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

[Navig]

Thanks, but it wasn't easy, and I consider myself an "advanced modder" in this respect, for example, every single one of my graphics cards and most of my northbridges are running a cpu cooler.

In regards to the excellent temps, remember I'm only running an Allendale. According uguru it like pulls only 23A under load! I'll throw my e6600 in there shortly, only so much modding I can do in a day!

navig

[MikeMK]

Guys, i need some help with something!

My IN9 has been really playing up recently. I have posted before about it being a bit erratic. Where i would have an overclock stable for 18hrs orthos no problems, then switch of the PC, and next day it wouldnt even be desktop stable - BSOD right away. This has gradually got worse, and yet again BSOD this morning. Took me about 3/4's of an hour just to get it windows stable at stock.

Anyhow, finally thought all was well... had a nice long spell (3hrs maybe) on Supreme Commander, and bam... CTD. Thought it could be the game, so started it up again, and 10mins in, PC restarts.

Now, i couldnt get it to post, so i cleared CMOS... came right up, but everytime i set my settings in BIOS and saved them, it wouldnt post and the only way i could solve it was to clear CMOS each time which obviously isnt right.

Anyhow, i did the usual thing of getting rid of variables, so took out a stick of ram, and that seemed to allow me to save settings and get everything how i wanted... until i put the 2nd stick in. Now it wont post with 2 sticks in the board. This is NOT a problem with my memory. Either stick will work fine, just not the two together. I have tried everything, and i just cant get the thing to play ball.

Im strongly considering RMA, but was wondering if u guys had any thoughts that might sort it?

[The Nemesis]

Mike what voltage do you have your memory at? Do you have some other memory to try? It could be a compatibility issue with you memory's 8 layer pcb. May require a bit more voltage.

[mark0326]

Nice work Navig, would it have been possible to drill & tap the hings parts and attach studs to them and glue them to the underside of the heatsink, that way you could use thin nuts on the other side of the MB and not have the worry of drilling & taping holes in the heatsink. Just a thought.

[MikeMK]

Mike what voltage do you have your memory at? Do you have some other memory to try? It could be a compatibility issue with you memory's 8 layer pcb. May require a bit more voltage.

Hi mate, Ive tried various voltages, the strange thing is that the memory always used to work fine, im using exact same settings as i did before. Im really not sure wots going on with this board, its like its gradually got MORE unstable since i got it, not less.

[Slammin]

Is the only-2-core multi/OC issue with respect to quad cores resolved on this board yet? Did they release a BIOS that addressed the problem successfully?

Yes, the latest bios allows all 4 cores to clock about 10x now, so it's fixed. This bios also fixes the issue where you had to set USB control to BIOS instead of OS as well. Very good bios!

[Slammin]

Hi mate, Ive tried various voltages, the strange thing is that the memory always used to work fine, im using exact same settings as i did before. Im really not sure wots going on with this board, its like its gradually got MORE unstable since i got it, not less.

If you've ever run that memory at a speed and vdimm that caused it to get too warm, it will 'change' characteristics. Those chips are rated at like 2.2 - 2.4v I think, and though they may post with 1.8v, chances of them continuing to post at 1.8v diminish thelonger you run them at higher speed and vdimm. There's two good threads detailing this on those chips in the Extreme Bandwidth section.

Out of my 4 sticks, all of which could post at 1.8v when I first bought them, only 1 can now. I sent one pair back for RMA, and out of the pair I got back, only one of those would post at 1.8v. Now neither of them do.

The ram is not defective though. It's just different from when I first got it.

[Navig]

Nice work Navig, would it have been possible to drill & tap the hings parts and attach studs to them and glue them to the underside of the heatsink, that way you could use thin nuts on the other side of the MB and not have the worry of drilling & taping holes in the heatsink. Just a thought.

Why didn't I think of that earlier?

[Speederlander]

Yes, the latest bios allows all 4 cores to clock about 10x now, so it's fixed. This bios also fixes the issue where you had to set USB control to BIOS instead of OS as well. Very good bios!

So, the last time I checked in there were inumerable problems with this board. Is the consensus that most of those problems are fixed and its a solid board now? If I got this board for OCing (along with sufficient extra cooling), after using bad axe 2 and asus P5WDG2 WS Pro, would I be satisfied (in general)? Also, how is this board on phase now?

[Slammin]

So, the last time I checked in there were inumerable problems with this board. Is the consensus that most of those problems are fixed and its a solid board now? If I got this board for OCing (along with sufficient extra cooling), after using bad axe 2 and asus P5WDG2 WS Pro, would I be satisfied (in general)? Also, how is this board on phase now?

The only problem I had was that I could not use higher than 10x multiplier where all 4 cores would go above 10x. Other than that, it's been rock solid for me.

One thing I would mention though is PWM temps. Mine were high and I did add an 80mm fan and I also folded the heat tape over the PWM chips to make it thicker and that knocked a good 20-30c off my PWM chips. I would recommend you do that as soon as you get the mobo since the tape gets a little gooey after awhile, plus on a bare board it only takes like 15 seconds to remove the heat pipe assembly. I also replaced the heat pads on the NB and SB with AS5.

Really, I am inpressed with this mobo and it does remind me alot of my old Max3 as far as quality and stability, though it also gives you a lot of confidence (maybe too much) in OC'ing, which can be both good and bad

[FlyBoyGeo]

Also, how is this board on phase now?

I have been running on phase since day 1, been stable as a rock for me once I got everything figured out and set up. I am using stock heatsink/pipe with 80mm fan over NB.

[Speederlander]

The only problem I had was that I could not use higher than 10x multiplier where all 4 cores would go above 10x. Other than that, it's been rock solid for me.

One thing I would mention though is PWM temps. Mine were high and I did add an 80mm fan and I also folded the heat tape over the PWM chips to make it thicker and that knocked a good 20-30c off my PWM chips. I would recommend you do that as soon as you get the mobo since the tape gets a little gooey after awhile, plus on a bare board it only takes like 15 seconds to remove the heat pipe assembly. I also replaced the heat pads on the NB and SB with AS5.

Really, I am inpressed with this mobo and it does remind me alot of my old Max3 as far as quality and stability, though it also gives you a lot of confidence (maybe too much) in OC'ing, which can be both good and bad

So is that 1333 FSB you are getting? Do you find you are FSB limited on this board? My main goal, if I would move away from bad axe 2 would be to get high FSB. Right now, a 965 chipset seems more likely to give me this. But I am open to 680i, especially if I get SLI itch someday.

[Slammin]

Yes, Bus Speed=333.3MHz, Rated FSB=1333.3MHz according to cpuz. Need to update my sig but ram is currently at 3-3-3-7-14 1T @2.1v.

Quads will limit your FSB but I'm 100% stable at 333 fsb. I have recently discover that when I run my ram at 1:1, I can bench at 360fsb, though not 100% stable yet. Seems that quad+ram divider = 333fsb limit for me.

Might want to look around at some of the reviews and such, make comparisons etc., since this is my first intel mobo in quite some time but I am happy with it.

[MikeMK]

If you've ever run that memory at a speed and vdimm that caused it to get too warm, it will 'change' characteristics. Those chips are rated at like 2.2 - 2.4v I think, and though they may post with 1.8v, chances of them continuing to post at 1.8v diminish thelonger you run them at higher speed and vdimm. There's two good threads detailing this on those chips in the Extreme Bandwidth section.

Out of my 4 sticks, all of which could post at 1.8v when I first bought them, only 1 can now. I sent one pair back for RMA, and out of the pair I got back, only one of those would post at 1.8v. Now neither of them do.

The ram is not defective though. It's just different from when I first got it.

The memory is rated for 2-2.2v. Its not like im trying to run it at 1.8v, i never have, ive always gone straight into bios and changed it to rated voltage.

To give u an idea of the problems Im having, at one point, i could only get the PC to post only after clearing CMOS. If i didnt go into bios, it would boot into windows fine, and run ok. However, going into bios and changing anything resulted in it refusing to post. And by anything one time i just disabled the splash screen and NOTHING else... just would not POST which is ridiculous. It seems to have got past that for a bit atm, but im not taking it for granted, its just so erratic.

[JargonGR]

Has anyone tried the newer chipset drivers from Nvidia or are you all using the ones that came on CD. I was wondering if the newer ones offer any increase in HD or Network performace or performance in general.

[day187]

Has anyone tried the newer chipset drivers from Nvidia or are you all using the ones that came on CD. I was wondering if the newer ones offer any increase in HD or Network performace or performance in general.

where are the new drivers? link please

[JargonGR]

where are the new drivers? link please

Well my mistake I checked the drivers on Nvidia site and they are not newer.

Grrr. I read this somewhere while searching and someone was asking a similar question. Nevermind do not bothere there are NO NEW DRIVERS.


Sorry about that.

[Spazilton]

After a lot of playing around with this board, and figuring out all the ins and outs, I was able to get my E6600 up to 3600 (450x8) @ 1.5975 Bios, 1.53-1.55 actual measured with DMM.

However, the Q6600 came in today...This chip has been proven at 3.0 @ 1.35stable on air. Probally translates to 3.2+ @ 1.4 on water.

Quite frankly the IN9 SUCKS at Q6600 FSB overclocking. It tops at 300FSB for a whopping 2.7Ghz. Temps are fine I'm on high end water, and I dropped the multi to 6x to take the CPU out of the picture. Anything over 300Mhz gets to the windows screen and reboots. No amount of Vcore will fix the problem (Didn't go over 1.4275) I know the chip has WAY more to offer.

The IN9 is a damn good Dual Core overclocking board minus the vdroop issue, But for quad cores it sucks. I got an awsome deal on this Q6600, so now I have to decide to either drop it and go back to my E6600 or get a new motherboard since my BX2 flaked out on me.

This upgrade cycle has been one damn problem after another...

[JargonGR]

Well the only 680i board I have heard that is good for Quad overclocking is the newest revision of the EVGA. Not to mention that EVGA swapped out the older boars with the newer ones for the reason that they did not overclock well with the Quads.

So you are left with two options.

A) Use the IN9 for something else (I will put it in an HTPC) or sell the board and get an EVGA one for high FSB Quad O/C

B) Wait for Penryn and see whether this overclocks better on the IN9.

To be honest if I was not in need for SLI because of my 30" monitor I could have stayd with my Asus 975 WS64 Pro board that could overclock my E6600 @ 3.6Ghz on air and with a much lower vcore than this Abit.

All in 680i was bleeding edge so lets wait for the bleeding wounds to heal.
I don't really care and I am not going to cry for a damn board. When I go quad I will scrap it if I need do. And right now for my needs a quad could actually be worse performing due to lower Mhz and the type of applications I use. Coming Q4 I will see what I will do, who knows it may even be AMD time again.

[RaphaBoss]

Is only me or are everyone have problems doing RAID 0 on this board? I've had to reinstall everything more then 6 times already...

About the raid sometimes my Windows XP give me a message of "critical error on raid", something like this, Is it the IN9 or can be the HD's?

and other thing that is happening is that my pc usually just turn off in some time.. in some hours... can it be the NB or SB?

Can anyone help me out there?

I have a E6600 / 8800 GTS 320MB / 2x 320MB Seagate 7200.10 @ Raid 0 / 1x 320mb Seagate 7200.10 only for Backuping everything / 2x Dominator ddr800 4-4-4-12 @ 2.1 / Huntkey 550w

And no, its not the PSU, cause everything on my system is using only 280 Watts now, and its couting my Monitor and my 5.1 kit.. and even on IDLE(like this, on 280w) my pc turn off usually.. I can't remember the time i had my pc ON for more then 24 hours straight... I'm ing gettin crazy with this board...

[freakBYnature]

I have a E6600 / 8800 GTS 320MB / 2x 320MB Seagate 7200.10 @ Raid 0 / 1x 320mb Seagate 7200.10 only for Backuping everything / 2x Dominator ddr800 4-4-4-12 @ 2.1 / Huntkey 550w

I don't have this board, but had some trouble installing XP, x64 or even Vista64 on my SG Barracuda 7200.10. Actually had to switch to the Western Digital Caviar 250 Gb -> just to get XP installed! This is on a s939 system, Asus A8N32-SLI DELUXE, but just wanted to write that this may be the hdd that is fighting you.... or not... I don't know, just might!

[day187]

Is only me or are everyone have problems doing RAID 0 on this board? I've had to reinstall everything more then 6 times already...

About the raid sometimes my Windows XP give me a message of "critical error on raid", something like this, Is it the IN9 or can be the HD's?

and other thing that is happening is that my pc usually just turn off in some time.. in some hours... can it be the NB or SB?

Can anyone help me out there?

I have a E6600 / 8800 GTS 320MB / 2x 320MB Seagate 7200.10 @ Raid 0 / 1x 320mb Seagate 7200.10 only for Backuping everything / 2x Dominator ddr800 4-4-4-12 @ 2.1 / Huntkey 550w

And no, its not the PSU, cause everything on my system is using only 280 Watts now, and its couting my Monitor and my 5.1 kit.. and even on IDLE(like this, on 280w) my pc turn off usually.. I can't remember the time i had my pc ON for more then 24 hours straight... I'm ing gettin crazy with this board...

Make sure you have the latest bios, I had major problems and I had to reinstalled windows about 6-7 times, but since the latest bios I have no issues at all.

Good luck

[DataVampire]

Make sure you have the latest bios, I had major problems and I had to reinstalled windows about 6-7 times, but since the latest bios I have no issues at all.

Good luck

what bios you using then please as i have already tried a few

[Spazilton]

Is the only-2-core multi/OC issue with respect to quad cores resolved on this board yet? Did they release a BIOS that addressed the problem successfully?

I believe it was fixed in 12_B03.

Multi sucessfully changes down on all 4 cores on my Q6600.

[day187]

what bios you using then please as i have already tried a few

Im using the one from Abit site dated:2007/02/13.

Link