Bd7-ii

Hey, how good is this board OC wise? I can get one fore like 40 and was wondering if it is worth it for my new rig I am making. It is DDR right? What are the onboard features? I also wanna know what the OC features and such are.
Thnx.

It's a very good overclocker, but does place low limits on both the Vcore and Vdimm values. My example puts out 1.64V Vcore at maximum, and 2.64V on the memory. If you have really willing cpu and memory this is fine, but can limit the overclock on less willing examples. It does report temperature 5-7C high, and tends to read low on the 12V. These are superficial factors, but some are more concerned with a picture perfect MBM reading than the stability and performance of the computer. Those users will be dissappointed with the BD7-II.

The low Vcore limit is easily overcome with a VID pin mod, but the low Vdimm output is harder to affect. I have the schematic for a Vdimm mod for this board, but haven't attempted it on my example... yet. As ram quality improves this is less of a concern.

The board is your basic i845e DDR P4 board. It has 6 channel AC97 sound, 6 USB 2.0 ports, and Reatlek LAN. If you need any more detail on its features feel free to look it up on Abit's website.

Hmmm.. those are some pretty low voltages.... I need some ram that will do 166fsb at cas2, yet have a low voltage. Are there any that tak eless than 2.5v?
Thnx.

Larva is right about the undervolting on this board, and that is my main gripe. The Vdimm is what really kills me... my Corsair likes (and even needs) high voltage (2.8) to get good timings so it can be a problem.

I think this is just a problem with my board, but the northbridge temps are beyond belief. I am talking in excess of 60°C 99% of the time, and it often hovers in the 70-80° range. Last night I ran Prime95 and it made it to 89°C according to MBM5. Again though I have to ask myself, how could this be accurate?

Despite its flaws the BD7-II is capable of good OC's and it is a stable board.

How high can the FSB reach on this board?

larva said:

It's a very good overclocker, but does place low limits on both the Vcore and Vdimm values. My example puts out 1.64V Vcore at maximum, and 2.64V on the memory. If you have really willing cpu and memory this is fine, but can limit the overclock on less willing examples. It does report temperature 5-7C high, and tends to read low on the 12V. These are superficial factors, but some are more concerned with a picture perfect MBM reading than the stability and performance of the computer. Those users will be dissappointed with the BD7-II.

Click to expand...

I just set the compensation values in MBM and there, I have picture perfect MBM readouts, AND a stable, high performance PC.

One note if you're buying this used or online. The BD7-II was one of the hardest-hit boards in the bad capacitor fiasco last fall. If the caps aren't leaking now they almost certainly never will. But I would be leary of someone possibly trying to pass off their dead board.



BHD

BD7II is a great board, Here is my PCmark2002 score based on a BD7II. Now I don't see anywhere in stock any more. BE7 is the one Abit use to replace BD7II.