AMD Athlon and VIA KT333 seems to SUCK!

[KutskoEF]

:|
Has anyone gotten an Athlon Xp and VIA KT 333 to work 100% reliable yet?

I can't, unless I run my FSB at 100Mhz instead of 133Mhz.

I am on my second motherboard and second stick of pc2700 ram.

Here are my stats.

Athlon XP 2200+
MSI KT3 Ultra2 and ECS K7VTA3 v3.1
Crucial Tech PC 2700 Ram with Micron Chips. (First 2700 that I sent back was Samsung)
400 Watt PS
VisionTek Geforce3 64mb
2 Intel NICs
Cooler Master CPU Fan - DP5-6J31C-A1

I have found that 133Mhz is just totaly unstable. If I run at 133 I get random freezes and or reboots. I will sometimes crash to desktop as well.

I have heard that there is some issue with VIA and Nvidia and AGP 4x. To bypass this I have manually set my AGP to 2x in BIOS.

I have also heard that there is an issue with the VIA drivers and that you should use the slower ones that come with XP. I tried this and it doesn't help, and the VIA drivers cause no problems at 100Mhz.

I have tried things like running my DDR 333 memory at DDR 266 instead and that doesn't help the stablity at 133Mhz.

I have also taken out everything except an HD, VideoCard, and 1 CDRom to try to limit the wattage I am drawing and that doesent help. I also did the reverse to see if I was boderline by running 2 HD's,2 CD's, 1 Internal Zip, 1 Floppy, 3 PCI cards, and 1 AGP Video card. With all this in I get the same results.

My CPU temps run from 53 to 60 degrees c.

Besides my PSU fan and the CoolerMaster CPU fan I am running 2 80mm case fans. 1 in the front bringing air in to cool HD. 1 in the back exhausting hot air. I also have an 80mm system exhaust card mounted next to my GeForce to exhaust any hotair it is generating.

I have been fighting this stupid system for over a month now. Can anyone HELP! I just want to be able to play NWN stablely.

Thanks

Ed.Kutsko@cbs.fiserv.com
:|

 

[Vette73]

What OS are you running? Also what does it do, freeze, lock up, restart?????

And what is the name brand of the power supply you have???

 

[Goi]

Hmmn, weird. I'm running the ECS K7VTA3 v3.1 with an Athlon XP 1800+ clocked to 1612MHz, and it runs stably 24/7, and even used to crack rc5 when the project was still online. The memory is set to run at PC2100 though, rather than PC2700.

Here's what I would ask:
Have you installed the latest, or at least recent 4in1 drivers and graphics card drivers?
What is the brand and model of your PSU?

Your temps are perfectly fine, and shouldn't be the cause of your instability. However, do note that the Coolermaster DP5-6J31C-A1 HSF is only rated for use up to an AMD Athlon XP 2100+, and you have an XP 2200+, which is probably a Thoroughbred too? Does the HSF have a copper base?

 

[KutskoEF]

Mine is a new throughbred core xp 2200+

Windows XP - I have had it freeze...reboot...and drop to desktop with the MSI board.
With the ECS board I get all sorts of different non related Blue Screens of death as well as reboots.

I don't know what the power supply brand is. I will have to check when I get home.

I have the latest Bios and VIA 4in1 drivers.

HSF - Heat Sink Fan? No not copper on the bottom. but about a month and a half ago this was the best fan i could find from cooler master.

If my temps are fine do you think the fan could really be a problem?

 

[KutskoEF]

I apologize in advance if I sound grumpy to anyone...I am not trying to be difficult. It's just been a month and a half with this now and I can't take it any more.


My $400.00 project is over $530 now and looks to be climbing still.

 

[Buz2b]

One question that needs to be asked; did you do a fresh install of XP for these boards or did you transfer the HDs instsead?

 

[KutskoEF]

Clean install everytime.

 

[Mem]

I have heard that there is some issue with VIA and Nvidia and AGP 4x

In the old days there was but not anymore,I`ve two VIA boards with Nvidia cards both running Nvidia cards at 4x AGP with no problems,looking at your system you seem to say it runs ok at 100mhz but not 133mhz,I would say it sounds like a PSU or heat problem.Try a better cooler see if that solves the problem,your 400w PSU should be fine but quality can matter between generic and a quality brand.

 

[KutskoEF]

Ok... I guess I will give that a try.

 

[Mem]

One last thing check your CPU core voltage in BIOS.I believe the default is 1.65V for T-bred 2200 XP,also check your memory voltage as well ,normally 2.5v - 2.7v,I use 2.6v.

 

[KutskoEF]

Have tried manually setting those voltages with the same problem.


As far as cooling goes I am getting a few response from other foroms saying to switch to a new cooler.

Does anyone know if a Volcano 7 will work, if not what about a 7+.

Thanks

 

[randomboy]

I'm running my Asus A7V333 board with my Nvidia TI 4200 and XP 1500+ OC to 10x166fsb with no problems at all

Checking your CPU temps sounds like a good idea......

 

[Buz2b]

Does anyone know if a Volcano 7 will work, if not what about a 7+.

MIght lower them a bit but would be very noisy. If that is not a problem you could try. There are better HS's out there though. Looking at this page for example, if you wanted a "budget" HSF, you could get the Golden Gate or even the GC68 (with a good fan). Or, if you're stuck on Volcano products, there is the newer Voclano 9 that would be a better pick than the 7 or 7+.

 

[KutskoEF]

Nope not stuck on anything special. I just don't feel like ordering over the net and waiting. A local store has a 7 and 7+ that's all.


Thanks

 

[Goi]

Well if it doesn't have the copper insert in its base then that could be a cause of worry. While your temps are ok, AMD now requires HSFs(yes, heatsink fans) that have copper bases for their Thoroughbred processors. The older Palomino Athlon XPs don't require this, but the newer T-breds need it because their die size is much smaller.

 

[Actaeon]

The 7+ is better than the 7.

Though I do not like ThermalTakes products, If you are really stuck between the Volcano's, go with the 7+ or 9.

 

[Brian48]

My 8k3a + 2000XP is rock solid.

 

[NesuD]

Can't comment on the ecs board but i will say that i tried a tbred 2200+ in a kt3 ultra2. could never get it to run reliably no matter what i tried. ended up returning the board. got an asus a7v333 and used all the same stuff with that board. Running flawlwssly in the a7v333. Don't know what the deal was with that msi board. I was very disappointed with msi on that one to say the least. Don't know if i will use any msi's from now on.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: KutskoEF
Mine is a new throughbred core xp 2200+

Windows XP - I have had it freeze...reboot...and drop to desktop with the MSI board.
With the ECS board I get all sorts of different non related Blue Screens of death as well as reboots.

I don't know what the power supply brand is. I will have to check when I get home.

I have the latest Bios and VIA 4in1 drivers.

HSF - Heat Sink Fan? No not copper on the bottom. but about a month and a half ago this was the best fan i could find from cooler master.

If my temps are fine do you think the fan could really be a problem?

Check out the HSF I use for my 1.333 Tbird. link

See the size difference? Size does matter here. Your temps are a little high. I always shoot for low 40s. You could always run CPUidle pro to reduce temps.

Sounds more like a software issue to me.

What case are you running?

Its possible that the board(s) have problems. Have you talked to your supplier about this?

 

[WTT0001]

Mine is running rock solid @ 133. I am thinking CPU (Probably the CPU, you don't appear to have changed that if I am not mistaken), Power Supply or Software issue.

The Rig:

AMD Athlon XP 1800+
Gigabyte 7VRXP Rev. 2
Corsair XMS 2700 256Mb
NVidia Geforce 2 GTS 64Mb

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'm 90% sure it's the HS/F, get a copper based cooler with a high CFM fan on that T-Bred as the temp readings you are getting aren't necessarily even close to accurate and the actual core temp may be much higher.