AI7 + 2.4C @ 3.5ghz on air

Well, I swapped in an Abit AI7 and 2 x 256MB HyperX PC3000 to replace the Abit IS7 and faulty 2 x 256MB HyperX 3200. System specs are in my sig. So far, I'm very pleased with what I'm seeing.

3.5Ghz @ 292FSB using 5:4 divider running at 1.65 volts. Memory is running at 234Mhz with timings of 2-4-4-8 at 3.2 volts. I've only had the system together for about half an hour now so no reports on stability just yet.

Overall, I like the AI7 much much better than the IS7. The 3.2 volts Max VDimm is quite frankly everything I'd hope it would be. Just juice up the RAM and you're good to go! I wasn't expecting to be impressed by μGuru but it's quickly becoming my favorite feature. It's saving me a buttload of time testing out the system. Just start running Prime95 and keep switching the FSB and playing with the voltages (CPU, VDimm, and AGP) until the system becomes unstable. If Prime95 encounters an error, either back down the FSB or raise the voltages. Very convenient.

Anyways, I'm hoping to run 3.6Ghz after breaking in the new components and playing around with the system. I know it's been done before and not really anything special, but it's still a fun goal to shoot for


Here are some screenshots. Sorry for the large files for you 56k users.

Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3

Wanted to add one thing. I'm seeing much better voltage regulation with the AI7 versus the IS7. The 12 volt line would hover around 11.86-11.80 with the IS7 whereas the AI7 is rock steady at 11.99 to 12.00 volts. The IS7 saw the 5 volt line around 4.95-4.92 and the AI7 is at 5.04-5.05. Both the IS7 and AI7 had the 3.3 volt line steady at 3.28 volts.

Thanks for the update. This is cool news.

I don't care what anyone says.....
that is a nice OC.

you are also one of the few AI7 mobo OCers, and it seems to be working out well for you.

see if your sticks could do 2,3,3,7 timmings at that 3.2 vdimm
man, that would be sweet.

good luck on your new rig, and keep us posted.
I wish I had a few extra bills to try out a new system like this.

mica

Yeah, voltage on the memory makes all the difference. I volt-modded my IS7-E before I even installed it (newegg refurb, was a new board). The fact that the 3+V memory options work on the AI7 make it a great alternative to the often-flakey Max3. I also like that they turned the heatsink direction on the AI7 vs the IS7, orienting the heatpipes on the SP-94 a more favorable direction. This can actually be worth 2C under load.

Thanks for the comments people.

micamica1217, previously, I could not run stable at 2-3-3-7 timings. I'm currently doing a burn in with Sandra and Prime95 to see if I can net any improvements. I'll give it a shot tomorrow and see what happens. I'll probably try switching DIMM slots to see if that makes any difference as I'm currently running 1+3 and I've read 2+4 net better results.

larva, it's funny you mentioned the orientation of the SP-94 as I was thinking about commenting on that as well. For those of you who haven't seen the board, the AI7 orients the SP-94 so the heatpipes are layed out horizontal instead of downwards as on the IS7. It's too early to tell with any certainty as the AS5 hasn't settled in yet. But I have yet to breach 50C under load whereas before I've seen max temps in the 53-54 range.

Oh, and I have to add that FanEQ is a wonderful wonderful thing. Enabled under normal mode, the NB fan is undervolted to 8 volts. That drops the rpm to ~4200 and completely eliminates any noise coming from that mini hairdryer. That's almost worth the extra $20 over the IS7 by itself! The CPU fan can also get undervolted to 8 volts. But in my case, it doesn't make much of a difference as the rpms go from 3000->2940 and the fan never made much noise to begin with.

The IS7 has the same fan speed control. I use it to slow my cpu fans to the ragged edge of cooling adequacy. This is why I got the SP94, as it does better at low fan rpm than most, and also why I'd like to pick up an AI7 refurb to further this trend through the more favorable heatpipe orientation. It's a sweet board for sure.

I run my 2800rpm NMB 92mm fan at 80% speed via the bios control, which I think slows the northbridge too. My northbridge is basically silent in any event, so no biggie there. My IS7 had the new blue orb-style heatsink and is quiet at full speed.

Awesome! I just ordered the same combo from ZipZoomFly last night! I have 512megs (2x256) of HyperX PC3500. Hopefully I will be as lucky.

Well, I must have completely missed the fan control on the IS7. I guess I should read the documentation a little more thoroughly in the future. Anyhow, thanks for the info.

Ok, now I picked up on a pretty major problem with μGuru and Sandra last night. First person to pick it out gets a cookie



It turns out that memory benches remain fairly static following changes made in μGuru. The benchmarks you get are representative of the configuration that you boot into Windows. But any changes made in μGuru have a very minimal effect on the memory bandwidth benchmark. FYI, I booted into Windows at 285FSB and got scores of around ~6000 before I dropped the FSB to 100 and reran the test. I have no idea why this is happening and whether or not it's a bug in Sandra or μGuru. CPU-Z obviously registers the changes made by μGuru. Thoughts anybody?

so you see only 1200mhz even though you are running at 100fsb with two sticks of ram or is that only one stick....??? crazy.

btw, how did only one stick work out for you?

mica

edit: ooops, what was I thinking?
yet, how did you get them nice benchies scores at only 100fsb?

mica

Well, I still don't know how it's possible to get those benchies running at 1.2Ghz. There are 2 possibilites that I've come up with:

1. Changes made in μGuru actually don't change anything. Hence the benchmark tests made in Sandra after lowering the FSB to 100 actually reflect the system running with 285FSB.
2. The benchmark results posted by Sandra are based more on system specs than on actual measured performance?

I see serious flaws with either idea but I still don't know what to believe. I am going to do some tests later tonight timing how fast it takes to encode certain video clips at 3.2Ghz and then measure the time it takes after underclocking with μGuru to 1.2Ghz. If there's a big difference, then the problem must lie with Sandra. Otherwise, μGuru might be just a big fake? I'd be interested to see what other AI7 users have experienced in this sense.

BTW, I haven't tested with one stick of RAM as I completely forgot about it I'll give that a whirl later tonight too.

Edit:
It is a problem but it's easily worked around. It means that all OC efforts must be made in the BIOS for the time being instead of relying on μGuru.

Update:

Thanks you micamica for reminding me to check my individual sticks of memory. I've only tested one stick thus far but I'm almost positive the other stick is bad. Here's a screenshot running a single 256MB stick of HyperX PC3000 using 5:4 dividers with 2-2-2-7 timings. Now, this is what I should have been getting all along. Maybe 7k memory benches aren't out of the question.


I have to say, I am NOT impressed with the quality of memory I am seeing in these HyperX modules. Given the other stick is bad, that would make it 1 good stick out of 4 thus far.

but isn't the hyperx only PC3000?
that's like 375MHz?
say ur FSB is 295 MHz...
295/5*4 = 236 MHz X 2(DDR) = 472MHz
u're running like 100 over...If u have the chance, try some PC4000? Those are rated at 466MHz anyways....
me a newbie haha...but dunno how far you can push the ram...

Well actually PC3000 is rated DDR 370, so that's a 102mhz gain.

From what I've read, you get better performance running tighter timings and using a divider as opposed to running high speed memory with very loose timings. That and the fact that HyperX PC3000 is an absolute steal at $104 for 512MB versus the PC4000 which is much more expensive seals the deal for me. I'd love to test out the PC4000 but I really need to get me a nice monitor first.

I wanted to make sure my CPU wasn't causing me any problems. So I popped in a SL6WS 2.6c that's going into a computer I'm building for a friend. If you don't mind stretching a tad bit, that's 3.6ghz on air for the 2.6c

Toaster Oven,

I'm not suprised that you got faster timmings with only one stick.
try the other one, you may just get the same results.

btw, it is much harder to run at the fast timmings that you get with just one stick, when stepping up to two sticks.
you'll most likely need to run at the 2,4,4,8...maybe at a high vdimm.

sorry it's the sad truth.

I have to agree that it's much better to run at fast timmings and 5:4 ratio then at 1:1 and slow timmings....at least 9 out of 10 times.

try to see if the other stick is just as good, then see if you can lower one or two of the last timmings to get just a pinch more speed out of them sticks.

heeroyuy,
pc4000 is rated at 500mhz and pc3700 is 466mhz...

mica

Toaster Oven said:

I wanted to make sure my CPU wasn't causing me any problems. So I popped in a SL6WS 2.6c that's going into a computer I'm building for a friend. If you don't mind stretching a tad bit, that's 3.6ghz on air for the 2.6c

Click to expand...

yeah, that's 3.6ghz as far as I'm conserned.

nice

makes me realy want to try this AI7 real bad.

mica

Nice!

So far, I have not been nearly as fortunate.

I threw in my AI7 last night with a 2.4 M0, Mushkin PC3500 lvl II, SP-94/Tornado. (WD1200JB / Radeon AIW 8500DV / Antec 400sl)

Wasn't looking good to start with, the machine immediately came up with the 'bootblocker' and after trying for a good 10 minutes of nailing the delete key after resetting I was finally able to get it into the BIOS. Put the Mushkin @ 2.8v and that seemed to get me by.

After loading XP, I started playing. I threw so many settings at it I couldn't even tell you at this point what worked and what didn't, but I couldn't even clock stable @ 3ghz. This was pumping 1.675 to the CPU and anywhere from 2.9 to 3.2 to the mushkins with some really laxed timings. Stab me.

I don't know where I'll start tonight, but I might pick up a different PS on the way home just in case. Anyone have experiences with the antec 400sl?

Otherwise, I'm running 220 @ 1:1 for now until I get home to play. Sitting @ 31c Idle.

M0's don't like high voltage, try to keep it @ default 'till you get around 280~285 fsb then worry about raising it .. _THIS_ could be your problem (too much voltage)...

Hmmm wonder if maybe I'm pumping to much through my CPU then. Dang going to have to retest some things on a lower voltage setting.