MB holding back my sl6wk? (need recommendations...)

Hey guys I've been through two different kinds of memory on my 30-cap sl6wk on by abit IC7-MAX3. Hyperam 4200 and Corsair 4000. It runs at 235 with stock voltage (1.475 in BIOS, 1.39 full load in speedfan) but needs big bumps to get up higher. And I can never get 250 stable 1:1 or 5:4. I have tried every GAT and voltage combination up 1.65 Vcore, 2.8 Vdimm and 1.65 AGP. Memory timings are manually set to memory speed of 3-8-4-4 as read in BIOS. I would call my cooling adequate and I even put a HS on my southbridge and a NB-1C on my NB. So I am starting to think it is my board. Could someone mention another proven board that has got them to stable 250 FSB without volt mods or extra cooling? Or is this rare? Thanks for the help!

ahhhhhh, i look everywhere for answers, and everyone says the IC7-MAX3, besides the Vdimm above 2.8 problem, simply rocks. Reviews with super high fsb are everywhere. maybe i just need water. oh man being in the forum is expensive

I doubt watercooling will solve your problems, at least not with a Northwood. My 3.0C does a max stable 3.8 gig on air and guess what it does on water? You guessed it, 3.8 gig too. It's possible you have a bum mobo, but that just seems unlikely to me (but I've been wrong before).

hmmm, time to look at an AI7. do you have any extra sinks on it or is it bone stock?

My AI7 is stock... well, I pulled the N/B cooler off, lapped it and reinstalled with AS, but other than that it's stock.

batboy said:

My AI7 is stock... well, I pulled the N/B cooler off, lapped it and reinstalled with AS, but other than that it's stock.

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did that help your overclock or did you just do that for fun? oh do you think 3.25 on 3.3V line and 11.92 on 12V line is too low for full load?

dude its ur chip, get another chip and try, some cpus hit a wall no matter the voltage. I had one like that and I sold it like a plague. until you try another cpu, you cant say its the board.

veryhumid said:

did that help your overclock or did you just do that for fun? oh do you think 3.25 on 3.3V line and 11.92 on 12V line is too low for full load?

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It did not help my O/C at all. The voltages are a tiny bit low, but not enough to be a problem.

Situman has a point. Unless you test that 3.0C in another system or try a different CPU, all we can do is guess.

the max 3 rocks i love it my chip sucks 3.0c sl6wk 12 cap gonna get a new one. it has suffered sudden northwood death syndrome.

my max3 does 300fsb no sweat right outta the box, no mods at all.

yeah i really haven't been fair to the board Once I rake up a bit more cash I think I will try an M0 stepping 2.8. Thanks for the input, guys.