ABit AX78 Overclocking/Stability

[LIKMARK]

I got this mobo a few weeks back and it has been good except for a few quirky things that I can live with. Here are my specs first of all.

Specs:

Phenom 9500 w/ Thermalright Ultima-90 HSF
OCZ Reaper 2x1GB DDR2-800 on the furthest slots.
WD 2 x 320GB B3s RAID 0
External sata2 controller, WD 750gb
XFX Geforce 8800GT
Xfi-XtremeMusic
Intel Pro1000 GT Nic
Corsair HX 620W
Antec 900 Case

Everything installs fine (dualbooting XP and Vista Ultimate, both 32bit), everything runs well in windows, the weirdest things occur with the booting process. Currently, if I shutdown my computer and cold-start it, it will not boot and I can hear the 8800GT’s fan going at full. I eventually am forced to power off the PSU, let the red light go away, and the start it all back up, everything is fine then until next shutdown.
Then, when I get into windows, the USB Logitech mouse receiver for my VX Revolution doesn’t respond in the front USB ports. I have to take out the USB receiver and plug it back in and everything is fine. A soft reboot will not result in this problem. I am on BIOS 12 and not going to move to BIOS 13 beta considering all the weird issues. I’d thought I’ll just throw that out there. Anyone notice it takes a long time for the monitor to detect the signal during bootup. I usually see my screen when the RAID setup kicks in.

I had the Silverstone Zeus 650W and Crossfire 3870s before going to the Corsair and Geforce 8800GT. This boot issue happens to both combos. Weird….

This was a strange problem, never heard of anything like it before. I have not had this kind of troubles with my setup.

AX78, 9500, 2 x 2GB DDR2 1000

BIOS13 Beta2 -

Smart RAM has three options, Disabled, Table 1 and Table Best. It sets an ECC profiles more or less. It set CAS wrong but everything else correctly for the one set of G.Skill I tried. None of us will ever use it because other things must be set to Auto for it to work.

Ok, I've got four options, the same as you plus table 2. Reckoned it was something like EPP profiles. As you say, we wont be using those anyways

I can drop the multi without issue. I've run 239 x 10.5 with 32-bit XP and now 240 x 10 with 64-bit Vista.

The highest FSB, HTT, or External Clock that I and another Mod can boot with is 240MHz. 241 is a no go and we get the “CPU is over running” message and no matter how many times we enter BIOS and save we can’t get rid of it.

Have not tried this board under Vista x64 yet, but I'm going that way as soon as I can build up enough patience to go through the installation and patching process.

Max bootable (into XP) for me is HTT 248. 250 is a no go no matter what voltage I put through it. I have tested raising HTT in AOD (2.0.17) to 250, and my system freezes instantly. Dropping multis is no problem for me either.

AMD OD -

I'm not sure if VDDC is really Vcore. My base Vcore is 1.25, I added +.15 and CPU-Z reports 1.392v under load. AMD OD reports 1.70V for VDDC.

Yes, vDDC is vcore. It shows 0,3v too much, but changes is reported correctly.

Reported CPU temps - SpeedFan, AMD OD, and CoreTemp all report the same temp. SpeedFan only reports one temp, CoreTemp reports one and three 0's for the others in the system tray.

Speedfan, AOD and coretemp shows the same values for me too, but they are showing too low temps. Between 19c and 25c idling. Knowing how hot Phenom runs this ain't right.

64-bit Vista -

So the reports that you can’t overclock as far with 64-bit Vista are true for me. Or at least you can’t overclock as far with the same voltages that work in 32-bit XP.

I've tested Vista x64 with my AM2 Crosshair, and found max stable overclock to be 2420MHz, This might be due to flaky BIOS. Didn't test it under Xp 32bit, so I've got nothing to compare with.

AbitEQ -

The only thing I was really using it for was monitoring the PWM temp. Another Mod was having trouble with it in 64-bit Vista so I installed the latest version, 2.0.0.6, from the AX78 Global page. It installed but I got the "Log in as administrator and run once so you don't see this message" with no reported values. I uninstalled it and it borked the system. I had to do a Repair by booting with the Vista DVD. It was quick and fixed the problem. I don't believe this version supports the AX78, I couldn't find the files for this MB anywhere but I could find them for other boards.

A couple of nights later I tried with the version that ships with the MB, 2.0.0.1. I installed it with UAC disabled and it installed and even reported temps. It also caused two Blue Screens in short order even though it wasn't running. I did a system restore to just before I installed it and the system is solid once again.

I too downloaded version 2.0.0.6 from Abit Global page and found it to not report anything, I did not have any trouble uninstalling it though. This was under XP 32bit. Version 2.0.0.1 (from cd) runs fine with XP 32bit, and actually reports what seems to be right temps (albeit a bit higher than I like.) CPU 57c, System 32c, PWM 50c. All this under load. I've got cpu and nb under water, and 80mm 1800rpm nochtua fan on PWM heatsink.

Question: Do your cpu FID behave strange? (as I described in earlier post). After testing a bit I believe multi changes due to cpu VID. When I boot up, it boots into windows with 5,5 multiplier and cpu VID at 1.05v on all four cores no matter what I set in BIOS. When I change cpu VID to 1.25 in AOD, cpu multi jumps up to what I set it in BIOS (In this case X9), but just on core0. For the rest cores to follow I have to press the apply button once again. WEIRD.. I believe this might have to do with P-states and some wrong values set in BIOS. It is the only viable explanation IMO.

KTE: Doesn't P-states get regulated by cpu-VID (or the other way around, but the result is the same)?

I have not tested ram performance much yet. Gonna test it soon, hoping four sticks will do better with this BIOS, Max ram freq so far is 490MHz @CL5 5 5 15 24 2t@2,2v 127,5ns - 127,5ns + 105ns - 105ns tRFC, Memclk 800 (safe settings for testing max HTT)

[KTE]

Max boot on my last 9600BE was 248HT consistent and 250HT if I get lucky on 4 different boards

Speedfan, AOD and coretemp shows the same values for me too, but they are showing too low temps. Between 19c and 25c idling. Knowing how hot Phenom runs this ain't right.

They will run like Intel C2Q. Check end of this post: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...postcount=1706

I too downloaded version 2.0.0.6 from Abit Global page and found it to not report anything, I did not have any trouble uninstalling it though. This was under XP 32bit. Version 2.0.0.1 (from cd) runs fine with XP 32bit, and actually reports what seems to be right temps (albeit a bit higher than I like.) CPU 57c, System 32c, PWM 50c. All this under load. I've got cpu and nb under water, and 80mm 1800rpm nochtua fan on PWM heatsink.

There's only two temps I know it can gather with K10, one from the registers and from the diode. Register is the correct one, Tctl.

KTE: Doesn't P-states get regulated by cpu-VID (or the other way around, but the result is the same)?

P-States are independent of VID, you can either change to them manually in MSRC001_0062 or through CnQ being activated, which drops to what you have set in MSRC001_0065. Any changes to this procedure are due to the BIOS coding and reference of each register and how they use VIDs. VID has nothing to do with anything but VID, the register codings are not the same for NB/CPU volts or multis to affect one another like this. If BIOS was writing to the wrong bit of the CPU MSR then the system would most likely crash before BSP, since 1.25VID [stock 9500] = 28h in the relevant MSR. If they wrote that register value to FID by mistake, it would not boot since 28h is something over 20x multi where 12.5x is 09h

[LIKMARK]

Ok..

Testing AMD CPU stepping option in BIOS, P0 or P1. Noticed the Sapphire explanation in another thread, but there is no change in performance or boot settings by changing it.

[KTE]

Can you set P0 and then P1 and each time check what your MSR [64/65] values are?

[LIKMARK]

Can check when I come home

Edit:
Damit, my mother in law came for a visit a day earlier than expected, (having birthday party for my oldest daughter on saturday), didn't have time to check. I'll have to do it sometime in the weekend if I can find time for it, sorry.

[KTE]

Alright man let us know, I'm counting on you since mine doesn't start

[Jethro]

WooT got my board back! Testing 307 x 10 DDR = 1023 4 5 5 15 cr2

3D stable so far~! 1.45v cpu / 2.2v ddr

[Cheffy]

looking good Jethro.

if you get a chance, can you test something for me - check your PM

[Jethro]

She crashed overnight! Not there yet it seems. Gonna test higher voltage now.

Test FAILed! I suspect the ghetto- fabbed stock mobo heatsinks. Rippin em off after work!

[Jethro]

PWM Temp is serious biz on this board. The stock "TIM" is horrible as well as the flatness of the PWM heatsink. 4 of 8 mosfets dont even come close to making contact. Lapped the heatsink, removed "TIM", applied thermal grease. Making contact with all 8 nicely now and PWM temps under load are now 42c. Also replaced the "TIM" from northbridge and removed the so called heatpipe linking the two. Dunno if that helped but couldnt hurt after seeing how poor the TIM was acting. 1.45v cpu reports 39 core1 42 core 2 which seems on par with past temps for this water setup as far as temp accuracy is concerned.

All settings that were not stable before are now rock solid after the fixes. Both boards I had this very poor heat transfer w/ mosfets and NB so beware.

307 x 10 = 27.4 super pi wooT!

[Cheffy]

good work
310*11 next?

[Jethro]

Beta bios is rather nice. AOD works very well now. .5 multi's working as well! No problems overall :thumbs:

[LIKMARK]

It actually reads cpu fid you set in bios, or does it boot with cpu fid 5,5 no matter what with K8?

[Jethro]

Everything seems to work perfectly for me. HT/MULTI/Timings/Voltages etc. Its really quite cool actually!

EDIT: .5 multi's not working in AOD


Current optimal settings are 3.02ghz (302x10) Ram 4 5 5 15 c2 1007mhz 1.47v cpu 1.9v~Nb1 1.27~Nb2

9700mb's / 40.2 latency in Everest. So not to bad, finally feels a good bit faster then my 939 setup.

This latest bios dropped my highest FSB by a tad, cant boot at anything over 308 now altho i havent crunk NB volts yet.

@cheffy, anything over 1.57v definately gets flakey even tho PWM temps dont reflect it. By flakey i mean random reboots!

[Extelleron]

I am wondering what kind of CPU temp you guys are getting with this board + Phenom? At stock 2.2GHz @ 1.24V, AOD reports around 46-47C as the maximum Core temp, but Speedfan/BIOS, which report the "CPU Temp" show much higher temp. In BIOS, it shows CPU temp as being ~50C at idle, and Speedfan shows as high as 77C Priming.

Is the AOD temp right and the CPU temp crazy? It seems impossible that this CPU is really 77C under load.

[Master of None]

I am wondering what kind of CPU temp you guys are getting with this board + Phenom? At stock 2.2GHz @ 1.24V, AOD reports around 46-47C as the maximum Core temp, but Speedfan/BIOS, which report the "CPU Temp" show much higher temp. In BIOS, it shows CPU temp as being ~50C at idle, and Speedfan shows as high as 77C Priming.

Is the AOD temp right and the CPU temp crazy? It seems impossible that this CPU is really 77C under load.

I'm running a 9500 240 x 10 with a mild increase to a couple of voltages and I'm seeing 50C reported by AMD OD, CoreTemp, and SpeedFan. The Abit reported temp, using SpeedFan, is 73C. This is at 75F ambient running Folding@Home. If you've used abit boards before you'd know most of the time the abit reported CPU temp is only useful for controlling fans.

[hokiealumnus]

I too downloaded version 2.0.0.6 from Abit Global page and found it to not report anything

This is because, for whatever reason, the config for our board is not included in the installer for 2.0.0.6. If you install it and look in \Program Files\U-ABIT\abitEQ\, there are a bunch of .ini files. The AX78 one is not there with the new version, but certainly is with the CD version. It's titled "AX78.ini".

Haven't tried to see whether you can install 2.0.0.6 and copy that config to it. Presumably it works, but who knows what they changed in between versions. If anyone wants to try it, that'd be interesting info to know. I'm folding with Ubuntu now and don't get into XP much any more.

[hokiealumnus]

PWM Temp is serious biz on this board.

Been following this thread for a while awaiting membership authorization and saw this was a common theme. If you've spent any time at the abit forums, you've probably seen my name a time or ten. Anyway, this will probably not be new information for anyone here at XS, but for posterity I'll post it anyway. If nothing else, some pretty pics to look at - AX78 Heatpipe Mod.

[Jethro]

Welcome hokie That heatpipe is definately useless, in fact it probably makes things worse since the NB is more sensitive to heat then i originally thought. I'm stuck at 300FSB cant do much more stable with this latest bios. I'm debating on what type of cooling to throw on it. I've got a big zalman from my vid card i may mod to fit . Good news is 1200HT is rock solid!

I just bought a 6000+ on the cheap so ill be able to confirm if its chipset at least. Next step will probably be a triplecore and im sure that'l change everthing!

Speaking of ABIT forums, for some reason i cant do ANYthing there, reply, delete i dunno.

this is what i see:

You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

[hokiealumnus]

That's very strange. Did you get the confirmation email when you signed up? There isn't any administrative hold on accounts there. Just click on the link in the email and it should allow you to post straightaway.

[Jethro]

Yeah ive posted there before so i dunno man.

[LIKMARK]

Haven't tried to see whether you can install 2.0.0.6 and copy that config to it. Presumably it works, but who knows what they changed in between versions. If anyone wants to try it, that'd be interesting info to know. I'm folding with Ubuntu now and don't get into XP much any more.

Hi there hokiealumunus! I might try it

Been following this thread for a while awaiting membership authorization and saw this was a common theme. If you've spent any time at the abit forums, you've probably seen my name a time or ten. Anyway, this will probably not be new information for anyone here at XS, but for posterity I'll post it anyway. If nothing else, some pretty pics to look at - AX78 Heatpipe Mod.

It's a nice mod. I have not used it though as the pwm part of the heatpipe seemed fine enough. I ripped out the nb part and put it under water, and put a 80 mm fan on the mosfet part. It reaches 52c AbitEQ when crunching. As for temps AOD reports too low temps for being reliable IMO. Max temp registered when priming+running 3Dmark06 is 62c with AbitEQ. This is under water.

[Cheffy]

From my experience i have concluded that abit boards for some time (KD7, AX8, AX78) have gotten their "cpu" temp reading from a board side diode - cpu temp often very closely follows pwm temp on all of these (presumably due to pwm heating up the board itself) - try running board in opne air and point a fan at the back side of board, close to cpu area and "cpu" temp often drops 10c or more, but the cpu diode readings in speedfan/coretemp/etc very rarely shift more than 1c.

Im working on a mod to overcome the OCP on the PWM Controler - this should stop the shutdown-locked off that some of us are getting with higher power cpu's - but will obv make it much easier to fry the PWM, on which subject im also working on a cooling mod. its going to involve a fair bit of fiddly soldering to implement the OCP however, so looking for volunteers!

[Jethro]

My hardware graveyard has exceeded capacity so therefore no more soldiering on items cept for repair

Making a good heatsink for this board isn't that big a deal however. I mean u do get a template via the stock heatsink to work from. Any cheap copper cpu cooler could be modded to do both the PWM and the NB pretty easily really. The stock heatsink's even lapped are crap and thats the bottom line.

If temps are right using 1.46v cpu and 2.1v ddr my pwm hits 52 c loaded all night folding which really isnt bad but if i want to use 1.55+ ill have to make the new sinks most likely.

I'm getting a 6000+ in a few days that i hope* doesnt need 1.55+ to hit 3.5. If it does i'll be making the sinks for sure and ill post pics.

[Extelleron]

What kind of NB and HyperTransport voltages are you guys running with Phenoms?

W/ my 9500, 2.3GHz (209x11) was unstable with all stock voltages. It was also unstable w/ CPU voltage @ +0.02V. Finally I got it stable by increasing CPU voltage +0.05V, NB + 0.10V, and increasing HT voltage from 1.20V to 1.25V.

I've now tried lowering just the CPU voltage, and it seems to be stable at stock (1.24V). Prime 95 has been running for just about 1.5 hours.

W/ the stock HT/NB speed, 220x10 would not even boot, so that is why I am thinking that it was just the HT/NB voltages that needed adjusting.