AW9D-Max Build, Up and Running

Richie13 · Feb 7, 2007

Hey folks,

Everything posted perfectly on the fiirst boot. Man, what a light show that was..LOL. I was really happy the mobo liked the G.Skill ram too. The only thing I'm not liking is the Intel heat sink fan. I checked the FanEQ utility and found the CPU temperature was 61C or 141F after about 20 minutes. Seems a bit high to me considering I used Artic Silver 5. Those lousy fan clips are a bad design if you ask me. Somehow I feel this fan is going to work itself loose and burn up my CPU. I think I'm going to change it out.

I should have my LG DVD drive tomorrow night, so the next step will be to load Windows Vista Ultimate. I'll let you all know how that works out.

Lastly, I want to thank BatBoy, for all the great advice he's been giving me during this build. I have no doubt I would have had problems if he hadn't been around to answer my questions.

Richie

Deanzo · Feb 7, 2007

If your hitting 61c at stock speed then something is wrong, you should start with re-seating your heatsink.

And as for the LED's I laughed so hard when I first saw then going.

What model G.Skill did you get ?

Richie13 · Feb 7, 2007

Deanzo said:
What model G.Skill did you get ?

Deanzo,

The ram is G. Skill 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) for $184.99. But this is the 1.8v-2.0v version. G. Skill makes this same RAM that is much more overclockable with voltages from 2.0v-2.2v for $289.99. If you go with the second one, just make sure the first thing you do is up the voltage setting in the BIOS. Whether by design or not, mine did default to 1.8v, so I had no problem getting up and running.

Richie

batboy · Feb 7, 2007

You are welcome, Richie. No problem. That's why I wear the blue stars.

There are several "LED modes" that can be changed in the BIOS that allow different blinking patterns or you can disable 'em like I did.

Investing in a good CPU heatsink is definitely recommended.

We need to find out what BIOS version came with your motherboard. You will want to update it immediately if the 1.1 version is on there. If the 1.2 version is on it, you'll be ok for now.

Richie got the CAS 5 G.Skill. Think I had recommended the CAS4 stuff, but he's on a tight budget. But, it's all good. Even this cheap RAM will be OK with an E6600/AW9D combo. The more expensive G. Skill that he referred to is the famous "HZ" RAM with D9 chips.

venk · Feb 7, 2007

I had the same problem with my E4300/AW9D-MAX. The retail HS/f would not mount correctly and it lead me to getting tempratures in the 80C range!

I'm cheap, so I replaced it with a $20 Thermaltake Cooler adn now I am running my E4300 at 3 Ghz with temps in the 35-39C range! It's dead quiet too! It installs the same way as the stock cooler so no need to rip the mobo out of the case to mount a back plate.

Link to Cooler

PS. The Light show was FREAKIN' AWSOME, made me wish I bought a case with a window.

Richie13 · Feb 7, 2007

Hey guys,

Okay, I re-seated the Intel heat sink. I'm down to 51C or 123F. Still seems a bit high to me considering I'm idling in the BIOS, but I think this may also be a result of me wanting a very quiet computer. As it is right now, the CPU fan is turning at 2000-2100 RPMs. The stock Antec rear case fan which blows out of the case is on, as well as the Antec power supply fan. My eVGA 7900GS fan is also spinning fine. Since I really can't hear any fan noise, it makes me think I opted for to much quiet resulting in higher temps. I'm going to have to keep an eye on it and make a decision after Vista is loaded.

Batboy, I'll have to find where the BIOS version is located and see which version it is.

Richie

batboy · Feb 7, 2007

On the boot screen there should be a long series of numbers and letters. The last two digits will be -11 or -12. That's the BIOS version.

Hopefully, you have an intake case fan or two also. One of the best mods you can do is cut a blowhole in the side cover and install a 120mm fan for an intake to blow fresh air into the CPU/mosfet/northbridge area.

I put a Zalman 7700 cooler on my wife's computer. It's extremely quiet and much better than the stock cooler. Think it's only about $30 too. You will have to remove the motherboard to mount the back plate though.

Richie13 · Feb 7, 2007

Hi there Bat,

I was able to pause the boot screen. The bottom left numbers show, 9-15-2006 then a long number ending in 12.

For some reason, the dual channel symmetric mode shows my RAM as DDR2-667 instead of DDR2 800. Must be a BIOS thing, which I assume will be addressed with a BIOS update.

My Raptor 150GB drive, which is connected to SATA port #1 is showing as the primary drive now, so it looks like it's ready to install Vista Ultimate.

Also, with the side panel removed, my CPU temp drops down to 45C or 114F. Looks like, at the very least, I'll have to add an intake fan behind the front panel filter. I'm going to have to find a good 120mm fan, not the overly quiet type, which may help cooling a bit.

Richie.

venk · Feb 7, 2007

Richie13 said:
Hi there Bat,

I was able to pause the boot screen. The bottom left numbers show, 9-15-2006 then a long number ending in 12.

For some reason, the dual channel symmetric mode shows my RAM as DDR2-667 instead of DDR2 800. Must be a BIOS thing, which I assume will be addressed with a BIOS update.

My Raptor 150GB drive, which is connected to SATA port #1 is showing as the primary drive now, so it looks like it's ready to install Vista Ultimate.

Also, with the side panel removed, my CPU temp drops down to 45C or 114F. Looks like, at the very least, I'll have to add an intake fan behind the front panel filter. I'm going to have to find a good 120mm fan, not the overly quiet type, which may help cooling a bit.

Richie.

45C is still to hotter than you should be getting. I don't even break 40 on full load running 3.0 Ghz

Richie13 · Feb 7, 2007

venk said:
45C is still to hotter than you should be getting. I don't even break 40 on full load running 3.0 Ghz

Hey Ven,

Yeah, I can see this is going to be a problem. I'll get Vista loaded tonight and then go back to the cooling issue. Thanks for your comments.

Richie

batboy · Feb 7, 2007

Going from 61 degrees at first down to 45 degrees is a nice improvement. At least you know what needs to be done to improve cooling now. Definitely install a front intake fan. Might as well get a better CPU heatsink too. Then you'll be ready to really do some overclocking. Oh yeah, don't worry about the boot screen saying DDR2-667, that means nothing.

Deanzo · Feb 7, 2007

Richie13 said:
Deanzo,

The ram is G. Skill 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) for $184.99.

Thanks mate,
Im using, as batboy puts it "the famous "HZ" RAM with D9 chips" but Im going to be building another pc soon and I dont think my 9 all most 10 year old needs ram at that price so Im starting to keep an eye out what other members are using and like, do you have the full model number or a link just for my info, from there I'll look up what IC's its using and other reviews

Its all so good news on your temps coming down. now we only need you to get a better heatsink and then we can help get that bad boy to really fly

Richie13 · Feb 7, 2007

Deanzo said:
Thanks mate,
Im using, as batboy puts it "the famous "HZ" RAM with D9 chips" but Im going to be building another pc soon and I dont think my 9 all most 10 year old needs ram at that price so Im starting to keep an eye out what other members are using and like, do you have the full model number or a link just for my info, from there I'll look up what IC's its using and other reviews

Its all so good news on your temps coming down. now we only need you to get a better heatsink and then we can help get that bad boy to really fly

Hey Deanzo,

No problem, and the direct link to the Ram is, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231098

Basically this Ram has great reviews, not to mention it got my Abit mobo up and running on the first try. I did try a temporary voltage jump for a couple of hours at 2.0v no problem. Can't beat the price too and it's still on sale.

Richie

Richie13 · Feb 7, 2007

Windows Vista Ultimate loaded pretty well. For some reason, it only recognized 139GB of my 150GB hard drive. Funny because I did have LBA in the bios enabled. Also, I can't seem to get onto the internet and no audio. Somehow my router is isn't allowing Vista to sign on. So I have some work to do here to figure this out.

Richie

Killaapp · Feb 7, 2007

hey Richie, in order to see the size of your formated hard drive you take = hard drive size / 1.024^3 = 150/1.07374 = 139gigs

For the audio and ethernet, you might have to install drivers from the Abit cd, if vista drivers are not included on the abit cd, try checking out www.abit-usa.com - they may have the vista drivers there.

Deanzo · Feb 7, 2007

Lan Drivers aka internet, from here

Sound Drivers for here

These pages have 32 and 64bit drivers for the AW9D Max

When I was using 32bit Vista RC1, I didnt need to load any lan drivers so it could be a setting with in windows or your router

Richie13 · Feb 7, 2007

Hey folks,

Thanks for the help. Man do I feel like an idiot. I should have known that about the hard drive size. As for the on board audio, it was the speakers that were bad. I used my better computer surround system and it works great. Actually, I'm now typing this on the new computer. I had to disconnect my Linksys Etherfast cable router. I don't know if it was a problem with renewing the DNS or if the router needs a firmware update to be compatible with Vista. The router is from back around 2001.

This new computer is really amazing thanks to Abit's mobo. All the components are working perfectly together and Vista Ultimate is wonderful. I really didn't think it would have such a super fast feel to it. Thanks for all your help folks.

Richie

Richie13 · Feb 8, 2007

To bad none of the drivers Abit supplied on the CD worked during the installation. Every time I tried to load them, it says they are for WinXP. The uGuru utilties like, Blackbox, Flashmenu, and uGuru don't work. I've been debating if I should flash the BIOS or not. Running with all stock settings and BIOS version 12 (1.2?), this mobo is totally rock solid.

BTW....any of you purchase this GURU panel that I believe installs in one of the front drive bays? Is this something good to have or is it a waste of money?

Richie

batboy · Feb 8, 2007

Abit has a beta uGuru program available that is supposed to work with Vista. Might check the Abit forum for more info.

Unless you are a pro at BIOS flashing, I don't recommend you doing it right now, especially if FlashMenu is not working in Vista yet. BIOS version 1.2 (most people just refer to it as 12) is fine for now. If you are pushing the max O/C or having a specific issue, then yeah, update to one of the beta BIOS versions. But for now, official version 1.3 does not offer enough advantages to make it worth your while. I was able to overclock pretty well with version 1.2.

The uGuru panel sits on your desk I think. Maybe it goes in a drive bay, but I thought it was bigger than that. Anyway, it's just a fancy bling-bling gadget that displays temps, voltages, and clock speed. Basically the same info that uGuru displays when you pull it up in Windows. Judge for yourself if you want it or not. I personally never had a desire to get one.

Richie13 · Feb 8, 2007

Thanks Bat...I uninstalled the uGuru program since it wasn't working anyway. I'll look into the beta version. I agree with you, for now I'll leave the BIOS update alone, especially since the system ,as is, has been rock solid.

Richie

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