!UPDATE! abit AW9D-Max (retail) arrived

[Raja@ASUS]

My appologies,

I hope I am wrong, I did understand your post. It's just that I'm getting so used to seeing 370-380 regardless of memory divider on these 975 boards. Don't get me wrong, I'm still expecting this board to hit the mid 450's, it should at least hit that with 1:1 or 4:3, I sure hope it does anyway..


regards and good luck.
Raja

[The Nemesis]

Ok guys, here's my status ...

This board is a charm to clock with 2 rather big exceptions:
1.) I can't use 1:1 RAM divider. No matter which other settings I use, it wont boot. I'm forced to use 4:5.
2.) I can't change multis in BIOS. It's possible with Crystal CPUID in Win, but still my RAM holds me back due to the not working divider.

The maximum I can run now is about 9x370, with my RAM running at 920 or so with 2,3V. Anything above will crash sooner or later.

A BIOS update might be able to fix this problems. Besides these issues, I really like this board.

What chips are your OCZ sticks using? So you can't run your ram 1:1 even @ stock!?! I'm a bit puzzled by this. 370FSB is hardly an overclock for an enthusiast board. Whats the highest you can run your FSB 1:1? I hope I'm not being redundant.

[eiceman]

I guess it needs a bios update from Abit. 370 is such a common occurence on these 975 boards unless the chipset is manipulated. Hopefully someone at Abit can get jiggly with the bios code and open up the ram timings and fsb...

yes, Abit should open more ram timing like tRD and so on,and 1333 strap as well

[NicoOCZ]

What chips are your OCZ sticks using? So you can't run your ram 1:1 even @ stock!?! I'm a bit puzzled by this. 370FSB is hardly an overclock for an enthusiast board. Whats the highest you can run your FSB 1:1? I hope I'm not being redundant.

No idea what chips my sticks use, but I'm pretty sure this is not the RAMs problem. See, I can't run 1:1 with any CPU setting, no matter if stock or oced. But the RAM runs fine with 4:5 divider, on it's stock 800 as well as 950smth. The RAM runs fine, it's just that the board's 1:1 wont allow me to boot. No matter which settings I use.

[TWY]

This is interesting.. coolaler was able to use 1:1, but wonder does the early production sample, and his CPU being an extreme ed ES make a diff?

[NicoOCZ]

This is interesting.. coolaler was able to use 1:1, but wonder does the early production sample, and his CPU being an extreme ed ES make a diff?

No idea. If it's a RAM compatibility problem after all, it'd be a strange one.

[The Nemesis]

Sicness,

In the OC Guru section where it says "-N/B Strap CPU As PSB1066" is this setting adjustable? There has to be some setting thats being missed. No way should this board not run 1:1 on the memory. That would be a total dissapointment.

[NicoOCZ]

Sicness,

In the OC Guru section where it says "-N/B Strap CPU As PSB1066" is this setting adjustable? There has to be some setting thats being missed. No way should this board not run 1:1 on the memory. That would be a total dissapointment.

Yes, it is adjustable. I'm using 1066. That's what turns out if I set "By CPU" too.

[KingZer0]

In the OC Guru section where it says "-N/B Strap CPU As PSB1066" is this setting adjustable? There has to be some setting thats being missed. No way should this board not run 1:1 on the memory. That would be a total dissapointment.

Well thats exactly what i was askin myself cause if it is adjustable maybe its a good way to manipulate the latencies on the nortbridge caused by different Strap Settings which would be a really good option then dont you agree? ^^

[The Nemesis]

try setting to psb 800 or 533 and see ifyou can go 1:1 on your memory.

[The Nemesis]

Well thats exactly what i was askin myself cause if it is adjustable maybe its a good way to manipulate the latencies on the nortbridge caused by different Strap Settings which would be a really good option then dont you agree? ^^

Yes indeed, it would be a great option. I'm hoping Asus implements something like this in their future bios releases. I meant no 1:1 on ram would be a disapointment.

[NicoOCZ]

With PSB 533, the only choice is 1:2. With PSB 800, I can choose between 3:5, 3:4 and 1:2. As for 1066, there's 1:1 (which doesn't work), 4:5 (which I'm on) and 2:3.

[happyhero]

this board looks like a dud to me.

[NicoOCZ]

Just tested with just one stick of RAM, still no go. Looking forward to tonight, some other guy over at hardwareluxx.de got this AW9D-Max today and will be testing then. Wondering if he'll face the same problems.

[MrBean]

@ Sicness:

Pack the board up and send it to me. I will pay shipping [/desperate mode off]

Hehe - congrats Mate, very nice to be 1 of the 1st guys to have one of the retail versions. Hang on a short while, I am very sure Abit will bring out a decent Bios that will address some of the smaller issues.

Good luck, and congrats again - needless to say I am green

Br,
MrBean.

[NicoOCZ]

@ Sicness:

Pack the board up and send it to me. I will pay shipping [/desperate mode off]

Hehe - congrats Mate, very nice to be 1 of the 1st guys to have one of the retail versions. Hang on a short while, I am very sure Abit will bring out a decent Bios that will address some of the smaller issues.

Good luck, and congrats again - needless to say I am green

Br,
MrBean.

Thanks, but right now I'd prefer not to be a guinea pig :P

[SLi_dog]

Thanks, but right now I'd prefer not to be a guinea pig :P

Have you tried a higher tRD and tRFC value to get the FSB higher? Is DDR920 usual for your RAM because it seems low.

As with Mr Bean, I'll gladly be your guinea pig substitute

[NicoOCZ]

Have you tried a higher tRD and tRFC value to get the FSB higher? Is DDR920 usual for your RAM? I'm not sure but it seems low.

As with Mr Bean, I'll gladly be your guinea pig substitute

I'm running 5-5-5-13 already. 920 might not be the maximum, and honestly I don't know of what this is cappable of since I haven't had any chance to kick em with my previous Asrock board. There might be headroom for maybe 40-100 more Mhz, neither would show what this board is cappable of.

[SLi_dog]

Well thats exactly what i was askin myself cause if it is adjustable maybe its a good way to manipulate the latencies on the nortbridge caused by different Strap Settings which would be a really good option then dont you agree? ^^

Sicness,

In the OC Guru section where it says "-N/B Strap CPU As PSB1066" is this setting adjustable? There has to be some setting thats being missed. No way should this board not run 1:1 on the memory. That would be a total dissapointment.

See Coolaler's preview here.

[^don.k's^]

this board looks like a dud to me.

Too sad i have to agree with you...

[SLi_dog]

I'm running 5-5-5-13 already. 920 might not be the maximum, and honestly I don't know of what this is cappable of since I haven't had any chance to kick em with my previous Asrock board. There might be headroom for maybe 40-100 more Mhz, neither would show what this board is cappable of.

So can you push the FSB higher? I'm really interested in this board for it's voltage capabilities

[NicoOCZ]

Too sad i have to agree with you...

Remember that it's just me, neither Anandtech nor coolaler reported problems with 1:1. With this issue fixed, I'm pretty sure this board can fly.

[Vassili]

Too sad i have to agree with you...

[Bootsy]

It's not a good sign that you cant run the memory 1:1. I just don't understand how companies can hype something to death and then not test it to make sure it perfoms basic functionality. How stupid would it be to ship this board with a bios that can't run 1:1. Wake up Abit!!

I hope it's just a bad board.

[Sanborn]

People in this forum crack me up, everyone is so eager to dismiss any piece of hardware on the first hour of testing by a single person.