**Official ABIT IP-35 Pro Review/Overclock/Guide Thread**

[Ace-a-Rue]

I just have to laugh.

Ok... well I was thinking what program I could use to format/zero my drive so that Vista could install. I then said... WTH.. XP does that. I booted the XP disc and formatted the drives so that the partitions would be gone. I exited the XP install and placed the Vista disc in. It did the job.

ah...BUT...XP's format tool does not do a low level format ...it just formats the regular way...what a low level format does to the drive is reset it back to like it comes from the factory or out of the box...it is the only true way to get rid of a boot sector virus.

[Ace-a-Rue]

nice job! When I was installing from a solo drive, the drive wasn't formatted. I was expecting vista to format it. Even after I clicked format...nothing.

something went wrong...vista should take care of all of that...all i did was partitioned with disk manager and then rebooted into each drive that i wanted to use to install vista on...it took care of everything...BUT...i did resize the whole partition into two partitions using vista tools...that might be the difference with being successful!

[Knight]

It was bad on my part to mix up the two terms. Didn't mean to mislead anyone.

[kinggheedora]

The strange thing is that my first startup and install of Vista was on a solo drive. I don't know what happened since then. I have Vista 32bit by the way.

I'm searching with no luck.

EDIT: I will try my Gparted disc to try and fix the problem.

I had a similar problem where vista wouldn't install on a partition for no apparent reason. What I did was (from Vista setup) delete the partition and recreate it. It worked after that.

[GameGuru]

Couple of things guys. First off, thanks for all the help in this thread, it's been a godsend, everyone in here has been so helpful and that's why I love Xtreme

Moving on: Soooooo I picked up another 8800GTX and now everything boots up fine like it should. So right out of the gates I'm priming 3.6g @ 1.35v, temps on load 45*, not bad results for the voltage I'd say. With the voltage mod, heatpipe mod, lapping of my Q6600 and WCing all of which I learned here at Xtreme, you better believe I'll be shooting for 4gig+. I'll keep you all posted as I think I owe it to this thread. See sig below for the goods.

Thanks again guys.

[Magic Chief]

Hmm well I have a problem. My system is really unstable. I just got a new board and memory back from RMA and still have the same problem. My memory tested out fine on Memtest. My hard drives tested out on Seagate tools and chkdsk, I even bought a new drive to see if that was the problem. Power supply is fine. Video card is fine. Samsung DVD-RW SH-S203B is new. I can't install xp x64 but I can install x32. The main problem is my downloads are corrupt, I can't download windows updates, I can't install java, flash, office 2007, adobe acrobat and most of all it has trouble install chipset drivers, realtek sound/nic drivers, video drivers, etc. System is really unstable.
Mem 2.1v 5-5-5-15 2T Stock; New
CPU: 1.25v Stock
Video Card: Stock
DVD-RW: New but still had problem with multiple ATA/SATA drives
Hard Drives: Seagate 400GB and new 160GB SATA; IDE mode in bios
MB: Beta 12 bo2 bios, I uped my ICH vcores 1.12 and 1.60.

I got a Western Digital drive and have the same problems. Also when I don't install the chipset drivers it works occasionally. I think this board blows. Hope DFI has a somewhat decent Infinity board.

[Brother Esau]

Hmmm been wondering how you made out. WD too huh thats odd to replicate the same situation in two boards wonder if they sent you the same board back?
I don't know dude I run exclusively off of my raid card and havent used a Sata port in a very long time!

[Magic Chief]

Nope its a new board. I guess I just have really bad luck. I think I am going to RMA it for another board but nothing more expensive and gives me about the same performance. Abit will probably never get my business again for a while.

[chawks2]

I have to tell you it's been a while since I have said something like this, BUT the IP35 Pro is one, if not the BEST 3 series chipset boards available.

Those of you having frustrations need to be a bit more patient and read to determine your problems.

Every company has their lemons and defective products, but there is no doubt in my mind Abit is back on track. You get great BANG for your BUCK with this mobo.

[Ace-a-Rue]

I got a Western Digital drive and have the same problems. Also when I don't install the chipset drivers it works occasionally. I think this board blows. Hope DFI has a somewhat decent Infinity board.

hey, i really feel for you!...i was hoping it would get on track with you...since it has been a drive problem, have you switched sata cables out to new ones...possibly could be that!

[Ace-a-Rue]

Couple of things guys. First off, thanks for all the help in this thread, it's been a godsend, everyone in here has been so helpful and that's why I love Xtreme

Moving on: Soooooo I picked up another 8800GTX and now everything boots up fine like it should. So right out of the gates I'm priming 3.6g @ 1.35v, temps on load 45*, not bad results for the voltage I'd say. With the voltage mod, heatpipe mod, lapping of my Q6600 and WCing all of which I learned here at Xtreme, you better believe I'll be shooting for 4gig+. I'll keep you all posted as I think I owe it to this thread. See sig below for the goods.

Thanks again guys.

glad we all were able to help....it is the spirit of this community.

good luck with 4ghz overclock...i can get to 4.2ghz but i have to max out all the sub voltages except for ICH 1.05 and raise the vcore up to 1.6v actual.

[Ace-a-Rue]

I have to tell you it's been a while since I have said something like this, BUT the IP35 Pro is one, if not the BEST 3 series chipset boards available.

Those of you having frustrations need to be a bit more patient and read to determine your problems.

Every company has their lemons and defective products, but there is no doubt in my mind Abit is back on track. You get great BANG for your BUCK with this mobo.

i couldn't agree more with your observation about this board...the QuadGT was "ok" board...not enough bios support is my b*tch about that board...otherwise, it was fine....this board must have a different development team working on it and therefore, it SHOWS its STUFF!

[Knight]

Thank you to all who helped with my problems. It seems that my lock ups were a result of the Raid array. Well at least I now know why.

Thanks,

[Jodiuh]

I must admit, it's been rock stable since I've quit opening cpu-z. Even w/ the minor X-Fi issues, I'm gonna find it hard to move on unless something funky happens. The monitoring tools, fan controller, killer layout (especially side SATA), and super fast booting bios make it my favorite board in a long time. I'm only up to 500x7 on an E6400, but it's def snappier to OC than previous toys.

As for writing zeros to drive, I've always used Wipedrive. I'm pretty sure it's an older version and maybe even free. If anyone likes, I'll rip an iso and up to some web space.

[Danger30Q]

Will these board have enough clearance to install the Corsair Dominator fan mount CMXAF1?

I am close to buying this board but I hope there is enough clearance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835704001

[Ace-a-Rue]

depends what heatsink you use and then if you use a push fan that is 38mm big.

i have the TRUE 120 heatsink with a dual mounted 38mm fan...if you did that setup with just a push 38mm, you would be forced to use dimm slots 2 and 4 for your memory.

[Ace-a-Rue]

Thank you to all who helped with my problems. It seems that my lock ups were a result of the Raid array. Well at least I now know why.

Thanks,

BUT...that doesn't solve why you had lockups with the raid array, which should not happen...which vista version were you installing on the raid array? was it 32 or 64 bit.

[Ace-a-Rue]

I must admit, it's been rock stable since I've quit opening cpu-z. Even w/ the minor X-Fi issues, I'm gonna find it hard to move on unless something funky happens. The monitoring tools, fan controller, killer layout (especially side SATA), and super fast booting bios make it my favorite board in a long time. I'm only up to 500x7 on an E6400, but it's def snappier to OC than previous toys.

As for writing zeros to drive, I've always used Wipedrive. I'm pretty sure it's an older version and maybe even free. If anyone likes, I'll rip an iso and up to some web space.

cpuz 1.41 version will do that...i use cpuz 1.40 version without any problems....i haven't checked any other versions beyond 1.41.

[Knight]

BUT...that doesn't solve why you had lockups with the raid array, which should not happen...which vista version were you installing on the raid array? was it 32 or 64 bit.

It was Vista 32bit Ultimate. Abit support didn't really help either.

[Ace-a-Rue]

It was Vista 32bit Ultimate. Abit support didn't really help either.

were the lockups occurring on bootup or after you were in windows desktop?

what were you trying to do that caused the lockup?

EDIT...i understand why abit can't help...with your kind of problem, someone has to be right at your rig to do the analysis...very hard to do it over the phone.

[Brother Esau]

Nope its a new board. I guess I just have really bad luck. I think I am going to RMA it for another board but nothing more expensive and gives me about the same performance. Abit will probably never get my business again for a while.

Personally.....I would stay with the Abit IP35 Pro! Hey!!!! Did you ever get on with Seagate and investigate the 7200.9 Firmware issue? You need to take care of that and make sure that you have the most current Firmware especially the one that addresses the corruption issue. What I have told you about that is Fact and very real so please look into it


Also.......everybody that changes boards often should own a Areca Raid Controller Card so you can bypass the issue of losing you're data when changing out boards!!!!!

[GameGuru]

Hey guys, can some of you post your other voltages please for your OC's? I'm trying to get an idea of what to expect near the 4gig range, keep in mind I'm under water with pretty good temps, thanks.

[Ace-a-Rue]

Hey guys, can some of you post your other voltages please for your OC's? I'm trying to get an idea of what to expect near the 4gig range, keep in mind I'm under water with pretty good temps, thanks.

this is at 3.84 ghz...these voltages are stable for idle conditions and some very minor requirements on the cpu...if i were to P95, i would need to pump up the vcore and maybe the ICHIO 1.5v.

[chawks2]

Ace and/or anyone,

Can someone explain the reasoning for increasing bus speed for PCIe?

[Ace-a-Rue]

Ace and/or anyone,

Can someone explain the reasoning for increasing bus speed for PCIe?

tweaks the speed up for drives, other PCIe cards and VC...it gives a slight boost in performance.