New DFI nF4 Ultra-D build...so perty!

[TimoneX]

I am liking that I see the SLI working. I am about to order an Ultra-D and hope I get one that can still be modded. Or else I will be selling it later this spring when I decide to end up going SLI.

I would order quickly then. I ordered mine from ZZF on Tuesday, so you might want to go with them.

2001se failed half way through at 270x10. I haven't messed with voltages beyond setting vcore to 1.65v so I don't know if I could stabilize it there or not. I tend to think not as this processor just doesn't seem capable of 2.7Ghz. I dropped the speed to 265x10 and completed 01se w/o issue.

 

[TimoneX]

Definately one of the automatically downloaded hotfixes that messed up nVida's firewall & active armor. Uninstalling NAM & all the hotfixes and re-installing NAM has everything working correctly again. I'll try to narrow it down further by re-installing the security updates one at a time for the benefit of others, assuming of course this isn't a conflict specific to my particular hardware configuration, though that seems unlikely.

thats good to know, so these modded ultras will indeed have good resell value

TimoneX, show us some prime95 8+ hours benchies already

Assuming drivers cannot stop the mod from functioning and a source for SLI bridges becomes available yes.

As to the stabile benchies. I can't stop fiddling with stuff long enough to even think about 8+ hours of p95. The BIOS on this thing is really very impressive. It looks like they took the A64 tweaker and imbedded it pretty much. I imagine those new to advanced memory tweaking options would be totally overwhelmed. Anyway I see little point in extended stability testing while the setup is on a bench and the CPU is adorned with this lackluster TT HS since I'll be switching it over to my WC setup soon, most likely at some point today. My gut feeling is I will be able to stabilize it ever so slightly higher than I could the neo2. That is to say right around 2.65 to 2.68Ghz.

 

[TimoneX]

OK I took off the chipset heatsink to snap a shot of the modded chip. Since removing it kind of damages the TIM DFI uses I decided to go ahead and lap the heatsink and replace it with AS5. The heatsink wasn't very well surfaced so it took some time. The markings on the chip are:

QB1800.1 0452A3 C KOREA nForce4 Ultra

 

[TimoneX]

The cooler had a square pad on it to steady it on the relatively small chipset core. I found it was sticky enough that if I carefully removed with a razor I could re-use it. Due to the way video cards actually touch the cooler when installed I believe it would be a mistake to leave the pad off as it would be easy to dislodge the cooler from the chipset when installing a video card. When it came to putting it back together I elected to put the pad on the chip itself rather than the cooler. Kind of curious nVidia didn't do it this way as it covers the area that needs to be modded. Probably wouldn't have stopped the secret from getting out, but it may have helped disuade more people. It seems my efforts have been rewarded as the chipset temp seems to have dropped a couple degrees at idle. It was right around 39c now it seems very steady at 37c.

 

[TimoneX]

Made a 3dmark03 run and got 9556. This was after I let coolbits auto detect. It came up with 579/1.18. I imagine the score would be far better with VX or my Plat rev2 sticks. I'm currently running the 166 divider so memory ends up at 220.

 

[ONE]

How sweet it it, SLI @ a bargain basment price.

 

[TimoneX]

See this is what I'm liking on. Now if we can locate some SLI bridges reasonably cheap. Heck even I might grab another el-cheapo 6600GT just to have something fun to tinker with.

 

[custom_coms]

Got a link to that el-cheapo 6600GT? I can't find any refurbished Albatrons on newegg.com...

Thanks in Advance,
Sam

 

[TimoneX]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-170-072R&type=Refurbished

There's an even cheaper gigabyte and a few others. I just chose the albatron because it has decent ramsinks and OC'd the best in one particular shootout I saw.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-125-156R&type=Refurbished

 

[waddupmm]

If those are the cheapest which would be the best?

 

[TimoneX]

I believe they're all a reference design. If you can find one with 1.6ns memory for about the same price that'd be the best I suppose. The review I read kind of led me away from the gigabyte a bit because it didn't have ramsinks(no biggie), but also I believe the GPU HS was attached with thermal epoxy only and had cracked free during testing.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2295&p=15

Coolbits clocked my albatron to 579/1.18Ghz right out of the box, so I'm rather pleased with my el-cheapo card.

 

[custom_coms]

Anandtech didn't include the eVGA in the review-I just used it in a friends build, nice card, but not the best overclocker (I was getting artifacts all over the place in 3DMark at 560/1000). Now, I probably should've seen what coolbits picked, but many people take these cards much faster. Anyway, thanks for those refurb links. Couldn't find them anywhere!!! Back to the board-how's it doing? If nvidia wouldn't take away the pencil mod and if anandtech didn't announce it to the whold world maybe more of us could get these awesome moddable boards! Now, top of the line perfomance for $300 in graphics cards, thats value!

 

[TimoneX]

Indeed. I'm not much of a gamer, but just the same I'd rather have a board that's moddable than one that isn't and I won't pay $70 more for SLI. I'll take it for free though. Perhaps when this 6600GT isn't getting the graphics job done anymore I can hunt down an SLI bridge and grab another one for a bit of a boost. At least in some games.

 

[waddupmm]

Well i was thinking about getting two of these http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-208&depa=0 but the heatsinks on those things like puny, or I was thinking of getting one of these http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-215&depa=1 (and picking up a 2nd when I save up another 500) not sure how the evga oc's though

 

[TimoneX]

Got 420/1.12Ghz here:

http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=82969

...and 410/1.1Ghz here:

http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=83694

From what I understand that's a fairly average overclock for a 6800GT.

 

[Jiveseed]

Well i was thinking about getting two of these http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-208&depa=0 but the heatsinks on those things like puny, or I was thinking of getting one of these http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-215&depa=1 (and picking up a 2nd when I save up another 500) not sure how the evga oc's though

I'm wanting that 1st one too!!!! The Leadtek "Extreme" 2 of them as soon as the egg has them. They cant be found instock yet (please prove me wrong with a post of where to get them)

 

[TimoneX]

http://www.eyo.com.au/details_D-PX6600GT-Ex.html

Well I proved you wrong. They're on the other side of the planet but they've got a few.

 

[TimoneX]

Ordered up some Twinmos TMSP 2x512 modules. Hopefully I can post some performance comparisons between TCCD & winbond UTT early this week. I'm concerned about my PSU wimping out though. Need to find a good deal on a solid ATX2.0 unit. Anyone have any leads? I'm kind of hoping ewiz will get more of the fortron AX500-A blue storms in for $71 to $75. Shoulda bought one then instead of just telling everyone else where to get the good deal.

N/M. Found the AX500-A for $89 w/ free shipping at electroseller.com if anyone's interested.

http://www.electroseller.com/Mercha...oduct_Code=PS_FSPAX500-A/R&Category_Code=_fsp

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1885.html

 

[TimoneX]

Ack! Power problems!!! I needed SPDIF optical output and being a cheapskate I won't pay for a bracket so I wired up a nice little bracket from old parts. Got it working and feeding my receiver but after a few minutes the computer suddenly rebooted and failed to post. Shutdown & restart...nothing. Reset cmos...nothing. Pull battery for 10mins and reset cmos...nothing. At this point I started getting that icky feeling when you think you've killed a nice toy. I yanked out an old ISO 500w PSU that came with a chieftec case, unplugged everything unneccessary to post, and crossed my fingas. It posted and has worked fine since. Hard to believe, but it seems the tiny 5v line from the SPDIF optical header pushed the PSU to the breaking point. I was at 1.65vcore & 2.7vdimm and had the vid card overclocked. Guess it was just too much for the old FSP400. I've scaled my overclocks back to 240*10, removed the fan on the dimms, tossed my DVD-ROM, and clocked the vid card back to stock. I have an AX500-A on order and will probably delay more overclocking tests untill it arrives.

 

[TimoneX]

Wierd. I updated the bios to 02/09 and I'm blowing through stability tests left and right at 300x9, but 270x10 fails miserably. Wonder why the chip would be more stable at a lower FID.