2400+ on a A7V133

OK, so I am at the local computer shop looking for a nice 2100+.
I want to put it in my A7V133-C rev 1.05. (with dot) and bios 1010.10b. Asus say that this is as high as it will support.

Well the guy behind the counter tells me this board will take up to a 2400+. Is this True, or was he trying to make an extra 50 bucks? He actually said that if it didn't work, he would take it back. I didn't buy it yet. I wanted to find the opinion of the board.
how high can i go?

Look to my sign!!

With the kt133a chipset (that we have!) u can put a cpu with the multiplier greater than 13x (>2100+) 'cause our mainboard will add 8x to the multiplier u put! And without any mod!!
Example: i put 9x at 133mhz in the bios and in reality i am 17x (=9x+8x) at 133mhz = 2261mhz=a Barton 3200+ !!

But u need to take a cpu with an unlocked multiplier (mostly are the cpu before week 39).
For example the step of my cpu is:
AXDC2400DKV3C 9739285260237
AQXEA 0337TPMW
and u can see the week on the last numbers "0337TPMW", the year is 03 and the week 37.

U have also to know that at fsb 133mhz unfortunately the only multiplier that works fine is 9x (=17x) so u need to overclock like i done, but 90% u can do it, maybe with a little overvolt (i'm vcore default, but i was lucky!).
If u want u can use the fsb of 100mhz and there u have almost a full range of frequency. If u look in this forum u will find a topic on the kt7 (that is the kt133 chipset, the one before our kt133a, that dont support the fsb 133mhz) where the available multipliers are showed.

But my advice is to take a Thorton 2400+ before week 39, than easily mod to enable the rest of the cache so u'll have a Barton, and finally put it on your mainboard at 133mhz of bus. And u'll have a Barton 3200+!!

My A7V133 1.05 no dot is not happy with my 1600+. I can't seem to get it stable. I have another thread here about it but figured I'd whine here also. I can't figure out what to do. Windows crashes sometimes, Prime95 dies after a few minutes complaining about being unable to read from the temp file. Hey, a rounding error I can understand but failing to read from a temp file? What is that about?

Any advice on settings to try (I'm at 10.5*133 - nothing tricky) using a Palomino. Vcore is 1.75 as per the Palomino spec. I've tried lower. Maybe I should try higher.

Perhaps a new power supply. I think I'll look at a Fortron(?) 350 for it. Always a good idea to have a spare anyway.

dgk said:

Maybe I should try higher.

Perhaps a new power supply.

Click to expand...

what u wrote is what i wanted to say...
unfortunately i never had a 1600+ on my board..so i dont know if the problem is of an incompability of the core (i dont think)

If u try the 2 solutions u said and it didnt work yet.. the problem is the cpu or the mainboard...
(if u havent done, try also to change the bios settings of the cpu - strengh - and of the ram - timings)

I have a very good one power supply, just bought! so i can tell u! its a Techsolo TP-500W, its enough powerfull for an OC, its very quiet and also cheap (i've spent 35euros in Italy)
I hope u can find it!

tuleggi - My parents have a KT7a rev 1.0 at home and I was looking into a new processor for them. The thunderbird 850 isn't cutting it anymore. What did you have to do to get the thorton 2400 to work? Basically I wouldn't mind a complete rundown on what you did to get it up and going. $75 to double or tripple the cpu power is well worth it.

Ive done nothing!! eheh!!
I mean no hardware modification, but...
you should find a 2400+ (or something higher 2100+) unlocked.
Basically that means that, i f u can, u have to try the cpu and see if the multiplier can change through bios, or, if u cannot try the cpu before buying, u have to look to the stepping number write on the cpu like i said before.
Then after u install the cpu u have to enter in the bios and u set the multiplier at 9x and the bus at 133/33, maybe u have to rise the value of the vcore (the default is 1,65V but u can go up to 1,85V) if windows has some crashes. And stop.
Just one more thing..if your power supply is not well enough ull not able to run this new cpu, since it requires a lot of energy.

That's what I am looking for tuleggi, No Modification. I want to be able to lock and load.

1) Would I have more garenteed success with a Thorton 2400+ or a T-bred 2400+?

2) What stepping would you recommend for these processors?
Because I almost have enough guts to try it now.

Are there any other people running a 2400+ on a kt133a chipset, or and asus A7V133-c mobo?

Thanks tuleggi. I'm not too worried about it being unlocked. It should work even if it's locked right? I don't plan on overclocking it or even worrying about running it at it's full speed. Just want a cheap upgrade to get the computer through the next 2 years. I'll replace the whole thing when my youngest brother goes to college.

hibner, the T-bred 2400+ doesnt exist, so no doubts!
But it exist the T-bred 2600+ that it is better(higher mhz) if u dont want to do the modification (yes this time is a hardware mod, but very simple) to the thorton 2400+ @Barton (basically ull enable the rest of the secondary cache, like i done).
Then if u want to overclock (like i done..) its very easy if u find an unlocked cpu, and almost every thortons 2400+ can reach our 9x(=17x)133 = 2261mhz, and for sure every T-breds 2600+ can do that.

But, to answer to Ravsitar, u could also take a locked cpu if u dont mind u cannot overclock. A 2400+ will work at the original frequency, that means 2000mhz...however your bus speed will be 100mhz instead of 133mhz (that u could put in a kt133a). In the bios u have just to set default values (maybe always in the bios u have to set your value of "cpu drive strengh" to "3").

Thanks tuleggi. That's probably plenty fast. This way I don't have to worry about finding an unlocked one or not.

dgk said:

My A7V133 1.05 no dot is not happy with my 1600+. I can't seem to get it stable. I have another thread here about it but figured I'd whine here also. I can't figure out what to do. Windows crashes sometimes, Prime95 dies after a few minutes complaining about being unable to read from the temp file. Hey, a rounding error I can understand but failing to read from a temp file? What is that about?

Any advice on settings to try (I'm at 10.5*133 - nothing tricky) using a Palomino. Vcore is 1.75 as per the Palomino spec. I've tried lower. Maybe I should try higher.

Perhaps a new power supply. I think I'll look at a Fortron(?) 350 for it. Always a good idea to have a spare anyway.

Click to expand...

Wow... someone else with excactly my problem. I have a 1.05 no dot and get the very same errors with a barton mobile. Comp is stable in prime95 as long as the entire working set is in memory - i get the temp file error too. Programs do not load at all or load with "file corruption" warnings. Copying and comparing a 900 meg avi file between 2 drives didnt show any errors though (??). I get "ntfs.dll" blue screen errors too and occasional IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and kMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_SUPPORTED in ntoskernel.exe

I ran the latest 1010.01b bios but it didnt want to work reliably with my radeon 9100, so i flashed back to 1.009. It just isnt stable at any setting and I have no clue whatsoever where to start looking.
BTW, windows will only load when pci is precisely 33.3 mhz - booting at f.ex 125 fsb doesnt work and windows will crash immediately with a could not load ntoskernel or some other read error. Grrrrr... I think ill write asus and whine a bit.

BTW my power supply is a chieftec 420W, my problems are definitively not power related.

I got it working now..

No more disk errors and it appears to be totally stable. You have to do this: Download this bios http://www.a7vtroubleshooting.com/info/bios/avu1010_beta001b.zip ,install and enable "fair arbiting pci/cpu" and "guaranteed time slice". Then while in jumperfree mode set up your system to boot at desired fsb and multi with the dip switches for fsb and multi, then enter bios and fine tune fsb. If you need to run at 120+ mhz you need to set the switches to 133 fsb. Then you are set. I am running at 12.5@ 125 fsb now for testing purpouses, no errors at all (this setting wouldnt even load windows before).

P.S I used 3.35 V as i/o voltage setting, shouldnt matter but who knows.

Update: I found out that bios settings doesnt matter, the important part is that you are using the dip switches for fsb / multiplier. I use a barton btw.

2400+ on A7V133

Currently I have an A7V133 Rev 1.04, Actually its my wifes computer, running a XP 2400+ thoroughbred B with no modifications at all.The only thing I had to do was manually set the Vcore to 1.65 because the board in auto was setting it at 1.5. The clock is currently set at 142 MHz@15 for a processor speed of 2130. I am using the stock AMD cooling fan and it reaches a max temp of 115 F running prime 95. Asus says it will only run up to 2100 Palomino But so far I have run a Thunderbird 1.13 Gig. 266 FSB, a 2100+ Palomino, a 2100+ Thoroughbred a, and now the 2400+ Thoroughbred B. It is pretty funny, my wifes A7V133 is now running at a faster processor speed than my A7V333 with a 2600+ Barton. But mine still out performs it due to DDR ram and the additional L2 cache. But any way the board has more capabitities than what Asus leads us to believe.

Thanks for the update Cainfoo. Finally someone gives me a straight answer.

I'm running a 1600 Palomino in a 1.05. I may have bumped the Vcore up a little (can't remember, too lazy to check), I have the FSB at 137 I believe. It is very stable, and mostly just runs Folding at Home.

You guys might want to check the northbridge HSF. There was no thermal grease of any kind under mine when I pulled it off.

No Problem

You are very welcome hope it helped. And yes it is true my north bridge fan also had no heats sink compound of any kind under it. I just recently put a vantek chip set cooler on it because the original fan was making a lot of noise. I was afraid it might quit and cause overheating issues. The cooler only cost 10 dollars and was easy to replace. The cooler came with compound but I chose to use artic silver like I use on all my CPU's. If you have any other questions just post or e-mail me.

One more thing

I thought I would also tell you, I am using the latest beta bios 1010.001 beta I believe. I am not sure if this will make any difference with you processor compatability.

@ Cainfoo

Hi

What bios version do you use ???

Is it right, that a thoroughbred B = thorton ???

And which OS do you use ???


I have a A7V133 Rev.1.04 ,too, with a Thorton 2000+. But the board doesn't boot ???

So i think that i have a very old bios version 1004 and i should update it on 1010.01b

Thank you

Re: @ Cainfoo

sanumie said:

Is it right, that a thoroughbred B = thorton ???

Click to expand...

No a Thoroughbred B is not the same as a Thorton core. Thorton is between a Thoroughbred and a Barton.

I don't think this board will support a Thorton, without some heavy modding.

Thorton Core

No, As stated above, a Thorton is not a TBred B. A Thorton is a Barton core with 1/2 the L2 cache disabled. I have no experience with the Thorton cores on this motherboard. I have read that the L2 cache can be enabled to turn your Thorton into a Barton.