RD600 first look and general questions

[korby]

I just removed the heatsink from the NB and found this.


Can it be problematic?

[nealh]

was there no thermal paste?

or are you unsure of the what the chipset looks like?

[korby]

LOL, I am talking about the scratches from that chipset.

The TIM was there.

[nealh]

LOL, I am talking about the scratches from that chipset.

The TIM was there.

Duh???

I am a moron at times..more often than not..LOL

[Kin Hell]

I just removed the heatsink from the NB and found this.



Can it be problematic?

Irrespective of any other comments about your Northbridge Chip, it`s knackered m8y! Those light/silvery bits at the edges of the Core should NOT be there! Do you recall hearing like a "glassy/crunchy" sound when removing the heatsink!>? If you are not responsible, proving that it left DFI like that is gunno be real hard to get around.
Your pic suggests the Heatsink has crushed the edges of the Core through mis-handling & sloppy fitting of the heatsink itself. It may well work okay now, but once the edges start to go like this, it only gets worse over time.
All 4 sides/edges of the NB Core should be Razor sharp & make perfect Corners.

[korby]

Yep, I know that and I also know how to properly remove an HS, but that's how it came.

[Kin Hell]

Yep, I know that and I also know how to properly remove an HS, but that's how it came.

To save face, pop some paste on it, refit the HS & RESET CMOS. If your board is like the rest of them appear to be, you chould get a C1 error code. You can always try this & then RMA it's ass hoping some numpty @ "wherever" you bought it can`t get the board to boot again! Your only other option is to be honest with DFI about it & take your chances with them. I`d be trying the first option above tbh. It would offer a quicker result for you with a whole lot less hassle.
Good luck anyways...I`d be crying my tits off if I were in your boat!

[nealh]

Irrespective of any other comments about your Northbridge Chip, it`s knackered m8y! Those light/silvery bits at the edges of the Core should NOT be there! Do you recall hearing like a "glassy/crunchy" sound when removing the heatsink!>? If you are not responsible, proving that it left DFI like that is gunno be real hard to get around.
Your pic suggests the Heatsink has crushed the edges of the Core through mis-handling & sloppy fitting of the heatsink itself. It may well work okay now, but once the edges start to go like this, it only gets worse over time.
All 4 sides/edges of the NB Core should be Razor sharp & make perfect Corners.

my problem is the chips are on all 4 sides..so how is that user error..if you are uneven with pressure ..I could see 1 corner or even 2...all 4 sides...no way

IMHO..this was the way the chip was when it was installed in processing...and no one noticed and just put on the HS

[korby]

How does this look?


I guess I'll get my money back, but I wanted this board.

[bypolar]

I have 4gb running in this board @stock settings with vista 32 and sofar it has been fine. after I get some Baseline test I will start overclocking.

[Rimmer]

Hi guys, I'm hoping someone might have some idea's to help out with a small problem. I've got my new system, first watercooled one all setup with a QX6700 and this mobo. I've managed to get up to about 370 FSB which from earlier posts seems about right for quad cores. Only problem I'm having at the moment is I can only run my CPU at 3.2ghz. I'm getting temps of around 60 at full load, thats with stock voltage and an 8800GTX and the northbrige in my loop as well.

It seems the moment I try to go above that, I get stability issues, I've had the cpu boot to windows running at 3.75ghz just using a x13 multi, but the moment I run Prime95 to stress test it, it falls over. Its to the point were even running at 3.3ghz is a problem, it seems the moment I stick anything other than stock voltage into it I get issues. It usually boot to windows fine, loads prime95, and it locks the system up after a few minutes of torture testing, unlike some of the earlier tests I did to tweak the memory and FSB, where the worker threads would report errors, this just freezes the system solid.

I was wondering if anyone else had these kind of problems with a kenty, I've lapped the IHS which dropped the temps down. I was wondering if it was just due to the 60 load temp as I'm running my radiator fans on my PA120.3 at only about 700rpm for a silent system. Strange thing is I can up the voltage fine if its running 3.2 or below. I'm currently running at 357x9, but even with stock settings and pumping 1.6 volts into the core it won't run with a 13x multi with any stability. Any help would be much appreciated!!

[Kin Hell]

How does this look?



I guess I'll get my money back, but I wanted this board.

.....As dodgey as poor old Korbys NB core is. What an absolute bummer. I just find it hard to believe that DFI's Insepection Dept. could allow such an abomination to reach the Retail Shelves!!
Problem is, anyone removing the supplied Heat Sink on any board instantly voids their warranty. Any board manufacturer would say, "hey, we don`t ship them like that, - you must have done it yourself removing the Heatsink".
However, judging by the amount of Heatsink Paste I have seen on several of these boards, i'd say some of them China men doing the job need to be shown how much paste to put on the chips! Mine was bloody disgracefull with enough paste to stick the Titanic together again. Maybe they were applying sh1t-loads thinking it would help prevent the "crush" effect!? The springs they used are very very tense to say the least, but with the guage of wire DFI did use, you could always keep the HS springs & get them coiled for an Air Rifle upgrade!
Best of luck getting yours swapped out too.

[Kin Hell]

Hi guys, I'm hoping someone might have some idea's to help out with a small problem. I've got my new system, first watercooled one all setup with a QX6700 and this mobo. I've managed to get up to about 370 FSB which from earlier posts seems about right for quad cores. Only problem I'm having at the moment is I can only run my CPU at 3.2ghz. I'm getting temps of around 60 at full load, thats with stock voltage and an 8800GTX and the northbrige in my loop as well.

It seems the moment I try to go above that, I get stability issues, I've had the cpu boot to windows running at 3.75ghz just using a x13 multi, but the moment I run Prime95 to stress test it, it falls over. Its to the point were even running at 3.3ghz is a problem, it seems the moment I stick anything other than stock voltage into it I get issues. It usually boot to windows fine, loads prime95, and it locks the system up after a few minutes of torture testing, unlike some of the earlier tests I did to tweak the memory and FSB, where the worker threads would report errors, this just freezes the system solid.

I was wondering if anyone else had these kind of problems with a kenty, I've lapped the IHS which dropped the temps down. I was wondering if it was just due to the 60 load temp as I'm running my radiator fans on my PA120.3 at only about 700rpm for a silent system. Strange thing is I can up the voltage fine if its running 3.2 or below. I'm currently running at 357x9, but even with stock settings and pumping 1.6 volts into the core it won't run with a 13x multi with any stability. Any help would be much appreciated!!

You`re obviously doing something wrong, as freecableguy over at The Repository is getting 460 fsb from the Quads on this board.
I'd say 1.6 Volts is rather high for water cooling, maybe for Phase & beyond, but get into your Bios, load all the page defaults in the overclocking sections, but leave the Ram Voltage around 2v to be sure. Don`t Reset CMOS or you could be in trouble getting going again. Then go & read Tonys thread on what to do with this board for the best overclock, again over at the Repository.
This is freecableguy with a Quad Xeon @ 460fsb, you can find Tonys pages with little effort.

Quad Xeon @ 460fsb

Get to grips with your FSB I/O strengths, GTL REF voltage levels in line with VTT & NB Voltages. 1.59V @ 460fsb for the NB is STOCK!
Good luck.

[Rimmer]

Thanks for the reply Kin, I've tried all of Tony's defaults he recommended but sadly they couldn't help me get past the 370 FSB either, I've altered the GTL Ref voltages to 128, 128, 128, that helped me get to 360. I've not tried changing the FSB I/O strength as I've no clue what I'm doing there to be honest, they're at 10x the default at the moment.

I'm running stock voltages at the minute with 3.2ghz core, but its strange no matter how much extra juice I give the CPU it won't budge above 3.2 and remain stable. I guess I'll have to wait for FreeCableGuy's guide to how he got up to that massive FSB, should prove interesting.

[Raja@ASUS]

from what I hear 140-160 is the gtl range for quads..

[bingo13]

I have a couple of QX6700s that perform completely different on this board and we are still trying to figure out why. Try changing the GTL Ref to 176/176/176 or 178/178/178 and see if that helps.

[5-Clicks]

Has anybody heard of Abit working on an RD600 board?

[Rimmer]

I have a couple of QX6700s that perform completely different on this board and we are still trying to figure out why. Try changing the GTL Ref to 176/176/176 or 178/178/178 and see if that helps.

Great thanks I'll give those settings a try :thumbsup:

[Bulldog14]

@Korby

Just to be clear on this matter, are you saying that when you received the board that the first thing you did was remove the NB cooler and discover that not a drop of thermal paste was present? If so please let me know the serial number of the MB. The serial number is on a barcode sticker affixed to the side of the last PCI slot.

DFI Support Europe.

[korby]

There was some TIM. I am talking about the cracked chip. When I removed the HS I was paying some attention: I put my finger on the center of the HS when I removed it so it didn't roll on it's sides.


And the board was bought from Taiwan.

[Pete@X]

Someone asked how the board behaves with all Ram Slots filled, i can say: Stable as it should be ->

C2D E6600 @3,7GHz
4 x 1GB (G.Skill PC6400 2GBJS)
Dual Prime >60hrs



Just ignore the smartguardian CPU temp - it´s far off Coretemp is more reliable

[Polynikes]

Haha, I saw that smartguardian temp and had a quick "Oh !" moment before I quickly remembered that only Core Temp gives accurate Conroe temp readings.

[Kin Hell]

Someone asked how the board behaves with all Ram Slots filled, i can say: Stable as it should be ->

C2D E6600 @3,7GHz
4 x 1GB (G.Skill PC6400 2GBJS)
Dual Prime >60hrs



Just ignore the smartguardian CPU temp - it´s far off Coretemp is more reliable

....& what happens when you try to overclock the ram?
I asked about the overclockability using 4 modules as opposed to overclocking with 2 modules! All motherboards to date are notorious for being NOT so clockable with 4 sticks over 2 & I was wondering if the RD600 Chipset had resolved this annoying Bug.
Anyone from DFI got anything to say about this?
Thanks in advance.

[nealh]

peteAx..sweet cpu...god mine really sucks compared to yours..I assume bios is set to like 1.45-1.46v....best I get is 3.42

[Ten]

I realy likes this board just testing for 24/7 setting. memsetting are greate since im not a hardcore OC i just wanna have a stable rig to play som games on not max oc