RD600 first look and general questions

[nealh]

well as my luck seems to be running this new RD600 will not run my crucial 10th anniv at 500...memtest86+ 1.70 test 5 has errors after 7 passes at 2.2v

old board 5-6-5-5-2t @ 2.2v 500mhz...50 passes of test5, winmemtest 1000% no errors, P95 v251 blend 20hrs...

new board....memtest86+ 1.70..fails after 7 passes

this board seems to run hotter chipset too...same cooling as old board(old board idle at 47/48C with 1.42v, load was 54C)...new board at 1.42v idle at 56/57...loads 62c..stock HS with 120mm fan blowing on it and ram

voltage settings..
vcore 1.51875 bios setting=1.53v bios reading old board 1.52v
NB 1.42 bios setting=1.45v bios reading.... old board 1.44v
NB 1.36 bios setting= 1.39..... old board 1.38v
vdimm 2.2v bios setting=2.22 v...old board initial showed 2.2v as well..but then after awhile showed 2.24 v

SG show at 1.51875 v....under load alot of flucuation on the new board..go from 1.48-1.52v....old board 1.48v with occ. 1.5v flucuation

So I am not sure if voltages are more or less stable

[Ten]

very nice temps..my ambients if Florida tend to run 25/26C

I would guess a higher fsb will add more heat...not sure though

Heheh i live in the north of Sweden still winter here, 1m snow and below 0c most of the time

[Kin Hell]

Are you getting 55C on NB at idle with water

I only have SG as a guage for chipset temps....idle with 1.42v at 59/60..seems much hotter than the first mobo...quick load temp was 63/64 C

Er....I said 55 on Stock Cooler...I know this Cos I had to use it before my NB DD Block arrived. So i'd be guessing thats about right for your NB Temp. The DD Block gives me about 38Deg Idle. These are Bios Readings as well.

Anyways, seems like my board has thrown a Pink Fit somewhere!? For the life in me, I can't Re-Install WinBl0ze. I keep getting copying file Errors. I have tried 3 different XP Pro Original Disks, all with the same cr4p. I swapped CDROM's, replaced Cables...same sh1t!
Okay, not entirely thwarted, I boot from a Win98 Floppy. Thankfully, I have a couple of FAT32 Partitions around my drives.
So, back to DOS cr4p, we go:
Smartdrv /v (enables Caching of Drives @ DOS Level - need cmd on the boot floppy tho')
Mkdir D:\I386
Copy F:\I386 D:\I386
One coffee break l8r, 5,709 files Copied!
Rest Comp, boot from Floppy. At the cmd prompt:
D:\I386\winnt

& off it goes....copies all the files & restarts the puter. At the F6 prompt, it takes the drivers for the HighPoint SATA & then still complains it can't copy certain files whilst trying to set itself up?? This is from the hard drive to itself dammit so it cant be the CDROM side of it unless the files it did copy are corrupted & DOS didn't say so! It says the file image it has copied is corrupted, ENTER to try again, Esc to Skip etc even if I install from CDROM or the Hard Drives!! Trying to skip the files is futile cos windows doesn't set itself up right & Device manager doesn't handle the system devices correctly.
Hard drives are fine & pass extensive Software tests @ DOS.
Funny thing is, I now ALWAYS loose the USB Keyboard & USB G5 Mouse just as I have to say YES to Authorise the RR2310 Driver for the First time. It never did this to me the first time I Installed on this RR card. The Image I have restored now is the very one I created after f'kin Installing it without Issues????
I remember my DFI nF4 SLI DR Expert board running 3 CDROMs for about 2 months. Then my Plextor stopped functioning, along with a Pioneer 120 Slot Drive DVD Reader. The only CDROM device that worked was the Pioneer 109 DVDRW & that was the MASTER on the Primary header. Bios Updates NEVER corrected it....wtf?
I have an RMA already & now scared the Supplier wont find anything wrong with the board when they install on the Boards Headers. I can't for the life in me understand why this set up without Issue on the RR First time round only to go sh1t faced on me for trying a 200 Strap. I wonder if it lies with knowing 200 STRAP @ 286fsb was max possible for me @ BIOS level, but I did manage to get 336FSB using AMD System Manager. Since that point, all I have seen is random crashing & System errors in Explorer, IE, WINRAR. Orthos wont run without wanting to send an Error report to Micro$0ft.
Gunno try installing from the Promise headers to see if I get file copy issues so I guess it's time to fire up the Old Amiga again.

[nealh]

Kin Hell..I figured %%c on WB would be a real issue...

I am sad with the new board...the NB runs hotter at idle by 5C..load seems 3-4C higher at a LOWER NB voltae of 1.36 bios setting with bios reading of 1.39!!!!(I am back to same cooling as before stock HS and 120mm fan...)

I want a waterblock but very concerned about maintaing contact on the NB with MCW30 and wire clips....and really do not want to spend $40 on blaock that screws down but will only work on this board

I am considering getting a Swiftech MCX 159...but I heard the fan is noiser vs the Microcool whipser XE..which I have but can not with the shim get reasonable contact on the chipset...also the post that attach to the wire clips do not fit correctly the hole does not line up correctly and the s,mall screw that tightens the mount took 45min to get installed.....

[Kin Hell]

Kin Hell..I figured %%c on WB would be a real issue...

I am sad with the new board...the NB runs hotter at idle by 5C..load seems 3-4C higher at a LOWER NB voltae of 1.36 bios setting with bios reading of 1.39!!!!(I am back to same cooling as before stock HS and 120mm fan...)

I want a waterblock but very concerned about maintaing contact on the NB with MCW30 and wire clips....and really do not want to spend $40 on blaock that screws down but will only work on this board

I am considering getting a Swiftech MCX 159...but I heard the fan is noiser vs the Microcool whipser XE..which I have but can not with the shim get reasonable contact on the chipset...also the post that attach to the wire clips do not fit correctly the hole does not line up correctly and the s,mall screw that tightens the mount took 45min to get installed.....

Yeah with the MCW30, it really is a cr4p fixing. I got the Danger Den RD600 Block. It uses white metal T-Bar Pegs with a bit of a hook shaped in to the bottom Leg of the "T". You push these T-Bars through Small Springs which have PTFE Collets each end. Whilst trying to keep the Block Level to avoid crushing the NB Core, hook the T-Bar onto the Boards cr4p clips! Eventually, it all goes in but the Left Leg ot the "T" is pointing uptowards the Graphics card & clears by about 1mm. Dead dodgey, Pressure is much better than the MCW30. With all the Tygon Piping in my V2000B case, it's bloody hard trying to get hands in such confined spaces.

On my side of things, I cant run Microsoft Memory Test from floppy without getting errors on ALL tests. The board seems to be getting worse & the Images I was re-installing are now NOT working!? I'm writing this from a Safe-mode boot with Networking enabled....

At the current rate of depreciation, the board should be DEAD & un-useable by teatime tommorow.

I am at a complete & Utter f'kin Loss with this cr4p!

[nealh]

Yeah with the MCW30, it really is a cr4p fixing. I got the Danger Den RD600 Block. It uses white metal T-Bar Pegs with a bit of a hook shaped in to the bottom Leg of the "T". You push these T-Bars through Small Springs which have PTFE Collets each end. Whilst trying to keep the Block Level to avoid crushing the NB Core, hook the T-Bar onto the Boards cr4p clips! Eventually, it all goes in but the Left Leg ot the "T" is pointing uptowards the Graphics card & clears by about 1mm. Dead dodgey, Pressure is much better than the MCW30. With all the Tygon Piping in my V2000B case, it's bloody hard trying to get hands in such confined spaces.

On my side of things, I cant run Microsoft Memory Test from floppy without getting errors on ALL tests. The board seems to be getting worse & the Images I was re-installing are now NOT working!? I'm writing this from a Safe-mode boot with Networking enabled....

At the current rate of depreciation, the board should be DEAD & un-useable by teatime tommorow.

I am at a complete & Utter f'kin Loss with this cr4p!

I think it is the sync mode and 1T...lower back to async and 2T...I bet the memory is corrupting everything(not that the sticks are bad but the stupid board cant handle what it promises)..or boost your voltages for the NB

Like I said ...my old board loved my ram at 500 with 2.2v..5-6-5-5-18-24-42-2t (winmemtest for 1000% 4hrs, 50 passes test 5 and 20 hrs of P95 blend without a failure)...new baord 500 with 2.2v 5-6-5-5-18-24-42-2t fails memtest 7 in 7 passes......

[Kin Hell]

I think it is the sync mode and 1T...lower back to async and 2T...I bet the memory is corrupting everything(not that the sticks are bad but the stupid board cant handle what it promises)..or boost your voltages for the NB

Like I said ...my old board loved my ram at 500 with 2.2v..5-6-5-5-18-24-42-2t (winmemtest for 1000% 4hrs, 50 passes test 5 and 20 hrs of P95 blend without a failure)...new baord 500 with 2.2v 5-6-5-5-18-24-42-2t fails memtest 7 in 7 passes......

I hear ya dude....I really do. But nothing is working anymore @ defualt settings.

Despite my board apparently being totally JFK'd, it is still arse-ing about with it's usual sh1t. you know, where it crashes & you have to Rest CMOS before applying your over-clock settings! I mean....wtf? At least I'm at desktop with a restored Drive Image again & this text is a Copy/Paste from desktop notes as I've crashed 3 times trying to f'kin post this Sch-peel.
These boards are obiviously having some real bad issues with themselves & the Bios not being Straight isn't helping matters either.

If you got one that works, be sure you are using the fastest DDR2 Ram possible & enjoy the Bull-sh1t "Async" memory timings. Do not persue 1:1 timings as the booard WILL kill itself despite very very safe voltages being used on the overclocks & all whilst under water....so Heat is well out of the equation RE this anomally.

I'm just dissapointed I didn't get any smoke out of this puppy....I so wanted to see it Smoke its sad 4rse! It more than desrves it.

One last thing to do before RMA time. I Just gotta try & install off the standard headers. I refuse to Accept this PCI-e High Point 2310 Raid card is causing issues or that my RAM is JFK'd. Everything was fine untill I tried some 200 Strap Runs from 286FSB up. JFHC @ this cr4p!

*edit*

Can't install on Native SATA Headers...still corrupts files when Copying from CDROM, still crashing randomly.....bleh!
My RAM works fine in another board & the other boards RAM which is fine is Fuxord in this RD600.
This boards Ass is Grass on Monday!

[nealh]

I hear ya dude....I really do. But nothing is working anymore @ defualt settings.

Despite my board apparently being totally JFK'd, it is still arse-ing about with it's usual sh1t. you know, where it crashes & you have to Rest CMOS before applying your over-clock settings! I mean....wtf? At least I'm at desktop with a restored Drive Image again & this text is a Copy/Paste from desktop notes as I've crashed 3 times trying to f'kin post this Sch-peel.
These boards are obiviously having some real bad issues with themselves & the Bios not being Straight isn't helping matters either.

If you got one that works, be sure you are using the fastest DDR2 Ram possible & enjoy the Bull-sh1t "Async" memory timings. Do not persue 1:1 timings as the booard WILL kill itself despite very very safe voltages being used on the overclocks & all whilst under water....so Heat is well out of the equation RE this anomally.

I'm just dissapointed I didn't get any smoke out of this puppy....I so wanted to see it Smoke its sad 4rse! It more than desrves it.

One last thing to do before RMA time. I Just gotta try & install off the standard headers. I refuse to Accept this PCI-e High Point 2310 Raid card is causing issues or that my RAM is JFK'd. Everything was fine untill I tried some 200 Strap Runs from 286FSB up. JFHC @ this cr4p!

*edit*

Can't install on Native SATA Headers...still corrupts files when Copying from CDROM, still crashing randomly.....bleh!
My RAM works fine in another board & the other boards RAM which is fine is Fuxord in this RD600.
This boards Ass is Grass on Monday!

Problem is my new board will not run my ram at 500mhz like the first board..the setup was 100% stable with mmemtest86+, winmemtest and P95 blend

new board 500mhz just errors out..so I back to 400mhz 4-4-4-18-2t

this boards seems to overvolt slightly more than my other board..so I am going to try a slightly lower vcore...I just finished 26 hr of P95 blend at 3500(9x390) with ram 2.0v 400mhz 4-4-4-18-2t, async, NB 1.36v

[erwinz]

woah.. my board is sweet with me.. I hope it will live till I have my upgrade..


hope you guys can sort things out.. my problem is my proc.. its concave.. so I cant push it to the limit..

[Mekrel]

Well im on 360*9 with 1.365v to the processor and every other voltage stock.

Tried going above but orthos fails within mins and I'm taking it slowly. Next step will be GTREF Settings before any more voltage increases. Took CPU 1/2 3/4 up to 84 and couldn't improve stability at 360 before upping the CPU volts.

Anyone else played with GTREF settings? If so, what did you find?

RAM is async 450 4-4-3-7 2.2v but the orange slots don't want to run dual channel? Yellow ones are fine.

Can't use the new bios despite using a PS/2 keyboard which I have from the start.

[nealh]

Well im on 360*9 with 1.365v to the processor and every other voltage stock.

Tried going above but orthos fails within mins and I'm taking it slowly. Next step will be GTREF Settings before any more voltage increases. Took CPU 1/2 3/4 up to 84 and couldn't improve stability at 360 before upping the CPU volts.

Anyone else played with GTREF settings? If so, what did you find?

RAM is async 450 4-4-3-7 2.2v but the orange slots don't want to run dual channel? Yellow ones are fine.
Can't use the new bios despite using a PS/2 keyboard which I have from the start.

have you checked the biossetting on memory channels..set to AUTO or A&B

I would just up vcore..set gref to 48/48/128..set bios vcore to 1.4v and NB to 1.36v see how you do..but again..lower memory timings or you will confound the cpu overclocking..you need ram out of the equation

you can go back later and tweak the ram at given fsb

I really believe as you increase the fsb this stresses the chipset and lower ram timings will help get more cpu speed at a given voltage....cpu speed is still most important...

I can tell you running 3500 with 400mhz(4-4-4-18-2t) on my setup is as fast in superpi 1M, 3dmark03/05/06(these are slightly faster) as compared to 3500:500(5-6-5-5-18) on my old board

my new board will not run my 10th anniv at 500mhz with memtest errors at 2.2v

BTW I was 20hrs blend stable on old board at 3500:500...3500:400 is 26 hrs blend stable in P95 when I stopped it yesterday

[Mekrel]

Yeah tried auto and A & B so think my orange DIMs are fubar.

I'll slacken the timings up.

[GNU]

Hard posts zu read, I still testing the system and waiting for the new rma OCZ PSU Evo then I will start to overclock my system. The first start with a old Tagan runs fine

[Kin Hell]

Problem is my new board will not run my ram at 500mhz like the first board..the setup was 100% stable with mmemtest86+, winmemtest and P95 blend

new board 500mhz just errors out..so I back to 400mhz 4-4-4-18-2t

this boards seems to overvolt slightly more than my other board..so I am going to try a slightly lower vcore...I just finished 26 hr of P95 blend at 3500(9x390) with ram 2.0v 400mhz 4-4-4-18-2t, async, NB 1.36v

100Mhz Difference in boards is taking the Pi$$ (unless the last one JFK'd your Ram) & just says VOLUMES (DFI need need to Read & Digest this cr4p....We as Paying, "-oh-my-god-lets-bend-over-real-hard" Punters, ....are!!)

Anyway, I was right...my board is Totally Dead now, so RIP RD600 #3 & "Adios Amigos" to DFI. Will I be buying the DFI 680i @ the End of April?
Doh!.......mmmmmmm......Doughnuts!

[Kin Hell]

For you fellas "hoofing" around with the Ram Slots, Orange (DIMM1 & 2) are the ones to use for Dual Channel at Max Bandwidth potential. You will have a slightly reduced bandwidth for running Dual Channel on the Yellow Slots.
If you use an Orange & a Yellow one, you wont be running the Ram in Dual Channel mode at all & the bandwidth Drop is huge.
Highest Multiplier & Fastest FSB possible is the way for the best performance on this board. IMHO, an E6600 aint big enough on the Multi. I'd recconmend 10X Multi's & up on this board & wish a whole pile of Luck your 10 Multi will take a fast FSB with it.
For all you newcomers to Over Clocking, Use AUTO on the STRAP setting until you fully understand how Straps work. I'm still convinced my board dying for a 370FSB 1:1 @ stock voltages on a 266 Strap is total BS & just bad Engineering on DFI/China's part.
If my comment's here upset anyone in the Industry, I'm speaking the truth & if it hurts, that's your Problem & you need to deal with it. Punters like us have been paying for this cr4p over the last 9 months...... Enough is enough!

Best of luck to all you "Die-Hards" for RD600, they are good untill they roll over & die. Stock Voltages takes the proverbial to see it die, so having Died "3" times already, I'm afraid I just can't stay "Hard" anymore for this board!

[nealh]

100Mhz Difference in boards is taking the Pi$$ (unless the last one JFK'd your Ram) & just says VOLUMES (DFI need need to Read & Digest this cr4p....We as Paying, "-oh-my-god-lets-bend-over-real-hard" Punters, ....are!!)

I am not sure if that is the case..I guess it could be and I worried about that being the case(my crucial 10th anniv at 500 was real sweet overclock)..but I am at 390 fsb a lower NB core..so I am guessing it is board variation which really sucks

Also my ram is at 2.0v @800

at some point later I will retry 500 again..but I fed up with this crap...too many variable too many issues...I a m100% stable....and my quick benchies seem very close with ram at 400 4-4-4 vs 500 5-6-5..not true with my last mobo..so who knows

[steelballzz]

between me and another 2 friends we had 4 dead boards

mine was a stupid thing.....changed a strap....never booted again
on another one the display went off....the board never worked again


i am really disapointed with this mobo.......
slow perfomance compared with 965......very buggy
i am running an abit quad gt right now and finally i reached stability


when it returns from rma it will be useless

i guess new bios would solve the majority of the issues......but who gives a crap about us.....

[Mekrel]

I got to admit I've given the board some beating and haven't had a problem yet touch wood!

Scares me to read all these things though.

[Kin Hell]

I am not sure if that is the case..I guess it could be and I worried about that being the case(my crucial 10th anniv at 500 was real sweet overclock)..but I am at 390 fsb a lower NB core..so I am guessing it is board variation which really sucks

Also my ram is at 2.0v @800

at some point later I will retry 500 again..but I fed up with this crap...too many variable too many issues...I a m100% stable....and my quick benchies seem very close with ram at 400 4-4-4 vs 500 5-6-5..not true with my last mobo..so who knows

Don't get me wrong nealh, there will always be differences between one board & another, but surely not not by 100Mhz...totally unacceptable tbh! Maybe you just need to throw a bit more Voltage at the Ram with this one!?
Happy that you had a fair turn-around & I hope your replacement is a better example than the last, tho' 100Mhz down on Ram is a BIG suck!

I just gotta decide which board to go for next......almost cba tbh!
I'll see how long I can do without....Waiting & Returning RD600 kinda took me out of owning a "Pee-Cee" for nearly the last 9 months, so a little more time won't hurt & things might have matured for the better.

Dunno if "fhpchris" will read this, but just in case;
DFI 680i appears to be using Hooks again!

[cadaveca]

Well, I must have the only working board. But remember guys...drivestrengths are open to play with(stock should be 4-5 not 5-5)...so ram issues make much sense to me. My board has been running FAH 24/7 @ 1.65v NB 400FSBx9 sync, 1.55v CPU, on air. I really want to blame user error...anger found in postings show unlevel, non-persistent mental attitudes. This board is not made for this sort of person. It is a tweaker's board only.

[nealh]

Well, I must have the only working board. But remember guys...drivestrengths are open to play with(stock should be 4-5 not 5-5)...so ram issues make much sense to me. My board has been running FAH 24/7 @ 1.65v NB 400FSBx9 sync, 1.55v CPU, on air. I really want to blame user error...anger found in postings show unlevel, non-persistent mental attitudes. This board is not made for this sort of person. It is a tweaker's board only.

drive strengths... refresh me on the settings you are referring to please....

if you look above..one person changed a strap setting and that was the end of his mobo

My first board was a good board..I had some frustrations with it....but got stable 3500 mhz and 500 ram but I decided to tinker ..I lowered timings and I all did was go to 1:1 sync at 380(lowered ram timings and kept 2.2v) with same NB voltages rebooted and board failed to boot...reset and that was the end of my mobo....(mind you 390 1:1 sync booted once)...

that was very frustrating..my new mobo....will not run my ram at same timings and vdimm...it runs hotter on NB at lower voltage....I have tried a Microcool whisper xe and and removed my stock HSF, cleaned up crap and reapplied AS5 and use a 120mm fan blowing on it anf my temps are 6-7C higher at idle and load

so nothing irrational..board is good for tweakers but that all I need was tweak a bit and it died...nothing would bring it back from C1 error..not new ram, not any method of CMOS clearing

quality is not great IMHO..I am not extreme in anything I try....

[cadaveca]

ok. Let me be blunt. Changing strap could only at worst corrupt bios. If it was done via windows, totally user error. If not, parts weren't capable, and that's part of the risk you take when you overclock. BTW, my cpu's, all of them(and that's very many) operate @ 266fsb strap or less only. 333 causes no boot, 300 causes errors. I don'tt know why, nor do I care...this strap does not limit the cpu(had most @ 500FSB), merely the mobo.

I AM EXTREME!!!!lol. I've tried changing EVERY SINGLE setting, had C1's, etc, and never failed to get the board alive again. But i have gamut of parts at my disposal, so things such as swapping out ram to get the board to boot is always an option for me. And we are not talking about jsut having different IC's...becuase sometimes it's simply SPD interpretation causing issues.

500mhz 1T prime stable? done that too...hard as hell tho. Took me about 3 days of 14-16 hrs a day to get it prime stable. 1:1...would never happen.

ATI wanted 1.5v default for NB, in order to pull 1:1 in operation, however this was quashed by Intel, if i got the story right. We got the story it will kill the chipset by eletron migration, but after having many different configs using this board, it seems plain to me that over 1.5v northbridge hurts cpu, and not the chipset. 2.0v, and your gonna cause serious issues. Something has to convert that chipset voltage to a votlage usable by the cpu...

I see alot of users here with complaints, but mostly this comes from people without many parts, nor time to reign in this board. Tony warned everyone way back when...would be good to heed his word! He's got nothing to gain from helping...

Yes, this chipset is hot. I have always stated this, defended it even. So take that into consideration...I did and seem to have no issues. Sure, this means I've got to deal with a loud system, but that's the price you pay.

266mhz, folks. That's stock. 400mhz, that's 150% of stock. I know this is extreme systems, but let's be a bit realistic here...not every part is gonna cooperate when you push things this far. 500mhz...187%. Almost a full double the stock speed. Go through the threads here and find how many parts(not just boards..i mean everything) can do that on traditional cooling. Be happy with the free performance you got. You could have less. No sweat off my back either way...My board works just like it should. Not too sure why, given some of the comments in this thread, but it does. But then you hardly hear from people without issues...

[Mekrel]

You need 1.65 for 400*9? Is that sync with ram though? Thought 1.5 got you up to 450. Maybe thats with Async though.

Edit: I have no problems except sometimes I boot up and get a screen as if the video card memory has gone berkerk and can't get into the new bios for toffee. Can anyone else who has a usb mouse confirm this? I think and USB input devices stop the new bios from allowing you into setup.

[nealh]

ok. Let me be blunt. Changing strap could only at worst corrupt bios. If it was done via windows, totally user error. If not, parts weren't capable, and that's part of the risk you take when you overclock. BTW, my cpu's, all of them(and that's very many) operate @ 266fsb strap or less only. 333 causes no boot, 300 causes errors. I don'tt know why, nor do I care...this strap does not limit the cpu(had most @ 500FSB), merely the mobo.

I AM EXTREME!!!!lol. I've tried changing EVERY SINGLE setting, had C1's, etc, and never failed to get the board alive again. But i have gamut of parts at my disposal, so things such as swapping out ram to get the board to boot is always an option for me. And we are not talking about jsut having different IC's...becuase sometimes it's simply SPD interpretation causing issues.

500mhz 1T prime stable? done that too...hard as hell tho. Took me about 3 days of 14-16 hrs a day to get it prime stable. 1:1...would never happen.

ATI wanted 1.5v default for NB, in order to pull 1:1 in operation, however this was quashed by Intel, if i got the story right. We got the story it will kill the chipset by eletron migration, but after having many different configs using this board, it seems plain to me that over 1.5v northbridge hurts cpu, and not the chipset. 2.0v, and your gonna cause serious issues. Something has to convert that chipset voltage to a votlage usable by the cpu...

I see alot of users here with complaints, but mostly this comes from people without many parts, nor time to reign in this board. Tony warned everyone way back when...would be good to heed his word! He's got nothing to gain from helping...

Yes, this chipset is hot. I have always stated this, defended it even. So take that into consideration...I did and seem to have no issues. Sure, this means I've got to deal with a loud system, but that's the price you pay.

266mhz, folks. That's stock. 400mhz, that's 150% of stock. I know this is extreme systems, but let's be a bit realistic here...not every part is gonna cooperate when you push things this far. 500mhz...187%. Almost a full double the stock speed. Go through the threads here and find how many parts(not just boards..i mean everything) can do that on traditional cooling. Be happy with the free performance you got. You could have less. No sweat off my back either way...My board works just like it should. Not too sure why, given some of the comments in this thread, but it does. But then you hardly hear from people without issues...

Ok...I agree with what you say to a point

Im my case I got 390x9 stable, async 500mhz on my ram using 1.52v on cpu/1.42 v on NB

Kin Hell and I were talking about sync..for grins I gave it a try...I lowered ram timings from 500:5-6-5-5-18-24-42-2t sync to 400 4-4-4-4-18-24-42-2t sync mode still with 2.2v on ram, 1.52v on cpu, 1.42 v on NB..set 380 on fsb and sync mode 380....
strap was auto
I reboot..systems post goes to second screen and hangs at updating DMI pool. I hit reset button..posts gets to second screen and says somethingabout DMI pool. I reset to get to bios and change settings and the board is done, dead...

I get C1..ok no issue..I move ram to all slots, single sticks etc, I try everything in manual and suggested to reset cmos....nothing(BTW my 10th anniv crucial booted initial at bios default 1.8v with no issue)
So I go buy cheap stick of 667 DDR 1.8v..ram nothing

The board is absolutely dead...my only fault here IMHO is after the inital no boot on my rese I sould have gone right into bios ..reset to known working settings and booted again...never again will I allow a second reset with this board

I had no issues before with a second reset ...many times I would not get an initial boot into winxp..hit reset at the same second screen where just hung if it failed after the second, hit a third reset and it would post to get into bios..not this time

I found sometimes a second reset was need to get it load winxp on some OCing attempts

ATI wanted 1.5v default for NB, in order to pull 1:1 in operation, however this was quashed by Intel, if i got the story right. We got the story it will kill the chipset by eletron migration, but after having many different configs using this board, it seems plain to me that over 1.5v northbridge hurts cpu, and not the chipset. 2.0v, and your gonna cause serious issues. Something has to convert that chipset voltage to a votlage usable by the cpu...

where did you get this info

BTW how high do you thinkchipset temps can be 24/7..you seem to have alot of knowledge on the board limitations

[Praz]

BTW how high do you thinkchipset temps can be 24/7

My max temp is approximately 55c fully loaded regardless of settings or voltages. That's using the stock heatsink with a fan sitting on top of it.

I had a HR-05 on the NB but removed because I didn't like the way it was attached. 55c max I can live with.

I've had this board since the day of release and have pound on it hard. So for, it keeps bouncing back and asking for more.