost options in bios and lock PCI-E frequency to 100, lock SPP<>MCP Ref Clock to 200 especially if you plan on overclocking. I'd lock both of these and turn off all linkboost options even if you don't overclock.

revenant

01-22-2007, 02:18 PM

Didnt have any of these problems what so ever in my setup. Single 8800GTX everything stock (X6800) ran 11.5k in 06. SLI got me 13,200 same settings - major CPU bottleneck there im guessing, until I start overclocking. Havnt tried many games, but so far so good.

One thing - about the 680i sound issue with SLI & soundcard (I have an X-fi) at first I thought there was no probs COH ran fine, no probs, but i just tried oblivion quickly and got some occasional crackling out of the centre speaker so im not 100% convinced its gone I'll test some more games and post back.

Good to hear your performance is where it should be, Mike. I am guessing you'll take down 15K on 06 with your cpu @ 3.5 or so and up.. did you pull your NB and SB sinks and put AS5 under them in place of the pads?

uberowo

01-22-2007, 02:29 PM

Can someone point me the the direction of some high end 4gb sets of RAM? As in 2x2gb.. I have been searching around abit and I've been unable to find any..

Speederlander

01-22-2007, 02:37 PM

Can someone point me the the direction of some high end 4gb sets of RAM? As in 2x2gb.. I have been searching around abit and I've been unable to find any..
They have them on new egg.

uberowo

01-22-2007, 02:50 PM

Hm. Never heard of G.Skill.. They dont seem to be available in scandinavia either..

MikeMK

01-22-2007, 03:00 PM

Good to hear your performance is where it should be, Mike. I am guessing you'll take down 15K on 06 with your cpu @ 3.5 or so and up.. did you pull your NB and SB sinks and put AS5 under them in place of the pads?

Rev m8 yes i'd expect to get those kinda scores, on my P5W-DH my X6800 did 3.9ghz, so hopefully i can match that or even better it on this Abit. That should get me some serious scores. Im awaiting some EK blocks to come in stock in the UK so i can get the NB and 8800's on water, as the whole thing is running way hotter than I would like.
My CPU is obviously under my storm, so that should be fine to start me off.
As for the NB/SB sinks, yes first thing i did was pull them off and take those horrid pads off and replace with AS5. BTW, does anyone know if the rather general 'system temp' relates to chipset temp? cos otherwise there is no chipset temp monitor that i can find. All i know from the feel of the heat coming off the heatsink is that its damn hot.

\/ENDE][A

01-22-2007, 03:03 PM

My boards in and running:D
Had a few problems to start, random resets and refused to boot from cd drive a few times, then realised cmos switch on back panel was in wrong position:slap: every thing sweet now though:woot:

Johnny Bravo

01-22-2007, 03:19 PM

Good to hear man!

MikeMK

01-22-2007, 03:26 PM

[A']My boards in and running:D
Had a few problems to start, random resets and refused to boot from cd drive a few times, then realised cmos switch on back panel was in wrong position:slap: every thing sweet now though:woot:

M8, you have the same memory as me... the Cellshock PC2 8000C5? Can you confirm if you can get it to run 1T on the abit. Im have problems getting it to do so. Wont post when I set it to 1T even if I run it at say 533mhz 5-5-5-15 or something. Thats a 2.2v btw.

maxwedge

01-22-2007, 03:28 PM

Theres new a new beta bios released today. Actually I think it's the one that Johnny already has.
http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=119222
abit is going to start posting all beta bios at the link above so check from time to time for new ones.

Heres the read me..
IN9 32X-MAX series:
Beta BIOS M622A_11.B02:
1. Update NVMM to 4.064.1401/13/07 (EPP Memory& 2T timing processing)
2. CMOS default date from 2007
3. BIOS,The issue of EPP mode, changed to profile selectable, not CPU OC % mode.
4. OC,The system hang when setting FSB at Guru
5. BIOS,Suggestion for PCIe clock
6. LDT frequency up to 8X
7. EPP message in SETUP “disable)-> “Detect” (Green) if EPP memory found.

DISCLAIMER:
Universal abit will not be held responsible or liable for any damage made with using a BETA BIOS.
Please proceed with discretion and do not attempt to use unless you know what you are doing!

\/ENDE][A

01-22-2007, 03:39 PM

Good to hear man!

Thanks Johnny:D
This is wierd i`m having trouble with my internet connection crawling but only here at XS, its not doing it anywhere else i go, very frustrating, can`t work out why. If anyone asks me anything and i don`t anwser straight away i`m not ignoring you it`s cos i can`t. You`ll have to give me a chance to work out whats wrong:confused:

revogamer

01-22-2007, 04:00 PM

i was having that problem to. then it got better

\/ENDE][A

01-22-2007, 04:10 PM

i was having that problem to. then it got better

Ok this is wierd it`s started working again:D WTF, i hate it when it does wierd sh*t, you just don`t know what to try.

Johnny Bravo

01-22-2007, 04:10 PM

yeah think that was just the site :)

\/ENDE][A

01-22-2007, 04:20 PM

Johnny i`ve just been checking temps on the board and mine are way cooler than what some of the other guys are reporting. Stuck a temp probe in northbridge heatsink and its never gone above 47c and bios temps within a couple of degrees of that reading. I have a 40mm fan i found on an old 478 board on northbridge no extra cooling on PWM area and none of the heatpipes are more than warm to the touch.

\/ENDE][A

01-22-2007, 04:24 PM

M8, you have the same memory as me... the Cellshock PC2 8000C5? Can you confirm if you can get it to run 1T on the abit. Im have problems getting it to do so. Wont post when I set it to 1T even if I run it at say 533mhz 5-5-5-15 or something. Thats a 2.2v btw.

Still getting my head round BIOS, first time on C2D, ssooo many settings:confused:
Get back to you as soon as i can:D

day187

01-22-2007, 04:52 PM

M8, you have the same memory as me... the Cellshock PC2 8000C5? Can you confirm if you can get it to run 1T on the abit. Im have problems getting it to do so. Wont post when I set it to 1T even if I run it at say 533mhz 5-5-5-15 or something. Thats a 2.2v btw.

I have cellshock memory 8000C4 and these do T1 at 2.25v,

http://img327.imageshack.us/img327/8292/4111t8cl.jpg

uberowo

01-22-2007, 04:54 PM

Man I just dont get it.. One at a time my RAM modules work fine.. When I put a pair in they dont work. (The other pair seems stable.)

Should I get the Corsair Dominator TWIN2X9136C5D or the Corsair Dominator TWIN2X8888C4DF as replacement RAM if I decide to go that path? The 8888 being almost $400 more expensive here..

Cellshock is not available. :(

Edit: Also, do you guys think I should get an Asus Striker instead or ask for a new Abit board? :D My PWM temps are so high theres gotta be something wrong with it.. (Or the heatpipes atleast, but I'm not really comfortable with modifying it myself, so I'd rather return it for a new one..)

Johnny Bravo

01-22-2007, 04:56 PM

Johnny Bravo

01-22-2007, 04:56 PM

uberowo

01-22-2007, 05:04 PM

I have no clue man, running default BIOS settings aside from higher voltage on the RAM.. I just want a stable system I can OC a bit.. I'm a total noob when it comes to RAM and its settings.. :|

And fyi, I have disabled LAN2 and I am running 4 HD's all in RAID..

EDIT:
The reason I didnt buy more expensive RAM to begin with was that I didnt think it was necessary seeing as how you can oc the qx6700 without changing the fsb..

syne_24

01-22-2007, 05:08 PM

day187

01-22-2007, 05:12 PM

Right I dunno if anyone knows this but the on-board RAID won't work if you disable LAN2 in the BIOS. I've wasted 2 nights trying to setup a RAID and thinking I was an idiot because I couldn't. Very frustrating indeed :(

I’ve give up with raid I’ve installed XP 3 times due to errors and failure to boot and missing files,

Edit: Also, do you guys think I should get an Asus Striker instead or ask for a new Abit board? :D My PWM temps are so high theres gotta be something wrong with it.. (Or the heatpipes atleast, but I'm not really comfortable with modifying it myself, so I'd rather return it for a new one..)

I was thinking about getting the striker I need raid but I don’t know if it's still having RAID problems.

uberowo

01-22-2007, 05:15 PM

I've been running memtest on the various combinations for the last 24 hours.. One of the sets are stable. The other set is not, allthough both individual DIMMs in this set are stable. (according to memtest anyway..)

The PWM temps are from the uguru software that came with the motherboard..

Speederlander

01-22-2007, 05:18 PM

I have cellshock memory 8000C4 and these do T1 at 2.25v,

http://img327.imageshack.us/img327/8292/4111t8cl.jpg

You know, that's as fast as my 975x with only 100 MHz faster on your end...

syne_24

01-22-2007, 05:24 PM

Right I dunno if anyone knows this but the on-board RAID won't work if you disable LAN2 in the BIOS. I've wasted 2 nights trying to setup a RAID and thinking I was an idiot because I couldn't. Very frustrating indeed :(

Thanks for the heads up..:toast:

The PWM temps are from the uguru software that came with the motherboard..

I would not trust no software to read temps at this early stage. It's probably full of bugs and reading way off. And that's probably why \/ENDE][A temps are well within range, he checked it with a thermal probe. I'm guessing your temps are fine too. You should get a thermal probe or laser thernometer to get a closer reading.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thermohawk200.html

adamsleath

01-22-2007, 05:26 PM

i dont raid anymore...the speed difference is barely noticable....to me that is

day187

01-22-2007, 05:28 PM

You know, that's as fast as my 975x with only 100 MHz faster on your end...

its not bad for a 680i in the superPi department, still playing with the board and memory when i get chance, but i could do with a fast fix for raid errors/problem, apart from that its not a bad board

noobzed

01-22-2007, 06:18 PM

its not bad for a 680i in the superPi department, still playing with the board and memory when i get chance, but i could do with a fast fix for raid errors/problem, apart from that its not a bad board

LOL ?

H0RM0NE

01-22-2007, 07:06 PM

Bought mine @ewiz (https://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-IN9-32X)for $314 shipped this weekend (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=130856).

Hi The Nemesis,

Have you bought from ewiz.com before? I never have. I was tempted when I saw they had this board in stock. I decided against it based on their BBB rating of "Unsatisfactory" :( in each of the categories below:

Billing or Collection Issues
Sales Practice Issues
Delivery Issues
Repair Issues
Service Issues
Customer Service Issues
Guarantee or Warranty Issues
Product Issues
Refund or Exchange Issues

If you have a good history and they really are a decent place to buy stuff from please let me know.

Thanks.

The Nemesis

01-22-2007, 08:17 PM

Hi The Nemesis,

Have you bought from ewiz.com before? I never have. I was tempted when I saw they had this board in stock. I decided against it based on their BBB rating of "Unsatisfactory" :( in each of the categories below:

Billing or Collection Issues
Sales Practice Issues
Delivery Issues
Repair Issues
Service Issues
Customer Service Issues
Guarantee or Warranty Issues
Product Issues
Refund or Exchange Issues

If you have a good history and they really are a decent place to buy stuff from please let me know.

Thanks.
Yes I've purchased from them before, but only once. I bought a MSI 975X Platnium v2 back in August of last year. At the time no one had them & it was on sale for $185 shipped. The other places that got them later on charged $199 & up back then. It shipped same day, packaged well no issues with the board. My order for the IN9 shipped today as well. They've shipped fast twice now. The previous board didn't give me any trouble so I had no need for customer service or warranty. If this board gave me trouble I'd just ebay it or sell in forum minus $75 or so.:)

day187

01-22-2007, 08:28 PM

LOL ?

my raid errors occur when I start overclocking in raid if it fails to boot sometimes i get missing/corrupt file, I‘ve installing windows again, again and again so I give it with it for now till I find some stability settings with my single hard drive, and then I will try and running raid again.
That's my only problem with this board so far.

lowdog

01-22-2007, 09:08 PM

my raid errors occur when I start overclocking in raid if it fails to boot sometimes i get missing/corrupt file, I‘ve installing windows again, again and again so I give it with it for now till I find some stability settings with my single hard drive, and then I will try and running raid again.
That's my only problem with this board so far.

Lock SPP<>MCP Ref Clock to 200 if you want to stop sata errors/corruption. also stop overclocking your ram if your doing so if it can't handle the higher frequency.

jer1cho

01-23-2007, 01:37 AM

hi,

I'm all new to this forum, and this is my first post lol. I have been reading those forum posts since post 1, as I am interested to buy the in9 32x max. This will be my first abit build so thats why Im sayin :D. Do you consult me to do so? I've read posts that people have different problems with this mobo, all regarding either indirectly or directly with the bios.

My set up will include:

in9 32x max (obviously)
bfg 8800 gtx
corsair 2gb matched kit
850w cooler master power supply
hdd havent decided yet
cm stacker 830 evo

do u think that this is a good setup? do u hv recommendations for a cheaper case but with the same good build? wat about d ram?

thanks very much :D

day187

01-23-2007, 03:05 AM

Lock SPP<>MCP Ref Clock to 200 if you want to stop sata errors/corruption. also stop overclocking your ram if your doing so if it can't handle the higher frequency.

thanks i will give that ago.

\/ENDE][A

01-23-2007, 02:59 PM

M8, you have the same memory as me... the Cellshock PC2 8000C5? Can you confirm if you can get it to run 1T on the abit. Im have problems getting it to do so. Wont post when I set it to 1T even if I run it at say 533mhz 5-5-5-15 or something. Thats a 2.2v btw.

Same result here on first attempt, early days yet though still feeling my way round, i`m sur johnny`s had it running 1T a few posts back. Will have to check and see.

\/ENDE][A

01-23-2007, 03:13 PM

Small update , now running CPU @, and still no issues with extreme heat temp probe and bios readout within 2-3 degrees of each other. Ran 3D06 for 30 minutes temp never went above 47c. All heatpipes still warm to touch. Room temp 23c. Keep pushing up and see what happens.

noobzed

01-23-2007, 03:28 PM

Vendetta what is your program to customize like this the OS ?

\/ENDE][A

01-23-2007, 03:38 PM

Vendetta what is your program to customize like this the OS ?

AlienGUIse theme manager @ Alienware, free download comes with four alien themed desktops. Totally COOL:D
Get it here....http://www.alienware.com/standalone_pages/invader.aspx
Put media player in skin mode and be amazed.

noobzed

01-23-2007, 04:21 PM

ANd your bar at the bottom where do it come from ?

\/ENDE][A

01-23-2007, 04:47 PM

ANd your bar at the bottom where do it come from ?

It all comes with the AlienGUIse suite, just download it and run the xenomorph desktop, it loads the bar at the bottom as part of the theme.:D

noobzed

01-23-2007, 11:54 PM

Any new bioses that improves overclokability and/or stability ?

Lot of ppl usind 8500C5, and it seems to be unstable with these sticks, so what can we do ? just wait ? .... :/

MrToad

01-24-2007, 12:12 AM

A question that's going to sound extremely stupid, but...

Are all the SATA channels "peers"?

With this I mean, is there any performance impact if you use the channel 5/6 instead of the 1/2?

I ask this because I'm starting to look elsewhere for the root of my problems, and the channel 1/2 share IRQ with the USB controller of my keyb/mouse.

Providing I have no control whatsoever over IRQ assignment, and that there could be a link between heavy HDD usage with the BSOD that plagues me (if I use diskeeper configured with automatic defragmentation and IIFAST, when it starts "grinding", there's a higher chance of BSOD), I'd like to try moving the HDDs to the controller that shares IRQ with the unused USB.

Obviously, if this eases the problem at the expense of a performance impact, is no good.

revenant

01-24-2007, 04:21 PM

in stock @ newegg..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127020

I guess it's offiicially here now. ;)

I ordered one!

\/ENDE][A

01-24-2007, 04:35 PM

in stock @ newegg..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127020

I guess it's offiicially here now. ;)

I ordered one!

Wow what a board, having no problems at all with this, very impressed:D
Just spent the last three hours solid, benching with some great results. Still no problems with heat that others report, after 3 hours my Northbridge temps never went above 47c. All heatpipes just warm to touch.:woot:

JargonGR

01-24-2007, 04:51 PM

Great nice to hear its going great for you. Tomorrow or Friday I will receive mine and will start building.

Johnny Bravo

01-24-2007, 05:18 PM

Good to hear people are enjoying the board without any problems at all :up: I'm currently talking to Abit about a few things you guys have raised, we're trying to get it all ironed out so that future BIOS releases are exactly what you want. As for board cooling this one is still up in the air as far as I'm concerned. I personally believe that this whole heatpipe business has got to stop. It seems to me that what has happened is that one manufacturer has used them and get some good press so now everybody wants in on the action. I for one think this kinda a market lead thinking is bad. Consider the following....we all accepted that the DFI boards for NF4 were good overclocking boards, they used active fan cooling onboard because it was needed. I think we need to return to the times that mainstream and enthusiast boards are quite different, I can understand the mainstream user wanting a quiet PC, that's fine. But to the overclocker, this is far less of a concern. I feel the waters have been muddied due to the gamers who want a high performance PC but also want it quiet. Problem is they're a bigger market so if your gonna make your money you go after the biggest buyers. I guess at the end of the day we are overclockers and not adversed to doing a little modding of our own ;)

Just my thoughts on the matter, would love to hear what you all think too :)

John

qdemn7

01-24-2007, 06:07 PM

I guess at the end of the day we are overclockers and not adversed to doing a little modding of our own ;)

Just my thoughts on the matter, would love to hear what you all think too :)

JohnAgreed completely, excellent post! Besides the heatpipes getting out of hand just for "bling" they interfere with many of the larger heatsinks and waterblocks. Not to mention the problems they cause for phase changers. The other thing that really bugs me are all those caps, solid or not, so close to the cpu. I'd much rather see the money spent on 'pipes spent on digital PWMs like this board and the DFI ICX3200. In any case, any board I buy these days is going to have 'pipes pulled off and a waterblock placed on the NB, the PWM, and even the SB if I can manage the last. And I really don't care what others' opinions are about watercooling the 'bridges. I'm going to do it.

SmokeyTheBandit

01-24-2007, 11:06 PM

To Johnny ;)

I replaced my IN9 for a P5B DLX for the time beeing.
Realy strange with the P5B i haven't got any issues with the same components as when i put them on the IN9 ......

I hope Abit fixes this with a future bios update because its not a hardware malfunction i'm experiencing.
I can get it to boot to windows i only have to change the memory from the blue to the black slots and when it wouldn't boot windows again exchange again :slap: .

I know how to solve the problem but its extremely annoying changing ram slots all day .... :fact:

noobzed

01-24-2007, 11:16 PM

I have issues, not stable at factory or advised settings, it is a shame, i'm gonna sale the mobo... roll back to eVGA, at least it work, ugly but simply work.

MrToad

01-25-2007, 12:02 AM

Well, 24 hrs running stable with factory settings.

Although that might not look like an achievement worth mentioning, is more than what I've managed in the last two weeks.

The hardware setup and BIOS settings are exactly the same, I've returned the HDDs to headers 1&2, the only added component is the Dominator fan.

All this time I've been using the stock Intel cooler, because I didn't want to assemble my loop until the configuration was stable @ stock speeds.

Could this have been the root of the problem? Could the memory have been "unhappy" with the stock cooler blowing hot air straight to it?

shawn1998

01-25-2007, 03:04 AM

I guess anything is possible. I know you, Smkokey and just a very few small number of others are having issues, so hopefully it can be something so simple and easily missed. My board gets here today and believe me, I've been reading every post written on every forum about this board! I think I have about a 95% chance of success, based on the number of good reports to number of bad reports ratio (math is fun).

I', really glad to hear you got it running stable, MrToad!

MrToad

01-25-2007, 05:39 AM

I guess anything is possible. I know you, Smkokey and just a very few small number of others are having issues, so hopefully it can be something so simple and easily missed.

I'm hoping the same. But I won't scream "MrToad vincix" yet...

My board gets here today and believe me, I've been reading every post written on every forum about this board! I think I have about a 95% chance of success, based on the number of good reports to number of bad reports ratio (math is fun).

You have indeed more chances of running trouble-free (at least at stock speeds) than running into the pains some of us have.

I', really glad to hear you got it running stable, MrToad!

Not half as glad as I am :D