Well it was a little rough start.but I got it up here are the points and questions I have:
First off here is the new setup:
Barton 2500
Abit NF7-S
Corsair XMS pc3200 512 MB (1 stick) 6-2-2-2, (optimal settings in BIOS for now)
Vantec Aeroflow HSF
Antec TRue Power 430 watt
Tyan Tachyon 9700 Pro
Maxtor Diamond Max 7200 RPM 75 GB
Quantum Fireball 30 GB
Decent case cooling, ALum case, 80mm intake, twin 80mm exhaust
1. Corsair XMS would not let the machine post at first with the BIOS that was in it. I upgraded to 16, and it solved the problem.
2. Windows would not boot off the HD. I had a fairly new previous clean copy of XP Proff. installed that was running on my old KR7A 266 and XP 2100 setup. Windows did not like this new NF7 Barton setup, and refused to load. I tried all different BIOS and hardware settings, and concluded that it was not a hardware problem, and that possibly it was a Windows drivers issue, not recognizing the new hardware. I know that ultimately you always should do a fresh install with a MB upgrade, but this was fairly new,a nd I didnt want to format again. So I had to end up booting off the Windows CD,a nd chose to repair the XP ccopy I had on the drive. THis worked fine. Just confused as to why this would have happened. Any insight?
3. Got all the drivers loaded, 3.2 catalyst, and current Nforce drivers, everything looking good so far,a dn seems very fast in windows anyway.
4. Burn in..it booted up fine at 100 X 5 with 1.8 Vcore. Ran 3D Mark all night, no problems. according to BIOS, and Winbond, temps never go above 37 degrees C, even under load. I am still wondering if thats accurate. The Vantec Aeroflow got great reviews, but I am still skeptical about the fact that the CPU temp has not gone above 40. and idle temp and load temps are the same, it never seems to come off 37 C.??? SO I give it a break,a nd try 1.82 volts, it runs for about an hour and crashes, still at 100 X 5. I up the DRAM voltage to 2.7, adn this seems to help, but still crashes. TEmps are still the same, as reported. Am I doing the right thing here by upping the ram voltage as well? For some reason it does not like 1.82 Vcore????
5. I am still a little confused regarding the PCI FSB ratio, and how its spelled out in this BIOS. Does this NF7-S have a locked PCI bus, that is seperate, and doesnt get overclocked?? The CPU FSB/DRAM ratio in Softmenu3, I left at "by SPD". It seems that if I put it to "auto" the machine will boot with 333 Mhz Ram speed, and 400 Mhz, when its set to "by SPD". Is there a certain ratio other than these I should eventually be using? (ie 5/4, 5/5 6/4).
AT stock settings the Barton boots up at 166X11.5.
Also should I enable CPU interface to allow overclocking?
My eventual goal with this setup is to just do a 180 FSB X 10.5 or something like that, modest overclock. I am not looking to break and records. I just want to understand better how this BIOS works. I understand some theory, but I get in this BIOS and I am lost as to what settings I need to do.
6. whats the easiest way to see if I am running USB 2.0? I dont see any thing listed in the device manager. I do have SP1 installed now.
You Pros out there with NF7 boards, please help me out, and help me understand the BIOS better, and see if you can answer those questions I had:
-crashes with 3DMark at 1.82 Vcore, yet temps still show 37 degrees. 1.8 Vcore will run all night.
-XP not booting from old KR7A setup
-better understanding of the BIOS in the NF7-S, and FSB PCI bus ratio, and how it relates to CPU FSB, and what settings may be best for my 180 FSB goal, and possibly higher, some day down the road.
Thanks for the help in advance.
First off here is the new setup:
Barton 2500
Abit NF7-S
Corsair XMS pc3200 512 MB (1 stick) 6-2-2-2, (optimal settings in BIOS for now)
Vantec Aeroflow HSF
Antec TRue Power 430 watt
Tyan Tachyon 9700 Pro
Maxtor Diamond Max 7200 RPM 75 GB
Quantum Fireball 30 GB
Decent case cooling, ALum case, 80mm intake, twin 80mm exhaust
1. Corsair XMS would not let the machine post at first with the BIOS that was in it. I upgraded to 16, and it solved the problem.
2. Windows would not boot off the HD. I had a fairly new previous clean copy of XP Proff. installed that was running on my old KR7A 266 and XP 2100 setup. Windows did not like this new NF7 Barton setup, and refused to load. I tried all different BIOS and hardware settings, and concluded that it was not a hardware problem, and that possibly it was a Windows drivers issue, not recognizing the new hardware. I know that ultimately you always should do a fresh install with a MB upgrade, but this was fairly new,a nd I didnt want to format again. So I had to end up booting off the Windows CD,a nd chose to repair the XP ccopy I had on the drive. THis worked fine. Just confused as to why this would have happened. Any insight?
3. Got all the drivers loaded, 3.2 catalyst, and current Nforce drivers, everything looking good so far,a dn seems very fast in windows anyway.
4. Burn in..it booted up fine at 100 X 5 with 1.8 Vcore. Ran 3D Mark all night, no problems. according to BIOS, and Winbond, temps never go above 37 degrees C, even under load. I am still wondering if thats accurate. The Vantec Aeroflow got great reviews, but I am still skeptical about the fact that the CPU temp has not gone above 40. and idle temp and load temps are the same, it never seems to come off 37 C.??? SO I give it a break,a nd try 1.82 volts, it runs for about an hour and crashes, still at 100 X 5. I up the DRAM voltage to 2.7, adn this seems to help, but still crashes. TEmps are still the same, as reported. Am I doing the right thing here by upping the ram voltage as well? For some reason it does not like 1.82 Vcore????
5. I am still a little confused regarding the PCI FSB ratio, and how its spelled out in this BIOS. Does this NF7-S have a locked PCI bus, that is seperate, and doesnt get overclocked?? The CPU FSB/DRAM ratio in Softmenu3, I left at "by SPD". It seems that if I put it to "auto" the machine will boot with 333 Mhz Ram speed, and 400 Mhz, when its set to "by SPD". Is there a certain ratio other than these I should eventually be using? (ie 5/4, 5/5 6/4).
AT stock settings the Barton boots up at 166X11.5.
Also should I enable CPU interface to allow overclocking?
My eventual goal with this setup is to just do a 180 FSB X 10.5 or something like that, modest overclock. I am not looking to break and records. I just want to understand better how this BIOS works. I understand some theory, but I get in this BIOS and I am lost as to what settings I need to do.
6. whats the easiest way to see if I am running USB 2.0? I dont see any thing listed in the device manager. I do have SP1 installed now.
You Pros out there with NF7 boards, please help me out, and help me understand the BIOS better, and see if you can answer those questions I had:
-crashes with 3DMark at 1.82 Vcore, yet temps still show 37 degrees. 1.8 Vcore will run all night.
-XP not booting from old KR7A setup
-better understanding of the BIOS in the NF7-S, and FSB PCI bus ratio, and how it relates to CPU FSB, and what settings may be best for my 180 FSB goal, and possibly higher, some day down the road.
Thanks for the help in advance.