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

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dreddfunk

Senior member
Jun 30, 2005
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Serpent - I'll admit to my ignorance. I can't find ABITFAE.BAT file to edit it to include the "WB" switch.
 

hokiealumnus

Senior member
Sep 18, 2007
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Originally posted by: dreddfunk
Serpent - I'll admit to my ignorance. I can't find ABITFAE.BAT file to edit it to include the "WB" switch.

It should be in the ZIP file that includes the BIOS. Right-click on it once unzipped and click on "Edit".

At this point, I wouldn't recommend BIOS v13, they did something really funky with the way it handles RAM. See my previous post about overclocking RAM issues.

At the abit forums, one user even posted a screenshot of CPU-z on v.12 vs v.13, which showed on the mainboard tab model: "IP35-E (Intel P35+ICH7)". 10-13beta have the correct model, which is "IP35-E (Intel P35+ICH9/R)"

I can't verify this unfortunately as the overclocking problem on the RAM sent me running back to v.12.
 

hokiealumnus

Senior member
Sep 18, 2007
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Originally posted by: mrgrey1970
:shocked:

I`ve just updated to the 13 BIOS, reset my modest overclock to what it was before, set my memory timings as they were previously (4-4-4-12) and windows would not fully boot. Dropped timings back to default (5-5-5-18 2T) and windows now appears fine again.

The double boot issue is still there too...is it possible to downgrade my BIOS or do the looser timings not matter too much?

Ok...first thing: I think the RAM thing is a problem in the new BIOS, see the above post.

Secondly, it did fix the double-boot for me. Did you flash from DOS, adding the /wb switch to the command line in the abitfae file?

I would recommend going to v.12 or v.13beta. v.13beta can be found down the list in this post. Follow Serpents instructions on flashing to it in the first post of this thread.
 

jonmcc33

Banned
Feb 24, 2002
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Originally posted by: mrgrey1970
I have to flash from Abit Flashmenu as I don`t have a floppy drive

That's what I did and I don't double POST anymore.

Are you sure it's the 13 BIOS?
 

hokiealumnus

Senior member
Sep 18, 2007
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Well, I thought I'd post this here as well in case some don't frequent the abit forums:

I did significant (well, significant for me) testing today on the speed difference between v.12 & v.13beta that Serpent has seen to see if my setup had the same issues. Following are the results:

The setup was what you see in my sig. For clarity:
10x 300FSB (3.0GHz) @ 1.365Vcore
1:1.5 CPU : DRAM ratio (450MHz, or DDR2-900) with 5-5-4-15-2T timings @ 2.10Vdimm

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.13beta---19.140--19.079---19.079---19.094---19.094---19.089
*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.13beta --17min, 26.594sec

WinRar benchmark:
---------Time to reach 100M------Speed
v.12----------2:35--------------642KB/s
v.13beta-----2:35--------------643KB/s

So, at least from my testing, v.13beta is VERY close in speed to v.12

It was also very fun to test overclocks (mirrors v.12's performance) because, except for when it reset the strap (2 times), it never shut down in between FSB/Vcore changes, which it did every time with v.12.

Personally, since the double-boot is now gone (except for power disconnects), I'm sticking with 13beta. :D
 

jonmcc33

Banned
Feb 24, 2002
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Thanks but I gotta say, today I went to the beach for a few hours and then came home to watch a football game and order some pizza. Much better spent day than running benchmarks to compare different BIOS versions. :p
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
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I have quality RAMs @ 485MHz (5-4-4-11-2T), so they are very sensitive to any memory tweak in BIOS.

12 BIOS:
1M SP...16.250 sec
32M SP...15m 6.641 sec

13 Beta BIOS:
1M SP...16.609 sec
32M SP...15m 43.156 sec

13 BIOS is a tad slower than 13 Beta BIOS.
 

Hitmonchau

Junior Member
Nov 4, 2007
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Originally posted by: mrgrey1970
Originally posted by: Hitmonchau
Hey guys, I just got done with my build with this board and a 6550. I haven't overclocked or changed any voltages and I'm using the intel heatsink and fan (10% silver compound also used). The problem is my cpu is idling at 50C and during the COD4 demo it wll get over 70C!! Do I have a bad processor?

You definately have a problem there as I too have an e6550 and it`s currently idling at 26c, on full load maybe 56-57c. Oh, and it`s overclocked to 3 Ghz on stock cooling.

As Serpentroyal has already suggested see if the HSF is properly seated


Well.. I reseated the CPU and tried again.. still idling at 55 celcius... Is it possible that the processor is defective or does this motherboard have a tendency to report the wrong temps?
 
Feb 20, 2005
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Just started putting my system together and I noticed there is no option to boot from an IDE CD drive. Do I really need to go buy a Sata cd drive or what have you guys been booting from to install Windows?
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
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Enter BIOS. Go to the 1st boot device option. Scroll down (2nd from the bottom) and you will see the name of the optical drive. Select it as 1st boot. HDD should be 2nd boot. Be sure to use MASTER/SLAVE jumpers when you use IDE devices. Change USB mouse and keyboard support from OS to BIOS. Manually set RAM voltage and timing if your modules are not 1.8V rated RAM. Hit F10 to save.
 
Feb 20, 2005
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Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Enter BIOS. Go to the 1st boot device option. Scroll down (2nd from the bottom) and you will see the name of the optical drive. Select it as 1st boot. HDD should be 2nd boot. Be sure to use MASTER/SLAVE jumpers when you use IDE devices. Change USB mouse and keyboard support from OS to BIOS. Manually set RAM voltage and timing if your modules are not 1.8V rated RAM. Hit F10 to save.

Under the 1st boot device option I see floppy, ls120/240, hard disk, sata cdrom, zip 100/250, usb-fdd, usb-zip/usb-ls, usb-cdrom, and legacy lan. No mention of an IDE cd rom or just plain old optical drive.
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
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Originally posted by: UncivilizedAMD
Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Enter BIOS. Go to the 1st boot device option. Scroll down (2nd from the bottom) and you will see the name of the optical drive. Select it as 1st boot. HDD should be 2nd boot. Be sure to use MASTER/SLAVE jumpers when you use IDE devices. Change USB mouse and keyboard support from OS to BIOS. Manually set RAM voltage and timing if your modules are not 1.8V rated RAM. Hit F10 to save.

Under the 1st boot device option I see floppy, ls120/240, hard disk, sata cdrom, zip 100/250, usb-fdd, usb-zip/usb-ls, usb-cdrom, and legacy lan. No mention of an IDE cd rom or just plain old optical drive.

Did you scrolled down to the bottom of that list? Which optical drive are you using? Are you using MASTER/SLAVE jumper? Try another IDE cable if you don't see the name of the optical drive. Could also be a bad drive.
 
Feb 20, 2005
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Yeh I scrolled all the way to the bottom, last item is disabled. Using a Sony DRu-510A, yes old drive. Yes I set the hard drive as master, CD as slave. Tried other IDe Cables already, which work in my other comp. Also tried to install the OS on the hard drive on another comp, then install that hard drive to the new comp, but upon boot, I keep getting disk boot failure, insert boot disk. However that hard drive boots up fine on the other comp. The cd rom drive works fine on the other comp so its not a bad drive.
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
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Some folks had to update the firmware of an old drive for proper detection. Try CS/CS to see if it will work. I'm 99% sure that it's the age of the HDD if your Master HDD is detected.

My NEC 5700 (built in 2000) would not work. Switched to Sony 810 (BenQ 1650). No problemo. Same with NEC 3500 and 3520.

For best performance, zero fill the old HDD and clean install windows. Vista should have all the drivers except for Intel chipset. You will need to load Intel chipset, LAN, and audio drivers with WXP.

Last option is to flash to 12 BIOS using the "WB" switch (see my 1st post in this thread). Clear CMOS and load Optimized Default. Hit F10 to save BIOS. If you cannot flash BIOS, then clear CMOS and load Optimized Default.
 
Feb 20, 2005
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OK finally got the hard drive to work and suddenly it just detects my ide cd rom drive to install windows. I navigated back to the bios just to see the settings, but i didn't even select an ide optical drive to be one of the boot devices. I have to say this board is very troublesome so far. So my machine is up and running good, then I tried to add on another hard drive. I tried it both as master and slave but when I start up my computer, the computer would just be stuck at the windows xp loading screen, the one with the blue bars running. The hard drive that I added works fine in my other comp however so it's not a drive issue.
 

hokiealumnus

Senior member
Sep 18, 2007
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How are your drive set up on the IDE cable? If you have both the optical and the HDD as master, that will cause a problem. With my own setup, having the optical on the end as master and HDD in the middle as the slave didn't work. Changed the HDD jumper to "CS" or "Cable Select" and it works just fine.
 

hokiealumnus

Senior member
Sep 18, 2007
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Originally posted by: jonmcc33
Thanks but I gotta say, today I went to the beach for a few hours and then came home to watch a football game and order some pizza. Much better spent day than running benchmarks to compare different BIOS versions. :p

Thanks for the constructive input jon. I'll be sure to remember that the next time I take care of my sick wife and she manages to go to sleep on the couch. :roll:
 

dreddfunk

Senior member
Jun 30, 2005
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Hokie - thanks for the reply. I flashed through abit's windows flash utility, so I don't have a .zip file containing the BIOS update--it connected directly. If I can get the abit-usa.com site to work for me, I will download the BIOS directly and proceed from there.

My ability to spend lengthy periods testing to see what's holding me back, however, is somewhat limited due to my 3 year old daughter.

She might decide that 'overclock' means shoving her fake watch into an open slot on my motherboard...

What does the -wm switch do?

Cheers.
 

hokiealumnus

Senior member
Sep 18, 2007
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It's actually "/wb". I believe it overwrites the write block while flashing. Not sure if that's the right terminology, but from what I've gathered, it helps prevent the old info that it overwrites from interfering with the new BIOS.

FYI, you got very lucky using the windows flash utility. Flashing from a DOS environment is strongly recommended. Run a search for "drdos" for an easy, one-click utility to create a bootable DOS floppy. Then copy the files in the ZIP to it. I would not recommend bios 13 due to the issues I mentioned before. v.12 is solid and beta13 is solid as well. Instructions for flashing beta13 can be found in the first post in this thread.

I totally understand about time. It will be very interesting when we have a little one running around as well. Hopefully he/she won't try to 'overclock' mine!
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
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Originally posted by: UncivilizedAMD
OK finally got the hard drive to work and suddenly it just detects my ide cd rom drive to install windows. I navigated back to the bios just to see the settings, but i didn't even select an ide optical drive to be one of the boot devices. I have to say this board is very troublesome so far. So my machine is up and running good, then I tried to add on another hard drive. I tried it both as master and slave but when I start up my computer, the computer would just be stuck at the windows xp loading screen, the one with the blue bars running. The hard drive that I added works fine in my other comp however so it's not a drive issue.


You need to clear CMOS and load Optimized Default to properly detect all devices.

Adding a second HDD with a primary partition from another PC can cause boot problem. You cannot drop a HDD with existing data from another PC and expect instant compatibility. For best performance, the 2nd HDD should be partitioned with an extended logical partition. It should not contain a boot partition for the OS.
 

UnIrit

Junior Member
Oct 1, 2007
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Finally put it all together. Running fine for about a week now.

Noticed AbitEQ temps:

CPU 29, SYS 32, PWM 40 at idle (Antec P182 with case fans on low) closed case
CPU 19, SYS 32, PWM 36 at idle (Antec P182 with case fans on low) OPEN case

I know these are ok but I plan to install a couple more of the optional case fans before seeing how far this will overclock.

Serpent, I assume you point the 92mm fan in the same direction as the BT fan (ie. directly downward over RAM) but you had a prior post re: 80mm fan to cool PWM, NB etc. I can see the space you referred to under the radiator of the BT but cannot fit my 80mm Panaflow oriented to flow to the back (toward PWM) without hitting RAM sticks. Was/is your 80mm oriented like the 92mm? Will a 40mm fan fit over the PWM heatsink (seems like it might be a tight fit)?

Planning to wire the 80mm and three of my 120mm case fans (total amps = 0.79) to the SYS header while wiring the BT fan with 2 more 120 case fans (total amps = 0.82) to the CPU header to reach that sweet spot of temp vs. noise.


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Abit IP35-E, E4500, Corsair HX520 (lucky no prob.), 4GB DDR2-667 (HP), Samsung SH-203B DVD, WD 750G SATA, Rosewill Firewire/USB PCI card, BT, Antec P182, SOYO 24", GeForce 8800 GTX, Win XP SP2
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
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The fan should blow into the MB.

Modding the BT with a medium speed 120 x 38mm Panaflo will provide ample airflow to the PWM heat sink via the BT's radiator opening. You can also fab a bracket to secure an 80mm or 92mm fan to the BT's fan mounting screw. Place one over the NB and another over the RAMs to blow air into the MB.

I would not load more than three fans per header.