ASUS A8N-VM CSM, everything about it here
Lets begin the Thread with my history... After a lot of time waiting plus great economic effort and sacrifice, I was able to adquiere two key components in my system build. I was having this:
Processor AMD Athlon XP 1800+ AX1800DMT3C (Palomino Rev. A5, CPUID 6-6-3)
Motherboard ASUS A8N266-VM (Rev. ??, BIOS 1004 (104NVM.AWD probabily, never upgraded))
(Northbridge nVidia nForce IGP (GeForce 2 MX), Rev. B2 (??))
(Southbridge nVidia nForce MCP)
Memory Module Advance (Unknow Model) DDR 512 MB/333 MHz Bus/2.5-3-3-6?/Single Sided (8 Chips)
Memory Module Spektek (Unknow Model) DDR 128 MB/266 MHz Bus/2.5-3-3-6?/Single Sided (4 Chips)
Hard Disk Seagate ST330013A (30 GB/7200 RPM/2 MB Cache?/ATA 100?)
CD-RW LG GCE-8520b (52x52x24x) (Unknow Firmware)
Case Kit NOGANET (Unknow Model)
Power Supply NOGA HTFA350W (350W)
Monitor Illusion (Unknow Model) Eight years old and more to go...
And was able to replace the Processor and Motherboard with this:
Processor AMD Athlon 64 3000+ ADA3000DAA4BW Venice Rev. E6, Stepping LBBWE, didn't fully writed it) for 165 dolars
Motherboard ASUS A8N-VM CSM (Rev. ??, BIOS 0403)
(Northbridge nVidia nForce 4 IGP (GeForce 6150))
(Southbridge nVidia nForce 430) for 105 dolars
Those are one of the best prices available where I live, don't tell me that its possible to get them cheaper :( As many of you may see, my computer is unbalanced. It got a nice Processor and Motherboard that is being powered by a generic Power Supply (I don't fear a suddent death because it already powered during two years the other Processor and Motherboard that should consume equal or a bit more than this), but my 266 MHz Bus Memory Module is taking down the Memory Bandwidth (Let alone the Integrated Video Card performance) and my Hard Disk is filled from start and I got no space to install any new game that I may like to test... So I don't really have anything to use the Athlon 64 with all its mighty power right now.
From the Power Supply perspective, I will not overclock. I simply won't take risk because a bit more than two years ago, the Power Supply of the same brand that comed with the Case Kit burned in less than one month and was replaced with the model that I am using right now (Isn't the same that comed with the Case Kit first), that is running from those two years ago. That is why in some way I trust it, but I won't provoke it to explode, neither. Last time it didn't killed anything, but I won't risk my new, expensive, and unbuyable again Hardware just for a few MHz. This, along with the Hard Disk and followed by the Memory Modules, are my top priority to change.
And here comes what gived birth to this Thread, the Motherboard. As many of you will know, the ASUS A8N-VM CSM is supposed to be the most feature rich GeForce 6150/nForce 430 Motherboard available. However, though it got many nice things, something of what it lacks is overclocking options. Sure, I sayed that I won't overclock for the time being... But the settings aren't there neither. You can set the Base Clock from 200 MHz to 240 MHz, have a nice set of Memory Timmings, but got no Processor Multiplier and Voltage settings. That means that if I wanted to reduce the Multiplier from BIOS, I won't be able to do so.
What I found is that Central Brain Identifier seems to actually being able to reduce the Voltage and Multiplier from Windows on the fly, being able to reduce the Multiplier to 5x (At 4x it crashes) and the Voltage to a fluctuating 1.1V (Even though I got available 0.8V, but doesn't reduce it further). I don't really belive the Motherboard Sensor because the Voltages fluctuates pretty a lot even though the machine is completely stable (Hitted it with Quake 4 and it survived with all the glory), and on the other hand, in both a cold boot, while Idle, under Full Load, at 1.8 GHz with 1.4-5V (I sayed that it fluctuated!) or at 1 GHz with 1.1-2V, the temperature stays constantly in the 44C° to 46C° range. Something is wrong there... But that is not the real point.
The deal here is collect all the BIOS, modding and overclocking data possible about this Motherboard to see if there is any way to unlock more settings in the BIOS or mod one for the joy of this interesing Motherboard users. Currently, I'm aware of four BIOS versions (See ASUS Website):
0303 (0303csm.zip with 0303.rom)
0403 (Comes with the Motherboard, no available to download and no further info on it)
0506 (0506csm.zip with 0506.rom)
0610 (0610csm.zip with 0610.rom, was available in ASUS Website to download but was removed mysteriously)
Any futher info is welcome. Sorry for the long introduction for what was intended to be a Motherboard related only Thread, but some people should already know that I like to write a lot ;)
