ultimate S939 mainboard guide - tweaking guide ,known bugs, and fixes

[Jethro]

cool i appreciate the info! Now ive found out that some 939 boards have problem with Antec PSU's?

Update: Seems the tru power 430 is safe to run with this board. Anand had great clocking success with the combo. Whew!

[Jethro]

AV8 update! It seems many many doods are having probs with this board and .90nm cpu's! The board has to be flashed to bios version 1.5 or newer to work.

Definately worth an inquirery if anyone is looking to buy the combo.

[aonic]

I cant seem to get my memory above 200 mhz
with my old axp i used to be able to 210 easily

i can do my CPU @ 250 HTT if i have 133 for raM... but if i go over 205 mhz with my ram @ 7-3-3-3 with 2.85v.. my pc locks up :x

[saaya]

updated the list

heres the latest info, please read it and let me know if you want me to add or change something, thx a lot for all your help!


MSI Neo2 nforce3
cpu socket position problematic for some small cases
SATA ports 1 and 2 are not locked
issues with ram slots 3&4 not working very well
lock doesnt work set the agp speed to 67mhz to lock it
cpu temperature reading not working correctly
vcore up to 1.9v
very stable vcore
vdimm overvolts to 2.9v on highest setting
tracks vtt


has problems with 512mb sticks of bh5 latest bios fixes this problem
doesnt like ocz eb
runs great with ballistix
runs great with tccd memory
2x Memory Interleaving?

TIP: easy vdimm mod with 3.3v rail = Vdimm Via single wire, VTT tracks automatically
TIP: if you have problems booting with BH5 try another stick of memory and set vdimm to the max, then swap in the BH5
TIP: the CPU backplate is hard to get off on the MSI ... just heat it with a hair dryer, it will come off easily then
TIP: for best performance the MSI only needs Vdimm/3.3V bypass mod (or the OCZ booster).
Yet to try a chipset mod or HTT mod on the MSI ... it may help with LDT 4x @ > 260 HTT bus speeds
TIP: core center can make the system unstable if left running
TIP: if you have problems booting at low temps with a winchester try the latest beta bios
TIP: disable fast writes
TIP: disable performance mode?
TIP: only bios 1.36beta or later allows for up to 1.9v vcore
TIP: color coded ram slots are different than other 939 boards. (uses opposite colors for dual)
TIP: use HTT multiplier 4x up to ~260 and 3x up to ~290





Gigabyte K8NSXP-939 nforce3
max vdimm is 2.85v
tracks vtt
max vcore is 1.7v
bad vcore, unstable and fluctuates up to 1.95v under load
coldboot problems with high HTT
crashes when upping the HTT speed too much at a time
always detects ide drives at bootup, cant disable this setting latest bios fixes this problem
9x multi slitghly unstable
8x multi very unstable

runs great with bh5
runs great with ch5
runs great with samsung tccc
NO Memory Interleaving?

TIP: easy vdimm mod with 3.3v rail = Vdimm Via single wire, VTT tracks automatically
TIP: easy vcore mod with pin10 to ground via 50K VR
BUT the max vcore after a mod is 1.95v and coldboot with 1.85v+ vcore might kill the board!
TIP: If having problems with BH5 ram, try the following:
1) Do 3.3v = Vdimm mod
2) Set HTT multiplier to 4x and HTT to 230Mhz - Lower HTT does not boot for some users.
3) Boot and overclock via clockgen, and tweak via A64tweaker.
TIP: for best performance the giga board needs Vcore and Vdimm/3.3V bypass mod (or the OCZ booster)
TIP: disable fast writes
TIP: use HTT multiplier 4x up to ~260 and 3x up to ~290





Asus A8V via k8t800pro rev2.xx
needs a vtt mod for high vdimm
OVP on VDimm above 3.15v, needs an extra mod
problem running trcd at 2 at high speeds, cant run 2-2-2 at high speeds
cpu temperature reading not working correctly
locks are working

stable and high vcore up to 1.85v
good pcb layout
runs great with bh5?
runs great with ocz eb
2x Memory Interleaving?
tracks vtt

TIP: use slot 1&2 for BH-5, 3&4 for TCCD
TIP: disable fast writes




Asus A8V via k8t800pro rev1.xx
locks not working on most boards!
generally starts topping out in the 250's htt (bios 1005.021 beta for rev 1.02)
doesnt seem to like bh5 very well




Abit AV8 nforce3
AGP-lock working
Vcore up to 1.85v
mixed results with vcore stability
vdimm up to 2.8v
vdimm overvolts to 2.85v on highest setting
tracks vtt, booster works
CPU-temp readings way off

mixed results with bh-5 and tccd
TIP:use slot 1&2 for BH-5, 3&4 for TCCD
TIP:if you have problems with winchester cores on this board flash to bios 1.5 or newer, 1.6 is recommended by abit
TIP: disable fast writes
TIP: use HTT multiplier 4x up to ~260 and 3x up to ~290





Epox 9NDA3+ nforce3
problems with 512mb bh5 sticks
runs great with ocz eb
runs great with 256mb bh5 sticks

TIP: disable fast writes
TIP: use HTT multiplier 4x up to ~260 and 3x up to ~290

[Millyons]

Is the Gigabyte K8NSUltra 939 same as the K8NSNXP 939 and does it suffer from same vcore fluctuation? And does it have same coold boot problems with high HTT

and is it Booster compatible

thanks

[split]

Hey saaya, please can you add use the + and - keys to change the HTT with the later BIOS with the Neo 2.
I also found PgUP and PgDn works.

Now I know a lot on here know this already, but I (like a fool) forgot the other day and hit the enter key.
Just a habit to hit enter I suppose.
It hung etc etc.
I managed to get it to boot again, but found I had lost me Nvidia LAN

I managed to get it all back after a bit of hassle, but boy was it a pain

I need a sticky "DO NOT HIT ENTER" on my keyboard


Thinking..the ABIT AV8 is not Nforce3. (look in your list)
Tis a VIA board.

[saaya]

weird ...must have been a typo

millyons, i guess both are the same boards, the only difference might be in what features they have, but i think they are identical.

[Jethro]

The antec PSU's really do give some people issues with sckt 939 boards.

Ive read the latest bios fixes the temp issues on ABit AV8 as well.

BTW Heres a good review of Abit AV8 vs MSI Neo2 Plat:

http://www.tweaktown.com/document.ph...rticle&dId=711

[uniacid]

not sure what was going on but I was having video freeze up when trying to run 3dmark (just froze for a few secs everytime it would start a test)

heres what I did to fix it: turned off fast writes and performance mode and also turn off NV/ATI Speed Up in the hidden bios settings

I'm running an FX53 (stock spd)/ MSI K8N Neo2 Plat/ OCZ PC4400 EL Gold 2x512/ PNY 6800 Ultra (stock spd)

[saaya]

cool, added to the list in the first post of this thread

[YoupY]

Have two little things to add to the list:

For the Asus A8V
the latest bios seems to fix the subzero problems. Beta bios 1009.002 that is...

For the MSI
Had some problems with BH5 and the default bios. Got a lot of random BSOD's with my BH5, mostly during heavy disk usage. When I swapped to GSkill the random bsod's were gone.
In the list only problems with 512 mb sticks were noted, but I used 2 x 256. I presume an updated bios will fix this as it with the 512Mb sticks does.

[burnhead]

saaya: 240MHz 2-2-2-5 with BH-5 is not what I consider good. Nforce 3 can get much higher than that. The Abit also seems picky about what manufacturer of BH-5 also, Kingston seems to work best while A-Data is no good at all. I'm guessing charlie used Kingston

doesn´t the AV8 like adata ram? is it going better with gskill? or corsair BH5?

[burnhead]

Which board´s better with a-data ddr 500 or gskill4400? ABIT AV8 or ASUS A8V?????? PLZ HELP ME!!!!!!

[Rauf]

doesn´t the AV8 like adata ram? is it going better with gskill? or corsair BH5?

it doesn't like Adata BH-5, TCCD should work fine no matter what manufacturer

[rick_fx]

gskill pc4400

[Millyons]

weird ...must have been a typo

millyons, i guess both are the same boards, the only difference might be in what features they have, but i think they are identical.

thanks, i guess im waiting for a Neo2 also then

[Th3__W00T_GuY__]

can any1 tell me which board to get with CH-5 Chips (ocz pc3200 el platinum dual-channel kit) i think i'll taKE THE k8n neo ² platinum cause the bosster is compatible!

[burnhead]

@rauf: why?!?!

[saaya]

thx youpy!

@rauf: why?!?!

why what?

[Chouny]

i was advice to buy MDT PC3200 memory double sided (512Mo) to use with the gigabyte K8NSNXP-939.

It works very good with a low price. (70 euros in france)

2.5-3-2-2- between 230/250 Mhz (it depends of chance) 1T only with 2.75v (optimal). high voltage does not increase potential

they work in dual 2*512 without problem !

[burnhead]

thx youpy!


why what?

why THAT: it doesn't like Adata BH-5, TCCD should work fine no matter what manufacturer

[Joe Camel]

HERE is my "work-log" with the AV8...

to sum-it-up:

1) OCZ DDR Booster DOES work with my board...VTT DOES track (mine "seems" to need a reboot to "re-track" after a change)
ive gone as high as 3.4V stable (@ 3.6v things went wrong...mobo/mem, dont know which didnt like it... G-Skill "new TCCD")

2) with the XP-120 you will NOT be able to put anything in DIMM slot #1

3) booster works in #2...

there are more but...

[saaya]

thx joe

[tictac]

subzero temp bug.... plz some1 fix that

[Jack]

subzero temp bug.... plz some1 fix that

on the MSI bios 1.41 seems to fix that
also newer MSI boards, (from october and november) dont appear to have that bug anymore (take a look at Onepagebook's thread)

Offtopic:
you should change your sig and put your bank account number there