Biostar TForce 6100-AM2 Overclocking: 425HTT Achieved! mATX OC!

[pcmoddingmy]

Just got this board from Biostar yesterday and hooked it up with my little Orleans 3000+. This board looks promising and it was based on the successful TForce 6100-939, which was a pretty impressive mATX overclocker.



The TForce 6100-AM2 is supports socket AM2 940-pin processors from single-core Sempron to dual-core FX. It has a single PCI-E x16 slot along plus another PCI-E x1 slot. Two old school PCI slots should do good for a soundcard and perhaps a TV/Video encoder. The board supports up to 4GB DDR-2 and maximum dual channel speed is at 800MHz. Unlike most socket AM2 boards, this particular board has dual IDE connectors. It also has a pretty impressive BIOS and looks like I should be able to clock my 1.8GHz 3000+ to 2.7GHz with ease. The board also has a VDIMM overvolt jumper which feeds 2.2V if set. I measured with a DMM and it reads 2.22V, which is better than most Biostar TForce boards I've tested. VDIMM mod is possible, and just by removing the jumper you will have 3V! Please don't run your system with the jumper removed!!!


Currently, I'm at 300HTT and the board passed about 11 loops of built-in Memtest 1.55 without any errors. However, this was only possible with the memory divider set to 400MHz. There seems to be a bug when selecting 533, 667 or even 800MHz for that matter. Haven't booted into Windows yet... so will let this thing burn-in for an hour or so. The board came with BIOS 517, but I flashed it to BIOS 811.
Also, there seems to be another bug with the Vcore. When I set 1.65V, the BIOS displays 1.55V in "PC Health Status". Tried looking around for an easy VCore measuring point, but I couldn't find any. By the way, this board has UV reactive slots!


Known Issues:
- CPU Multiplier: Only 9x, 6x, 5x and 4x works (for 3000+). Please use Biostar OC tool to adjust in Windows
- VCore: When selecting above 1.55V in BIOS, it will maxout at 1.52-53V in BIOS. Use Biostar OC tool to increas to 1.6V or more in Windows. VCore seems to fluctuate heavily but does not appear to affect stability, even with the CPU overclocked over 1.2GHz from default. Eg: If 1.625V is selected through the OC tool, the Vcore will fluctuate from 1.60V to 1.65V, but mostly it will read at 1.616V.
- DDR2 Frequency/Divider: To overclock, select DDR2-400 or DDR2-533. This board also does not like high frequency DDR2 speed. DDR2-1000 is possible but best keep it at DDR2-900 for daily usage.
- 1T Command Rate: This board seems to default boot at 1T and there's no option to change it. Use softwares such as MemSet or Systool and changed it manually in Windows.
- Heat: NB gets too hot at passive. So cool it with an 80mm low RPM fan, or swap to a copper cooler. PWM area gets hot at 1.6Vcore, so heatsink them or have a fan blowing towards them.
- HTT: Max bootable HTT is possible at 330HTT with memory set to DDR2-533. To push higher, use ClockGen or Biostar OC tool to push higher in Windows.
- BIOS: Overclocking in the BIOS can be PITA so set it to a reasonable setting and use the provided Windows tools to overclock. Its much easier to overclock in Windows than in BIOS. BIOS needs a some fix, especially in the OC menu.




425HTT achieved on TForce 6100-AM2! No mods!
Boot at 330HTT and use Biostar OC tool or ClockGen to 425HTT.

Test Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ "Orleans"
Biostar TForce 6100-AM2 (BIOS 811)
OCZ PC2-8000 Ti Alpha VX2 2x1GB CL4
FSP Epsilon 700W
Maxtor 80GB
Corsair Nautilus500 CPU watercooling

[The_Hardstylez]

Nice OC for a Matx bord and the price

[pcmoddingmy]

Yeah... I haven't seen a mATX board that does over 400HTT and this one has onboard VGA!
The good news is it works with GeForce 7950GX2 also.

[magemaster]

the screenshot is too small!

[pcmoddingmy]

the screenshot is too small!

Fixed

[Serge84]

The new bios is what makes it possible. That means I could finally brake my record of 3ghz on this board. They fixed some of the voltages then. Finally get over 1.55v. Yessss...

Edit: You have a new rev too.

[pcmoddingmy]

The new bios is what makes it possible. That means I could finally brake my record of 3ghz on this board. They fixed some of the voltages then. Finally get over 1.55v. Yessss...

Edit: You have a new rev too.

Well, I wouldn't depend on the BIOS too much. I find overclocking in Windows was much more easier.. at least for now. Clockgen, Biostar OC Tool, Memset and Systool made me push this board to its limits.

[Serge84]

Well, I wouldn't depend on the BIOS too much. I find overclocking in Windows was much more easier.. at least for now. Clockgen, Biostar OC Tool, Memset and Systool made me push this board to its limits.

The only berrior I'm at is the 1.56v limit. I aready found just about every limit the board has now. I can go well upto 375 so I don't have enough vcore to get above 3015mhz. Maybe until now. Thats what I'll try. Always the bios that craps out. Clockgen is the only way to get those kind of speeds.

[pcmoddingmy]

The only berrior I'm at is the 1.56v limit. I aready found just about every limit the board has now. I can go well upto 375 so I don't have enough vcore to get above 3015mhz. Maybe until now. Thats what I'll try. Always the bios that craps out. Clockgen is the only way to get those kind of speeds.

Have you tried the Biostar OC tool yet? It gave me over 1.6V easily...

[Serge84]

Have you tried the Biostar OC tool yet? It gave me over 1.6V easily...

It seems to work with the new bios only. And your new rev 1.3 but I'm on a backup powersupply so I can't say. I'm going to buy a OCZ powersupply so atleast I have control over rails.

Prob always been my limit all a long before. 12v rails on my comp suck even a $50 powersupply for 9 months at 500w wouldn't give me good rails 11.84v most of the time. So a $150 OCZ is the one to get if I want to keep powerful overvolted rails for OCing.

[pcmoddingmy]

It seems to work with the new bios only. And your new rev 1.3 but I'm on a backup powersupply so I can't say. I'm going to buy a OCZ powersupply so atleast I have control over rails.

Prob always been my limit all a long before. 12v rails on my comp suck even a $50 powersupply for 9 months at 500w wouldn't give me good rails 11.84v most of the time. So a $150 OCZ is the one to get if I want to keep powerful overvolted rails for OCing.

You mean the Biostar OC tool doesn't work with your board?
Hmm.. I'll check with Biostar regarding this.

Btw, note that the OC tool will always default to 266HTT or something different that set at BIOS. This is because the prog was designed such that it will load up "safe overclock" values on launch. So make sure you run CPU-Z first before launching the OC tool.

One of my readers owns an older rev and he had no issues getting the Vcore over 1.6v with the tool.

Seriously, this board does extremely well throught the software rather than the BIOS. If you hate the fact that the Biostar tool resets your OC, you can always mod the BSPanel.ini file located in the prog folder.

[LorD_Kvadd]

That board does indeed look promising. I think I'll buy one when my Turion starts feeling slow :P

Until then, this is what my mATX MSI K8NM FISR is able to do -> Clicky Linky <-

Some random GeIL ValueRAM which I bought from a friend. He said they didn't overclock well past 210MHz. Ah I wish I could've seen his face when I told him they were benchable to 270MHz.

The main limiting factor of this card is (or was) it's BIOS. But after half a day of studying how to modify BIOS's I was able to sort that part out
(Old BIOS=overclocking options but no AGP-lock, new BIOS = other way around)
and I've hit a wall at about 290MHz, seems to be the chipset, ran memory on a divider.

Good luck overclocking fellas

[breakfromyou]

holy crap!!!

thats insane.

i always knew these boards would do something crazy one day. here it is. biostar is a damn good company.

on a side note: the vcore "issue" happens with the 939's as well. tell it to give the processor 1.65v and it only gives it 1.6, tell it to give the processor 1.75v, STILL 1.6v. according to cpu-z that is.

[pcmoddingmy]

Looks like Biostar is playing save with the Vcore thingy. But luckily the Windows OC Tool allows use to go beyond 1.6V
Anyways, just got this thing hooked up in my SilverStone Sugo SFF case with some GeForce 7950GX2 action. Drop in a X2 3800+ and I should have a pretty powerful SFF gaming rig here. Will post pictures if anyone interested to see my SFF build...

[Fr3ak]

Nice board. I have 2 S754 TForece 6100 boards, and both did 400HTT before the CPU was maxed out. Too bad Semprons have a locked multi.
Nice to see that the AM2 version of the board is better than the S939 board was.

With my S754, when I set 1.8V in bios, rarely went over 1.7V when measuring it. That was with a decent Seasonic S12 PSU.

[Kayin]

Got mine coming tomorrow, stuffing my EE 3500+ and my x850XT in it and gonna have a go on air...

This is a very interesting board, want to try my hand at a smaller, yet still overclocked, rig. Should be a happy birthday tomorrow, no doubt.

[pcmoddingmy]

3GHz max overclock with Athlon 64 3000+ "Orleans" on Biostar TForce 6100-AM2 (ver 1.3) -> 8 hours Prime Stable

Test Setup:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ "Orleans"
Biostar TForce 6100-AM2 (BIOS 811)
OCZ PC2-8000 Ti Alpha VX2 2x1GB CL4
FSP Epsilon 700W
Maxtor 80GB
Corsair Nautilus500 CPU watercooling
*Vcore manually adjusted to 1.625V using Biostar OC Tool



Despite having unstable Vcore supply, the motherboard managed to pass our 8 hours Prime "blend" test without erroring out. As you can see from the above screenshot, SpeedFan reports that the Vcore fluctuates from 1.630V to 1.616V. We also recorded a few points where the Vcore dropped to 1.600V during the 8 hours test.

Nevertheless, I did not expect this little board to overclock my 1.8GHz Athlon processor to 3GHz... That's easily 1.2GHz overclocking on a microATX motherboard!

Since I'm done overclocking with this motherboard, I decided to hook it up in my SilverStone Sugo (SFF) case. Here are some pictures of the Biostar TForce 6100-AM2 rigged up inside the Sugo SFF case:









This SFF rig is currently on stock AMD HSF and runs at 2.7GHz on stock Vcore for 24/7 usage. When getting to a LAN party or some gaming tourney, I'll hook up a GeForce 7950GX2 into it (as seen in the pictures). Most of the time, it sits beside my TV serving as an HTPC with a little GeForce 6200 inside it. I had to use a dedicated graphics card because the onboard graphics doesn't support S-video output.

PCModdingMy's SFF Gaming Rig Specifications
Case: SilverStone Sugo (SGO1B)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ "Orleans" @ 2.7GHz (stock Vcore & HSF)
Motherboard: Biostar TForce 6100-AM2
RAM: Corsair TWIN2X-5400C4PRO 2x512MB (bling-bling!)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 (for gaming) / Gigabyte GeForce 6200 (for HTPC)
PSU: Antec TrueControll II 550
HDD: Maxtor 100GB PATA
DVD: LG H10N DVD-RW
ETC: Dual UV CCFL

Hope you guys find my little update useful for your setup...

[neo2005th]

Biostar rulz!...
Guru of OC!... I remember a Biostar 6100 with tforce bios runs stable a sempron 2800+ core palermo at 3ghz (754).

[pochtara]

I just got TForce 6100 AM2 with AMD4400+ CPU version and I'm truing to set it up.
Do you know what this option (with default 64MB) in BIOS does? It seams I can bump it up to 128MB. Is this the video shared memory size? I have 2G of GAIL paired RAM, which seams working great with this motherboard and CPU.
Did anybody tried to use BIOS's auto overclocking options (V4, V6, and V12)? How good are they?
Thanks
Alex
pochtara@hotmail.com