ABIT AS8 Modifications...ALL you need to know...56K/Wanring-photos...

[hipro5]

Hi there everybody.......

Sorry that I don't have time to write a complete article about the mods of the AS8 mobo but let's start it here......

Let's start with the Vdroop mod.........AS8 mobo when you pick - let's say - 1.4VCore , it gives you at IDLE 1.35Volts and at FULL load about 1.31Volts.......YES it has a VCore droop problem.......To solve this problem we must do the below mod.......



As we can see we solder one resistor of 1.8KOhms - BEST is 1.6KOhms - at leg 14 of this IC at the point showing on photo........In PARALLEL with the existing one.......and we are READY......With the 1.8KOhms we have a small droop at ONLY full load and not at IDLE........With a 1.6KOhms 1% resistor we are OK.......


EDIT : VDroop as it was BEFORE the mod........




EDIT 2 : we DO NOT UNSOLDER the existing resistor for the Vdroop mod........We just solder another one in PARALLEL with the existing one.......


VCore mod......

IF we want MORE VCore than the one that the mobo can provide as we can solder a 100KOhms trimmer at the spots in the photo below......We firstly trim it at it MAX resistance.......We solder one of it's side legs to ground and the middle one onto the spot in the photo........




VChip(VNorth) mod.......

We track this Winbond IC - near and left of the CPU's slot - and we solder a 50KOhms trimmer in PARALLEL with the existing resistor.......Best is to trim it up to 1.52Volts.......MAX 1.72Volts........BUT IF you go for HIGH fsb you might need to trim it up to 1.9Volts max......With 1.72Volts you could reach up to 360MHz+ fsb.......




Vfsb mod......

By default it is at 1.21Volts.......The best I could get out of it was to trim it at 1.32Volts and no more.......
Track this area close to Winbond IC left to Ram slots.....



There must be a 0Ohms resistor there - IF I remember well coz I was in a hurry that day so as to boot this mobo with my new toy and I didn't pay that much attention to it - PLEASE someone confirm this.......

EDIT 3 : It IS a 0Ohms resistor......

Solder a 1KOhms resistor at the spots showing into this photo........



Solder a 10KOhms trimmer in PARALLEL with the soldered resistor of 1KOhms......and trim it at its MAX resistance......



Trim as you wish but the best I got was at about 1.32Volts.....

Here you can measure the VFSB..........




Here you can measure the Vchip............




VAGP mod...........

With this mod you can REALLY climb a bit higher at all confings : 1:1 , 5:4 , 3:2 .........

Trim it up to 1.95Volts if you wish..........

Solder a 50KOhms trimmer at those spots with in the photo below........



..........and a closer look..........



Trim it up to 1.95VAGP measuring it here.........



Measuring VAGP at the spot into the above photo , the real VAGP is about 2Volts.......When we trim it at 2Volts measuring at that spot , mobo will shut down from OVP........So just leave it MAX at 1.97 - 1.98Volts........If you encode a OVP VAGP problem , DON'T Panic......Just untrimm the VAGP trimmer with your rig shunted down - power off the PSU - and boot it up......


Vdimm mod isn't made coz I have my DDR Maximizer on it........

VTT IS tracked by the mobo quit well I could say by a Winbond IC on the right of the RAM slots.......So NO NEED to mod the VTT........

Just try to glue a heat sink onto this tiny chip coz it provides up to 2A VTT.......It needs a heat sink.......like the photo below........



The SAME VTT chip is onto the MSI mobo too........

You could solder some 1500 - 3300uF/6.3V low esr electrolytic capacitors on the backside of the mobo if you wish for better VCore stability like the photo below........



.......and some 100nF to 1uF NO POLAR SMD caps too.........




You can glue some heat sinks ALL over the place if you'd like to.......




Pay attention to trim out all trimmers at their MAXIMUM resistance before powering up you mobo and I wish you GOOD LUCK and may the "BLUE" force be with you........and feel free to ask anything you want........Thank you......

[Malachia]

clap clap clap clap

what mods i need to do for hight FSB????

v-droop must be done, but i don't really comprised it...leg 14 to?

[cold_ice]

Thx for sharing your vmods with us! Awesome as always

[gclg2000]

Thanks a bunch, been waiting for these to do on my board too.

[crotale]

Thanks alot hipro, now I just need to get that board!

I'm missing the vdimm mod though...

*EDIT*
I see this board uses the same chip WD3
as the IC7 boards do.
Do you think the mod is similar to the IC7? Removing the
resistor down to the right from the marking U12 in this pic?

[Charles Wirth]

Nice work

What kind of FSB are you capable of on that mobo now?

[Malachia]

for get hight FSB then, Vagp and Vchipset and also Vfsb is needed????

[gclg2000]

!!!STICKY!!!!

Well done man. This has to be one of the best how to guides ever.

[xooler]

hipro5
Thx.

[enzoR]

very nice as always!

[jan]

Hi there everybody.......


Let's start with the Vdroop mod.........AS8 mobo when you pick - let's say - 1.4VCore , it gives you at IDLE 1.35Volts and at FULL load about 1.31Volts.......YES it has a VCore droop problem.......To solve this problem we must do the below mod.......



As we can see we solder one resistor of 1.8KOhms - BEST is 1.6KOhms - at leg 14 of this IC at the point showing on photo........In PARALLEL with the existing one.......and we are READY......With the 1.8KOhms we have a small droop at ONLY full load and not at IDLE........With a 1.6KOhms 1% resistor we are OK.......

I don't realy get it. I've to solder the 1.6kOhm resistor from leg 14 to ???

[Malachia]

can i do better pics hipro???

coolpix 5200 5.1megapixel rulezzzzzzzzzzz

[hipro5]

clap clap clap clap

what mods i need to do for hight FSB????

v-droop must be done, but i don't really comprised it...leg 14 to?

Solder ONTO those spots of the PCB.......

You can solder a 1.8KOhms resistor AND a 22KOhms in PARALLEL with the 1.8KOhms so as to accive the "1.664" KOhms number...

[hipro5]

Thanks alot hipro, now I just need to get that board!

I'm missing the vdimm mod though...

*EDIT*
I see this board uses the same chip WD3
as the IC7 boards do.
Do you think the mod is similar to the IC7? Removing the
resistor down to the right from the marking U12 in this pic?

YES the Vdimm mod is IDENTICAL as the IC7-Max3 Mobo......You must remove the resistor AND the tiny SMD transistor to do so........Beware that afterwords you will NOT able to pick the 2.9 , 3 , 3.1 , 3.2 Voltages within the bios.....You HAVE to work with the 2.5 , 2.55 , 2.6 , 2.7 , 2.8 Voltages.......Trim the trimmer at 3.5Vdimm for the 2.8Vdimm within the bios.....PLUS you HAVE to mod your PSU at almost 3.75Volts to do so.......

[Malachia]

well, i can solder a 1.8k and a 22k toghether(total 23.8k, i cannot use a 50K trimmer settet @23.8k?) to the soldering points as show in picture, without removing the existing resistor, right?

[crotale]

hipro: Can you give us some clue on how the AGP/PCI lock works on this board over 300FSB?

[crotale]

YES the Vdimm mod is IDENTICAL as the IC7-Max3 Mobo......You must remove the resistor AND the tiny SMD transistor to do so........Beware that afterwords you will NOT able to pick the 2.9 , 3 , 3.1 , 3.2 Voltages within the bios.....You HAVE to work with the 2.5 , 2.55 , 2.6 , 2.7 , 2.8 Voltages.......Trim the trimmer at 3.5Vdimm for the 2.8Vdimm within the bios.....PLUS you HAVE to mod your PSU at almost 3.75Volts to do so.......

Thanks alot.
I've got the 3.3 rail modded already.

vtt will track with either booster or vdimm mod, right?

[Malachia]

hipro a little paint will be VERY helpful for v-drop mod

[Malachia]

There must be a 0Ohms resistor there - IF I remember well coz I was in a hurry that day so as to boot this mobo with my new toy and I didn't pay that much attention to it - PLEASE someone confirm this.......

right, 0 Ohms...

[Malachia]

Solder ONTO those spots of the PCB.......

You can solder a 1.8KOhms resistor AND a 22KOhms in PARALLEL with the 1.8KOhms so as to accive the "1.664" KOhms number...

the on-board resistor is 1.72....

[hipro5]

Nice work

What kind of FSB are you capable of on that mobo now?

I didn't have time to test it "deep".........But with a few tests I was able to accive about 370MHz out of it at 3:2 .....

.........as for the 5:4 this mobo ROCKS........




S-Sandra got crazy with the x14 multi and shows the Rams at 266MHz BUT they are at 256MHz........NOT bad for 5:4 and ABIT.....!......




BEST is that we can bench(with LN2 or Cascades) at about 5600 to 6000MHz with NO PROBLEM at 5:4....EVEN with a P4 3.6GHz with the x18 multi.....ALSO I encode NO problem over the 300MHz limit......At 320MHz and 5:4 I didn't have any lock-ups as for the AGP/PCI......NO problem at all......


SETTINGS for the 5:4 with BH-5 , BH-6 Ramchips.......

Vdimm = 3.35V
Vchip = 1.52V
Vfsb = 1.31V
VAGP = 1.95V(on choke - photo - )
N/B Strap CPU AS = PSB800
DRAM Ratio (CPU: DRAM) = 5:4
AGP/PCI = 76/38
PCI Latency = 64
Latencies(Cas) = 2 - 5 - 2 - 2
Delay Prior to Thermal = 32min
Game Accelerator = Street Racer
Refresh Cycle Time = Enhanced
Read Delay (tRD) = 6 clocks(for up to 320MHz) or 5 clocks(for up to 305MHz)
Read Delay Adjust (tRDA) = Enable
Command Per Clock (CPC) = Disable

Observations : AS8 doesn't really "like" the PAT = Enable and the CPC = Enable.....ONLY for lower frequencies

[hipro5]

Awsome. i have been runing a as8 for a while now with a 3.0ghz chip.i was thinking of upgrading so ill probly end up doing these mod's and freezing the mobo and chip again..or picking up a 3.8ghz chip.

im a big fan of agp mod's ill do that one first.

VAGP is THE mod.....The most helpfull mod of all.......

[hipro5]

for get hight FSB then, Vagp and Vchipset and also Vfsb is needed????

For OVER 330MHz you may have to do the Vchip mod and trim it at 1.8 - 1.9Volts.....@ 370MHz+

[Malachia]

with vagp so hight is better to use a pci card???

[Malachia]

For OVER 330MHz you may have to do the Vchip mod and trim it at 1.8 - 1.9Volts.....@ 370MHz+

well, for get 330 with stock cooler what mods i need???

5:4 is possible or only 3:2???