Abit IP35-E Review (500MHz FSB board)...$90 @ NewEgg + $6.61 ship

[hokiealumnus]

Thanks for that GoSharks. Haven't looked at it graphically before. There is more of a difference when seeing it that way!

If you're feeling ambitious, I'm doing tests on v.16beta01 right now. The 1MSP results are lower than any of the other BIOS versions so far...by so much, in fact, I'm going to have to pull up CPU-z to make sure I set the OC properly!

That's right people, v.16beta01 is out. It's touted as improving compatibility for the E8400 / E8500 45nm process chips! Get it at the abit beta BIOS thread.

Test results to follow hopefully later tonight (unless I get caught up doing something else that is ).

 

[hokiealumnus]

Hi folks! So I have now played with v.16beta01. Well, no chit chat, straight to the nitty-gritty:

The overclock used for all testing is as follows:

10x 300FSB (3.0GHz) @ 1.365Vcore
1:1.5 CPU : DRAM ratio (450MHz, or DDR2-900) with 5-5-4-15-2T timings @ 2.1Vdimm

I ran five SuperPi 1M tests and a single test each of SuperPi 32M and WinRar's benchmark (time to crunch 100M, plus speed). Single tests were simply due to time constraints. Apologies for the formatting; the forum didn't like spaces.

SuperPi 1M test results:
BIOS----------1.-------2.-------3.-------4.-------5.--------Avg.
v.12----------19.125--19.093---19.078---19.078---19.078---19.088
v.13beta01--19.140--19.079---19.079---19.094---19.094---19.089
v.14beta04--19.172--19.141---19.140---19.157---19.140---19.146
v.14beta05--19.078--19.094---19.156---19.078---19.094---19.089
v.14final-----19.094--19.110---19.125---19.094---19.109---19.104
v.15----------19.188--19.110---19.156---19.109---19.125---19.130
v.16beta01--19.047--19.032---19.031---19.047---19.047---19.042
*Averages were obtained by throwing out the highest & lowest time, then averaging the remaining three times.

SuperPi 32M test results:
v.12-----------17min, 26.344sec
v.13beta01---17min, 26.594sec
V.14beta04 --17min, 21.391sec
v.14beta05 --17min, 29.859sec
v.14final------17min, 26.875sec
v.15-----------17min, 32.922sec
V.16beta01 --17min, 26.844sec

WinRar benchmark:
--------Time to reach 100M------Speed
v.12-----------2:35--------------642KB/s
v.13beta01---2:35--------------643KB/s
v.14beta04---2:36--------------641KB/s
v.14beta05---2.36--------------641KB/s
v.14final------2.35--------------642KB/s
v.15-----------2.36--------------638KB/s
v.16beta01---2.34--------------647KB/s

So, at least from my testing, v.13beta01 is very close in speed to v.12 and v.14beta04 is slightly slower than the other two. v.14beta05 seems to be on par with v.12 & v.13beta01, with v.14final coming in right in the middle. Bringing up the rear is v.15.

The winner, by leaps and bounds, appears to be v.16beta01 (relatively speaking, of course). I actually had to open CPU-z to verify that I dialed in my OC correctly. I could have sworn I put in an incorrect (lower) memory timing or something. Nope; it was all identical. Looks like abit hit it out of the park with this one! As a bonus, it increases support for 45nm CPUs.

Additionally, the FSB reset issue when you remove power that presented itself with v.14 is still present in v.15. Shutting down & powering back on fixes it (restarting doesn't), but annoying nonetheless. Remarkably, whatever strange bug this was, I could NOT get it to reproduce itself with v.16beta01!

This one appears to be a win-win all around folks. For the first time since I began this testing, I can safely say v.12 will not be immediately re-flashed. Horray!! :thumbsup:

Quick Disclaimer - If I had time to run more 32M tests, the obvious anomalies may work themselves out, but I don't.

In any case, all of these are too close to see any real world difference, but in case anyone was curious and/or you enjoy benchmarking or getting all you can out of your system for DC projects, this is how each of them perform.

 

[brencat]

Terrific Hokie. Thanks for testing that new beta for us. Still not convinced I want to flash from 14 Beta 05 to save 0.04 secs on SP1M but nice to know I CAN if I choose to.

Not sure if you got around to this yet but did you notice any load temp differences when running Orthos at your same OC vs other bios versions? This is what I personally am most interested in. And also to see whether or not this bios might allow me to squeeze another 50 - 100mhz out of my chip at the same 1.465 vcore.

 

[Jeraden]

Well I got all my parts in today, so I went to set up my system. And of course, the thing won't even post. Sigh.

IP35-E
E2180
Corsair XMS2 DDR2800 2.1v

After getting frustrated, I pulled everything out, reseated the PSU, tried a different video card, unplugged everything, swapped ram slots, etc. Still no post. The lights on the motherboard light up and the HSF fan runs, but the monitor never initializes. I just have the MB sitting out of the case, CPU in, 1 stick of memory, video card, and power supply hooked up. No other peripherals to interfere with it. I've reset cmos and pulled the battery too.

Aside from thinking I have either a flaky MB or flaky CPU, I noticed the memory is 2.1V. Reading through this thread, it seems other people used this memory fine and it wasn't an issue.

Do you think its worth trying to get 1.8V memory and seeing if that makes a difference? Or should I just RMA the board? I can't really find out if the cpu is good/bad either since I have no other 775 motherboard.

 

[hokiealumnus]

Jeraden, with a bare-bones setup (CPU, GPU, 1 stick of RAM in DIMM4, PS/2 Keyboard), outside the case, try the following:

Remove power from the system.
Hit the power button to discharge the capacitors.
Move the CCMOS jumper (or switch) to the clear position.
Wait ~30 seconds.
Place the jumper (or switch) back in the normal position.
Restore power and boot up immediately into BIOS.
Select "Load Optimized Defaults" and set the recommended voltage for your RAM.
Save & exit.
On reboot, go directly into BIOS and set the recommended timings for your RAM and any other options you want (i.e. boot order, etc.).

What are the rest of your specs? (PSU, GPU, anything else connected; though I do see you've removed other stuff, which was a good idea).

If you'd like more (and probably faster) input (I'm going to sleep), I'd post over at the abit forums. Make sure you supply a complete list of your hardware with model numbers. Folks can better assist you if they know exactly what you're dealing with.

 

[hokiealumnus]

Originally posted by: brencat
Terrific Hokie. Thanks for testing that new beta for us. Still not convinced I want to flash from 14 Beta 05 to save 0.04 secs on SP1M but nice to know I CAN if I choose to.

Not sure if you got around to this yet but did you notice any load temp differences when running Orthos at your same OC vs other bios versions? This is what I personally am most interested in. And also to see whether or not this bios might allow me to squeeze another 50 - 100mhz out of my chip at the same 1.465 vcore.

No problem at all; truth be told, I have fun with it. Yes, I'm a huge nerd; I know. Temps have never changed for me except for when they switched the BIOS CPU temp reading on us between v.11 & v.12 (basically, changed from Tcase to Tjunction). Whether you can squeeze some extra MHz out of the same Vcore is something only you can test. If you do have success, let us know!

 

[Jeraden]

Thanks for the tips. I figured it out soon after. It was really really stupid, so stupid I'm not embarrassing myself by saying what it was. But its working now, yeah! Well, it at least got into BIOS this time, then I decided it was time for bed!

 

[MadScientist]

Originally posted by: Jeraden
Thanks for the tips. I figured it out soon after. It was really really stupid, so stupid I'm not embarrassing myself by saying what it was. But its working now, yeah! Well, it at least got into BIOS this time, then I decided it was time for bed!

C'mon, you can share it with us, we promise we won't laugh.
I did something similar. Reseated my HS and unpugged the 8 pin power connector for more room to work, forgot to plug it back in. Posted, but no video. It took me an hour to find it.

 

[Jeraden]

Well, I never plugged the 8-pin power connector in at all, hehe. My psu only has a 4-pin, and for some strange reason I was under the impression I only had to plug in either the 8 pin OR the 24-pin, not both. In looking through the abit manual again, I saw the picture of them plugging the 4-pin into just half of the 8-pin connector and I'm like oh, I was supposed to plug that in there afterall! lol

(as a small side rant, how did it get to the point where you need to plug the powersupply into the motherboard in THREE separate places? I mean, they can't just have 1 connector to do it all? Thats like buying a tv and having to plug it into 3 separate wall outlets to get it to work.)

 

[blahsome]

hokiealumnus, with BIOS 15 I'm noticing a large discrepancy between vcores in BIOS and reported by CPU-z. This is not vdroop as both vcores are at idle. It can be as much as 0.09V. I wonder if v16beta1 fares any better?

Thanks.

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: Jeraden

(as a small side rant, how did it get to the point where you need to plug the powersupply into the motherboard in THREE separate places?

You don't, it needs the main ATXPWR & the ATX12V1.
The ATX4P1 should only be necessary to bolster the PCI-E bus if you had a humungous power draw from it (e.g. 2 top end gfx cards) but I've never been able to imagine a situation on the IP35/IP35-E where that would actually happen & as such I often wonder why they fitted it at all ...

 

[bigblockchevy]

i am going to give beta 16 a shot--

 

[bigblockchevy]

beta 16 is looking pretty good.

no re-starts.

no loss of over-clock settings (so far)

better optimizations for e6300 and e2100 cpu --not to mention better for e8xxx's as well. unless something goes haywire i think i"ll run 16 for a while. finally a bios upgrade worth the trouble.(maybe)

 

[hokiealumnus]

One person reported @ abit that the FSB reset on him after removing power for 10+ hours. I didn't have time to do that for so long and never remove power anyway, so it's moot in my case. Just thought you folks should know.

 

[JaYp146]

I've hit a wall on the board with my E6750.

Currently stuck at 3.36 Ghz, 1:1 memory ratio on 4GB of G.Skill PC2-8000 (5-5-5-13, 420Mhz x 8).
CPU voltage's set at 1.47 in BIOS, reads 1.46 in CPU-Z. PWM (VRMs?) temperature never goes over 55C.

Temperatures are fine: I've never seen CPU temps break 52C under Orthos blend. Idle temps are ~28C, Scythe Ninja with Yate Loon 120mm.

As soon as I attempt 3.4 Ghz, however, Orthos consistently fails within 10 minutes of testing. I don't want to bump voltage much more, as E6750s supposedly perform better than this. Moving on ..

Any recommendations as to what I should do next? I'd really like to max out the board, if possible. I've disabled C1E and E1ST. Maybe I'm missing something ... ?

 

[bigblockchevy]

bios 16b-on my e2180 l2 it will boot up at stock fsb overnight IF clocked above 3.1g although clocked down to 3.0 it seems OK. i think this has to do with me lowering the v-core than the bios. i can say that 12final never did this--but i was running quit a bit more v-core then.

so far my 8500 hasn't had a problem with "lost" OC settings.

haven't tried it yet with the e2160-M0 it is up next.

one thing i will say--when it does set the fsb back--you don't have to clear the bios to get back--i just go into the bios press f10 then it boots back into the higher OC settings without an issue AFTER doing a a double-start which i think is really a global-reset like on the p965s.


overall i think its a decent bios-- i don't think it is quite as good as bios 12F if your running a 65nm. if your running a 45nm though is is the one to have. this bios gives me hope that 16F WILL be the best all around bios for this mb.

 

[OfficeLinebacker]

Originally posted by: JaYp146
I've hit a wall on the board with my E6750.

Currently stuck at 3.36 Ghz, 1:1 memory ratio on 4GB of G.Skill PC2-8000 (5-5-5-13, 420Mhz x 8).
CPU voltage's set at 1.47 in BIOS, reads 1.46 in CPU-Z. PWM (VRMs?) temperature never goes over 55C.

Temperatures are fine: I've never seen CPU temps break 52C under Orthos blend. Idle temps are ~28C, Scythe Ninja with Yate Loon 120mm.

As soon as I attempt 3.4 Ghz, however, Orthos consistently fails within 10 minutes of testing. I don't want to bump voltage much more, as E6750s supposedly perform better than this. Moving on ..

Any recommendations as to what I should do next? I'd really like to max out the board, if possible. I've disabled C1E and E1ST. Maybe I'm missing something ... ?

I've had instability of that nature. I suspect temperature of other chips on the mobo--what do the north and south bridge heat sinks feel like?

 

[JaYp146]

^^^ OfficeLinebacker,

The NB heatsink feels pretty warm. I can hold my finger to the horizontal fin (says ABIT on it), but the diagonal fins are hot (can hold for about 5 seconds, no more). I've been looking into getting a Thermalright HR-05 as a replacment ... I've thought of adding a small fan to the NB heatsink, but I've been trying to do an SPCR-worthy build (40mm fans != quiet), so that really wouldn't fit. Low speed 80mm's also out of the question, as the Scythe Ninja is just enormous.

Soundbridge is nearly impossible to tell, as I have an 8800GT with mounted Accelero S1 heatsink causing a major obstruction.

I do have a Zalman ZM-NB47J NB heatsink collecting dust in a drawer , but the design and surface area looks pretty similar to that of the Abit. Probably wouldn't improve temps nearly as much as a tower-style HR series would.

 

[OfficeLinebacker]

I just set up one of those orange Thermalright 80mm jobbies that comes with a rheostat (temp sensor). I set it up to blow upwards onto the SB and NB (SB gets just as hot since heat sink is tinier). I taped the sensor to the NB (need to find a better mounting option!). Fan goes from ~1200-4800, it runs at about 1400 or so and seems to keep the stuff nice and cool.

I think they were going for $6 or so. You can do full speed, manually adjustable via knob, or temperature controlled.

 

[OfficeLinebacker]

You know what, in retrospect, that fan is pretty loud even at 1200RPM. Probably better off with a quieter one.

 

[Tempered81]

bios 16 Beta 01 is out. Anyone having some success Ocing with it?

 

[hokiealumnus]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
bios 16 Beta 01 is out. Anyone having some success Ocing with it?

See this post @ abit for my test results. Haven't had time to test and see if it'll run the same OC with less Vcore; I do know it's just as stable as and faster than the previous BIOSes.

 

[mib200]

where did you guys got your hands on bios v16 beta?? its not on abit site... I can't find it to download.

Can u post the links??

 

[Heidfirst]

Gary posted it here in a thread but it's also available in the beta BIOS sticky in the BIOS subforum on the abit USA forums.

 

[hokiealumnus]

Here is abit's beta BIOS thread.