Intel X6800 ES Stepping B1 1.70v in Bios
Abit Aw9D-Max
ATI X1900XT Crossfire stock heat sinks
Asys 850W. PSU
Raptor 150x4 RAID 0
Corsair 6400C3 @ 2.45v
-46c on the display, error in bios. Approx -26c on core w/ generous 20 degree TD. I dont slack on mounting tightness, 20c TD should be fair guess.
MCH 2.0v @ max setting
NB fan added, low noise
Vapochill LS CPU cooling R507 charged.
All results are as is and close to max possible with given hardware available. The hardware I am using is the best stuff on the market so my results should be above par for me to even consider this board a contender in benchmarking.
The CPU is a older review sample B1 stepping and slightly worse in clocks than what is available in B2 stepping in both FSB speed and top end speed through independant testing here on XS.
I am booting into windows @ 433x10 3-4-3-9 to complete 2D benches. No hardware was changed for the bandwidth tests on this posts other than the video cards for X1900XT vs GX2 benching. This was a maximum safe speed for 2D and light 3D but not something I would consider 24/7 but rather a top bench speed. Im running voltages up, something not advised for long term use.
The speed was reduced to 420 FSB 3-4-3-12 to get consistant 3D benches with no comprimise to stability on any parts. This is the speed I now stay at and put in many hours on the system to trust it completely for 24/7 use.
The Vapochill bracket fits fine, no clearance problems at all. I dont forsee any problems with existing aftermarket heatsinks fitting this board.
The OCZ was installed when I took pictures and were substituted for benching. I use 4GB of OCZ ram for my gaming, the Corsair was found to bench best on this plaform. At this time there is a SPD problem. OCZ has sent me updated SPD since this review to correct the boot problem.
On the backside there is nothing in the way except the small pins that must be trimmed like on all motherboards to prevent shorting. I used flush cut electronics trimmer to prep the board like I do all boards. This is also a reminder that is not ok to leave those cap and ground pins long when you install a metal backplate.
My Vapochill is custom modded by Chilly1, it has been recharged with R507 and load tested with the most brutal Smithfield and Presler cores for high speeds and optimal capacity. My Vapochill LS unit will pin -50c unloaded and hold around -45c and drop no more than 5c under load. It has been in operation for almost three years now, it has the original firmware as well. A very dependable unit that I can highly recommend to everyone. Asetek has mastered the seal on socket 775 and with proper maintainance they can and will run for years with trouble free operation. I keep mine showroom clean inside and out, airflow is important for performance.
The board is feature packed and sells for a modest $240 at newegg. Abit had an engineer deck the boards out in LED's that are changeable in BIOS with a bunch of presets.
Most people dont know that the board has a built in LED light show, programmable settings from bios that allow different patterns.
I use an Antec case with Athena power supply both having blue lights as well. This helped in the decision to make this board my daily gamer.
Abit was quick to issue a beta bios shortly after board release as promised, the bios improved my overclock and no instability problems when operating at 4.33Ghz. I have quite a bit of load on my power supply with the Crossfire cards and 4x RAID drives let alone the huge OC on the system. Im feeding the CPU 1.7v.
I will start off with the usuall bandwidth quicky benches and work up to 3D. I will only use the CCC overclocking to keep my results simple and repeatable.
Once again, I am booting at 433x10 3-4-3-9, shown in some images.
Onto Everest, non ultimate version.
Sandra 2007
HDTach results, long run.
Pi and Pifast results.
All results should be on or above par, the board performs great indeed. For the versions I used, nothing to pick at and most impressive latency on Everest. Running the 4:5 ratio gained me nothing, this has been observed on other boards as well. Tight timing PC6400 is the best choice for this board.
After gaming on this board for a few weeks it has proven itself for stability. My NB gets very hot but not unstable if dont have a fan on it. I have not gotten SLI benches done, waiting on replacement 7950GT. One of my cards was defective and was un-noticed as I had it in the second slot and tested single in primary. I finally tried the second card solo and found it broken.
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Originally Posted by alpha0ne
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