Abit F-I90HD micro-atx Review

[MrBean]

Hello Guys,
Lately it doesn't happen that often that I wait in anticipation for the arrival of computer components. Having been in the top-end overclocking business for the past 8 odd years, you get spoilt with the latest and greatest hardware.

Well, having first heard about this Motherboard, which would be classed Media-PC range rather than top-end overclocking, did not stir much interest, but the last few weeks my Wife has been slowly applying pressure to put together a decent Media PC for her daily needs.

Now, don't get me wrong, she has a 6600 Core 2 Duo, Asus P5W Dh with 7950 GX2 card as her daily gaming rig, she just wanted something stand-alone for recording those late-night shows, and I always seem to miss the Super 14 Rugby Union games (I am South African in Oz), so it would suit me perfectly. Good thing the Wife initiates this, no problem spending money then - hehe

I started doing some research, and short before long, stumbled upon this: Abit F-I90HD (http://www.abit-usa.com/news/2007/20070215.php)

Quick and dirty of the specs of this board - not all, just the most important, check out the rest for yourself on Abit's site - don't be lazy now ;)

CPU
- Supports Intel® Core™2 Duo, Core™2 Quad, Core™2 Extreme, Pentium® Dual-Core, Pentium® Extreme Edition, Pentium® D & Pentium®4 Processors with 1066/800MHz FSB

Chipset
ATI Radeon™ Xpress 1250

Memory
4 X 240-pin DIMM sockets support max. memory capacity 16GB
Supports Dual channel DDR2 800/667/533 Un-buffered Non-ECC memory

LAN
Gigabit Ethernet controller supports 10/100/1000Mbit LAN connections

Audio
7.1 CH HD Audio CODEC
Supports Auto Jack Sensing and optical S/PDIF Out

Expansion Slots
1 x PCI-E X16, 2 x PCI-E X1, 1 x PCI

Serial ATA
4 x SATA 3Gb/s with SATA RAID 0/1/0+1

Back panel I/O
1 x HDMI™ connector
1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x S/P DIF Out
7.1 CH Audio connector (Front, Line-in, MIC-in, Center/Subwoofer, Surround, Rear Surround)
4 x USB 2.0, 1 x RJ-45 LAN connector

and the conscise edition:

CPU Support Intel® Core™2 Duo, Core™2 Quad, Core™2 Extreme CPUs
System Bus 1066MHz FSB
Chipset ATI Radeon™ Xpress 1250
Graphics Technology ATI Radeon™ Xpress 1250 Integrated (X700-based)
HDMI™ HDMI™ 1.2 supports 1080p HD video output
LAN Onboard PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet
Memory Dual Channel DDR2-800/667/533, up to 16GB
SATA 4 x SATA 3G RAID 0/1/0+1
Audio 7.1-Channel HD with optical S/P DIF Out
USB Up to 10 x Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports
abit engineered™ Silent cooling, 100% Japanese caps, solid state caps
Extras Onboard Power On & Reset buttons

[MrBean]

Herewith a few pictures of the board.

As usual, Abit is one of the leading Companies when it comes to marketing their components, and this board is no exception - it is well presented, with a decent description of the functions and features of the product within.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Packaging_Front.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Packaging_rear.jpg

Althought the packaging does it for some, and others are more concerned about the actual contents, let's take a looky inside, shall we?

Once removing the outer skin, the board sits there, in all it's glory, behind a protective plastic cover:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Mobo_in_box.jpg

Underneath the motherboard, in it's own individual compartment, we find the manual, system CD, I/O plate, 4x Sata2 cables, and standard, 1.44" Stiffy (who still use those anyway) and 80-pin ATA IDE cables.

Please note the (first for me) HDMI adapter, that allows you to connect to any HDMI capable television set:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Package_Contents.jpg

Taking a closer look at the board, here is a shot of the 4x Sata2 headers, right next to the new ATi SB600 Southbridge chip underneath a passive cooled black aluminium heatsink - a nice touch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/SouthBridge.jpg

The CPU socket-area is surrounded by solid-state capacitors, which makes for cooler running caps under load, ultimately extendinding the life of these caps, and in the longer run will have a good positive effect on system stability.

Even though the rest of the board has standard electrolytic caps, they are of the topmost Japanese quality, and will be good for years to come.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Solid_State_Caps.jpg

a Close-up of the LGA775 Intel socket, which in my system will house the well-balanced E6400 Core 2 Duo CPU:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/CPU_Socket.jpg

a Shot of the rear I/O ports, where you can see immediately to the right of the PS2 ports, the new 1080p HDMI output - jeesh, I can't get over this :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/IO_Ports.jpg

a Bit of a disappointment is the fact that there is the standard SPDIF output, but the area where the input would have been, is well, there -but no supporting components.

[MrBean]

Here's 2 photos of the board installed in my Anted Fusion case, it was painless, easy to install, yes, even thought the Antec Fusion is not the easiest case to install a Micro-ATX board in:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/CPU_Antec_Fusion2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/CPU_Antec_Fusion1.jpg

Last, but not least, my TV card, the decent all-rounder Video-Mate T750:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Video_Mate_T750.jpg

Initial Setup
I have decided to test this board not with high-end ram, or the fastest cpu out there, but rather the standard kit we all would use on a setup like this.

I have settled for Samsung ram, 2x 1gig sticks, which should give the memory subsystem a decent workout, they are rated at 4-4-4-10, and then a semi-decent E6400, clocked stock at 2.13Gig, but which can easily (and stably) do 3.2gig on stock Intel aircooling.

Though one would hardly overclock a board in this application, there are a few amongst us who would most likely use this in a very portable gaming rig, dump a big-momma gfx card in, and clock the hell out of the E6400 - yes, the Bios has some options for overclocking, we will get to that a little deeper into the review.

For now, intital setup, installation:

As always, the top-tier suppliers do a decent job of accompanying documentation, and in this case Abit did not fail to produce - even a non-techie will most likely succeed in mounting, and setting this board up.

All onboard socket pins, orientation, numbering etc are clearly marked, and if you have done a few setups in your life, you can actually get away without even browsing the manual - for those not so confident, the manual will get you there.

Once all hardware mounted, it's time to connect the power, and switch it on. The Bios supports the CPU outof the box, no need to use D820 or similar older generation cpu to get this baby going.

Boot-up is without issues, and a quick browse of the Bios.....damnnnnn.....

The Bios is as red as the board, a welcome change from the oh-so-boring blue :) Kewl, I like it.

All the standard features you come to expect of the Award Bios is there, from Advanced Chipset to System information.

I will revisit the Bios section a little later, this is just a quick break-down.

All the voltages are spot-on, but it seems the 3.30V needs a little calibration, as my Fluke Process Meter reveals 3.3V, but bios is indicating 3.16V - quite an error actually.

Temperatures in hovers around 40-41 deg C with the CPu at stock speeds on aircooling, with ambient around 25 deg C, and the 2x Antec 120mm sidefans spinning at a lowly 5V.

Quite good, and accurate, similar idel temps on my Asus P5W Dh, and P5 WS Pro boards - glad to see manufacturers are getting more accurate calibrating these values.

Did a quick check to set CDRom boot preference, Save and Exit, and mounted new Vista Premium rom.

Vista Setup

Setup started without a glitch, and to be honest, I could not detect a measureable difference loading Vista on this setup, and my P5 WS Pro X6800 clocked at 3.51gig speeds.

Vista detected all drivers, and within 20-25 minutes I was greeted by the Vista Desktop.

a Quick glance in Device Manager revealed the only missing drivers were those for my T750 TV card, which I downloaded and installed the latest set of supporting Vista from Compro's site.

Testing FM and TV on that card showed all working well, no noticeable audio problems, crackling etc, but more thorough testing under various load conditions will be performed on this board to test complete suitability for Media PC use.

One glaring omission on this lovely board is onboard WiFi, as my only PCI slot is occupied by the TV card, and 1x PCI-Express devices is still pretty scarce Down Under, well, I am sure it would have been easy for Abit to include this as a standard.

Something to think about.

So, it would be very easy even for the most green amongst us to get this board up and running, and performing without issues.

Even using not-so-carefully selected/researched components, will still be much easier than say, a year ago, when we had batches of boards from both Intel and AMD which will only work with this or that high-end brand memory.

This new ATI Express 1250/1300 series chipset seems to be quite tolerant of different memory brands, low-to-high end, and I will be testing Samsung, OCZ and G-Skill on it to verify.

Please check back for testing and conclusion sometime over Easter.

Feedback would be appreciated.

Kind regards,
MrBean.

[MrBean]

Hello everyone,
a Few Everest Ultimate benchies below - I won't comment on all, as the results are quite self-explanatory, suffice it to say that the board performs well against a variety of competitors out there, I just used memory throughput and cpu performance as a yardstick, and even though this is a HTPC board, it would do well in the gaming environment.

I cannot post overclocking results, as there is a few small additions Abit needs to make to the Bios before this can be attempted with success, and keeping the stability of the system priority one, so I will be in discussion with the Powers to Be to address these small issues.

Anyway, see Everest results below - take note all tests are performed with CPU at default, and Memory SPD settings in the BIOS.

Please observe the slight descrepancies between Overall, and individual tests - I had some differences in background applications running, as the purpose of these tests are not to showcase MAX performance, rather what you can expect on a "Daily User Rig"


Overall Test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/F_I90HD_Memory_Tests_Stock_spd_bios.jpg



Memory Read Test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/MemoryReadSPD.jpg


Memory Write Test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/MemoryWriteSPD.jpg


Memory Copy

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/MemoryCopySPD.jpg


Memory Latency

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/MemoryLatencySPD.jpg



CPU Queen Test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/CPU_Queen.jpg



CPU Photoworxx Test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/CPU_Photoworxx.jpg


CPU ZLib Test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/CPU_ZLib.jpg

[MrBean]

FPU Julia Test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/FPU_Julia.jpg

FPU Mandel Test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/FPU_Mandel.jpg

FPU SinJulia Test

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/MrBean_PM/Reviews/Abit/F_I90HD/Results/FPU_SinJulia.jpg

More extensive benchmarks to follow after Bios refresh ;)

[NickS]

Looks like a good board :)

Nice review dude, keep up the good work! :up:

[MrBean]

Thanx for the f/back, NickS.

Initial impressions are very positive, I am currently setting up the unit to record (PVR) from my Foxtel Decoder, as I will be testing general perfomance for Home Entertainment usage too - this is where this board should perform well, as this is the target market.

No glitches so far, FM radio working well from the T750 card, next to test TV recording, image quality, recording, and playback.

Might look at some MPEG2 encoding performance too, but will keep you posted.

Br,
MrBean.

[irev210]

quick question, what is the min CPU voltage you can select voltage?

Im looking to check this out as a HTPC, just wondering how little voltage I can make this thing sip.

Thanks for the review :)

[MrBean]

1.325-1.70Vcore

1.75-2.50Vmem

1.80-2.088Vnb

Abit might give us lower options in later Bios releases.

Let's hope so :)

[erwinz]

nice voltages.. :D

[MrBean]

Yep, the range is good, al we need now in the Bios would be an option to lock PCI-Express bus frequency.

Then I can test the overclockability of this neat little board :)

[erwinz]

waaaaa... the no lock in the pcie???

[s e t h]

i have seen overclocks up to 366fsb so i'm not sure there is a problem with pci/-e locks...this is after all an AMD chipset and from the start they are async chipset...sync mode is actually challenging for these chipsets it appears

edit:...these board seem to need a pci-e card ideally for serious clocking though..to take the gpu strain out of the NB

[Lestat]

the pci-e and pci already lock, no need to add that option if they are already locked.
but being able to raise the pci-e is always nice to help achieve higher FSB.
but since this thing cant even do 400fsb, its doubtful anything is going to help.

its a nice board but watch it, they are dieing left and right.
its a shame i was hoping to get one, but i dont think i will now.... too risky.

[irev210]

the pci-e and pci already lock, no need to add that option if they are already locked.
but being able to raise the pci-e is always nice to help achieve higher FSB.
but since this thing cant even do 400fsb, its doubtful anything is going to help.

its a nice board but watch it, they are dieing left and right.
its a shame i was hoping to get one, but i dont think i will now.... too risky.

Compared to other mATX boards, this thing is a god.


I would buy one, but I got a 1/2 dozen core mobile based processors, and no core desktop based processors.

I really want something very low power... not sure what to get. Maybe an E4300 or something after the price drops.

[FLMJIGGY]

Sweet review. Neat and VERY well laid out. Unlike most if a 4300 could get to 3Ghz I'd be MORE than happy. Heck, even 2.8 is good for me!

AMD has Crystal CPU for lower V and Multi options. Does Intel have something similar?

[Blaineikans]

I have this board as well, actually I'm on my second. Using an e4300 and OCZ memory. First one died when I tried to push the FSB to 350 while using onboard video. The RMA arrived Wednesday and I OC'd it to a modest 2.7Ghz which it Orthosed for over 16 hours at perfectly fine.

Tomorrow I'm throwin an 8800GTS in it so hopefully that'll give me some more headroom. On the first board I couldn't get into Vista @ over 333 which seems to be the point that people begin to have problems.

Even though I had a bad first experience I'm excited to use this board and looking forward to a nice and small gaming rig.:D

[MrBean]

the pci-e and pci already lock, no need to add that option if they are already locked.
but being able to raise the pci-e is always nice to help achieve higher FSB

and


First one died when I tried to push the FSB to 350 while using onboard video.

Yep, PCI-e locked, but would be nice to have the option available to change as you wish.

And of course, as Seth has mentioned, would be good to use standalone GFX card instead of onchip one.

[Solarfall]

thanks for the review bro, i really enjoyed reading it.

[zerotol]

very nice review :toast:

Could you test the onboard in a few games like fear so we could see its real performance ?;)

[MrBean]

Hey Guys,
Thanx for the feedback :)

I will test onboard with eg FEAR, see how it goes.

Br,
MrBean

[Lestat]

fear's gunna choke it to death.

so your boards still running eh?

[Blaineikans]

My board and 4300 are running at 3.0 Ghz just fine right now on stock cooling. It orthos'd for over 14 hours overnight.

One question, for this to run stable the voltage is at 1.375, is it safe to go higher than 1.4 on the cpu voltage? It seems that's what it is going to take to run stable at 3.1 ghz or higher.

[MrBean]

@ Lestat - you're right, the card will take a bit of a knock with FEAR.

Will test it anyway should be playable at 800x600 - rofl.

@ Blaineikans: You might find temps getting a little high on air at 1.45+, so keep it 1.40-1.425, and watch temps to stay within spec.

Mine is running 3.65gig, 1.45Vcore, but on water - and it's a X6800.

Happy with it there.

[Meaker]

Yep I am pretty sure now that turning on the onboard video and doing any serious overclocking will kill it quick (24 hours in my case).

My new board is running at 334mhz fsb with my e4300 running 3ghz 24/7. =)

[MrBean]

@ Meaker - That's why I am not overclocking my board yet, will only do so with external pci-e card.

[trans am]

I need a new bios. I am using D9GMH 2x1GB and can only boot with 1 stick at a time. Anyone have this problem?
I tried getting into bios raise vdimm and set timings manually and reboot with 2 sticks but still no post.

[sigill]

Would be interested to know how it gets with a true hd source. A few folk on other forums are saying that they dont think the board can handle decoding h.264. but no one seems to have actualy tested it yet.

[Meaker]

I am running two 1gb Gskill 5400 sticks at 333mhz 3-3-3-12. They dont like doing 400mhz so I set them to lower latencies instead. I have no problems running them DC (1st slot + 3rd slot).

[Nanometer]

I think most M-ATX boards are crap, and to tack on the Fata1ty would just bust my lid. But you are showing that these two make a good combination. Impressive results.. I think it's the first Fata1ty board I would buy, good work!

[irev210]

i picked mine up at microcenter

120+20 for 1 year in-store no hassle warranty replacement

after hearing all the problems with the board but still REALLY wanting it, i figured this was the only way to go

[S&M]

Picked up one today here in israel, Installed xp flawlessly with 2 gb of elpidia ram, e6700 es b1 stepping 5 , installed softwares ... everything smooth so far - will update if any problems occur ....

[dogsx2]

irev210;2112769]
I would buy one, but I got a 1/2 dozen core mobile based processors, and no core desktop based processors.



LOL, too tempting to resist.:D

Hope it does better then mine and many of the ones that took a dump. No oc on mine and worked for 10 hour. Shut down and went to power up but Hasta la vista, baby(in the words of the great governor of Cal.) Abit RMA is slow.

[irev210]

meh, installing

http://www.importjdm.com/shipped/abit.jpg

[The Nemesis]

i picked mine up at microcenter

120+20 for 1 year in-store no hassle warranty replacement

after hearing all the problems with the board but still REALLY wanting it, i figured this was the only way to go

Still no problems with mine, I'm gonna pick up another one tomorrow. Also gonna yank the 6600 out and put the 4300 back in. Gonna pair the next board with a 6420 and make a htpc.

[pengizzle]

if u got a kill-a-watt or sumthin lemme know bout the power consumption with onboard Gpu Plus the E4300.

[irev210]

okay, my board is set up and it ROCKS!

all of the media center functionality works EXCELLENT! No problems going in and out of S3 suspend to ram mode and waking up over USB!

At stock speeds with a E6600 it uses about ~30 watts watching tv over my merom setup.

2*400GB HDD's
dvd drive
2 120MM fans
stock intel QX6700 heatsink/fan
onboard video/sound/lan
ATI 650 PRO tuner
4GB of ram

watching TV uses ~110 watts of power, not shabby.

[irev210]

anyone else having issues with BSOD @ bootup?

my stock fan just got stuck on high for no reason either

hoping that these issues will get ironed out

win32k.sys BSOD every time with vista ult. I am wondering if i am having some bad luck with drivers



This board is anything but smooth sailing.

[The Nemesis]

anyone else having issues with BSOD @ bootup?

my stock fan just got stuck on high for no reason either

hoping that these issues will get ironed out

win32k.sys BSOD every time with vista ult. I am wondering if i am having some bad luck with drivers



This board is anything but smooth sailing.

Mine did that with vista too. I dumped vista because it didn't have drivers for my ATI HDTV Wonder. Not had a BSOD since running XP.

[MrBean]

Hello Guys,
I am running Vista Home Premium, and not 1 issue so far - been running Orthos for quite while now, stressing the system to max, stock clocks though - and handling the stress-test with ease.

All air-cooled, and cpu temps running 42/43 Deg C for each core respectively.Ambient around 22 deg C, and no problems so far.

The point here is to see how stable the board is for those normal folks out there, who just wants a stock, dead-reliable board for a Media Center.

So far, all good, at least for me. Will perform an all-nighter with Orthos, and provide feedback tomorrow.

@ Irev210: Maybe it's your bord, maybe not. Can be any of your other hardware causing problems, most likely memory.

Check that out, I am running Samsung DDR2-533's on mine, relative tight timings at 4-4-4-11, and no issues.

Smooth sailing for me at least :)

Br,
MrBean.

[irev210]

Hello Guys,
I am running Vista Home Premium, and not 1 issue so far - been running Orthos for quite while now, stressing the system to max, stock clocks though - and handling the stress-test with ease.

All air-cooled, and cpu temps running 42/43 Deg C for each core respectively.Ambient around 22 deg C, and no problems so far.

The point here is to see how stable the board is for those normal folks out there, who just wants a stock, dead-reliable board for a Media Center.

So far, all good, at least for me. Will perform an all-nighter with Orthos, and provide feedback tomorrow.

@ Irev210: Maybe it's your bord, maybe not. Can be any of your other hardware causing problems, most likely memory.

Check that out, I am running Samsung DDR2-533's on mine, relative tight timings at 4-4-4-11, and no issues.

Smooth sailing for me at least :)

Br,
MrBean.

Im guessing it is TV tuner as the other guy said. The point to note is while you may have a stable board, many others dont. My board doesnt even boot from CDROM unless I press F12 during bootup to select a boot device.

unless I happen to have defective Elpedia, defective samsung, defective promos, defective micron and defective nanya. I've tested lots of different ram with this board, all do the same thing.


Also, anyone notice that 512MB gfx setting doesnt work?


There are lots of problems with this board, doesnt mean it isnt good... just mean it is more work to get everything set up correctly.



Problems i've found so far-

512MB graphics setting doesnt work in vista, video will not display correctly
can not run two 650 PRO tuners at the same time. It boots up after a memory change, then I get the BSOD. When it actually does boot with 2 tuners, it works fine.
Cant boot from CDROM drive, for whatever reason it "times out" then boots from hard drive, not sure why it wont spin up the CDROM drive.
CLEAR CMOS is in the WORST spot ever, right behind a cap on the edge of the board
CPU fan speed gets stuck on high using factory 4 pin intel fan/cooler



more to add, loving the board... just need to fix the dual tuner issue.

[MrBean]

The problem with hardware, and different users with unique combos are just that- quite many variables, varying levels of skill, good quality hardware, old hardware, driver issues, etc.

One thing I may point out is that while 1000's of others have been having BSOD's on various systems in the recent past, the last time I had a BSOD (other than overclocking for Hall of Fame on Futuremark) must have been 3-4 years ago.

One thing we can do is look at combos, like with this board I have, and make recommendations to others to as what would give a suitable stable setup, with minimim installation problems.

What is the most compatible ram, TV card, DVD-RW combo drive, etc, and let the uninformed/not-so-experienced guys stick to this as a base.

Yes,I know hardware must be compatible to almost everything out there, but in the recent past I can point out motherboards from all Tier1 Manufacturers which had bad problems with specific brands of memory, for example.

Bios revisions, all those factors play huge roles.

So, at least if we want to highlight problems with boards, lets rule 1/2 of the problems out there to Pebkac errors, and then focus on the 1/2 that know what they are doing.

The only way we are going to make good progress without blaming any specific peice of hardware for our misfortune.

edit: Before anyone think I am a fanboy, My gaming rig is an Asus P5WDG2-WS, X6800 with GSkill Ram, (6400), 8800GTX, My Wife has an Asus P5W DH with OCZ 2gig and 7950GX2, my Carputer is 1.86gig Merom-based MacMini, and my spare PC is a Commell LV677 with Merom 1.86gig, 2gig Gskill and special GFX hardware- just thought I'd clear the air ;)

Enjoy.

[irev210]

Okay, problems with my board-


512MB graphics setting doesnt work in vista, video will not display correctly
can not run 650 PRO tuner, BSOD during bootup
Cant boot from CDROM drive
Fan gets stuck on "High" using intel 4pin fan+heatsink



yay, who else!

[Heidfirst]

there's a 12.B01 BIOS on abit USA forum if anyone wants it

[MrBean]

Hello Everyone,
Just quick feedback- I have been doing 11hours worh of dual-Priming, using Orthos, and 11hours with Memtest 1.65, doing 18 passes wtih 2gigs of ram, and no errors.

Again, all at default, but I am trying as hard as I can to detect any problems at stock clocks, which at least on this board doesn't exsist.

So far, except for overclockers, which has proven that there are some unexplained quick-death sndrome with some samples of this board, this board would make a very good MediaCenter PC, which will run at stock clocks, and even with aircooling, my cpu never exceeded 48deg C with 28 ambient.

With a good case, like the Antec Fusion I am using, I get decent airflow across the "passive" chipset heatsink, and it is lukewarm to the touch.

So, seemingly keeping this chipset cool, will yield a reliable MediaCenter setup, even under continious 100% load conditions.

[kiner]

Okay, problems with my board-


512MB graphics setting doesnt work in vista, video will not display correctly
can not run 650 PRO tuner, BSOD during bootup
Cant boot from CDROM drive
Fan gets stuck on "High" using intel 4pin fan+heatsink



yay, who else!

a rumor said 512MB graphics setting will be removed in the latest beta BIOS..
Also 512MB is not supported by ATI x1250....:(

[MrBean]

Thanx for that feedback Kiner ;)

[s e t h]

does anybody know if this board will boot with a 333fsb cpu...my cpu is pinmodded and i don't want to have to undo the mod if i don't have to

[alpha0ne]

Nice review MrBean, I have been looking at this board for a couple of weeks now and am quite pleased with the retail price in Oz :clap:

Usually a decent mATX board is a huge rippoff here :fact: :slapass:

I will wait till the bios has lower Vcore options (1.10V) before buying though as I get sick of waiting for Abit bios updates that can sometimes take as long as 3 to 4 months :slapass:

[Meaker]

Hey the BSOD is and ATI driver problem, there is a hotfix out there, I think there might be a propper one, but for now disabling the external event manager in the statup options works, the chip cant detect monitor changes though.

[LittleDevil]

Really nice review ;)

regards

[irev210]

Hey the BSOD is and ATI driver problem, there is a hotfix out there, I think there might be a propper one, but for now disabling the external event manager in the statup options works, the chip cant detect monitor changes though.

oh please do share!

Do you have any more info on this? It is just this particular ATI chipset + tuner that is causing me these troubles


works fine on other boards

[The Warlock]

Anyone ever tried this board with ocz reapers? Anyone think i could get "stock" speed 1067 from them and still keeping this board alive?
I will not overclock this board until directx 10 gfx is released from ati, so, will it "take " it with a graphics card installed?
Anyone killed their ram sticks on this yet?
Will the reapers be to tall if installed in a thermaltake lanbox with two dvd burners installed?

[irev210]

Hey the BSOD is and ATI driver problem, there is a hotfix out there, I think there might be a propper one, but for now disabling the external event manager in the statup options works, the chip cant detect monitor changes though.

hey, thanks for your help

it completely resolved my problem!

[MrBean]

Great news, Irev210!

Glad your issues are resolved, howz the rest of the tests going on your system? Stable, or still some minor quirks?

Only small thing for me is that the Realtek Soundmanager can't test my Logitech 5500's properly when using the analog outputs, they play in 5.1 mode, but the test only signals 2x front speakers.

Weird, but only an small glitch in the application, as all 5, incl sub works fine when actually playing cd/dvd's etc.

Otherwise still going strong this side, very stable.

[irev210]

Great news, Irev210!

Glad your issues are resolved, howz the rest of the tests going on your system? Stable, or still some minor quirks?

Only small thing for me is that the Realtek Soundmanager can't test my Logitech 5500's properly when using the analog outputs, they play in 5.1 mode, but the test only signals 2x front speakers.

Weird, but only an small glitch in the application, as all 5, incl sub works fine when actually playing cd/dvd's etc.

Otherwise still going strong this side, very stable.

i still have issues

using the latest realtek ATI HDMI drivers are less stable than the windows update drivers, but the realtek drivers let me use the windows volume in media center, standard vista drivers dont



Getting there though, frustrated still, but making progress.


512MB gfx setting still doesnt work in vista either, few other quarks here and there... but no ram problems as others have had.

Watching TV my PC draws 111-112 watts from the wall, which is pretty darn good. If abit allows me to undervolt in BIOS, it would be even less :)


Overall, very happy.

[The Warlock]

What cpu cooler could i use on this, the northbridge heatsink does look close and is pretty tall too? I will put this board in a thermaltake lanbox, so the cooler cant be taller than 100mm, any idea what i might use?

[ninjagordy]

Guys,

can anyone tell me how high there running voltages on this board as im hitting a wall at 2.8ghz for stability...i can boot to 3ghz with my e4300 and an 8600gt but im not sure how much voltage to throw at the nb etc.....

im running stock nb cooler and an artic freezer pro on the chip.

(p.s. Sparkle 8600gt is exceptionally good o.c'er on stock volts/cooling 675mhz core 1020mhz ram ((2040mhz ddr)) so basically 8600 gts out the box!)

all help appreciated!

Gordy!:slapass:

[ninjagordy]

update:

am3 : 117'874
3d01: 36'455

others dl as we speak!

all on f-i90hd , 2 gb crucial pc5300, e4300 @ 2.8ghz, sparkle 8600gt 675/1001

will push for more when i have more time but not bad for starters.

destroys any 7600gt i owned for sure!

Gordy!! :toast:

[__Miguel_]

512MB gfx setting still doesnt work in vista either, few other quarks here and there... but no ram problems as others have had.

Watching TV my PC draws 111-112 watts from the wall, which is pretty darn good. If abit allows me to undervolt in BIOS, it would be even less :)
Some posts ago somebody said 512MB frame buffer would be removed from the BIOS, because of incompatibility. Maybe that's why Vista misbehaves with that kind of memory.

Also, why do you want that huge of a frame buffer? No matter how much RAM you reserve for the IGP, it won't benefit the framerate on games that much... And even HD playback doesn't need that much V-RAM... I get by with an 8MB frame buffer on a socket 370 SiS IGP for small videos. The problem there is the CPU, not the frame buffer... :p: Anyway, just my :2cents: on the subject.

Regarding undervolting, try RightMark's Clock Utility. I've found that my E6400 runs just fine on 1.163v, at every multiplier (in Windows, don't how much that would be with vdroop). Please do note that sometimes weird effects happen when undervolting that much. My Pentium-M laptop gets intermitent Wi-Fi connectivity when undervolting, and the integrated webcam just doesn't work that well when Windows is not controlling the CPU's power states.

Cheers.

Miguel

[thobjo]

What cpu cooler could i use on this, the northbridge heatsink does look close and is pretty tall too? I will put this board in a thermaltake lanbox, so the cooler cant be taller than 100mm, any idea what i might use?

I use the zalman CNPS7700CU in a lanbox lite, works like a charm.
Would give this combo thumbs up because the design of the zalman helps cooling rest of the components as well.
The layout of this motherboard is very good.

Since u are norwegian(me too ) I include this link
komplett website (http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=306456)

Without much efforth my "budget setup"(e4300@3ghz, crucial 2GB value kit etc) system runs stable 24/7 and is fairly quiet as well.
As soon as I get my nvidia 8800 gtx this will become my main gaming rig, later on(later this year or the beginning of 2008) I will take out the gfx and use it only as a HTPC(the IGP surprisingly runs 1080p x264 and mpeg2/4)

Go for it :)

[the farmer]

I have the following config in mind: (http://img151.imageshack.us/my.php?image=e4300pc6400rs2.jpg)

Does this board work with Micron D9GMH (B6-3) or ProMOS 8-layer PCB?

I want to buy Team Xtreem DDR2 800MHz CL 4-4-4-10 (http://www.teamgroup.com.tw/xtreem/overclocking/team-xtreem-ddr2-800mhz-cl-4%114%114%1110/)

or

Xtreem Dark DDR2 800MHz CL 4-4-4-12 (http://www.teamgroup.com.tw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=293&Itemid=527)


Is there a posibility that a bios update solve the problem of oc'en with onboard VGA? I can use my 7800GTX if that saves the board from dieing.

[Redibo]

I have just a tiny question: Does the integreated graphics on this board shut off itself when you put in an extra videocard, or do you have to do something in BIOS? I've checked, but couldn't find anything. Going to start overclocking, but don't dare to do it before I'm sure the integrated graphics is shut off, as many boards have been burned while OC'ing using IG chip...

System: F-I90HD, E4300, 2 GB Twinmos Twister PC6400, Asus 8800GTS 320MB.

Aiming to reach 2,8-3 GHz in my little X-Qpack... :)

[__Miguel_]

I have just a tiny question: Does the integreated graphics on this board shut off itself when you put in an extra videocard, or do you have to do something in BIOS?
While I don't own one of those babies, I do remember to read something about it on the manual (don't ask, I like to read the manual of stuff I'd like to buy... :p:). I think the IGP shuts down when there's an external GPU, but you probably can also tell it not to.

Anyway, do thoroughly read the BIOS section of the board's manual, I'm sure there's something there.

Cheers.

Miguel

[Redibo]

Thanks! I don't remember that I read anything about it, but last time I read the manual was about a month ago... And I always read the manual, the bad part is that I don't remeber e :banana::banana::banana::banana: :p: But I'll dig it up, thanks for taking your time! :)

[__Miguel_]

Hmmm, it appears I've been reading too many motherboard manuals lately... I'm confusing 945G-based BIOS with the F-I90HD BIOS... lol

I've re-read the manual, and I haven't found the "IGP on-off" BIOS option. It is costumary, though, for IGPs to shut down when another GPU is present in the system.

The easiest (sp?) way to check that is to configure it to say 64MB or 128MB shared buffer (the more, the better, it's easier to check) and then installing the external GPU. If the memory reported by Windows equals your total RAM (for <4GB 32-bit systems or 64-bit systems only, because of the "3.3GB bug"), minus a couple of MB (eventually), then the IGP is disabled. If you find 64MB or 128MB "missing", then it's enabled.

Also, don't forget NOT to set the IGP (HDMI or VGA) as the primary display output. I guess that's pretty obvious, but you never know... I'm known for forgetting VERY obvious steps, so that's a "just in case"... :p:

Cheers.

Miguel

[Redibo]

Thanks, that's a very good idea, will try it as soon as I'm done with my CAD project! Thanks for the help! :)

[sonofander]

Hmmm, it appears I've been reading too many motherboard manuals lately... I'm confusing 945G-based BIOS with the F-I90HD BIOS... lol

I've re-read the manual, and I haven't found the "IGP on-off" BIOS option. It is costumary, though, for IGPs to shut down when another GPU is present in the system.

The easiest (sp?) way to check that is to configure it to say 64MB or 128MB shared buffer (the more, the better, it's easier to check) and then installing the external GPU. If the memory reported by Windows equals your total RAM (for <4GB 32-bit systems or 64-bit systems only, because of the "3.3GB bug"), minus a couple of MB (eventually), then the IGP is disabled. If you find 64MB or 128MB "missing", then it's enabled.

Also, don't forget NOT to set the IGP (HDMI or VGA) as the primary display output. I guess that's pretty obvious, but you never know... I'm known for forgetting VERY obvious steps, so that's a "just in case"... :p:

Cheers.

Miguel

where in the bios do you set the HDMI for the primary video output? I haven't seen that option... I have had no luck getting my HDMI output to work with the included HDMI to DVI adapter. Any advice?

[__Miguel_]

where in the bios do you set the HDMI for the primary video output? I haven't seen that option... I have had no luck getting my HDMI output to work with the included HDMI to DVI adapter. Any advice?
Remember I don't own one of those, so I can't really tell if HDMI can be set as primary video output.

That being said, you might want to check page 2-10 of the owner's manual. You might be having some issues with the "HDMI port display" setting. Since you're using the DVI adapter, it seems that setting should be set to "DVI", not "Normal".

The "Init Display First" may have HDMI as an option (can't tell just from the manual). You might need to get the HDMI output working in Windows first for the option to appear, though...

Hope it helps.

Cheers.

Miguel

[sonofander]

any idea how to "get it working in windows"?

(I love getting help from someone that doesn't even have the mb... this form rocks!!!)

[__Miguel_]

any idea how to "get it working in windows"?

(I love getting help from someone that doesn't even have the mb... this form rocks!!!)
I'll assume you weren't being sarcastic about that :p:

First of all, be sure to get the latest drivers for the HDMI/Realtek combo, I remember reading something about the first ones being "iffy". Then, do read page 2-10 of the manual, to figure out which setting you should use on "HDMI Port Display".

If in doubt, please try both settings, one at a time. I'd recomend to have the TV already plugged in to the board before booting, and please take into consideration that some TVs cannot detect HDMI/DVI connections automatically, and have to be "coaxed" into it (a.k.a., selecting the correct channel and possibly rescanning).

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

Miguel

[BulldogPO]

Does 7950GX2 work with F-I90HD mobo?

[__Miguel_]

Does 7950GX2 work with F-I90HD mobo?
A short while after the 7950GX2 hit the market, most manufacturers issued BIOS files with compatibility for PCI-E bridges in PCI-E slots (which the PCI-E standard accepts but noone implemented up to that time... lol).

Since then, I think every BIOS issued has taken that PCI-E feature into consideration, so you shouldn't have any problems with that GPU. FYI, even low-budget king mobo maker ASRock supports that GPU, so I'm almost 100% sure Abit wouldn't let that one slip... :p:

Cheers.

Miguel

[The Warlock]

I use the zalman CNPS7700CU in a lanbox lite, works like a charm.
Would give this combo thumbs up because the design of the zalman helps cooling rest of the components as well.
The layout of this motherboard is very good.

Since u are norwegian(me too ) I include this link
komplett website (http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=306456)

Without much efforth my "budget setup"(e4300@3ghz, crucial 2GB value kit etc) system runs stable 24/7 and is fairly quiet as well.
As soon as I get my nvidia 8800 gtx this will become my main gaming rig, later on(later this year or the beginning of 2008) I will take out the gfx and use it only as a HTPC(the IGP surprisingly runs 1080p x264 and mpeg2/4)

Go for it :)

Takk for tipset! Thx thobjo, will be buying a lanbox shortly i think, maybe the ht version. Maybe you or someone else would know if my 4gb of ocz reapers will fit in there with two dvd burners in place, anyone?

[ByrgerRI]

I bought the Abit F-I90HD couple of days back and have only recently started to OC my proc. I'm still using a Pentium 805D but should be upgrading to a C2D soon. The 805D is able to OC till 4.0Ghz on a NF4-SLI mobo and 4.2Ghz on a Nvidia 680 SLI mobo.

Once I started to OC the proc, I started off at a conservative 3.4Ghz with the proc volts at 1.45, it boots fine and goes into windows fine, run orthos with no errors and etc, but once i reboot the system failure to post. Seems like the onboard graphics just refused to start and there is zilch on the screen, there isnt any beeping sound and anything odd like that.

I then tried to go easy on the OC and am able to find that at 3.18Ghz, the system is able to post, go into windows and reboot fine. But once I go above 3.18Ghz, the first POST is fine but if i ever reboot it fails to POST again.

I dont think this is related to the mobo FSB limitation or even the 805D itself. Could this be related to the onboard GC? has anyone encounter this problem?

By the way I'm running the .12 version of the BIOS.

[__Miguel_]

Could this be related to the onboard GC? has anyone encounter this problem?
I have read reports of the F-I90HD's IGP not being able to cope with high overclocks, resulting in its premature death. However, those reports always stated around 350MHz (or 1400MHz Quad-Pumped) as the breaking point, and NOT 170MHz, as you have with the CPU running at 3.4GHz...

The only explanation I can find is that there are actually breaking points on the IGP at every 175MHz or so (that WOULD make sense, at least a little), which actually could mean they are not breaking points at all, only walls (like the "400MHz-wall" on the P965 chipsets, that prevented booting at 400MHz, but not at 399MHz or 401Mhz...). But, of course, I'm just speculating here...

In short, it really seems the IGP is the one to blame here. As for the solution, I have none, unfortunately.

Cheers.

Miguel

[Lestat]

the IGP isnt the only issue, if at all.
the boards that were dieing died from memory failure. not the actual memory but something on the mobo that killed 2 of the ram slots and left you with only single channel ram.

and you shouldnt be oc'ing with the onboard video turned on anyways. it just doesnt work very well. sounds more like the pci-e freq. is out of spec. or the pci freq is out of spec.

[__Miguel_]

the boards that were dieing died from memory failure. not the actual memory but something on the mobo that killed 2 of the ram slots and left you with only single channel ram.
Oh, that's news to me. From what I read, it seemed the IGP was the one getting toasted. Then ByrgerRI's problem has another cause for sure. Maybe this time it REALLY is the IGP, not the memory slots dieing on him. At any rate, I'm waaay over my league now, I'll just leave it to the big boys :p:


and you shouldnt be oc'ing with the onboard video turned on anyways. it just doesnt work very well.
Please, do ellaborate on that. Sure, max OC capabilities generally drop like a stone when the IGP is enabled (heat issues and/or IGP walls, whatever comes first), but appart from that are there any more reasons for someone like me, who isn't very keen on OCs, NOT to OC using the IGP? For instance, I doubt I'd EVER go higher than 333MHz with a 1066MHz FSB C2D. Hell, I'd probably not even cross the 300MHz line... Any issues/limitations/problems for the IGP there (provided it doesn't wall till there, of course hehe)?


sounds more like the pci-e freq. is out of spec. or the pci freq is out of spec.
I still can't get it why the PCI and PCI-E locks aren't enabled by default, since basically EVERY chipset made since the 955X (probably even earlier) has it and usually works fine (yes, I know, the 945 series is a dud in that department, but bear with me, ok?). There are usually no reasons to unlock the buses, so the default-on option would be nice... It would save this kind of annoyance when OC'ing...

That being said, if memory serves me right, there is only ONE device on the PCI bus on the F-I90HD, the PCI slot (yes, not really a device per se), whose clock generator can even be disabled in the BIOS, so that doesn't seem to be the problem, unless of course he IS using the PCI slot... The PCI-E bus can be the cause, but isn't HDD data corruption the first sign of excessive PCI-E overclock? He said when he throttled back the OS booted fine...

I'm just exploring the possibilities, please DO correct me if I'm wrong, I still have a lot to learn about OC'ing.

Ok, before I sign out for the day (exam tomorrow morning, and I still have some small stuff to review), can it be the RAM modules' timings or its voltage regulators not coping very well? As the IGP needs the RAM, if something goes wrong there, no VGA signal and no boot...

Cheers.

Miguel

[ByrgerRI]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, Miguel i reckon your right for my particular case.

I've just managed to grab hold of a 7600GS PCI-E graphics card to test out if the onboard graphics card is holding back my overclocking. After changing the necessary bios setting and reinstalling the drivers for the 7600GS, I tried to slowly increase the proc speed from 3.2 gradually up to 3.5Ghz, tried orthos and multiple reboots in between...and it manages to boot properly.

So i reckon can conclude that the onboard graphics does not like to be overclocked very much.

The max I've managed to OC this 805D so far tonight is 3.5Ghz which is still shy 700mhz from the max of 4.2Ghz which I was able to hit on the 680i mobo, kinda odd really. Will give it another go tomorrow.

[__Miguel_]

ByrgerRI, I'm glad I was able to help. It seems I have a gift to be able to help people without even owning similar hardware... lol As one Transformer (I don't really remember his name, though I do know he helped Optimus Prime save another Autobot), it was an "educated guess". In this case, because IGPs usually are the "weakest link" when OCing. The northbridge doesn't like the extra heat the integrated graphics core produces, and the IGP is in fact a processing unit which is also being OC'ed when you OC the rest of the system...

As for the 805, please bear in mind that the 680i and the X1250 are two VERY different chipsets, and implanted in even more different motherboards... The 680i is clearly designed with OC in mind, as well as the mobos it's put into; the X1250 is only OC-able and mobos based on it are low-end ones... I mean, here in Portugal you can have the F-I90HD for as low as €90 (€115 tops), and the 680i ones can go as high as €300, so just for that fact some differences in OC capabilities are to be expected.

Also, don't forget the extra power the 805 needs (when compared with C2Ds, and especially when OCing) may create more EMI, which, by design, mATX boards are more sensitive to.

Cheers.

Miguel

[ByrgerRI]

Reckon your right Miguel, so i had to throttle back my overclocking due to the chassis getting a tad bit too warm...using a SSF casing.

Does anyone here know how I can change the memory command rate for the Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD mobo? It seems to default to the memory SPD of 2T but my memory is capable of supporting 1T. There doesnt seem to be any setting in the bios to change the command rate. Any ideas??

[__Miguel_]

I was not thinking about heat, as a matter of fact. But when we're talking about an 805, heat HAS to be an issue, that thing seems like a portable oven even at stock... I should know, I've got one, and even with a Thermaltake Sonic Tower and a 12cm Noiseblocker fan that thing goes as high as 47&#186;C at load... Yikes! And, as SFFs are usually poor handling vast amounts of heat, your OC will suffer... But 3.5GHz from 2.66GHz stock is nothing to sneeze at. And you still have plenty of "breathing room", meaning you're not stressing the CPU too much with that OC.

Now for the 1T command rate... I'm not sure about that, but usually it's the BIOS itself who handles that, hidden from the user, and depending on the chipset strap. Also, some chipsets aren't capable of going 1T. Either way, I think you won't go anywhere with anything short of a BIOS edit, or an SPD edit, both of which can have serious consequences (at least for the warranty).

Cheers.

Miguel

[s e t h]

just for some info i tossed a 333fsb modded cpu into this board.
suprisingly it booted up no problem but just at 266fsb.
since i was using a pci-e graphics chip i set the fsb to 333 and am running basically an e6850 in this board no problem :D

[ByrgerRI]

Has anyone here tried the .13 bios? Its available on the abit FTP server but not updated on their website yet..

[MrBean]

Thanx for all the feedback, guys, appreciated! You're solving alot of problems for first-timers with this board.

Mine has been going strong for a few months, no blue-screens, no issues.

@ Seth: Thanx for the info re your e6850, that's good news for future expandability...

[crotale]

A friend of mine requested me to modify his F-i90HD board to make it run with less vcore, for a low noise HTPC case. Maybe someone here will find this interesting.

It's actually just a reversed vcore mod. Sub 2GHz CPUs have a large margin when it comes to lower vcore. His specific Pentium 2140 is completely stable at 0.938vcore, both cores loaded with Orthos for 12 hours.
The temperature reported by CoreTemp went from 59C to 46C just by doing this.

Preparations:
EIST and C1E is actually working well on this board, and the vcore is lowered a little when those are activated. I deactived these features before the mod, since they will drop the voltage even further, and might render the system less stable.

Here is the mod:
Left spot is to the right of the dimm slots, right spot is next to the CPU FAN header.
http://www.nordiccrew.com/crotale/vmod/f-i90hd_vcore.jpg

Finished mod:
http://www.nordiccrew.com/crotale/vmod/f-i90hd_vcore2.jpg

[Lestat]

my cpu temps are WAY wrong, WAY..

i get 10-15c higher temps than they should be.

core temp reports more accurate temps but still they seem VERY high.

U120 or XP-120 both show cpu temps 1.23v 40-50c in the bios.
this is less than 30seconds after starting the system.
i turn it on immediately go into the bios and check temps.
pwm and system temps are good 30-33c
cpu temp is 45-50c. wrong totally wrong.

go into windows and it shows similar with speedfan and abit program
install core temp and check that it shows 30-35c idle temps.

not only has abit made a "Fatality" mobo that dont overclock for sh|t but they cant even get the cpu temps right.

also vcore setting is WAY wrong.
1.3 in bios = 1.23 in hardware monitor and in windows.

[crotale]

my cpu temps are WAY wrong, WAY..

i get 10-15c higher temps than they should be.

core temp reports more accurate temps but still they seem VERY high.

U120 or XP-120 both show cpu temps 1.23v 40-50c in the bios.
this is less than 30seconds after starting the system.
i turn it on immediately go into the bios and check temps.
pwm and system temps are good 30-33c
cpu temp is 45-50c. wrong totally wrong.

go into windows and it shows similar with speedfan and abit program
install core temp and check that it shows 30-35c idle temps.

not only has abit made a "Fatality" mobo that dont overclock for sh|t but they cant even get the cpu temps right.

also vcore setting is WAY wrong.
1.3 in bios = 1.23 in hardware monitor and in windows.

What CPU are you using?

No matter how fast you go into BIOS, the CPU will reach a certain temperature rather quickly. By the way, the BIOS stresses the CPU quite alot since there are no idle instructions as in Windows.

Maybe you have bad contact between the CPU and IHS. I have not seen anything way out of the ordinary regarding temperatures on this board.

Programs to read voltage are false due to many reasons and this has been discussed a lot of times before. With 1.325V in BIOS I get a measured voltage of 1.28V.

Even though it's a Fatal1ty board, it doesn't need to be an overclocking board. :)

[Lestat]

What CPU are you using?

No matter how fast you go into BIOS, the CPU will reach a certain temperature rather quickly. By the way, the BIOS stresses the CPU quite alot since there are no idle instructions as in Windows.

Maybe you have bad contact between the CPU and IHS. I have not seen anything way out of the ordinary regarding temperatures on this board.

Programs to read voltage are false due to many reasons and this has been discussed a lot of times before. With 1.325V in BIOS I get a measured voltage of 1.28V.

Even though it's a Fatal1ty board, it doesn't need to be an overclocking board. :)


you dont suppose i know all that and much more eh??
you can believe when i say that in under 20 sec's at default vcore i am in the bios in the hardware monitor page and there no way in hell with 2 different heatsinks that the cpu is running 45-50c idle.. not a chance in hell.
its wrong. but it wouldnt be the first F-I90 board to do wierd things that other peoples boards are not.
i simply stated my experience with this baord.

ive tried a celeron 775 and a 6400 both read temps ust completely wrong.

as i stated also core temp reads temps much more accurately including the fact that when i hit windows its only 33-35c.
abit tools and speedfan report 40-45c or there abouts.

and what everyone else has reported is dead on. anything above 350mhz is nearly impossible.

[Lestat]

also does it lock the ram at 533/677/800 and not let it go higher or lower when raising the fsb for anyone else besides me?

no matter what fsb i set, if i lock the ram divider at 800mhz,,, it is always 800mhz.
if i lock it at 667 its always 667.

i am using the new EPP gskill 800 HZ's.

ive never seen a board that locks the ram at the divider you set and doesnt rise as you raise the fsb.
i can run 133 fsb and lock it at 800mhz divider, and thats all it does, 800

even if i set it to "By SPD" it still does the same thing.

[Lestat]

so has anyone else seen what i just described ?????

the ram is locked at whatever divider you set it at regardless of FSB ?
the board doesnt have any setting for EPP but im just curious if maybe the EPP is locking the ram and not the baord.

again if i set the ram divider to 667 it stays at 667mhz regardless of FSB
same for 533 and 800....
and there is no 1T setting either which sucks cuz i could increase the ram since its locked by running 1T but i cant.
also too bad there isnt a pll for clockgen i've checked them all and none of them report the right pci-e/pci freq. or the fsb is wrong.

[s e t h]

about the 1T i don't know...the ram speed issue is as a result of the chipset design imo...
its completely asynchronous and doesn't use traditional ram ratios.
it runs what speed you set it at as it is capable of doing so....other chipset are not able to do that so you select a speed ratio in the bios.

[__Miguel_]

Hmmm, so it seems the X1250 chipset (forgot the true name, the X1250 is just the IGP name...) shares this feature with its older brother. Nice for those with not-so-good memory sticks who still want to OC.

Now if just there were more fixed ratios available... hehe

Cheers.

Miguel

[Lestat]

thanks for confirming that for my guys.
i thought i was losing my mind or there was some hidden overclocking page like MSI and gigabyte used to do (hit ctrl + f1 to open the extra options)

yes it does suck big time.

[Meaker]

Unlock the bios, there are more options ;D (memory speeds and NB voltages).

[JargonGR]

I just killed mine with 360 FSB overclock and add-in vga. Well I took it back and bought a Gigabyte DQ6 with the huge heatpipe and crazy cool backplates (not much here but still) and it works like a charm at 400FSB with my E6600 in my Zalman HD160XT. The abit could simply not survive in there with the fans on the case at 25% and the 9500 LED fan at the lowest setting. Airflow in this case is not much if you want it to be quiet yet the vga, sound card and TV tuner also priduce their own heat. The Gigabyte is simply very cool running and does the job nicely. Price wise though its a different story.