NF7-S rev 2.0 BIOS question.

What exactly do the third party BIOSes do to make the overclock more stable? I am wondering since I have the NF7-S rev 2.0 board running the stock BIOS with a 2500+ Sempron @ 2016Mhz. The FSB is at 192Mhz with the voltage at 1.808v. It needs to be this high in order to keep the chip stable. Strangely my max temp is only 40*C.

I havent put on my mosfet sinks I dremmeled up yet since ive been too poor to buy thermal epoxy and dont want to risk hot glueing the edges in case they get too hot and soften the glue.

Do you think upgrading the bios will allow me to push the FSB farther. Im hoping to get it to at least a full 200Mhz. Maybe 215 - 220Mhz.

I am too thinking about seeing If I can get a barton 2800+ from ebay for cheap, maybe a 3000+,... and since when is there a socket A 3200+?

Anyway Im just wondering if the bios upgrade would help and if so wich one would you recomend for the NF7-S rev 2.0?

Thanks

Some moded bios a for specfic Ram , some are for l2 mods doen with software
I had the mb and loved it i think Tictac made some great bios for that board

They are modded mostly to help with the mobo handling over 512 of RAM or running the RAM at 2T / CPC Off. If you have over 512 of RAM I would highly suggest using one of them. I like the Taipan BIOS, and trust me, I've used a lot of them. Here is a link to it BIOS. I added the new SATA BIOS to it too.

Yea, I wouldn't use hot glue. They would fall off. You could use just a dab of superglue if you wanted.

I wouldn't see why not. I think you could do 230 and still keep some good timings.

I would look for a 2600 mobile or one close to that. Then you can change the multi, which you will need if you want to push the fsb higher than where you are.

If your running pc3200 at 192mhz, then your memory isn't even overclocked yet. But even with an uber-bios, I think that is about the top end of that chip. Just try to find the taipan bios and see what it can do for you.

So the sata bios will work with sata drives properly, I knwo some will corrupt devices. I dont currently have a sata drive, only 2 IDEs but I plan to get a third 300-400GB sata around christmas time. I need more storage.

Yeah I have 1GB of ram. It cheap crap but its speed is 400Mhz so I dont see why the machine would become unstable untill I pass the 400Mhz mark (200FSB).

Also this bios if for the version 2 of the NF7-S?

Ill probably get some epoxy soon. Ive kinda been putting it off. How much does cooling the mosfets actually help for a stable OC anyway.

I just am not satisfied with only a 15% OC. If I can get the FSB to 200mhz putting my ram at its rated 400Mhz and the cpu at 2100Mhz Ill be a bit more satisfied.

Ill look into the mobile chips. Id perfer them too since they require less power.

Oh and do I need to do the L12 mod for the taipan bios?

Yes, it is the newest BIOS for the SATA and has some performance enhancements. I updated my BIOS while I had my SATA HD installed and had no problems.

Yeah I have 1GB of ram. It cheap crap but its speed is 400Mhz so I dont see why the machine would become unstable untill I pass the 400Mhz mark (200FSB).

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If it's real cheap then it might not even run at it's rated specs, just remember that.

Also this bios if for the version 2 of the NF7-S?

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Yes it is.

Ill probably get some epoxy soon. Ive kinda been putting it off. How much does cooling the mosfets actually help for a stable OC anyway.

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I really didn't notice much. I just helps with the rails when you push your chip to around 2v.

L12 is not required, it is only recommended.

what exaclty does the L12 mod do?

My nf7s v2 toped out @ about 245 fsb ( and it wasnt the ram cause it is the same ram i use now and it does 280 and still passes memtest fine

Well thanks for the info. I will try flashing to the bios later this week and let you guys know how it goes.

Hopefully I dont brick the thing like I did before when I accidentaly flashed the version 1 bios to my version 2 board. computer was out of commission for 2 months untill I ordered a new bios. Had to use a 400Mhz laptop for that period,... had a busted mouse pad and it wouldent accept a usb mouse. (stupid crap). On the bright side I can now use windows almost flawlessly without a mouse LMAO!

Ill let you know how it goes.
Thanks for the help.

Alright I flashed to the taipan bios. Works a bit better, I can get the machine to boot into windows at 200fsb now. (before it would crash while booting or error in post). It wont pass prime95 though. I even turned up the core voltage to 1.85v and still wont pass.

How much voltage can I put through this chip. Ive seen people run bartons at 2.2v but im not sure how much a throughbred can handle? 1.9v? 2.0v? Im gonna sink my mosfets to see If I can lessen the fluctuations on the Vcore and maybe try the L12 mod.

jiggamanjb, your the only other guy ive seen to run thier xp-m 2600 at 2.7ghz. you legend!

Mine needed 1.975v to keep stable, but it ran at that speed for over a year 24/7. cept mine was a bit cooler even though it was on air. TTBT with a delta tfb1212ghe on top @ 7v (its on my 939 system now). i think it was in the high 30's under load in summer.

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=94803

she's not my main mechine now, so its only at 2.2 on crap cooling. Bought a 6800xt for it today and unlocked it to 16/6 with no hassles.

back on topic, bios will take a lot of trial and error. I think im on a taipan bios atm, but i can't remember. its about the 400th bios ive been on. like said i ran my xp-m, which has a lower default voltage, at 1.975 for over a year. It all depends on cooling. If you temps are in the 50's, then voltage increases arn't really an option as they increase the temps. It took from 1.850v to 1.975v to get my chip from 2600mhz to 2700. this is somthing you will notice. as the chip reaches its limit, the voltage required will increase exponentially. at this point you should stop as it will damage the chip. (my chip will no longer run at 2500mhz, let alone 2700(although this may be bios related, my last bios change ruined my overclock))

Skeith said:

Alright I flashed to the taipan bios. Works a bit better, I can get the machine to boot into windows at 200fsb now. (before it would crash while booting or error in post). It wont pass prime95 though. I even turned up the core voltage to 1.85v and still wont pass.

How much voltage can I put through this chip. Ive seen people run bartons at 2.2v but im not sure how much a throughbred can handle? 1.9v? 2.0v? Im gonna sink my mosfets to see If I can lessen the fluctuations on the Vcore and maybe try the L12 mod.

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Does your memtest pass? I would check just to make sure it isn't you mem that is failing.

People start to get iffy around 2v. I'd say stay under that and you'll be fine.

jiggamanjb, your the only other guy ive seen to run thier xp-m 2600 at 2.7ghz. you legend!

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LOL, thanks. I think when the real cold air blows through here in the comming months I'm gonna stoke her up. Maybe put 2.2v or more on it and see what the max is.

On a side note, I reseated my waterblock on my 6800 and my temps dropped about 10-20C idle. I was always wondering why my 6800 was idling around 55C on water and adding tons of heat to my loop.....

back on topic, bios will take a lot of trial and error. I think im on a taipan bios atm, but i can't remember. its about the 400th bios ive been on. like said i ran my xp-m, which has a lower default voltage, at 1.975 for over a year. It all depends on cooling. If you temps are in the 50's, then voltage increases arn't really an option as they increase the temps. It took from 1.850v to 1.975v to get my chip from 2600mhz to 2700. this is somthing you will notice. as the chip reaches its limit, the voltage required will increase exponentially. at this point you should stop as it will damage the chip. (my chip will no longer run at 2500mhz, let alone 2700(although this may be bios related, my last bios change ruined my overclock))

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Excellent point about the voltage increase! You may be able to 2Ghz w/ 1.8v but you might need close to 2v to get to 2.1Ghz. That has been the same with every chip I've owned. When you get close to the max of the chip you are going to have to give her a ton of volts to max it out!

Skeith, you have to remember that people running 2.2v on the core are running phase change cooling an such (load temps of -50*c) running close to 2v is pritty iffy, but can be done, as you can see.

jiggamanjb, 2.8 was the quickest I ever got my chip to post. She just wouldn't go any faster. it is a IDYHA stepping too. good luck with winding it up man.

You must do the l12 mod for the mobo to boot at 200 and run stable.
With the stock bios 7-3-3-2.5 will be the fastest setting that the ram can achieve, anything faster and it will actually slow it down.This is not true for a modded bios because it introduces more wait cycles limiting the bandwidth.
http://www.geocities.com/trats102002/nf7sFsbsense.htmlThis is the best picture for the mod that I have found.