8RDA6+ Pro Romsip Mod

[Naibot]

Yes i flashed the CPC-on bios, the fsb is indeed quite nice
However the limit for TCCD memory is about 230 at these sharp timings. Man, i love to try some BH-5 (2x256) on this board
With some extra juice they can run 2-2-2-X at 250 MHz.

But i think some G-skill mem is a good investment for the future (A64),
high clocks guaranteed
Here in the Netherlands you pay about 270 euro for the LE version and 250 for the LC.

Hang on for some scores at higher clocks.

BTW i'm a little afraid to increase the vdd.
Is the original active northbridge cooling sufficient? Or is for example a zalman passive block more effective?

[Wolf2000me]

Hey,

What are the differences between the LE and LC? I mean, of course the LE will be better but how much better. BH-5 is back from the dead btw.

I've been running at 1.8v vdd for a few months now. I also tried 2v for a day or 3 but that gave me more crashes. Not that I could make up what could be the cause because no temperature went above 36°C. MietmaN is using a passive zalman thingy if i'm not mistaken, i just kept the active northbridge van. I have not bothered to put thermal paste in between or any lapping of both heatsink and chip. I think the current solution may be okay.
At any rate, ET told me if you fry your mobo using 2v vdd you also void your warranty. 1.8v seems to be good to go.

[Naibot]

Originally Posted by Wolf2000me

What are the differences between the LE and LC?

The LE is rated 2.5-3-3-7 at PC4400 and the LC only 2.4-4-4-8 at the same speed. So the first one can take tighter timings at the same FSB.

Below my score at 240 MHz.
Unfortunately 245 isn't that stable to run sandra
There seems to be a big barrier around 243; i changed everything from timings (3-4-4-8) to vdd (2) and even lowered the multiplier down to 7
I think it's the 2x512 'bug' or even dual channel that's keeping me from reaching any higher.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~druite23/OC/240_2.PNG

[Wolf2000me]

Great OC dude

What i meant to ask is what kind you bought ? LE or LC

Thanks for the input

[MietmaN]

Indeed - great OC
Could I ask what's your max stable FSB? 240Mhz? I would dream to achieve something like that

I think it's the 2x512 'bug' or even dual channel that's keeping me from reaching any higher.

Both of the above are probable plus CPC On - u can never tell ... (I wouldn't suggest CPC Off though)

Yes - I use the passive Zalman solution (the blue one), but the Epox stock radiator is all right, although it doesn't get real hot, what makes me think the thermal stuff beneath ain't good at all.

The price for G.Skill LC and LE is similar in Germany, maybe 5-10 Euros more in most of the shops - I checked yesterday.

[Naibot]

I bought some LE modules, you got the better TCCD chips for only 20 euro's more or so. It's a good investment for the future i think (A64).

I havent done much stability testing yet at these high fsb's, but i can tell you that 240 isn't prime stable (i guess). It's too close to the edge
I will do some loops of 3dmark later to test general stability.

[mrapples]

ok so i just loaded up these bios and i saw a small performance improvement but my overclocks are still pitiful
here are my specs:

athlon mobile 2600+ iqyha stepping
epox 8rda6+pro with the merlin cpc off bios
pdp patriot pdp3200512LL 512mb ddr
thermalright alx-800 heatsink with smartfan2
gigabyte fx-5200


here are the unstable settings i have tried:

12x200
11x220
11.5x210
11x215
11x210
11.5x205

and the stable:

10x220
11x200
11.5x200

all settings have been tested up to 1.75v

i have been testing them with prime95, the odd thing is that prime itself doesnt crash, but other programs i have running (system monitor, firefox, etc) will crash, my system monitor errors when trying to update the network traffic usually (pci related?)
anyway i have my chipset voltage at 1.8v, my agp at 1.6v, and my ram at 2.7
i set my agp clock to 66mhz

my temps have never gone above 45c

im really getting frustrated with this, any ideas?
thanks in advance

[elzhi]

hi

can someone upload the Award flash program they used to flash bios
,thanks

[Naibot]

Originally Posted by mrapples

...
im really getting frustrated with this, any ideas?
thanks in advance

It seems that below 2300 or so you're stable, so i'd say it's youre mobile.
It just needs more volts i guess. On the other hand you don't need to increase chipset voltage / agp voltage when you're below 230.
Maybe that (vdd 1.8) is causing errors.

[Wolf2000me]

When prime doesn't crash or make your OS crash i'd say something fishy is going on. Btw, do you set your agp voltage to 1.6? I'd let it stay at 1.5v and keep the frequency on automatic. Btw, what PSU are you using?
I've been running the vdd at 1.8v for more than 2 months so i'd say that won't be a problem. I really wouldn't be surprised if it's your PSU that's holding you back. Almost all mobiles are able to do 2.4 ghz but you may need a little more juice. I needed 1.775v to get over 2.4ghz, and i need 1.875 for 2.55 ghz.

Ehlzi, i used this awdflash version: http://www.epox.nl/BIOS/AWDFLASH_V8.33.zip When you try to flash, make sure you use the correct commandline switches. The ones MietmaN provided with exception of /IQ, replace that with /QI (typo)

[MietmaN]

Originally Posted by Wolf2000me

When prime doesn't crash or make your OS crash i'd say something fishy is going on. Btw, do you set your agp voltage to 1.6? I'd let it stay at 1.5v and keep the frequency on automatic. Btw, what PSU are you using?
I've been running the vdd at 1.8v for more than 2 months so i'd say that won't be a problem. I really wouldn't be surprised if it's your PSU that's holding you back. Almost all mobiles are able to do 2.4 ghz but you may need a little more juice. I needed 1.775v to get over 2.4ghz, and i need 1.875 for 2.55 ghz.

I couldn't say this better - including the PSU question, which I find very important in this particular case.

Ehlzi, i used this awdflash version: http://www.epox.nl/BIOS/AWDFLASH_V8.33.zip When you try to flash, make sure you use the correct commandline switches. The ones MietmaN provided with exception of /IQ, replace that with /QI (typo)

Epox updates are sometimes really outdated :

http://www.filebox.ru/p/awdflash/

There's an awdflash 8.52 already and I used this version.

As to bioses, USDM and other updates I highly recommend to check for them on the global site (*.com.tw) or the american one ( http://www.epox.com/USA/index.asp ), since the european is sometimes out of date (the german one is even worse ).

[MietmaN]

I don't usually write 2 posts in a row, but this time it's really important :

Merlin's willing to modify the bios he has made for us or even to do another one, brand new!

If you have any problems, findings, suggestions as to the old one (both CPC On and Off) he would be very grateful for all information you can provide him with!

Mark plz, that these should concern the bios itself - stability and performance (in comparison with stock bioses) - not any of your possible pure hardware problems! I've gone mobile in Germany, so I can't do any more tests, but this goes for all of you, who have been using Merlin's bioses recently.

Max. stable FSB (provided the ram sticks are good and CPU is as well), memory bandwidth, mem read and write tests, some other basic benchmarks (including 3D2001SE for the overall system performance) and so on ...

Thanks in advance!!!!

... and greetings from Merlin

[elzhi]

SWEET!!!! No more boot up problems ,thanks wolfman and MietmaN


2400+ @2.4ghz
Mushkin 3500 lvl II
8RDA6+ PRO
geforce4 4200ti
OCZ booster

http://elzhi.websiteallies.com/newbios.PNG

[ebwibble]

@MietmaN

Only problem I've had with the CPC On BIOS is the cold boot issue that Barix and Wolf2000me mentioned earlier in the thread.

I have to turn off the pc on the PSU briefly before I can get it to boot from cold. This definitely doesn't happen on the stock BIOSes.

If this could be fixed, it would be the perfect BIOS

[Wolf2000me]

Elzhi...

I have some questions about the DDR booster in combo with our board. The dudes at support@epox speculated that the booster would only work in single channel with our board. They couldn't however be sure so i asked some support ppl at OCZ. They just told me to wait until they tested it but i'm not sure if they were going to. So it seems you can get it to work in dual channel? Also, the mushkin lvl2 is it BH-5 memory? What kind of problems did you get while trying to get the booster to work? Any info on it would be great
Glad to see your system perform so well, nice OC but perhaps you can get your cpu frequency a bit higher?

edit: how many volts are you pulling through your memory and chipset?

[Runnel]

Thanks Merlin for making the bios over again!

I tested the CPC off bios. My problem: standby (S3) didn't work anymore. Even not after Windows XP SP2 repair-installation. Flashing back to the official September bios it worked again. I would be happy if this could be fixed. (I need a stable system for working as well.)

2 x 512 MB MDT DS, dual channel @ 2,6 V; XP-M 2600+ with L12 wire-mod (166 MHz) @ 1,475 V: 9,5 x 233 MHz. Everest memory read perfomance: 3340 MB/s; with Merlin CPC off bios: 3470 MB/s. (Memtest and prime stable.)

I also had the suspicion like Wolfme 2000, that the wire is disturbing the build in L12 mod. I#m curious about your result without the wire bridge.

For the rest I only tested with prime for some minutes.

BTW: My question: with max. cpu-speed the memory performance decreases. What makes more sense: max. cpu-speed or max. memory performance???
Does anybody know some links, where this question is dicussed?

Vcore 1,67 V, VDimm 2,66 V, multi 11 x
220 MHz fsb -> 3000 MB/s
225 -> 3057
228 -> -

[MietmaN]

I've forgotten the following issues :

- S3 standby state doesn't work for me either (and I sometimes use this kind of power saving),
- PC Health in bios seems to be frozen, but the same I used to have with the official bios from October (from September had been ok!).

Anyone more with the same issues?

@ Runnel :
Does your memory performance decrease while using exactly the same timings and multipliers?
From what you wrote at the very end of your post it doesn't or am I missing something?

Btw. read/write tests under Aida32/Everest seem to be influenced by the multi (the higher, the better bandwidth)

[Runnel]

no, at the end is nothing missing:

220 -> 3000
225 -> 3057
226 -> 3069
228 -> - "-" meaning: doesn't work.

... this was with multi 11.

My MDT rams are not so special. So I allways had them on "optimal". After changing them the system wouldn't boot. Right now I also use 2,5/4/4/10 (with multi 9,5 as well as that time with multi 11).

But with a multi of 9,5 (now with epox september bios) I can quickly measure it:

220 -> 3140
225 -> 3211
228 -> 3255
230 -> 3274
233 -> 3343

Result: with a smaller multi I get 10% more memory performance! (Similar situation with a friends 8RDA3+ with multi-free XP 2500+.)

Why? This was my first question.

And my second question: for daily use (no 3D-games), what makes more sense?
a. multi 11 x 220 MHz fsb -> 2420 MHz @ 1,67V with 3000 MB/s, or
b. multi 9,5 x 233 MHz fsb -> 2216 MHz @ 1,475 V with 3340 MB/s?

(BTW: Real highspeed I only "need" for encoding mp3. My reference 18:15 min song with lame 3.92 vbr:
12,5 x 200 -> 2:42 min
9,5 x 233: 3:04 min
11,5 x 166 -> 3:14 min (XP 2800+, VIA KT 400)
15 x 133 -> 3:19 min (XP-M 2600+, VIA KT 266a)
Conclusion: the time I spend on experimenting on the latest Nforce 2 is a very lot more than the time waiting for the mp3s to be done on the good old Epox 8KHA+ with the Via 266a chipset. - But it's much more fun!

[Naibot]

Originally Posted by MietmaN

Merlin's willing to modify the bios he has made for us or even to do another one, brand new!

That's good news indeed

The 'big' problems already mentioned are the cold boot issue and the wake up from hibernate failure. It would be fine to have these fixed

However it also would be nice to cross the 250 Mhz barrier with this board
It needs some fine tuning i guess

I'm at 235 2.5-3-3-11 prime stable. To get 240 and higher is a little harder.

@ elzhi

What's the max fsb you can achieve on this board?
I see you have the famous black mushkin bh-5 modules
I'm into getting some bh5 myself and ofcourse a booster to heat them up
Does it work well on this board? And yeah, what about the dual channel?

[mrapples]

i havent had any issues with the pc health status for what its worth

also, my power supply is a powmax daemon 580w, its not expensive but it always got good reviews
i tried lowering both my chipset and agp voltage but nothing changed