What is the best mobo and memory????

[mattspalace]

Batboy and I both have AI7's in our rigs, and I don't have any complaints about it. Very feature rich for the price.

-One bad thing I can think of... I had to buy some crap PC2100 memory to get the board to post. The vDimm is defaulted to 2.5 or 2.6 volts, can't remember which though.. after that everything was all good. (I was using Mushkin Lvl II PC3500 at the time and it needed more voltage to post).

There could be a workaround I'm not aware of though..

 

[Kenshiro]

Batboy and I both have AI7's in our rigs, and I don't have any complaints about it. Very feature rich for the price.

-One bad thing I can think of... I had to buy some crap PC2100 memory to get the board to post. The vDimm is defaulted to 2.5 or 2.6 volts, can't remember which though.. after that everything was all good. (I was using Mushkin Lvl II PC3500 at the time and it needed more voltage to post).

There could be a workaround I'm not aware of though..

Hmmmmm...... how many AI7 owners have the same problems??

I'm helping my friend to build this computer, so I hate to have the responsibility that his mobo has problems running PC4000 memory.

 

[batboy]

I have both the IC7 and AI7 and like them both. The IC7 seems to do better at high FSB (above 290 FSB) like with my 2.4C. The AI7 does indeed allow up to 3.2v vdimm which is cool.

I had the same problem with my AI7 and Mushkin PC3500 level 2 (which uses BH-5 chips that prefer higher vdimm). I have not heard of PC4000 causing that problem. The work around is to use one stick of RAM at first to boot into the BIOS and increase the vdimm or boot with different RAM the first time (which is what I did). Think I used Kingston PC3000 RAM the first time.

 

[GST-97]

I have an Abit AI7 myself, it's overclocking my Prescott pretty well so far, and I think my power supply might be what is holding me back from getting my 2.8E past 3.5 Ghz stable (It will boot at 3.8 but can't make it past 1 loop of prime95). I would not recommend a prescott to anyone on aircooling however, as it does like to run warm, even at default speed/Vcore.

For the price, I bet it would be hard to compete with the AI7 for the amount of features it has.

-Chris

 

[Kenshiro]

I have an Abit AI7 myself, it's overclocking my Prescott pretty well so far, and I think my power supply might be what is holding me back from getting my 2.8E past 3.5 Ghz stable (It will boot at 3.8 but can't make it past 1 loop of prime95). I would not recommend a prescott to anyone on aircooling however, as it does like to run warm, even at default speed/Vcore.

For the price, I bet it would be hard to compete with the AI7 for the amount of features it has.

-Chris

Did you have the same problem that Batboy has with his memory???

 

[batboy]

Not all AI7 do this and the only RAM I've heard that caused a problem on initial boot is Mushkin PC3500 level 2. I have never heard of any other RAM causing a problem. Mushkin PC4000 uses Hynix chips I think, not Winbond BH-5 chips like the PC3500 level 2 uses.

 

[mattspalace]

Mushkin PC4000 definately does not use BH-5, and I think you're correct Batboy about it using Hynix. That's also what I heard... it's only the BH-5 stuff causing the problem/headache..

 

[GST-97]

Sorry, had forgotten to mention that I have no problems booting with my OCZ Gold PC3700 RAM, and have it running at 2.8V right now

-Chris

 

[reverse]

Here's the workaround for the AI7 initial boot problem if using Mushkin LVL2 modules (or maybe anything BH5 that requires some voltage)

When you power on, hold the F1 key while continuously hitting delete. I dont know how I figured that out but it worked for me out of frustration.

 

[Kenshiro]

Great....... I think I will recommend the AI7 to my friend, since it is still a great mobo to overclock and cost way much less than the IC7.

Mushkin 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-4000 - Retail
Specification
Manufacturer: Mushkin
Speed: DDR500(PC4000)
Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 3-4-4
Support Voltage: 2.5V-2.8V
Bandwidth: 4.0GB/s
Organization: 64M x 64 -Bit
Warranty: Lifetime more info>
N82E16820146312 $116.00
$232.00

Processors
Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - Retail
Specification
Model: Intel Pentium 4 2.8C w/ Hyper Threading
Core: Northwood
Operating Frequency: 2.8GHz
FSB: 800MHz
Cache: L1/12K+8K; L2/512K
Voltage: 1.525V
Process: 0.13Micron
Socket: Socket 478
Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2
Warranty: 3-year MFG
Packaging: Retail box (with Heatsink and Fan) more info>
N82E16819116161

ABIT i865PE Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU, Model "AI7" -RETAIL

Specifications:
Supported CPU: Socket 478 Intel Pentium 4 Processors (Prescott Ready)
Chipset: Intel 865PE + ICH5R
FSB: 800/533/400MHz
RAM: 4x DIMM Support DDR400/333/266 Max 4GB
IDE: 2x ATA 100 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 1x AGP 8X/4X(0.8/1.5V), 5x PCI
Ports: 2xPS/2,1xCOM,1xLPT,8xUSB2.0(Rear 4),1xLAN,3xIEEE1394(Rear 1),SPDIF In/Out, Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: Realtek ALC658 6-Channel Codec
Onboard LAN: 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet
Onboard SATA/RAID: 2x Serial ATA, RAID 0/1
Onboard 1394: 3 Ports
Form Factor: ATX


I will recommend these components to my friend. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[reverse]

First thing to do when he gets the board is to disable PAT. Otherwise he'll be banging his head from the get go.

 

[GST-97]

My AI7 came with the PAT (AKA Game accelerator) functions set to disabled.
I can't enable them without getting a BIOS CHECKSUM ERROR upon reboot. I don't know why, but the system memory scores are very high anyways even with it disabled.

-Chris

 

[microfire]

Here's the workaround for the AI7 initial boot problem if using Mushkin LVL2 modules (or maybe anything BH5 that requires some voltage)

When you power on, hold the F1 key while continuously hitting delete. I dont know how I figured that out but it worked for me out of frustration.

That trick has never worked for me, with BH-5 in any configeration.

 

[Maxvla]

Hmmmmm...... how many AI7 owners have the same problems??

I'm helping my friend to build this computer, so I hate to have the responsibility that his mobo has problems running PC4000 memory.

my mushkin pc3200 bh5 booted up fine the first time in my AI7.

 

[Flakk]

don't forget to get a good power supply too every component is important when you're overclocking, and power supply is a big one. antec/fortron are some good ones.. theres others too, im sure ppl can suggest more

 

[mattspalace]

A good power supply is right up there in importance with a top notch motherboard and memory. Skimp on a power supply and you'll have weak rails, that fluctuate a lot - resulting in a lower overclock.

I would recommend Antec, Sparkle, Fortron - If you have the $$$ PC Power & Cooling.

 

[Kenshiro]

My AI7 came with the PAT (AKA Game accelerator) functions set to disabled.
I can't enable them without getting a BIOS CHECKSUM ERROR upon reboot. I don't know why, but the system memory scores are very high anyways even with it disabled.

-Chris

How many people has this problem????

Also, how well does the P4P800 overclocks????

 

[microfire]

For some reason the AI7 fully enables GAT with 667 strap setting.
BH-5 use to work great with this, CH-5 doesnt like 667 strap with 5:4, works ok to about 210mhz with 1:1.
667 strap is high recommended.