Need some help for 235mhz NF7-S Ver2

[mongoled]

Yo guys im a bit stoned here so ill try to make sense

:banana4:

Right here goes...In the past few weeks i have had the opportunity to try out three NF7-S Ver2 mthrbrds. They all roughly perform to the same levels with my current hardware and I would like to portray my findings and at the same time seek some help.

First I would like to state the hardware that was being used throughout these test which are common with all three mthbrds.

1/ Processor xp2500+ Barton (No L mod)
2/ Ram 2x256mb PC3200 LL Corsair BH5
3/ Heatsink SLK800 wid Delta @5200 rpm
4/ PSU Enermax 430 watt
5/ Hard Drive WesternDigital 80Gb 8mb Cache (not sata connected)


The bios used each time was version 18.

Each and every board maxed out 'out of the box' at arnd 235-240mhz. Regardless of mem timings even dropping to CAS2.5 would any of the boards post past these levels.

AFter removing northbridge cooler and simply applying arctic silver 2 in place of the default gunk the results of fsb overclocking remained in the same reigon. The processor for fsb overclcoking was run at a 'stable' speed by lowering the multipler to prevent it from being the bottleneck in the stablilty of the system.

Voltages for these runs were all at maxed out levels accept for the agp (default) and the CPU which was at a sensible value.

I have here the stepping of two of the brds

1/ Chosen brd Max fsb 241mhz w/o CPU Interface
218mhz w CPU interface

Northbridge Stepping G34975.1
0312A1

2/ Other mthbrd Max fsb 238mhz w/o CPU Interace
221mhz w CPU Interface


To the help I need goes like so......please help me decipher what the bottleneck on my system is. Is it more voltages needed, better cooling, PSU rails low, mem maxed out, nthbridges maxed out? Im reckoning its either PSU or mem related. I havnt got arnd to testing the version 10 bios or tried doing the L mod on the CPU (any links to this would be appreciated...no permanant mods though i thought i saw i wire trick going arnd).

If ive misssed anything out which is highly likely in may state

:banana4:

please let me know.

Oh before i forget......doh

Here are the screenies for a bootable OS (no way stable for 3d benching/prime) which i attained giving you some info on what this system is achieving out of the box (accept for arctic silver).

[Fewture]

I see 239MHz fsb and then I look at the membench.. Very bad. You need to turn on CPU Interface. This will increase performance big time.

Second, try bios D10. Some are having bad luck with it, but many fly with it. Also do the Vmods and if you have to a 3.3V mod. You'll want to do the 3.3V mod if de Vddr is dropping under load.

Modding the cpu will have little effect since it is already 166MHz. Sand the chipset down so it becomes flat and makes better contact. Lose the stock cooler...it s*cks.

good luck

Edit:

I see the 3.3V is 3.25.. Mod the 3.3V as well so it reads 3.4 ~3.45

[xigfrid]

Just got a new motherboard ... 7th in 2 months, well i know , i'm a NF7 killer .
This last one is so far tested at 240Mhz (Nrth week 20) going higher later with better PSU

1st point , doing 220 Mhz cpu interface on with bios d18 is damn good point ! Just flash it to the d10.

My old good 430TP antec is dead, i got a low quality psu , that i won't mod its 3.3V b/c i will return it for a better one, but in fact 3.3V is quiet good => no need to mod PSU

Vdimm mod was the culprite in my tests, the NF7 wouldn't prime at 240Mhz until i lowered by a notch the Vdimm to stabilize it, well it was 3.04-16 instead of 3.04-3.07 under full load

now i can prime at 240Mhz*10, just need a better PSU for reaching 10.5x stable now

sandra @ 10*240Mhz should give you 3700Mb/s with interface on and cas2

here is a pict of voltage, etc

[BBThumper]

.......my 2x256 Corsiar topped out at 235 no matter what timings I used. If the ram is maxed then it might just not go any further.......

[mongoled]

First of all thanxs to those of u who have so kindly commented in my post.

to fewture,

Yeah dude you just abt summed up my thoughts on whats going on with my setup. As u have commented cpu interface is indeed disabled in the above screenshots.

Also i have for a while been very suspiscious of my PSU rails which have always come across to me as a little 'weak'. Ive already opened up the enermax looking for pots to 'tune'. But there dont seem to be any. I know some peeps from this forum have documented how a pot can be added to my power supply (gonna have to do some searching......link please anyone ). This will probably be the first thing i do when i got me stuff all sorted, ive noted that on all 3 mthbrds anything above 2.2volts and high fsb would result in a non booting computer.......making me think i aint got enuff stable power to satisfy the demands of a overlclocked barton/ram.

Yo xigfrid,

Your mobo soundz very alike all the mobos i had. Read my findings below and then try the version 10 bios for yourself.
10X240 giving 3700 is abt right.

and BBThumper,

I dont beliveve the ram is craping out just yet.....whatever settigns i drop them to doesnt make a difference in max mhz speeds. Here more volts would defo take the ram further.


With that sorted here are some more findings id like to mention.

Last night i decided to test my system with the version 10 bios, this resulted in some large differences in fsb overclock with cpu interface enabled.

With the version 18 bios max mhz reached for all three brds was arnd 218-221mhz. Last night the board im working on achieved a max fsb of 237mhz! By no means stable butt enuff to knock of some sandra benchies. 237x10 gave me around 3560 in the int buffer and 100 so less in the float buffer.

Ive had higher bandwidth though with 240x10.5 cpu interface disabled with the version 18 bios giving me arnd 3620 in the int buffer test.

The one thing i have noted is that the cpu interface feature seems to be more 'aggressively timed' for the version 18 bios hence lower mhz increase then the version 10 bios.

Comments please

mongoled

[TheDude]

I would like to flash to ver 10, but can't find it anywhere...could someone post a linky please?
mongoled, With the help of your thread here, I'm slowly inching my fsb up...thanks

[BBThumper]

.........rev2 is the "d"10 bios............

http://www.motherboardfaqs.com/article.php?8.255

[TheDude]

BBThumper,

OUTSTANDING!

Thanks so much!

[mongoled]

No problem dude,

Im very happy that my own researching is paying off for other peeps on this forum and especially if the thanxs is coming from an established member of this forum as yourself.

Its my pleasure




Just report back your findings in this thread so then u can help me...lol.

[BBThumper]

.........I too have found, as many others have, that the d10 is alot more picky on ram. My 2x256 sticks of XMS top out at 225fsb on the d10 while the d18 they top out at 235fsb. When you switch to the old bios there is allot of work you have to do just to get stable again but thats whats o/cing is all about ...................


.........mongoled, a new PSU would definitely get you higher........

[Zeus]

Originally posted by xigfrid


Vdimm mod was the culprite in my tests, the NF7 wouldn't prime at 240Mhz until i lowered by a notch the Vdimm to stabilize it, well it was 3.04-16 instead of 3.04-3.07 under full load

now i can prime at 240Mhz*10, just need a better PSU for reaching 10.5x stable now

sandra @ 10*240Mhz should give you 3700Mb/s with interface on and cas2

here is a pict of voltage, etc

Do you mean lowering Vdimm will actually stabilize it?
Is a high Vdimm more prone to fluctuate, because that's what i found.