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bios eeprom on Th7II-R?

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evilted26

Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2002
Can anyone tell me what type of EEPROM is used for the bios chip on the TH7II-RAID? I'll be purchasing one for my new system, and I intend to order the BIOS Savior from EksitData.com, but I'm not sure which bios savior to get.

Also, has anyone seen any advantage from cooling the PLL chip or anything else miscellaneous on the TH7II?

I've got a heavily modded Koolance PC2-601, and I'll be using the Digital Doc 5 and PC Geiger since this will be my first agressive o/c attempt. Still waiting for the 200W waterblock from Koolance though.
 
I have done cooling mods to 3 Abit mobos now (but only one was a TH7-II). I've stuck heatsinks on about anything I could on my old SE6 and SA6. The best and most noticeable results were always improvements of the northbridge chip cooling. About the only thing else worth cooling is the clock generator (PLL), but even that doesn't help much except at fairly high FSB speeds (well above 133 FSB).

On the TH7-II, it's very easy to remove the northbridge sink. You'll find a foam spacer around the outer edge of the heatsink and heat tape gunk in the middle. They also use thermal paste on top of the heat tape, although I'm not sure why they use both. I cleaned the entire northbridge heatsink off and lapped it (there were visible machine marks on the sink face). Then I reinstalled it using Arctic Silver. Lastly, I installed a Sunon high output 40mm fan onto the sink.
 
My 60mm Fan Mod.

nb.jpg


There is my 60mm NB mod on my TH7-2. I'm currently burning in the CPU at 1.6V and have not experienced any issues thus far. Instead of Arctic Silver 3, which can be used no problems without damaging the core, I used some Alumina only cause its non-elec. conductive and I wouldnt have to wait upto 72 hours for AS3 to become non-elec. conductive on a thick coat.
 
Wow, I like it. How did you get it attached? Maybe a little bit of overkill, but that northbridge should never get even slightly warm... lol.
 
Overkill, probably... But it was the only fan I had kicking around to use. :)

As for whats holding it down, some crazy glue and hot glue did the trick. It's on there tight and will not fall off.

Another prime example of ghetto mods, you dig? ;)
 
Speaking of overkill...When I get the new 200W waterblock from Koolance, I'm still going to have this old CPU waterblock. Any ideas what I should do with it? I thought of slapping it on the northbridge w/ a 30W peltier, but that's beyond overkill. Any problem with doing it anyway? Any other ideas? I read an article that said that northbridge cooling was a limiting factor long before memory, but how hot can it really get? It's only designed for 8.9W max!
 
The higher you push the FSB, the hotter the Northbridge gets. Above 150 FSB, northbridge chip cooling gets very critical. Below 133 FSB, not so much is needed. The peltier is probably very much overkill, but it might a good idea to attach a water block to the northbridge. If I ever do watercooling, I'll have water blocks on the CPU, northbridge, and GPU.

The RDRAM gets much warmer than the older SDRAM. It might be wise to position a fan pointed at the RAM to provide air circulation in order to prvent heat build-up there too. A side blow hole might be just the ticket.
 
My Cpu temperatures are 42 Celcius Idle to 53 on full load, I'm using a Intel Northwood 1.8, not overclocked using stock hsf

If i put a fan on the northbridge will the CPU temperature decrease? also a 60mm fan do the trick, cause i can't find anywhere the 40mm ones.
 
I seriously doubt that northbridge chip cooling will help CPU cooling. Your CPU cooling probably should be a top priority. If you can't afford a new and improved CPU cooler, then at least pull the retail heatsink off, clean it up, and reinstall it using a good thermal paste (like Arctic Silver). A higher flow fan to replace that crappy CPU fan might help too. Maybe you can figure out a cheap mod to replace the stock 70mm one with a better 80mm fan.
 
I had intended on water-cooling my I850 chip but the block was too big and mounting was a concern.
I decided I'm just gonna buy a 3/8 id brass elbo and slap that on there. much smaller and easier to mount.
I've already done the conformal coating around the area and on the back of the mobo so I may as well take advantage ;)
 
batboy said:
I seriously doubt that northbridge chip cooling will help CPU cooling. Your CPU cooling probably should be a top priority. If you can't afford a new and improved CPU cooler, then at least pull the retail heatsink off, clean it up, and reinstall it using a good thermal paste (like Arctic Silver). A higher flow fan to replace that crappy CPU fan might help too. Maybe you can figure out a cheap mod to replace the stock 70mm one with a better 80mm fan.

i'm using a thermal paste already, without it my temperatures are 70-80Celcius , this stock heatsink is really great i see :D, i mean i'm not even overclocking. I took it out a number of times, same temperatures i get all the times it is corectly fixed in position.

Do you think that the sunflower hsf will decrease my temperatures a lot more? or do i need to get a high noise fan like an delta? cause i can't stand the noise neither can my g/f in my bedroom
I have $100 to spend on a hsf, which is the best with least noise in your opinion, i haven't got the energy to go watercooling
 
CD- How the heck did you get a 1.2GHz overclock? You from Alaska or something? ;)
 
The Sunflower is a good cooler and it's lots quieter than a Swifty that uses one of those high RPM 80mm Delta fans. However, the Swiftech MCX478 is without a doubt THE best air cooler available for the Northwood. A nice compromise (that TC reports works well) is to buy the Swifty heatsink (they can be bought without a fan) and then getting a good high output Sunon 80mm fan or something similar that is much quieter than the Delta.
 
Here's my northbridge mod.

I took an old Alpha PEP66 PIII cooler (it's a monster) and cut it to 45mm X 50mm for the base dimensions. Next I removed the stock i850 chipset heatsink. I cleaned it off and applied Arctic SilverIII. I then put the same mounting spring mechanism into the center of the PEP66 and installed it for a perfect fit. I also installed a 60mm sunon fan blowing into the top. Been running at 2.4 Ghz with temps of 39.5C idle to 50C full load at 1.76vcore, no hiccups. Now I'm prepped for future water cooling at extreme voltage.


here's some of my benchies
 
heres what my I850 chipset heatsink will look like
74091.jpg
of course it will have some -30c water running through it ;)
 
Hi Batboy..re the fan on your Swiftech HeatSink

I have an extra fan like the one u have on your cpu heatsink I think it is 80cfm @ 1.35 amps. my question is : Are u running that fan off the TH7II-Raid`s mobo`s Fan #2 connector or are u using a 12v {4 pin} lead from the Power Supply? I`m not sure what the current rating is on the fan connectors on my mobo and dont want to burn it up :eh?:

Also I`m running a Northwood 2.0a and would like to get up to 2.6 or so, Do I need to do the cpu voltage wird wrap thing?

Thanks in advance
Ice-Ninja
 
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batboy said:
The Sunflower is a good cooler and it's lots quieter than a Swifty that uses one of those high RPM 80mm Delta fans. However, the Swiftech MCX478 is without a doubt THE best air cooler available for the Northwood. A nice compromise (that TC reports works well) is to buy the Swifty heatsink (they can be bought without a fan) and then getting a good high output Sunon 80mm fan or something similar that is much quieter than the Delta.

On the main page, the rated cpu heatsinks, it sais ax478 is the best. Did the Swiftech mcx478 come out after they made that chart? How much lower do you think temps will get from 44-45 load, from my alpha 8942 with a panflo h1a, to what you said?
I'm looking to hit 133 fsb (currently at 120 stable, havent tried higher, don't wanna run my pci/agp way outta spec), with 1.85 voltage i hear i need. Since my load temps right now are at 44-45, i dunno what to do. Suggestion? Watercooling isn't an option, i want to use air. 2.2a chip with p4t-e.
 
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