UNOFFICIAL BIOSTAR TPower I45 M/B

[BeastNotro]

Sauron_Vie

What is the batch number of your CPU and what Vid is it?

[philbrown23]

subscribed, this board is on the way to my house right now, had to get it from ncix though as newegg still will not allow me to order from them.

[Ace-a-Rue]

Sorry, I should have been more specific..
A 4870x2 and a 4870. Maybe that would be classified as crossfire?

OH, now i understand...i have to admit that i am not in tune with crossfire capabilities.

[Ace-a-Rue]

Yes of course I meant these settings I pointed out...
But thanks explaining them

as i take my heel of my hand and slam it against my forehead!...dumb me!

[Ace-a-Rue]

Managed now to boot straight with fsb 550 into windows

NICE GOING!...AWESOME!

[tomati]

Managed now to boot straight with fsb 550 into windows

Finally, I did 572, just put 0.4 or 0.5 on the VNB and 0.35 or 0.4 on the VFsb (don't remember as I sold the board)

I had to tweak clockgen configuration at 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 for that. Other settings were at stock ( means auto) except my ram @ 2.6v to hit 571 cas 4

Good ventilation on NB and Ram ( changed the tim by as ceramique on NB and PWM), too many volt doesn't work for me , and I never could hit the magic 600+ fsb ( only once via setfsb, but not bootable)

That's what I did on 40GP 1M:





I Found this board a little bit weak in PI calculation , my IP35 pro gave me better scores in SPI 1M and 32M ?

[Ace-a-Rue]

I Found this board a little bit weak in PI calculation , my IP35 pro gave me better scores in SPI 1M and 32M ?

in my case, with an E8500, i found the opposite..go figure, huh!

[Ace-a-Rue]

maybe a low end Quad user on this board can pipe in on how it is performing, but i think for Extreme quads it is not as good as it is for the dual cores...i hope biostar gets the message and tunes the bios for Extreme and also, tweak the memory settings so one minor change doesn't require it to shut down and start up again.

[DiscoTech]

Here is my feedback on the board for current and prospective owners to be of some help.

E8500 E0
TRUE (I need to lap it, I have noticed that the bottom is convex)
Scythe Flex F
PC Power Cooling Silencer 750W

I haven't had time to tweak.
Everything is at Default.

This is what I did for quick testing:
-Disable the features that affect cpu vcore and multiplier on the CPU Configuration page.
-Set the max voltages I am comfortable with on the Voltage Configuration page which are...
Vcore +0.15
NB +0.35
FSB +0.25
DDR +0.30
-Set DDR to run 1:1
-Relax the timings on the DDR Configuration Page.
RComp:2
PL=11
SPD:disable
6-6-6-24......

Results:

#560x8....I ran prime for 15-20 minutes and then stopped it. It looked good.
#570x8....Prime errored after 2 minutes.
#585x8....Ran SuperPi 1M.
#595x8....No Boot
#480x9.5....Prime errored after 2 minutes....570x8~480x9.5 I did that to see if it was the motherboard holding at 570. Same result so it was the CPU.
#480x9.5....VCore +0.20 this time. I ran prime for 30 minutes and then stopped it. It looked good. (not comfortable with 1.40-1.41V idle though.)

There is a lot of room for improvement for CPU Overclock using:
*Better Cooling
*More Voltage
*GTL Settings
*Clock Configuration (Skews...)

For Reference on Temperatures:

at load with VCore +0.15

Ambient 26
Core Temp 62-63 (TJ MAx being 100)
CPU Temp 56
Sys Temp 34

I have some screenshots but they are over the attachment size limit.

Pros:
*Good Overall Overclocker.. But I don't know how it stacks up to Asus P5Q series etc...
*CPU temperature LED on the motherboard. Nice touch.
*I like the TPower2 Utility also the hardware monitor snapshot.
*System temps are very low. (34 at load too good to be true?) I like the heatsink attachment even though I am not sure if it is benefiting since it is getting the hot air from the TRUE. I did not remove it to test since I am not motherboard FSB limited.

Cons:
*Bad spot for the Clear CMOS jumper. It is right under the first PCIE video card.
*I can't comment on the memory overclocking yet. But I did not like the RCOMP configuration setting. (do you guys know that it does?) I had to play around with it to get the computer stable. AUTO didn't help.
*VCore options!!. It jumps from +0.15 to +0.20 on the list. If it had smaller increments, I could have upped my VCore a little bit more. I only have an option to go with ~1.36 or ~1.41V now.
*VDroop.. at idle 1.360V
at load 1.336V
*I don't know if it is the sensor, my power supply (which I think is decent) or the voltage regulators on the motherboard but the Vcore moves between 1.352-1.360-1.368 at idle.
Is this too much fluctuation? Can it be a drawback of 4 phase analog PWM?

[_G_]

One thing i noticed with this board with the bolt mod is that its real flexible.
In order to get proper pwm contact (it bows real easy) I used a stick on rubber foot between the motherboard and the case.(between the pwm heat sink mounting bolts)

[Ace-a-Rue]

One thing i noticed with this board with the bolt mod is that its real flexible.
In order to get proper pwm contact (it bows real easy) I used a stick on rubber foot between the motherboard and the case.(between the pwm heat sink mounting bolts)

any pictures to show so i can get a better feel for what you have described?

[_G_]

Its already installed but the rubber foot is a little taller than a case standoff and is stuck to the back of the motherboard in the center of the pwm area between the pwm heat sink screws. hope i can get it up and running before Ike gets here lol

[ddogg]

Ace, here is my latest result from my "low end quad .."
Speaking of WPrime, how is your WP1024 doing on that overpriced cpu of yours?

Speed was actually 4066

/add: Kidding aside, you were absolutely correct about the heat sensitivity of the NB. From day one I had a Zalman 90 sitting on my vid card blowing air on the NB and ram. The other day I picked up a cheap clip on ram cooler (TT cyclo 15 bucks at Frys). I pulled off the Zalman and forgot to put it back on. The next few days my machine was flaky and just strange. Remembered the fan, sat it back on the vid card and all stabilized again. Long and short, for anything over 466, folks are going to need a fan on the whole NB area and doing your bolt mod, or something similar, to make damn sure it is being cooled. Specially so with water cooling as there is no cpu fan to bleed air on the area.

[Ace-a-Rue]

Ace, here is my latest result from my "low end quad .."
Speaking of WPrime, how is your WP1024 doing on that overpriced cpu of yours?

Speed was actually 4066

i am more interested in you highest FSB where you could run a successful SUPER PI 32m Or Hyper PI 32M.

[Ace-a-Rue]

Its already installed but the rubber foot is a little taller than a case standoff and is stuck to the back of the motherboard in the center of the pwm area between the pwm heat sink screws. hope i can get it up and running before Ike gets here lol

where are you in florida?

[DiscoTech]

Here is my feedback on the board for current and prospective owners to be of some help.

E8500 E0
TRUE (I need to lap it, I have noticed that the bottom is convex)
Scythe Flex F
PC Power Cooling Silencer 750W

I haven't had time to tweak.
Everything is at Default.

This is what I did for quick testing:
-Disable the features that affect cpu vcore and multiplier on the CPU Configuration page.
-Set the max voltages I am comfortable with on the Voltage Configuration page which are...
Vcore +0.15
NB +0.35
FSB +0.25
DDR +0.30
-Set DDR to run 1:1
-Relax the timings on the DDR Configuration Page.
RComp:2
PL=11
SPD:disable
6-6-6-24......

Results:

#560x8....I ran prime for 15-20 minutes and then stopped it. It looked good.
#570x8....Prime errored after 2 minutes.
#585x8....Ran SuperPi 1M.
#595x8....No Boot
#480x9.5....Prime errored after 2 minutes....570x8~480x9.5 I did that to see if it was the motherboard holding at 570. Same result so it was the CPU.
#480x9.5....VCore +0.20 this time. I ran prime for 30 minutes and then stopped it. It looked good. (not comfortable with 1.40-1.41V idle though.)

There is a lot of room for improvement for CPU Overclock using:
*Better Cooling
*More Voltage
*GTL Settings
*Clock Configuration (Skews...)

For Reference on Temperatures:

at load with VCore +0.15

Ambient 26
Core Temp 62-63 (TJ MAx being 100)
CPU Temp 56
Sys Temp 34

I have some screenshots but they are over the attachment size limit.

Pros:
*Good Overall Overclocker.. But I don't know how it stacks up to Asus P5Q series etc...
*CPU temperature LED on the motherboard. Nice touch.
*I like the TPower2 Utility also the hardware monitor snapshot.
*System temps are very low. (34 at load too good to be true?) I like the heatsink attachment even though I am not sure if it is benefiting since it is getting the hot air from the TRUE. I did not remove it to test since I am not motherboard FSB limited.

Cons:
*Bad spot for the Clear CMOS jumper. It is right under the first PCIE video card.
*I can't comment on the memory overclocking yet. But I did not like the RCOMP configuration setting. (do you guys know that it does?) I had to play around with it to get the computer stable. AUTO didn't help.
*VCore options!!. It jumps from +0.15 to +0.20 on the list. If it had smaller increments, I could have upped my VCore a little bit more. I only have an option to go with ~1.36 or ~1.41V now.
*VDroop.. at idle 1.360V
at load 1.336V
*I don't know if it is the sensor, my power supply (which I think is decent) or the voltage regulators on the motherboard but the Vcore moves between 1.352-1.360-1.368 at idle.
Is this too much fluctuation? Can it be a drawback of 4 phase analog PWM?

I have added the screenshots for my previous post on the E8500.

More impressions:

For people working with Quad Cores:

After the E8500 , I put in the Q9450.
There was a FSB wall at 450. It was prime stable at 448x8 but wouldnt even boot at 450. Very frustrating.
I changed the CPU Clock Skew to 200 and the MCH GTL ref to 64%, then it started acting normal. I didn't know they were this sensitive to these adjustments but I hadn't had this problem on the ABit IP35 Pro.

Voltages set same as above but there is more vdroop. it is down to 1.32 at load.

The EO stepping must be running hot because I got almost the same temperatures with the quad core as those of the dual core E0.

Results:
#480x8 Ran Prime for 15-20 minutes then I stopped it.
#485x8 Errors Prime after 4-5 minutes.
#490x8 Prime error 1st minute.

For the overall cpu overclock, I am roughly at the same numbers as I was On the Abit. But I can't compare since I never had to deal with skew and gtl settings on the Abit and on the other hand Abit had more Vcore at load 1.35 vs the 1.32 on the Biostar.
Abit needed more VFsb and more VMch to be stable at the same clock which is expected being the older chipset.

[ddogg]

i am more interested in you highest FSB where you could run a successful SUPER PI 32m Or Hyper PI 32M.

Why would I possibly benchmark a quad on 1 core? I was just curious if your higher FSB actually could do more work than my lowly 9450. You should be able to do a 1024 in something like 298 and leave a big old bootprint on my backside. Of course, If your overpriced relic can't cut the mustard, who am I to say anything?

[Ace-a-Rue]

Why would I possibly benchmark a quad on 1 core? I was just curious if your higher FSB actually could do more work than my lowly 9450. You should be able to do a 1024 in something like 298 and leave a big old bootprint on my backside. Of course, If your overpriced relic can't cut the mustard, who am I to say anything?

hey smart alec!...go to another forum if you want to berate a fellow poster...that attitude is unwanted at XS...you would be welcomed with open arms at [H] forum..you would fit right in with your snot-nose attitude!

[ddogg]

dude, i was just picking fun with you. I thought we got along. Sorry to upset you, very much.

[Ace-a-Rue]

you need to go back to penmanship class.

[ddogg]

And you need to quit posting thousands of useless vanity posts with absolutely zero value. Sorry again I punched some odd personal hot button about your chip. Honestly was meant in a very fun, picking at you, let's laugh together type of way. Jeeze, man, get a life. This ain't all there is. You're embarrassing yourself and everybody else.

So, on to another subject. See the first page of this thread. This is what I was hoping to see from your benches. If you can't, it starts to say something negative about this TP-I 45, not your skills or your cpu. I like this mb, but it does have it's quirks.

[Ace-a-Rue]

hey son, go back to high school and re-educate yourself properly on HOW to read and then HOW to WRITE a sentence with demonstated meaning!!!!!

if you haven't notice, i started this thread big-boy!

[ddogg]

I have seen you have started a lot of threads. Seems to be important to your ego. Just try to post concrete and useful content, instead of boosting your post count. Also, when you get yourself stuck in a ditch, don't keep digging yourself deeper. Your acting like some kind of a nut or a drunk. OK, I've unsubscribed. Frankly, I can't really deal with your need for ego gratification.

[Ace-a-Rue]

I have seen you have started a lot of threads. Seems to be important to your ego. Just try to post concrete and useful content, instead of boosting your post count. Also, when you get yourself stuck in a ditch, don't keep digging yourself deeper. Your acting like some kind of a nut or a drunk. OK, I've unsubscribed. Frankly, I can't really deal with your need for ego gratification.

thank GOD and good BYE!

[Damian^]

What did you use to flash the BIOS ACE-a-Rue? I am thinking about doing that but i have never flashed a BIOS before.