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

[Keetha3]

HI guys. First post. I've spent the last couple of days reading through the 8,381 pages of this thread to try and get a feel for this motherboard. This is my 3rd build, the 1st was 4 years ago and the 2nd was 2 years ago.

I guess I'm spoiled because they both went as perfectly as could be. Only a couple of minor glitches and both machines just hummed along rock solid.

I'm now rebuilding my first machine with basically all new parts, except the case and optical drives. And all heck is breaking loose.

At first I kept getting all sorts of varying codes and problems. The random reboots, the C1 code, no video on occasion, etc. I finally figured out how to flash the bios and that went well. I was still having the same intermittant turn-offs and sometime turn-ons. Then I noticed that my cpu cooler was very, very close to the north bridge heatpipe. Not touching but very close.

Just to elimate any trouble ther, I put a thin piece of cardboard in between the two components. I finally got back into the bios again and looked through everything and and then tried to load Windows. I got it started and it was on the formatting section which takes a while.

Against my better judgement, I had to run an errand for about an hour. My wife got home while I was gone and called me. She said there was something on the monitor about what language did I want but before she could call me to ask what to do, the machine started a hi-lo siren and cycling on and off.

I think I may really be screwed now. Every time I turn it on I get that alarm and no video. It will either cycle on and off or might stay on but still no video signal. I happened to have another video card and swapped that but no fix. Since all of the main parts are new, I can't really point to anything as a suspicious item.

The LED code I get is either 90 or 99, neither of which is on the error list in the manual. I'm really stumped. I'm by no means an expert at this computer stuff but my first two builds went so smoothly that I was expecting the same.

I really have no clue how to proceed now. Any help would be fantastically appreciated.

My ideas...

To get back to unstable, try what the previous post said... Cut all power, bring it back, reset everything.

After that, try one stick of RAM at a time to boot.

And my main recommendation... use memtest86+ to test for bad RAM which seems the most likely culprit for all of your problems.

[Texray1]

I'm almost done formatting. I have tested just one stick at a time but that didn't seem to matter, although there were so many crazy things going on that I might have to retry that. I've had the power totally disconnected several times and I took the cmos battery out and left it for 10 minutes at one point.

Is Memtest something I can dload? And do I need Windows completely installed to run it? I've never had any memory issues in the past so I've never had any need to use all of these programs I hear you guys talking about.

I COULD by some cheap ram to troubleshoot with but then I"m stuck with it because obviously I can't take it back.

[l3fty]

I'm almost done formatting. I have tested just one stick at a time but that didn't seem to matter, although there were so many crazy things going on that I might have to retry that. I've had the power totally disconnected several times and I took the cmos battery out and left it for 10 minutes at one point.

Is Memtest something I can dload? And do I need Windows completely installed to run it? I've never had any memory issues in the past so I've never had any need to use all of these programs I hear you guys talking about.

I COULD by some cheap ram to troubleshoot with but then I"m stuck with it because obviously I can't take it back.

Try either of these versions of Memtest. You can boot to it without windows installed. You'll need a CD burner though. Suppose there are other ways to boot to it if you know how.

If your alarm was going off. Was it the cpu over heating? I say don't trust the stock HSF.

[Keetha3]

Try either of these versions of Memtest. You can boot to it without windows installed. You'll need a CD burner though. Suppose there are other ways to boot to it if you know how.

If your alarm was going off. Was it the cpu over heating? I say don't trust the stock HSF.

The uGuru default alarms are literally 0C in many cases. Ya gotta move them the tiniest bit to make them normal.

[BassKozz]

When i do this bolt mod can i use AS5 to reseat my HS and would you remove the thermal pad and use the grease aswell?? I know i need to use the pad`s on the pwm`s or do i ??
Cheers Paul

Use AS5 on the CPU and the NB but *NOT THE PWM*.

If you can't use AS5 on the PWM (I assume because it's conductive) can you use TX-2 Thermal Compound?
Because I believe that TX-2 is NON-Conductive, so would this work?

[Texray1]

I doubt it is heat. I have the cover off plus I have a Zerotherm cooler on the cpu. And 5 80 mm fans plus a cooler for my raptor. Our house temp is 68F so the ambient is good.

While I have it running stable for the moment I'm going to install my antivirus program and work towards getting my internet set up again. I can dload memtest on my wife's computer in the meantime.

[l3fty]

1st off thanks to everyone that has contributed to this thread and an extra scope of that for Ace. IMHO Nelly should add you pipe mod to her first post. Mine was as bad if not worse than that. Been reading and following this for a couple weeks but hadn't really had anything to add, but now that I got a Wolfdale 8400 on my IP35 pro. Thought I'd share my settings incase anybody was having trouble getting to 4GHz. Kinda doubt it though. it seems to be the norm.

Edit2: Bah! I'm not to sure about Orthos anymore, but I can play UT3 without issues. My Screen shot is of what is currently stable for me. 3Dmark score 12756, 3Dmark cpu score 3748. It will boot and run at 4.2GHz (probably even higher) but like most. It wants quite a bit more juice to do so.

E8400 Q746A488 1/9/08
4014GHz 446x9 VID: 1.0375v
Pasted bios settings in the SS so I don't feel obligated to update this post. Just the SS if things change.
DDR2 REF = 0%
CPU GTLREF 0-3 = 67%

Will be trying to lower voltages a little bit at a time over time.

This is my 1st Intel build in years. (I know you hear that all the time these days.) Coming off my DFI nf4 ultra w/ 170 Opty. So I got a couple questions. What's this preformance level I've read people refer to, and how does one adjust it? Does the DDR2 REF option realy do anything? Didn't seem to change my DDR voltage settings. Also what the heck is CPU GTLREF? OK so I haven't really searched those last 2 questions but got so many returns on preformance level that I still haven't found any answers.

[BassKozz]

I know this Screen shot is only 1hr of orthos but I gota go play some UT3. ...

Core #0: 73°C

Also what the heck is CPU GTLREF?

From the IP35-Pro Users Manual:

- CPU GTLREF 0&2 / CPU GTLREF 1&3
These items select the percentage ratio of CPU VTT voltage for each group of the CPU GTL
reference voltage.

I still don't know what it does either thou

[Ace-a-Rue]

If you can't use AS5 on the PWM (I assume because it's conductive) can you use TX-2 Thermal Compound?
Because I believe that TX-2 is NON-Conductive, so would this work?

i would recommend MX2 or AS Ceramique...the both are excellent TIM paste and they are not conductive.

[l3fty]

Core #0: 73°C

From the IP35-Pro Users Manual:

I still don't know what it does either thou

Well the temps under uGuru match what it reads in the bios. I trust the bios more than any app in Winblows.

and thanks I have read that. At least now I know I'm not the only one here. lol I guess it's time to do some reading. Anybody have any suggestions or links. Guess I'll start with Intel's papers.

[wilson]

Thanks ace for the info
When i put it on the pwm`s do i just put a small drop on top of each so it does not leak over the edge of them when the HS is fitted? And should i use the MX2 on both NS and SB aswell as the PWM`s... And one last question for today atleast What bios should i flash to 14 or one of the beta ones???
Many Thanks Paul

[BenchZowner]

I still don't know what it does either thou

It might help a bit with FSB clocking on a QuadCore CPU ( maybe a bit, maybe not ).
It's the reference voltage setting for the GTL Bus.
[ higher = "better" ]

[SkItZo]

Since formatting and reinstalling windows, i am unable to change any settings using uguru, when i attempt to, my pc crashes and i get a static noise from my speakers. This happens when i am using Uguru 3.107. When i tried using Uguru 3.104 the program would crash before it loaded.I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling uguru several times all to no avail. It was working fine before i reinstalled windows, should i reformat and reinstall windows? (My specs are in my sig)

Thanks ace for the info
When i put it on the pwm`s do i just put a small drop on top of each so it does not leak over the edge of them when the HS is fitted? And should i use the MX2 on both NS and SB aswell as the PWM`s... And one last question for today atleast What bios should i flash to 14 or one of the beta ones???
Many Thanks Paul

The way i spread my MX-2 on my pwm sink was to spread it out on the sink itsself, i know people say to put a bit on each pwm, but i found that when i did it that way, it appeared that all pwms were making good contact with the sink, but when i spread it out on my sink it showed that the second last row of sinks was not making any contact at all. I would recomend using MX-2 for your nb and sb as it runs 3 or so degrees cooler than ceramique. I have found that it even competes with Shin Etsu X23. I personally would reccomend flashing to the beta bios 16 with the method that Ace-A-Rue has posted.

[Nano2k]

I hope this one hasn't been answered yet...

I bought a E8500, 2x2GB kit G.Skill F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ and an IP35Pro rev.1.1

If I install all this will it boot right away or should I stick my E6420 on the baord and flash to Bios 16.B04 first?

Thanks!

[th3joker]

Well the temps under uGuru match what it reads in the bios. I trust the bios more than any app in Winblows.

and thanks I have read that. At least now I know I'm not the only one here. lol I guess it's time to do some reading. Anybody have any suggestions or links. Guess I'll start with Intel's papers.

I hope this one hasn't been answered yet...

I bought a E8500, 2x2GB kit G.Skill F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ and an IP35Pro rev.1.1

If I install all this will it boot right away or should I stick my E6420 on the baord and flash to Bios 16.B04 first?

Thanks!

The Beta BIOS 16B.04 makes my CPU temp read 20c higher than actual, try the beta BIOS 16B.03 first it seems to read correctly, at least for me anyway.

[SkItZo]

This is starting to trip me out....I recently removed my cpu, replaced the tim on it, set my settings to previous oc settings, but with 1.41 vcore set, and the board is now overvolting? At idle, im sitting at 1.48 under full load im sitting at 1.41 to 1.43...and now uguru is working correctly?

[tripleflip18]

I hope this one hasn't been answered yet...

I bought a E8500, 2x2GB kit G.Skill F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ and an IP35Pro rev.1.1

If I install all this will it boot right away or should I stick my E6420 on the baord and flash to Bios 16.B04 first?

Thanks!

I have exact same memory and it booted right up with it so I didn't have any problem, you won't either

[steve30x]

Would it help any bit if I unplugged the 4 pin power from the PCI Express near the PCI slot? Im only using 1 graphics card.

[Ace-a-Rue]

the four pin plug is an auxillary power source...i think in page 1-6 of the manual it talks about the plug...not much information on it.

[Ace-a-Rue]

I hope this one hasn't been answered yet...

I bought a E8500, 2x2GB kit G.Skill F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ and an IP35Pro rev.1.1

If I install all this will it boot right away or should I stick my E6420 on the baord and flash to Bios 16.B04 first?

Thanks!

16.b04 is more optimized for the penryn so the wolfdale might get more out of it over 16.b03.

[steve30x]

the four pin plug is an auxillary power source...i think in page 1-6 of the manual it talks about the plug...not much information on it.

Yes I asked this because I am wondering if its neccesary because theres not enough info in the manual about it. Ill try plugging it out of my motherboard and see if it helps.

[l3fty]

Yes I asked this because I am wondering if its neccesary because theres not enough info in the manual about it. Ill try plugging it out of my motherboard and see if it helps.

I've never had it pluged in. Single card here (that takes 2 external plugs) so I figured the pcie bus could handle it. It can only supply 75watts though, so with 2 cards you might need it.

[l3fty]

It might help a bit with FSB clocking on a QuadCore CPU ( maybe a bit, maybe not ).
It's the reference voltage setting for the GTL Bus.
[ higher = "better" ]

Thanks

[Texray1]

I dloaded memtest last night and when I unzipped it, there was an install file. When I opened it, nothing happened. I assume there should have been some type of menu. Unless it is some type of covert running program. Should I dload another one? I think it was version 86 that I found.

[Darth Vader]

Did anyone have new memset working?