Complete Volt Mod guide for ASUS A7N8X

As stated many times before, early revisions of the A7N8X (rev. 1.xx) have problems with low chipset voltages. There are several ways out there to mod, ranging from grabbers to soldering to tiny resistors. I suggest that we start a comprehensive database on all the various mods that have been tried and post links to them. This way we can find the most promising mod!
Also, we shouldn't stop with chipset vmods. Core volt mods and mem volt mods are important, also. So, if you have any information on these, please post links.
I will take all these links and present them in an organized and easy to understand way. Information presented will include how to do the mod, materials required, and how to measure the actual voltage at the various test points.
I will start myself by posting a couple of links that I have ran into:
http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=167297
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9237Southbridge VDD Voltage Mod
http://www.maximumoc.com/reviews/asusa7n8x_3.html
http://www.techwarelabs.com/community/viewtopic.php?p=26010#26010
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8274
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=5167

Pictures

Here are some pics that I took so that people can draw scematic wiring diagrams onto them, pointing out contact points, test points, etc.

CPU volt mod:


Memory volt mod:


Chipset volt mod:

Material Specs for mods

CPU: This Vcore (CPU) volt mod should give a core voltage 0.4 Volts higher than the stated BIOS voltage. That is, if you got your bios up at 1.85V, your CPU is running on 2.25V. You don't really want more voltage than that even if you have phase change or pelt cooling.
Run a wire from the indicated location through a 20K to 25K VR to ground (fan headder or motherboard mounting screw).
NOTE: It would be nice to have some sort of safety resistor in series in order to prevent frying your board / cpu. Also, a testing point for this mod has to be found to confirm voltages using a digital multimeter. Also, instead of soldering, a Pomona grabber (SN 5302-36-0 9402PF) can be used.





Memory: This DIMM (Memory) volt mod should give a DIMM voltage 0.45 Volts higher than the stated BIOS voltage. So, if you DIMMs are set in the BIOS to the normal 2.6 volts, they should run around 3.05 volts. Extra memory cooling recommended.
Run a wire from the indicated location through a 15K VR to ground (fan headder or motherboard mounting screw). The voltage can be checked using a digital multimeter (black on the ground, red on the source) at the location shown below.
NOTE: It would be nice to have some sort of safety resistor in series in order to prevent frying your board / memory. Also, instead of soldering, a Pomona grabber (SN 5302-36-0 9402PF) can be used.





CHIPSET: See http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=167297 for a complete detailed description. TNX nikhsub1!

Great work! It is very, very, very useful to have all of these in one place. All I need is an online store that sells resistors for cheap ...

I think this may be of interest regarding the Vcore Vmod. This is quoted from hitechjb1 and isn't mine - rather copied straight from his postings on this subject. It goes into detail about using fixed resistors with the 1.04 Revision of the board.

I am wondering if this holds true with the newer rev. 2.0 of the board... has anyone tried using fixed resistors with the newer rev. 2.0 board - and were the results the same as the one's hitechjb1 found with his 1.04? (if no then I'm gonna try soon... )?

Also - isn't there a voltage-protection of some sort on the A7N8X-Deluxe that prevents the Vcore voltage from going above 2.1? Can anyone confirm this with either (or both) the newer and older revisions of the board?

(hitechjb1) I find the "good" resistance value by experiment. In the case for the A7N8X-dlx, I find that for fix resistor of

- 20K Ohm, it adds about 0.1V to the bios Vcore setting
- 10K Ohm, it adds about 0.2V to the bios Vcore setting (getting Vcore between 1.75 - 1.95 V with bios setting between 1.5 - 1.75 V.)
- 8K Ohm, it adds about 0.25V to the bios Vcore setting (this is the one I use, getting Vcore between 1.8 - 2.0 V, with bios setting between 1.5 - 1.75 V)
- 5K Ohm, it adds about 0.4V to the bios Vcore setting (AVOID this one or use this one with EXTRA caution. If bios is at 1.75V, actual Vcore would be 2.15V, may damage CPU !!!!)

6. Higher resistance adds less to the Vcore from the bios setting. A small watt (such as 1/4 W or 1/2 W) resistor is enough, since it is not large current carrying. You can customize the value of the resistor for your own need.

I don't know whether this resistance value work unverisally and how accurate it is with other A7N8X-dlx (since I tried only one), you may have to try it out. But it should give enough guideline, and may be accurate too!

Click to expand...

first, you can buy the "pot", or potentiameter from radio shack, i used a 50k and it worked beautifully, the ***** is grabbing the right pin

second, there is supposed to be a limit at 2.1-2.16v, +/- .07v

alot of ppl are trying to figure out a way around this, either w/ a physical mod(don't think so) or a software "fake-out" of some sort

it is kinda fail safe as is though, cause when you hook it all up you should know which way the pot is turned for max resistance, but if you have it wrong, worry not, it just won't boot, turn it back all the way the other way, might have to clear cmos, and go again

Just bringing alittle somthing to this thread.

Does your 5 volt rail drop on your board when you pass 2400mhz. Originator is Hoot.To fix this i used two wires to the mosfets directly above the AGP slot on the A7N8x Deluxe rev1.04 it did add a .2 of a volt back on as it was sagging to 4.71 on an Vantec 510watt powersupply. Should of got the Turbo Cool 510w power supply byPC power and Cooling.

Will post pics later.

i have an antec truepower 480w, haven't seen a drop in my 5v, oh well, no prob for me i guess

hangten said:

Just bringing alittle somthing to this thread.

Does your 5 volt rail drop on your board when you pass 2400mhz. To fix this i used two wires to the mosfets directly above the AGP slot on the A7N8x Deluxe rev1.04 it did add a .2 of a volt back on as it was sagging to 4.71 on an Vantec 510watt powersupply. Should of got the Turbo Cool 510w power supply byPC power and Cooling.

Will post pics later.

Click to expand...

Someone beat you to it

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58333

Someone beat you to it

Click to expand...

Yeah, but the link i have is to


Hoot

LOL oh well, I was just bringing it into this section sense it is a mod and it works

very helpful =p nj hehe

hangten said:

Yeah, but the link i have is to


Hoot

LOL oh well, I was just bringing it into this section sense it is a mod and it works

Click to expand...

Baahahah lol didn't realise they both went to the same place

I successfuly pulled off the Vcore voltage mod last night. It works perfectly - but it was scary as heck soldering to the Motherboard. When positioned properly (adjusting the knob on the VR). I managed to get it to overvolt by almost exactly by 0.2 - Making 1.5 become 1.7. My board overvolted by about 0.05 to start with, so it will probably be different for everyone.

Just confirming that the mod works - and a piece of advice to make soldering the VR to the pin really easy - simply get a bit of soldering compound onto the underside of the wire, and then let it harden. When you press the wire against the pin angle it so that the solder on the wire is near contact with the pin. Then apply the iron to the top of the wire (conveniently away from any components - the wire is heat proof, unlike the sensitive resistors scattered about!), the heat is sufficient to melt the solder on the other side of the wire and connect it to the pin. Then cover it in hot glue to strenghten the bond. This way you aren't relying on the solder to hold the contact (in other words, you need less solder to get the contact), but still have a surefire connection from the pin to the wire.

Unfortunately for me I borked my BIOS afterwards (I was playing with my old Palomino 1700 for fun - it didn't like my attempts to maliciously force it to 2 GHz and it took it out on my BIOs by corrupting it... ) - so I don't get to enjoy my new Vcore caps untill my new BIOS chip arrives. Sucks.

If you own this board try this mod though - it is easy and worth it!

i didn't solder my connection, it was pure hot glue, i threaded the wire oh so carefully, and then glued to hold

next time i'll use grabbers, much easier

*BUMP*

I don't expect this to be stickied - but could you (Winflex) at least PM nikhsub1 (I will if you want me to ), and see if he will link to this thread in the first post of his Chipset VDD volt mod sticky, with an explanation of what this thread contains, and how his instructions can be applied to these mods as well? This is valuable information that *should* be easily accessable!

Well, my a7n8x has died an early death because of this mod. I guess I must have done something wrong. I wasn't as lucky as others. Anyway, bought an NF7-s....last resort.

-Collin-

SH*T MAN - That really sucks... Did you short pins with the solder?

I feel your pain - I have killed my share of Motherboards myself

You will be happy with the NF7-S though - it is a much better overclocking board.

Really sorry to hear about your loss. It happens to the best of us.