The memory mod described in this thread will VOID YOUR WARRANTEE!!! Only attempt the mod if you understand this and are willing to risk damaging your board.
I thought I remember seeing a thread on this topic already but I just searched the index and can't come up with anything. Is this mod. being worked on? If so, where is the thread(if there is one)?
Last edited by Jeff; 01-03-2003 at 04:19 PM.
It's here: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&threadid=6199
You need to cut the pin or solder it off the mobo like the BD7-II. Riscy stuff. MrIcee killed his poor 8RDA while attemting this mod..
Die-Hards only.... (so go for it!)
Anybody here have a professional surface mount soldering station and enough experience to do this mod? If so, how much should I include with my board?
I wish there were ANOTHER way to do this mod , I'm pretty good with a soldering iron, but that is a small area/small ic .., it is pretty risky.
I only have an Ungar 45w iron ( could get new element/tip combo)with a flat tip right now, and maybe could do it, but it is a tough one with the above mentioned eqpt.
muzz
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
The memory mod described in this thread will VOID YOUR WARRANTEE!!! Only attempt the mod if you understand this and are willing to risk damaging your board.
Can someone confirm that pin 22 of the W83301DR-0 is the pin that goes to the big fat trace with 'U29' stenciled on it? I just want to make sure I'm looking at the right pin/trace.
I'm going to desolder the capacitor CE38 and see if this may be an easier path to go.
Also, what about just breaking the trace and soldering wires there? Does anyone know if the trace for pin 22 also goes under the chip(to the back side of the board)?
Just thinking out loud guys...
[edit]And just for my info... we are trying to drop some voltage here so the chip will 'correct' itself by adding some Vdimm right?[/edit]
[edit2]Ok, just desoldered CE38 and verified that the positive side is on that same 'fat trace' that pin 22 is on. It also goes to Q32.
So either of those would be good solder points for one side of the variable resistor. I wish I knew for certain whether or not there was another trace going from pin 22 under the chip. If there is NOT, then it'd be reasonable to assume you could just carefully cut the 'fat trace' and then flake off enough of the protective PCB coating to solder a wire there. Then the other wire from the resistor could go to that capacitor or Q32.
Again, just thinking out loud.
[/edit2]
[edit3]
Ok, so pin22 is just the sense line for monitoring Vdimm. Hmmm... If that's so, then I doubt there would be any trace under the chip for pin22. If you look at the PCB, it looks like that 'fat trace' is the voltage plain for Vdimm and the trace going to pin22 is just for sensing. Why would you need to send that voltage under the chip? I guess there could be a reason but I'm going to bet there isn't.
So a 2k variable resistor set at 0 would be an ok way to start this mod right? (0 resistance would equal a short which is what the existing trace is acting like right?)
[/edit3]
The memory mod described in this thread will VOID YOUR WARRANTEE!!! Only attempt the mod if you understand this and are willing to risk damaging your board.
Last edited by Jeff; 01-03-2003 at 04:21 PM.
The memory mod described in this thread will VOID YOUR WARRANTEE!!! Only attempt the mod if you understand this and are willing to risk damaging your board.
Ok, I just carefully scraped the protective coating off the fat trace and soldered a wire to it... no problem. I want to breaking the trace and soldering in a resistor except I want to get some feedback and make sure I'm on the right track.
From reading about Randi's experience, it seems the worst that could happen would be ~3.22v being fed to the memory modules... which I'm almost 100% sure my Corsair could handle for at least a short time.
I'm 90% sure I'm on the right track. I just want a little feedback before I continue.
That and I have to go do the Christmas thing this evening. If there's enough feedback when I get home, I'll give this mod a whirl late tonight.
Last edited by Jeff; 01-03-2003 at 04:20 PM.
Good Luck Bro !!!! I will be paying CLOSE attention to your findings.
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
The memory mod described in this thread will VOID YOUR WARRANTEE!!! Only attempt the mod if you understand this and are willing to risk damaging your board.
Ok, seems like it works. Only problem is that the BIOS does NOT show the increase but if you measure your voltage at Q32 you see the increase.
Like I mentioned above, my first(and only so far) attempt was with a 2k variable resistor. I'm pretty sure this is way overkill since you only need ~200Ohms to get 3.2v(which I think is close to the maximum Vdimm according to Randi's findings). I'm going to pick up a 200-300Ohm variable resistor and do a little more testing as to what resistance give what voltage.
And I did it like I explained above. I never touched the actual chip... I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow but since it's Christmas... I'm not sure when I'll be able to.
BTW, I do NOT have this board running in a system yet so I have NOT tested this mod fully. I don't see there being any problems but you need to take all the information here on an "at your own risk" basis.
Last edited by Jeff; 01-03-2003 at 04:20 PM.
Thanks alot Jeff and if it turns out correctly congrats bro!!!!!!!
You obviuosly measured b4 and after correct? And from the correct point?
Put it this way MBM or the USDM that comes with it show the voltage to vdimm.. have you checked those yet?
EDIT the mbm check for stupidity...........
muzz
Last edited by muzz; 12-24-2002 at 07:58 PM.
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
The memory mod described in this thread will VOID YOUR WARRANTEE!!! Only attempt the mod if you understand this and are willing to risk damaging your board.
The only real measurements I've made have been on the mother board itself. I don't have this thing up and running yet and actually... tonight is the first time I've fired it up. Pretty funny that this board has NEVER run stock.
I'll try to load Windows and use MBM or USDM to verify the voltage but seeing as how the BIOS isn't reading the correct voltage... I'm not 100% sure these programs will either.
Just off the top of my head... maybe there is another trace to pin22 under the chip... the trace that is responsible for measuring Vdimm.
p.s. I've tested(in the BIOS only) up to 3.12v. I'm pretty sure the mod. is working just using the amount of heat my DIMM is producing. At 2.5v they don't too warm but at 3.12v they get a little warmer... a little quicker.
The memory mod described in this thread will VOID YOUR WARRANTEE!!! Only attempt the mod if you understand this and are willing to risk damaging your board.
Last edited by Jeff; 01-03-2003 at 04:21 PM.
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet bro!!!! Yeeeeehawwwwwwwwww I just looked at that trace on my board, and that is a nice ,big, fat sucker with plenty of space!!!
Congrats Jeff
I started a thread at AOA and AMDMB linking this thread.
Happy Holidays bro.
EDIT: Try this at YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!!!
muzz
Last edited by muzz; 12-24-2002 at 08:18 PM.
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
I see the same folks following this thread... how many of ya have opened your cases and looked at it???
heheheh
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
The memory mod described in this thread will VOID YOUR WARRANTEE!!! Only attempt the mod if you understand this and are willing to risk damaging your board.
Here's a fuzzy picture of what I did...
Notice how I had to cut the 'fat trace' that was connected to pin 22. Just use a good deal of caution when doing something like this because there are multiple layers of PCB and you don't want to cut down to the next layer.
Last edited by Jeff; 01-03-2003 at 04:20 PM.
Well personally I know exactly what you did bro...... I thought about this, but said to self " self ya know that there has to be a place on the board that has a trace"... then responded to self." self there could be something attached on a lower layer - not ready for that chance stupid....." lmfao....... Well bro you seem to have found out that there was nothing( I couldn't afford to make that mistake, cuz this is really MY only machine.... there is another, but it's not mine ), and it is a really ez mod, the amount of space that is there is unreal... alot easier than the lift the leg thing. heheh
Already going through my variable resistor jar to find a <1k.. hopefully less than 500 ohm, in a flat plastic style....
Good Job Jeff
muzz
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
Just be sure you can handle blowing up your board.
I'm sure if I'm barking up the wrong tree then either my system will fry... or someone else a hell-of-a lot smarter than me will correct me... or both.
Well I don't have the style vr I wanted, but I do have a 20 turn 1k.... which is good, I'll use the bottom 2 legs and glue the sucker to the board with some crazy glue( standing up )........ heheh. I will not be doing this tonight, as it's Midnight, and it's Xmas eve.. going to bed by 12:30 tonight.
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
I know me, if I start this now I will NOT go to bed at all..... I will be working on this, and then testing it all morning......... heheheh
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
Where is the vdimm measuring point?
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
Great work Jeff! Trying to think of a way of doing this mod by not cutting the trace here. Maybe desoldering CE38 and putting in a variable inline before or after CE38.
Bro I would NEVER blame someone for showing me showing..... if I pick up the iron and start working. It becomes MY problem not yours.........Originally posted by Jeff
Just be sure you can handle blowing up your board.
I'm sure if I'm barking up the wrong tree then either my system will fry... or someone else a hell-of-a lot smarter than me will correct me... or both.
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
I see that this mod is slightly different than the bd7 mod...according to what Randi said( correct me if I'm wrong Randi. or anyone ) you were cutting pin 22 off the board ( or disconnecting it..... however you got pin 22 disconnected from the circuit), and installing a vr inline. IE In series to connect the original path up THROUGH the resistor( in series)...... so where as they wanted max resistance( they had a shunt- in parallel with the existing circuit to ground), we want least resistance to start with so the circuit "LOOKS" like it was never touched....... correct? Then increase resistance slowly........
I just wanna make sure everyone is on the same page here, and that this is the way it should be done.
EDIT: I just thought about that mod from the bd7... basically what was done is they just added a "Safety resistor- (for def load) and went in parallel with that, but it was not necessary to have that there.. I remember( i think ) they just added that for saftey.. basically the vr they used would have gone str8 to ground if that resistor wasnt put there....... I noticed they have a bypass cap going to ground there.
So basically we are doing the same thing, but no extra resistor there. So my question is why are we starting at MAX resistance... when if the resistor wasn't in series and nothing was touched there would be no resistance?
Am I missing something here?
Last edited by muzz; 12-24-2002 at 09:55 PM.
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Just how hard is desoldering a pin? Is it a risky thing to do, I mean I know anything like that is but how likely is it to go wrong? Obviously I'd prefer that than cutting a trace because of obvious reasons, and also because I didnt buy my board from a store so no RMA lol.Originally posted by DaGoochMeister
Great work Jeff! Trying to think of a way of doing this mod by not cutting the trace here. Maybe desoldering CE38 and putting in a variable inline before or after CE38.
XP2400+
Abit NF7 2.0 Vmem and VDD modded
256MB Kingston HyperX PC3500
Sapphire 9500np (Vref, Vmem, Vddq, Vcore modded)
Fully Phase Change cooled
That was my first thought and why I desoldered it first. Only problem is pin 22 shares the positive side of the cap and basically that whole big fat trace. Taking the capacitor out doesn't break the trace/circuit.Originally posted by DaGoochMeister
Great work Jeff! Trying to think of a way of doing this mod by not cutting the trace here. Maybe desoldering CE38 and putting in a variable inline before or after CE38.
The memory mod described in this thread will VOID YOUR WARRANTEE!!! Only attempt the mod if you understand this and are willing to risk damaging your board.
@muzz:
You do NOT want to start out at maximum resistance since this is being added in line(series). If you start out at maximum, then you will be stealing the maximum amount of voltage away from the chip and it will compensate by adding the maximum amount of voltage needed for correction.
Basically you want to start out at 0 Ohms and then add a little at a time and see how much of a gain you get at Q32(the leg that's connected to the 'fat trace').
If measure there without doing the mod, you'll see your 2.5v(or whatever you choose in the BIOS). After the mod, if you set to 0 Ohms, you will stilll see this default voltage(nothing added). Now when you increase the resistance a little you will see it go up by .1, .2, etc. CAUTION: I HAVE NOT TRIED CHANGING THE RESISTANCE WHILE THE BOARD HAS POWER! I don't think anything bad will happen but I remember reading thread where Randi said some board didn't like having something changed so I've played the safe road here.
Oh, and as for adding a safety resistor... I don't think you'd want too since the safest resistance we want is 0 Ohms. If you add a resistor in parallel then you will just be increasing voltage.
Last edited by Jeff; 01-03-2003 at 04:22 PM.
Well Jeff thats what I was saying bro..... if you look at the bd7 discussion, it is stated to start at the maximum... at least thats what I thought it said. Look at the thread for the bd7 mod, I'm pretty sure it said MAX. which to me makes no sense....UNLESS you are purposely trying to get the error amp to correct itself.
BTW I setup my vr to 0 ohms last night, then was reading the bd7 discussion. thats why I asked.
Merry Xmas bro.. I'll be on in awhile.
Zen2 Has brought AMD back!
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