Got Me a KD7 Today!!

**emtp563** · 10-19-2002, 11:15 AM

That's exactly what I'm saying. With the AT7, I was only able to get barely 2300Mhz. Plus, anything over 170FSB was a no-go, and yes, that's with the 1/5 divider. On the KD7, I'm running 2400Mhz. On the KX7-333, 2500Mhz was no sweat at all @ 1.93v. I can run 2550Mhz on the KD7, but it is nowhere near stable. I'm not willing to use any vcore higher than 1.95V, as my Vapo is at it's limit.

**OPPAINTER** · 10-19-2002, 11:29 AM

Intresting, the 2200 I was useing could do 3D mark at 2370 Mhz on the KD7, I'm wondering now if it could have gone even more on the KX7.

OPP

**bigdawginva** · 10-19-2002, 11:34 AM

Well, I put my KD7-R in last night and this morning my KX7-333R went back in. It wouldn't let me overclock as high as my KX7-333R and at one point I couldn't even get it to boot anymore even with clearing the CMOS. I don't think it's dead but after that I took it out and put the KX7 back in. I am going to find out, for sure, how to unlock this 2400+ so I can run it with a higher FSB in this KX7.

I was able to run at 185fsb before it crapped out though. I liked the memory scores of 27xx/26xx even at such a low FSB.

My current Enermax only has an old P4 Aux power connector instead of the 4 pin connector so once my new Enermax 650w PSU arrives next week I'll give it a go again.

You all were right about the system temps being read outrageously high. There's no way my system temps were really that high. They were reading 10-15c higher than on my KX7. I touched all the mofsets, southbridge and everything else I could think of and none of them were even warm let alone that hot. Something's not right there.

I was very impressed seeing all the additional memory settings. I was also impressed they cleaned up some of the bios settings as well. I think the board has huge potential with some bios updates. I'll let it rest for a week or so and try again when I get my new PSU.

**OPPAINTER** · 10-19-2002, 12:16 PM

bigdawginva,

Did you flash with the latest bios?? Its a must.

OPP

**mdzcpa** · 10-19-2002, 07:37 PM

Originally posted by OPPAINTER

Did you flash with the latest bios?? Its a must.

OPP

I couldn't agree more. Moving to the B8 BIOS made a huge difference in stability and overclockability.

**bigdawginva** · 10-19-2002, 09:11 PM

Yes, I did. One of the first things I did. In fact, it was aggravating that, until I did, cold boots could only be accomplished with CMOS resets because of the unrecognizeable CPU. I'm going to give it a rest until the new PSU arrives and I'll give it another go. My current rig is up to 16.8k now so I think 17k is certainly possible if I can free up this FSB. I'm not sure whether my inability to connect the secondary PSU connection created any issues. I'll find out once the new Enermax arrives.

BTW, the sniper was 6 miles from my house tonight. We've eaten there many times. Getting too close for comfort now.

**OPPAINTER** · 10-19-2002, 09:52 PM

Originally posted by bigdawginva

BTW, the sniper was 6 miles from my house tonight. We've eaten there many times. Getting too close for comfort now.

No, did the guy strike again?? I didn't here about it.

OPP

**NorthernYankee** · 10-20-2002, 07:08 AM

Yeah at about 9 last night right outside a Ponderosa, hopefully they will catch him before my campin trip to Shenedoah next weekend.

--NY

**Vicodin** · 10-20-2002, 10:09 AM

So....

Is the general consensus that the KD7 is a GOOD thing or not? I need to buy another board temporarily whilst this KX7 gets RMA'd.

It was a foregone conclusion after reading the 1st 3 pages of this thread, but it got sketchy towards the end.

Not needing to volt mod is a HUGE positive, but all this fsb corruption is a little scary.

Using XMS3200cl2 I could boot to desktop at 219 (MAJOR AGP tearing), run 24/7 at 214. I've since added water cooling and a 9700 so anything higher than 203fsb is a no go (thanks ATI).

I'm assuming getting the RAID version of the board and using the HPT controller will clear up this corruption issue.

Thumbs up or thumbs down on the KD7?

**OPPAINTER** · 10-20-2002, 10:15 AM

I'd say go for it, at 200 with your mem you've got nothing to worry about, you can get perfectlly stable. Like you said the 9700 will stop you from Higher FSB anyway.

OPP

**mdzcpa** · 10-20-2002, 10:26 AM

I also say "thumbs up". Besides the corruption issue, I have had no problems with the KD7-RAID.

Strong Points:
Great voltage options
Internal CPU diode temp reading
AGP x8...for what it's worth
Onboard sound and LAN are actually pretty good
Tbred CPU has all mutlipliers available without unlocking

Weak Points:
Hard drive corruption
Poor asynchronous FSB/memory stability

Some have reported heat issues, but I haven't experienced it.

Be aware, though, corruption still occurs using the Highpoint IDE's too. But, like OPP said, it's only a issue if you must have 200+ FSB speeds.

/pimp mode on
BTW, you can check out my KD7-RAID Motherboard Review Here at Liquid Ninjas.
/pimp mode off

**Vicodin** · 10-20-2002, 10:58 AM

I most certainly do NEED 200+ fsb.

...ATI just doesn't want to cooperate.

Okay, now time to find one local.

I just called CompUSA on the off chance of finding one at a retail store on a Sunday.

"Hi, I'm looking for a specific motherboard and I'm not sure you even carry it. It's an Abit KD7Raid"

"Ummm... uhhhh... the only thing I see is a green box that says GIG-UH-BIT - is that what you're looking for?"

Large chain retail computer store personnel scare me.

**nelamvr6** · 10-20-2002, 11:29 AM

Originally posted by mdzcpa
/pimp mode on
BTW, you can check out my KD7-RAID Motherboard Review Here at Liquid Ninjas.
/pimp mode off

That's an EXCELLENT review! It was extremely informative and well written. I was especially pleased to find that the KD7 had no problems running synchronously with the ram at FSB 200.

You say that the HDD corruption occurred at FSB's higher than 200, can I safely infer that the likelihood of problems happening is small if I stay at 200? Did it occur on the raid as well as the standard IDE channels?

**Len Hjalmarson** · 10-20-2002, 12:12 PM

I broke down and ordered one also.. should have mine on Wednesday and the CPU (2400+) on Monday.

ALso ordered the CORSAIR PCI 3200 CAS2. Now I have to decide whether to go air cooled or liquid.. wish the liquid cooling systems were cheaper...

Thanks for the review pointer!

**Player0** · 10-20-2002, 12:13 PM

It's my beleif that the HD corruption is caused by a PCI timing issue at 200mhz and above. Some people don't experience the issue, but I think the timing problem is still there. I'd recommend staying at something like 198mhz, as I dont beleive the timing issue exists below 200.

I dont know. Even if HD corruption doent occur till like 210mhz, the issue beihind the corruption is still some incorrect timing register somewhere. And, it may even cause subtle corruption of data here and there, even if symptoms dont seem to exist.

Until these boards and BIOS mature, and we know the long term effects of running the boards over 200mhz, if you have data on your drives which you dont want to loose, id stay under

But, if you dont see corruption right away, the risk is probably low and you may not get the corruption (it seems to mostly be an all or nothing deal).

**Marci** · 10-20-2002, 02:03 PM

Hmmmm.... wonderin if a journey thru the realms of wpcredit may bring about a solution....

**Player0** · 10-20-2002, 02:25 PM

I really thought so, but without a KT400 spec sheet....difficult at best.

**xgman** · 10-21-2002, 07:28 AM

Originally posted by Player0
It's my beleif that the HD corruption is caused by a PCI timing issue at 200mhz and above. Some people don't experience the issue, but I think the timing problem is still there. I'd recommend staying at something like 198mhz, as I dont beleive the timing issue exists below 200.

I dont know. Even if HD corruption doent occur till like 210mhz, the issue beihind the corruption is still some incorrect timing register somewhere. And, it may even cause subtle corruption of data here and there, even if symptoms dont seem to exist.

Until these boards and BIOS mature, and we know the long term effects of running the boards over 200mhz, if you have data on your drives which you dont want to loose, id stay under But, if you dont see corruption right away, the risk is probably low and you may not get the corruption (it seems to mostly be an all or nothing deal).

I have seen the data corruption happen at under 200 as well on the kt7m2. I am on my 4th one and the first one was actually the best. They keep getting worse.

**Player0** · 10-21-2002, 07:38 AM

Well now thats just depressing

**mdzcpa** · 10-21-2002, 02:55 PM

Originally posted by nelamvr6
That's an EXCELLENT review! It was extremely informative and well written. I was especially pleased to find that the KD7 had no problems running synchronously with the ram at FSB 200.

You say that the HDD corruption occurred at FSB's higher than 200, can I safely infer that the likelihood of problems happening is small if I stay at 200? Did it occur on the raid as well as the standard IDE channels?

It's hard to be certain on when the corruption issue occurs. I've had 3 KD7 mobos run through my hands now, and not one of them had the problem at 200mhz or under. The worst one is my own personal board which has a problem at 202 or above. The other two were for friends and they had no corruption issues until the 207-210 range. Although there are no guauantees, odds are you will have no troubles if you stay at 200 or below.

The corruption happens on both the Highpoint and regular IDE channels. I agree with Player0 in that it seems like a PCI bus problem.

**MrIcee** · 10-21-2002, 03:17 PM

Mike

My kudo's to you also on another excellent review on your part. I believe this is the first time I have not played with a next gen board at introduction, but I have a feeling updated versions may be around the corner. I have only one suggestion to those concerned with HD corruption: Bypass the raid version, purchase the KD7 and get yourself a PCI Promise ATA133 or Raid controller. It is obvious that the native IDE and Highpoint controllers are suffering this issue equally, the Promise controllers will function on up to a 66Mhz PCI bus so you could safely go well beyond 200Mhz FSB and not corrupt your drives

Randi

**slayher** · 10-21-2002, 04:46 PM

Has anyone had any problems with 9700Pros and the KD7? I cant do over 185FSB with out the ati driver going crazy and causing lockups... I've tried OPPs ram timings and all the other combos i can think of and still no go. Do you think its the AGP8X? is there anyway to disable that? Btw, I've seen everyone having problems over 200Mhz, but what about below that? Its funny cause the computer boots fine, and WinXp runs fine until i install the ati driver..

THanks
slayher

**mdzcpa** · 10-21-2002, 05:11 PM

Randi:

Thanks for the kind words my friend

(And kudos to you for the best Prometeia review on the net

) BTW, good suggestion about the HD corruption. That would certainly seem like a good way to beat that problem.

Slayer:

Be aware that the Radeon 9700 just doesn't like high FSB speeds. Some have gotten the card to run higher by disabling a few options in the BIOS (enhanced AGP performance, fastwrites)...but overall, most users have run into problems overclocking the FSB very far (which in turns overclocks the AGP bus).

**nelamvr6** · 10-21-2002, 05:24 PM

Originally posted by MrIcee
I have only one suggestion to those concerned with HD corruption: Bypass the raid version, purchase the KD7 and get yourself a PCI Promise ATA133 or Raid controller. It is obvious that the native IDE and Highpoint controllers are suffering this issue equally, the Promise controllers will function on up to a 66Mhz PCI bus so you could safely go well beyond 200Mhz FSB and not corrupt your drives

Randi

Well I'm already working with the raid board so its a little late to bypass it. But the good news is I haven't had problem one. I'm at 200 FSB x 11 and so far so good. I should be able to make it at least to 2300, but I'm not sure how much farther since I'm on air.

**Dissolved** · 10-21-2002, 05:28 PM

Originally posted by emtp563
That's exactly what I'm saying. With the AT7, I was only able to get barely 2300Mhz. Plus, anything over 170FSB was a no-go, and yes, that's with the 1/5 divider. On the KD7, I'm running 2400Mhz. On the KX7-333, 2500Mhz was no sweat at all @ 1.93v. I can run 2550Mhz on the KD7, but it is nowhere near stable. I'm not willing to use any vcore higher than 1.95V, as my Vapo is at it's limit.

you really couldnt get above 170 on your at7? i have the same problems, what memory did you have and the timings?
thanks

Thread: Got Me a KD7 Today!!

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Rate This Thread

Display

Buying KD 7

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions