8RDA6+ Pro Romsip Mod

[grandmaster_b]

Hey guys just got my XP 2600+ Mobile today do I need to flash merlins bios to get full speed ?
I have 1 stick of 512mb corsair memory so should I flash CPC on or Off bios ?
I normally use hibernate or complete shutdown does that mean each time I boot I will have to pull plug out of PSU then boot ?
Thanks.

[MietmaN]

Originally Posted by grandmaster_b

Hey guys just got my XP 2600+ Mobile today do I need to flash merlins bios to get full speed ?

Hi, only if you want to reach high FSB frequency or just want to improve your performance at FSB200.

I have 1 stick of 512mb corsair memory so should I flash CPC on or Off bios ?

CPC Off decreases performance significantly and is needed only when you've got some problems with 2x512MB sticks running dual channel. This is not your case, so plz flash CPC On (1T) bios.

I normally use hibernate or complete shutdown does that mean each time I boot I will have to pull plug out of PSU then boot ?
Thanks.

Plug out? No, just turn off with the switch fo a few seconds. Hibernation doesn't work, as you might have already known.

[tamashumi]

@MietmaN
fan maniac! :P I have only 5 fans. also pentagram is loudest of them. I see your mobile can handle high frequencies at much lower V-core voltage than my barton...
I'm chasing right now for 2500+ mobile from AQYHA series :] but realy need to sell barton before. My friend is interested. He has athlon 1400 right now and mobo like this one http://www.sysopt.com/reviews/ecs-k7s5a/. Can he put Athlon 2800+ at this and make it running? I'm not sure. this mobo is a bit crapy

@WoutZoR
helo 12.5x200 hmm nice frequncy you got. 1.95 hmmm I guess I gona check it on mine. I hope it won't burn btw. What CPU cooling you have?

[edit]
I tried 12.5x200. Can't boot into system even on 2.0 V-core :/
[/edit]

[Runnel]

@ tamashumi

the board seems to be at least capable to handle barton-core processors:

"ich werd irre. Der Mobile Barton läuft bei mir auf dem guten alten K7S5A !!!!
1. Elitegroup K7S5A
2. SiS 735
3. 07.00T(Bootbezeichnung) 26/06/02 by "honey X" (OC0626)
4. Rev. 1.XX ?
5. XP-M 2600+
wird als "unknown mobile Athlon XP 2000MHz" erkannt und läuft auch mit 2GHz bei 1,55V(wird so vom Board eingestellt) ..." (6th post here: http://www.planet3dnow.de/vbulletin/...5&pagenumber=2 )

since the board is limited to FSB 133 MHz, 2000 MHz might be the max. If the multi of your 2800+ is locked or the board is limited to a max. multi (probably) of 12.5: 12.5 x 133 MHz -> 1663 MHz might be the max.

@ MietmaN

thanks a lot for your diligently worked out compendium several weeks ago!

I was also following yours posts with the GSkill Rams with the greatest interest. I almost bought their PC 600 TCCD Rams. Probably good, I didn't get weak. Since Merlin can't follow up creating a new great bios for our 8RDAx+ Pro boards. What a pitty! So I will keep my 2 x 512 MDT Rams (2.5-4-4-10) @ 9.5 x 233 MHz / 133 MHz - regulated by Speedfan.

Did I get it right that you also hate noisy fans? I got that Zalman passiv northbridge cooler. It's getting very hot so. I allready got a 60 mm Papst silent-fan which I'm going to mount (@ 7V) onto it with rubber-slics somehow. BTW: by this Speedfan-regulation with a VCore of 1,475 V I'm able to run 4 80-mm Papst fans (one for the alphapal 8045, 3 in the case) between 1200 and 1320 rpm. -> almost no noise!!!

cheers

[MietmaN]

Originally Posted by Runnel

@ MietmaN

thanks a lot for your diligently worked out compendium several weeks ago!

Not at all, mate

I was also following yours posts with the GSkill Rams with the greatest interest. I almost bought their PC 600 TCCD Rams. Probably good, I didn't get weak. Since Merlin can't follow up creating a new great bios for our 8RDAx+ Pro boards. What a pitty! So I will keep my 2 x 512 MDT Rams (2.5-4-4-10) @ 9.5 x 233 MHz / 133 MHz - regulated by Speedfan.

These are, as a rule, really good rams and capable of reaching real high FSB/HTT speeds at decent timings, but unfortunately they don't support nFroce2 officially. Some people have luck and some don't - I've belonged to the 2nd group. Now, I'm really pleased with the Mushkins.

Is FSB233 the highest stable one for your 2x512MB dual configuration? I'm asking, because I've just menaged to reach stable 230MHz after a long testing. Funny - at FSB235 I can count SuperPI 16M, but 3DMark2001SE looses stability again - seems to be more affected by some memory instabilities. Though at FSB230 everything is perfect.

Did I get it right that you also hate noisy fans? I got that Zalman passiv northbridge cooler. It's getting very hot so. I allready got a 60 mm Papst silent-fan which I'm going to mount (@ 7V) onto it with rubber-slics somehow. BTW: by this Speedfan-regulation with a VCore of 1,475 V I'm able to run 4 80-mm Papst fans (one for the alphapal 8045, 3 in the case) between 1200 and 1320 rpm. -> almost no noise!!!

cheers

Yeah, I really hate them, especially those small high rpm whining fans like the NB stock cooling, so I've got the same Zalman as you. I have : 2 Artcitc Cooling 80mm Pro TC fans, 2 Spire Clear Blue 80mm at 7v, Y.S.Tech Ultra Silent 92mm at 7v, Artctic Fan 3 (80mm) at 5v plus VGA Silencer set to low, Pentagram FreeZone at 2000rpm and BeQuiet PSU, moded to be more silent. I'm also thinking about some silent solution for the NB.

cheers!

[tamashumi]

Originally Posted by Runnel

@ tamashumi

the board seems to be at least capable to handle barton-core processors:

"ich werd irre. Der Mobile Barton läuft bei mir auf dem guten alten K7S5A !!!!
1. Elitegroup K7S5A
2. SiS 735
3. 07.00T(Bootbezeichnung) 26/06/02 by "honey X" (OC0626)
4. Rev. 1.XX ?
5. XP-M 2600+
wird als "unknown mobile Athlon XP 2000MHz" erkannt und läuft auch mit 2GHz bei 1,55V(wird so vom Board eingestellt) ..." (6th post here: http://www.planet3dnow.de/vbulletin/...5&pagenumber=2 )

since the board is limited to FSB 133 MHz, 2000 MHz might be the max. If the multi of your 2800+ is locked or the board is limited to a max. multi (probably) of 12.5: 12.5 x 133 MHz -> 1663 MHz might be the max.

thx for finding info I don't understand the language of page you refered so not sure what's there described. At link I posted above is writen

Bus Speeds:
100 - 166 MHz in 33 MHz Increments
(200 - 333 MHz effective rate)
112 / 124 MHz Non-Spec Supported

yea I got locked CPU that's why I wanna sell it and buy moblie. but if FSB will be detected properly it should work on this mobo, shouldn't it?
I guess 133 was becouse it's nominal of Mobiles and mobo detect it at such FSB. At mine mobo Mobile is also detected as "Unknow type CPU"
correct me if I'm wrong :]

btw. no response from Silicon Image about NCQ support @ Sil3114 :/

I flashed Merlin's bios. not sure about system improvement. I have no data saved from before benchmarks -_-: but I guess memory running faster about 5-10% testing timings right now. I can't reach even 200 FSB and have no o/c memory sticks (normal Kingston memory cl3). Maybe when I get mobile I'll kick off some speed :]

is there any chance to get cold boot bug fixed?

yo

[WoutZoR]

Well I just flashed the bios and its working above my expectations
I'm running now @ 210 x 12 thats 2520 Mhz. without anny stability problems in games.

@ MietmaN:
Thanks for the help about the L12 mod, you recommended the wire mod but when I was reading the instructions how to apply the mod I changed my mind and just flashed the merlins bios becouse it already has the L12 mod innit. And it spared me allot of trouble removing watercooling

I'm also having the cold boot problem but thats not realy a problem to me becouse when I turn my pc off I always disconnect the power to my pc.

I have a question about extra cooling the Southbridge, becouse mine is getting realy hot The Northbridge is not a problem becouse I watercooled that one.

[MietmaN]

@ tamashumi - no chances for fix, unless someone like Merlin suddenly appears from the heavens.

@ WoutZoR : so the L12-thingy was exactly what you needed. Glad to hear the modded bios has given you some extra OC.

As to SB overheating - I haven't checked by me at FSB230, but I think it's hightime I did it. On the other hand I've got some real decent air circulation inside the case, so I personally wouldn't worry about that. Do you think it's really too hot by you? Have you got any intake case fans?

[WoutZoR]

@ Tamashumi: I've got watercooling from Aquacomputers. On my website I have some pictures. The motherboard that you see on the pic's are from my old ASUS A7N8X. Click Her For Some Pic's
Good luck with overclocking, and be carefull

@ MietmaN: As for the airflow in my case, its good. Got 4 120mm fan's (2 In and 2 Out) and 2 80mm fans out, and ofcourse the 2 fans in the PSU.
Yesterday I removed that small heatsink from the SB and pasted the original NB heatsink on the SB. becouse I water cooled my CPU, NB & VGA the NB cooler was not in use, and it has an small fan on it

[MietmaN]

@ WoutZoR : nice case-mod you've got there and a real big big tower (ideal for WC).

@ All : I've recently tested different multipliers again, this time with the new 6.31 remix beta nForce drivers and my new memory sticks (Mushkin Enhanced PC3200). The results differ from the previous ones - there is nothing like "a bad multi", that I had discovered before (a sudden memory performance drop with the multiplier 11.5x). Since I've alreadt spent much too much time on benchmarking, I won't post the exact results here (it would take a lot of time) - if anyone was interested, I could give some details later.

Sandra 2005 SP1 results are sometimes different from the Everest Home readings, so I will write them separately and in the order from the most to the less efficent one.

At FSB200, 2-2-2-11 (2.63v)
1) Sandra 2005 : 11.5, 11, 10.5, 10
2) Everest Home : 10.5, 11.5, 11, 10

At FSB220, 2-3-3-11 (2.63v)
1) Sandra 2005 : 10.5, 11, 11.5, 10
2) Everest Home : 10.5, 11.5, 10, 11

Not a clear situation at all - everybody can tell the 10x is the worst one (as a rule), but nobody could name the best one after having seen the more detailed results (differences are sometimes really small).

cheers!

PS. End of it - now to work ....

[tamashumi]

Hey guys!

I'm becoming real o/c

Athlon Mobile 2500+ AQYHA installed:
12x200MHz @ 1.875 V-core,
2.77 Vdimm,
testing in progress...

@ 1.85 V-core I have instabillity issues same @ 2.6 Vdimm. We'll see if above setting will be stabile. Have any of you got some instructions what setting can be best for me? I have no o/c mem sticks (just 2x512 Kingston KVR400X64C3A @ dual channel) nor water cooling (for now )
Maybe I should use CPC off bios?

@WoutZoR realy nice mod you have there. Gratz! I guess it costed a lot of work... btw. what fluid coolin you're using? (model/type/mark) or it's custom? I dunno anything about which fluid cooling should I get (is it expensive?). Maybe at 1st place I should look around for some nice mem sticks anyway :P

cheers!

[Wolf2000me]

tamashumi...

To start set your memory settings to 2.5-3-3-11 and test for stability. First run test 5 a few times in memtest to be sure it's not your memory immediatly causing instability. Also if your psu is up to it's task you could try 2.9v vdimm. In almost all cases it won't cause any problems and possibly gain you stability. Be sure sure to do the memtest when increasing the fsb and thus the memory. You can damage the OS if you try to boot with unstable memory. It can be repaired but it's only so many times until you see permanent damage.

As to the mobile, probably the part you're intrested in the most
It would seem you get better results with the IQYHA stepping but lot's of very good results are achieved with your stepping as well. Also, the later the production date the better in general.
But to be honest 1.875v vcore for that speed with "default" 200 mhz fsb is already very high. You may have had bad luck or there's something else going on. Don't rule out the memory when it comes to OCing the cpu with the multiplier. Usually all stable multiplier settings should keep the memory in line but this is not always the case. Different memory bandwidth when just changing the multiplier does point in that direction as pointed out when we were enjoying the new Merlin Bios. Also at 1.875 v vcore you should seriously watch your temperatures. When working with mobiles this is always a general rule as with all cpus but mobiles are more temperature affected. It's not uncommon for a mobile to go unstable the second it hits 50°C socket temperature.
Also burning in helps sometimes. What you do is find a good stable OC setting and turn down the vcore until the cpu becomes unstable. Then hit the voltage up one notch and let it stress test for a good amount of time. Prime95 and cpu burn-in (attached) will do that job. Others may be good as well. Stresstest for 12 hours (more or less may do) and then turn the vcore down one notch again and test for stability. If you are in fact stable you can continue trying to lower the vcore or try to reach higher speeds. Either way, repeat the process several times and you will likely make a difference.

Cheers and have fun

[tamashumi]

Originally Posted by Wolf2000me

To start set your memory settings to 2.5-3-3-11 and test for stability. First run test 5 a few times in memtest to be sure it's not your memory immediatly causing instability. Also if your psu is up to it's task you could try 2.9v vdimm. In almost all cases it won't cause any problems and possibly gain you stability. Be sure sure to do the memtest when increasing the fsb and thus the memory. You can damage the OS if you try to boot with unstable memory. It can be repaired but it's only so many times until you see permanent damage.

My mem sticks are CL 3 by nominal. But I tried them on 2.5 and they're working good enough. I was changing them at seller 3 times to get kingston made by kingston not infineon, mossel or elpida. btw. elpida realy sux :/ I'm making mem test several times (about half an hour - enough?). It seems to be ok. no errors. My PSU is Chieftec 360 watt. Should it handle vdimm 2.9?

Originally Posted by Wolf2000me

As to the mobile, probably the part you're intrested in the most
It would seem you get better results with the IQYHA stepping but lot's of very good results are achieved with your stepping as well. Also, the later the production date the better in general.

I was wandering which IQYHA or AQYHA is better. Stupid of me I didn't ask here -_-: before I bought it. But IQYHA is not available to buy right now anyway, or very hard at all. I'll check date on it today as I return home. By later date you mean the CPU is newer, correct?

Originally Posted by Wolf2000me

But to be honest 1.875v vcore for that speed with "default" 200 mhz fsb is already very high. You may have had bad luck or there's something else going on. Don't rule out the memory when it comes to OCing the cpu with the multiplier. Usually all stable multiplier settings should keep the memory in line but this is not always the case. Different memory bandwidth when just changing the multiplier does point in that direction as pointed out when we were enjoying the new Merlin Bios. Also at 1.875 v vcore you should seriously watch your temperatures. When working with mobiles this is always a general rule as with all cpus but mobiles are more temperature affected. It's not uncommon for a mobile to go unstable the second it hits 50°C socket temperature.

I realy hope it's not bad luck. I switch to mobile specially to get some fun of o/c'ing. I'm not sure what multiplier you mean by "default" or only FSB. I set 12x200 so it's quite high in comparision to 11x133 Mobile nominal. But I agree 1.875V it's too much. At 11x200 it works @ 1.50V-core and seems to be fine. I tried it in the morning so I have not enough time to test for sure. Maybe it'll run even @ 1.45V I haven't check yet. but 12x200 or 11x218 so ~2.4GHz I can't even boot into system below 1.85V and stability also is discussable even @ 1.875V. However I didn't focused on temp. it's high at 1.875V and growing till 50-51°C then it seems losting stability. I'll make some futher tests if temp causing unstability. But I'm not sure if I want to buy fluid cooling which is almost as expensive as CPU... I consider that but it not seems to be reasonable :P
btw. what's your(s) opinion about Peltier unit on CPU. Does it effective?

Originally Posted by Wolf2000me

Also burning in helps sometimes. What you do is find a good stable OC setting and turn down the vcore until the cpu becomes unstable. Then hit the voltage up one notch and let it stress test for a good amount of time. Prime95 and cpu burn-in (attached) will do that job. Others may be good as well. Stresstest for 12 hours (more or less may do) and then turn the vcore down one notch again and test for stability. If you are in fact stable you can continue trying to lower the vcore or try to reach higher speeds. Either way, repeat the process several times and you will likely make a difference.

ok I'll try burning-in some. But if I can't boot into OS I guess my OC setting isn't stable Realy thanks for advices, appreciate that



@all Mobile users : tell me guys pls what's your stabile V-core for 2.4GHz with Mobile 2500+ ?

[WoutZoR]

@ Tamashumi: Thanx for the compliments I bought my liquid cooling at http://www.aqua-computer-berlin.de. The set isn't realy what u call cheap but it works quite nice.

Here is the list of components:

CPU Block: Cuplex Evo 1.1 [Plug & Cool]
Northbridge Block: Twinplex [Plug & Cool]
VGA Block: Twinplex For ATi [Plug & Cool]
Radiator / Grill: Airplex Evo 240 [Plug & Cool] / Lasercut Grill
Fans Radiator: 2 x Papst 4412 F/2GL [12 Cm.]
Reservoir / Build-in kit: Aquatube Rev. 1.1 [Blue] [Plug & Cool] / Build-in kit for Aquatube
Pump: Eheim 1046 Aquastream [12Volt] [Plug & Cool]
Extra's: GlowMotion UV Green / Anti Vibration Bolts For Pump

Just click the hyperlinks and u will see the price and spec's (If you know german )

//EDIT: I've added 3 new pictures to my casemod gallery #1 #2 #3

Here is an also Identical watercooling setup been reviewed (Sorry also german)

Good luck

[Wolf2000me]

The "default" i meant has nothing to do with multiplier. It means fsb 200. Which is something every mobile pulls off without a sweat. It means when you up the front side bus of your cpu and want to keep it at the same "stable" frequency (like 12x200 at 1.875v) you may need more voltage to keep it stable.

As to the Merlin bios, did you get better results with it ?

Also burning in can be done at 2300 mhz as well.

[MietmaN]

tamashumi
Really strange and stubborn CPU you've got there. Mine is 100% stable at 11x200 with 1.50v, and 100% stable at 12x200 with 1.65v.

As to higher temps and stability issues I've run across this particular problem several times : 48-49C stress seems fine, but 50-51C will cause an error in Prime95 (Blend test can stand more than Large FFTs). We can't forget these are all readings from the socket, so in reality the CPU temperatures must be higher. Even now I'm fighting with this problem, since my cooler isn't anything special and I want to keep the noise level down (max. 2100rpm).

Btw. I've already tested all multis from 10 to 12 at FSB200 and FSB220 (I've done some additional test). I'm gonna take my notes with me to Germany and write about multis & memory performance with whole lot of details.