Question for SH6 owners..how many

[DocClock aka MadClocker]

Of you tried every slot one proc in your SH6, and got better results than on other boards?
I'm just curious.I have tried every one of mine, and got every one to clock higher...
cel300a 464 on be6.....504 on SH6
PIII450 @ 558 on BE6...598 on SH6
PIII500(512k) 533 on BE6, 59? on SH6
PIII600E @ 840 on BE6, 956 on SH6
Never tried the 700E on the be6, but I have had this 700 to 1115mhz on this SH6
all the above was done with air cooling, and I have had no stability problems, that I didn't create myself.
Seeing as how every online magazine refuses to review this board, which I think is undeserved, I figured I would like to hear from board owners for their input...lemme know how you all did with yours

 

[Blueface]

With P3125, my p700e cbo can run 900 on bx6 r2 using kingmax 150, but with sh6 only 875. I'm using adaptec 21960 with cheetah x15, annihilator 2, etc.

 

[QSW]

I have the SH6, BE6-2, BX6-R2
500 Katmai, not OCable on all three.
700cB0, 959mhz - SH6, 966 - BX6-R2, 973 -BE6-2
700cC0, 1036 - BE6-2, 1043 - SH6, 1043 - BX6-R2

I think the BX6-R2 is the most stable followed by the SH6, then the BE6-2. The BX chipset-based boards all have higher benchmarks, but I can't really feel the difference when playing games.

 

[Big Lar]

I have a P3 800e on the SH6 now for about the 5th day, I can presently run it at 1162 on the sh6, Previosly my best was 1120 on the Asus P3b-f, and 1080 with the Msi Bxmaster with the same cpu and same drive configuration on all 3, I never reformatted my drive at all with all 3 systems. I find the board to be very stable so far, albeit a tad hard to figure out all the setting, but after I did that, it runs fine.

 

[bionic]

I was actually a bit disappointed by the SH6.

Previously I've used several BE6r2 / BF6 boards in my system with the following peak results:

P3-600 @ 1002 (167 FSB)
1 x 128 MB RAM Module (7.0 ns hyundai chips)
1.75v CPU
3.6v I/O

P3-600 @ 900 (150 FSB)
2 x 128 MB RAM Modules (7.0 ns hyundai)
1.75v CPU
3.6v I/O

The reason for the 100Mhz difference appears to be a timing problem stemming from using multiple DIMMS @ high FSB speeds. I was hoping to be able to run 2 RAM modules @ about 150 Mhz on the SH6, and give me a nice bit of headroom to pump the cpu up with peltiers and watercooling. Upon receving the SH6 (after much pain) and burning it in for a few weeks, the best result I could get:

930 Mhz (155 FSB, memory running at 3/4 of FSB)
2 x 128 MB RAM (same as above)
1.75v CPU
3.4v I/O (unable to change in bios! grr!)

Needless to say, that's crap

Now I'm hoping with some active cooling on the 815 chipset, and 3.6v down the I/O line, this board could be a screamer.. until then though its not much good to me.

Does anyone know if there's a way to hack the motherboard to deliver 3.6v I/O voltage? (I'm willing to solder if necessary)

This would seriously help me out here

Bio

 

[Big Lar]

Bionic,Have you updated the bios for the sh6, or are you running the original? The taiwan site,( I think), is where I got the newer bios, I believe it is VW, It fixed my Memory Probs up, I use 2 Mushkin rev2 pc133's on mine, in dimm 1 and dimm2 .

 

[bionic]

Big Lar (Mar 22, 2001 09:14 a.m.):
Bionic,Have you updated the bios for the sh6, or are you running the original? The taiwan site,( I think), is where I got the newer bios, I believe it is VW, It fixed my Memory Probs up, I use 2 Mushkin rev2 pc133's on mine, in dimm 1 and dimm2 .

Hmm using VW as well. It came new with that actually (bought it about 3 weeks ago)

Whats the max FSB you can push your board to with 2 dimms installed? I can't do 150Mhz for the memory at 1:1 FSB for love nor money :~( I know the RAM is ok.. i've run it stable at speeds up to 167 before.

I'm considering cooling the chipset (& clock gen?) .. have you done this already? did it help?

 

[QSW]

I had this problem after flashing to the VW bios. The system will refuse to boot up everytime after I change a setting in the bios. It will just keep on beeping Using the reset button does not help. I need to turn it off using the switch on the psu.

 

[Big Lar]

As to the FSB speed, I run a P3 800, and the highest I can get the chip is 145 fsb,(1160), and no probs here at 222,and 5/7 mem settings. I run 2x128mb sticks of rev2, and yes, I Always actively cool the chipset. I use the tennmax lasagna cooler for that. As to the bootup prob, Try clearing your cmos,and Then putting the cpu in, it does help, also, leave the dip switches at default on the board.

 

[DocClock aka MadClocker]

As far as the memory on mine..the manual said you can populate the mem in any config, so I am using dimm1 and Dimm 3, leaving dimm2 unpopulated,
I still haven't really figured out the mem thing, but I am running 4:3:1...is rock stable for me..and I have the original bios..VJ.. I can run up to 156mhz cas2-2-2 5/7 , and 4:3:1....I haven't tried anything further.
Those having mem probs...can you try seperating the two dimms and see if that stabilises things?

 

[sedm1000]

I am trying to overclock a cC0 P3 800 (100Mhz) to a 133Mhz FSB on an Aopen AX3s Pro. The chip is
stable enough to 124FSB with 1/3 pci divider, but will not run 127 as the
pci bus is too high. The chip will not post at 133, though, and so I cannot
get into the bios to change the fsb down again with the 1/4 pci divider. Any
ideas on how to get around this?
The SH6 Uses Softmenu II/II doesn`t it? Is there a workaround for such a situation in the Abit bios/manual?

Cheers,

Graeme

 

[QSW]

Big Lar : I cleared the CMOS using the jumper after upgrading to the VW version. But it still gave me a lot of problems. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that it will refuse to boot and keeps on beeping even when I select `Restart' from the shutdown menu. VJ is fine for me now, but I am still waiting for Abit to come out with a upgraded bios version that will resolve the bootup problem with my adaptec 2940u2w. Apparently they already fixed the exact same problem on their KT7 series and the VP6.

DocClock : have u tried running ur memory at 2-2-2, 5.7 at 4:4:1? At 4:3:1 ur memory speed is 3/4 of ur fsb. I have tried Mushkin rev 1.5, 2 and 3 on the SH6 and all of them fail to run at 5/7 above 144fsb. So now I am running a 256mb Rev 2 at 2-2-2, 7/9 4:4:1. [Sidenote: All 3 of the modules gave nearly identical scores on Sandra.] I also tried 2 sticks of 256mb Rev 2 in different slots and there seem to have no effect on stability (ran 3 hrs of Utbench followed by 3 hours of 3dMark2K).


Graeme: The SH6 has Softmenu 3 and it allows 1mhz increments. By `baby-stepping' the fsb and adjusting the cpu: sdram : pci ratio, the SH6 is more flexible is keeping the pci bus close to 33mhz. I am not too sure about this but I am sure the experts on this forum can help you out.

 

[Jbop]

About the I/O voltage problem : Any chance this will be fixed in a future bios revision ?

And how many of you are running nVidia graphics cards (specifically Geforce 1/2/3 )
Apparantly they can cause problems because of the *low* I/O voltage which can`t be changed.

Also how many have the FSB at 140 or higher AND a harddisk working in ULTRA33/66/100 mode ?
On my current mobo i have to revert back to PIO mode 4 for stable operation.

I plan on buying a SH6 but i also want to buy a geforce 2 or 3 when i can.
The alternative is a ASUS P3B-F. (does have I/O voltage option, but is BX )

Any comments ?
Thanks

 

[QSW]

Tried it with GF2, Pro and Ultra and no problems at all (different story on my Soyo 6VCA tho....argh via chipset!). I have a WD400BB drive connected to the SH6 and have no problems with it even with the fsb at 155.

 

[bionic]

Wow, I'm happy theres such a response to this thread.. seems like i'm not the only one feeling like the SH6 is (ALMOST) the perfect intel board.

I'll list my system specs for the sake of completeness (sorry folks, dont go to sleep
p3 600 @ 930
2x128 MB RAM (7.0 ns hyundai chips, good to 167+ mhz)
MB SH6 (obviously)
GF2 GTS (bog standard 32mb)
2x WD 13 gb drives (w/ hacked promise raid card)
SBLive
netgear fa310 NIC
etc

I've been finding display 'flickering' with my GF2, even lowering the AGP transfer mode to 2x. I used to run it in 1x mode with the BE6-R2 very successfully. There was no significant performance hit, and it made it a lot more stable at the higher frequencies. Hell i had this thing running at 110 Mhz with no problems - on the SH6 im getting screen 'flickers' at about 77mhz (155 / 2?).

I'll try changing the memory slots around tonight, but i doubt it'll fix the problems i'm having. Reason being is that its not too successfull with only 1 dimm installed. Although if people are having more success though in 1&3 - thats definately worth trying.

Hm interesting. Will definately put on some active cooling on the chipset.

This I/O voltage thing is a major issue. Petition to abit anyone?

 

[Jbop]

To QSW : thanks alot for your comments, i know feel better about possibly buying a SH6.
They are very difficult to find however.
Also i wanted to download the manual from abits site so i could find out about the softmenu, but the SH6 is not listed among the mobo`s. (?)

To Bionic : the `flickering` of your GF2 appears to be a known problem for more Geforce cards.
I read a lot of posts at www.nvnews.net in the forum about it.
Supposedly manufacturers are working on a fix. (new bios ?)

 

[QSW]

Bionic: I have the BE6-2 too! Anyway, I encountered the flickering problem myself ( altho I do not know if it is the exact same problem u have) , it was becos I left V-sync on. After adding coolbits to the registry, I turned V-sync off in both D3D and OpenGL, and the flickering went away. I hope this helps. I have a Visontek GF2 64mb on the SH6 and it is running at AGP2x. 4x showed no noticeable difference except when benchmarking with 3Dmark2000, I get abt 150 pts more but occasionally it will crash back to desktop. I can loop 3dM2k for days at 2x

Jbop: I got my SH6 from mwave.com, ordered from them a couple of times and would highly recommend them.

 

[Big Lar]

As to the vid card, for now I am running a lowly g400, I'll pop in my gts when they fix the I/O voltage in bios, I'd try dimm 1 and 2 for the ram, as I have read that 3 and 4 will share a double sided ram, but if using 4/4/1 for the timings you will get errors with a dimm in slot 3 or 4... coulda read it wrong tho.

 

[DocClock aka MadClocker]

I have the manual, and it ain't too clear on the 4:3:1/4:4:1 thingy...I mean they say thet if you run at 4:3:1, then everything is devided by four...which doesn't make any sence to me, and I think it's a typo...but when I run wcpuid, it shows my ram running the same as my bus speed...like right now, I have my bus set to 154fsb,and cpuid shows system bus at 155.36, and shows the system clock at 155.36,
But I just noticed a little extra tab on the right side of cpuid, and it shows how much ram...and has a place to show the ram speed in mhz, but it's greyed out,
Sandra also shows my mem to be running at fsb speed....I'm gonna check for an update for this program

 

[Big Lar]

As to the 4:3:1 thing, way I understand it =4/4=1, 3/4= 100fsb..... hope this helps... I run at 4/4/1