DO NOT BUY ABIT SR7-8X!!!!

[Emrys]

As the title says, do not buy this board if you intend to overclock whatsoever. With the set-up I have I shoud easily be able to pull2.8, 2.6 if I get a bad processor, but no, I can barely get 2.4 with vcore at max setting in bios, and same with ram. This board is complete crap, I am very dissapointed in ABIT considering their reputation for building high quality boards for overclocking. Also, my ram that is rated at DDR 400, does not pass prime95 tests, even for more than 20 min at 400 timming, I might add that is also when the DDR voltage is at 2.8- CRAP!!!

I repeat again, DO NOT BUY THE ABIT SR7-8X if you want to overclock at all.
I got this board right when it came out and I regret ever spending my money or time on it.

Emrys

 

[Lizardman]

Yup Hard ocp agrees with you. They say this board sucks for overclocking
Hard link

 

[CaptnKirk]

That model ABIT may not be a good overclocker, but the Winbond memory is a dog. Winbond barely meets minimum spec, and is probably a contributing factor in your system problems.

Bones, what is that floating in the punch bowl ? could it be a Winbond?

 

[Emrys]

In responce to the Winbond ram being a dog, you don't have a clue dude. It is proly some of the better overclocking ram on the market- at least the new DDR400- TwinMos is based off of it, and I have even heard someone say that corsair was using some of it's modules( but I don't know about that). And just fyi there have been people that have pushed their winbond to fsb of 170's.

Maybe you have had bad experience, but from everything I have seen, read, and experienced with other boards this ram is rock solid.

Emrys

 

[dude]

Originally posted by: Emrys
In responce to the Winbond ram being a dog, you don't have a clue dude. It is proly some of the better overclocking ram on the market- at least the new DDR400- TwinMos is based off of it, and I have even heard someone say that corsair was using some of it's modules( but I don't know about that). And just fyi there have been people that have pushed their winbond to fsb of 170's. Maybe you have had bad experience, but from everything I have seen, read, and experienced with other boards this ram is rock solid. Emrys

Hm... maybe you're the one having bad experiences with the board? Anyways, the motherboard has a SiS chipset, which stands for "sucks in systems" so that may be what's holding you back. Try looking for a board with Intel 845E chipset. You'll be much more satasfied with that.

 

[Duvie]

Well lets see what the king of ocing ASUS does with this chipset...That should nail it down for us whether ABIT sucks or SIS is the real culprit...

I had a sis board and it oc'd as far as my 845d mobo did but it was more forgiving on ram and let me run it much higher then I could on the 845 mobo....

 

[CaptnKirk]

Confidential to Mr. Emrys:

I have a little more than a clue , Dude. If you want an interesting read about memory systems, go to ' ocprices.com ' and enlighten yourself about RAM system performance.
There is an openminded test and review of PC2700, and it exposes what some RAM systems use to populate their products PCB with. I don't think a ZERO for 20 is good.

This is an 'help me' chat, not a 'flame' me chat, and if you had read a little more you would have found the performance you desired was a little under your expectations.

Perhaps ABIT did not have you in mind when thay designed this motherboard, but they shouldn't bear the brunt of your choice, as there are many other boards to choose.

When people offer advice as to a possible candidate for a performance limiting component, you should study, or read ( if you can ) more information about that subject.
Oh, yeah, Corsair switched from Micron ( seconds) RAM modules to Samsung ( seconds ) RAM modules for their chips.

If you are in a cash crunch, thats another mater. This isn't about 'My Ford beat your Chevy', it's about I found out how to do this, you can do it too, and heres how.

I do the computer thing for fun and amusment, I build machines that inflict mass destruction for a living.

If I can help you, thats good, If I offend you thats better. I happen to have had exceptional satisfaction with ABIT products, but I use only the best memory I can afford, but before I but any component I research it extensively, and don't rely on and I heard from a Friend who had a Cousin with an Uncle who's Aunt..........
Check your memory.

Lt. Uhura, The .. dohicky.. has gone, like all funny, and it's
making that gizmo light up..no, the one that means that the
warp engines are . . ya know . . messed up !

 

[Emrys]

CaptnKirk: If I have offended you, I am truely sorry, I did not mean for my comments to be taken to offensivly, although I can see how one could have taken them that way.

And yes I too do research before I buy parts, and have read that the winbond 2700 was as you said shyte- but on the other hand I have read that the newer DDR400 is much different, and people have had much better luck with it. As for abit boards, I have used them in the past, and have always been very happy with their performance, both in stability and for overclocking, but I find this board to be a lime, if you may call it that(no offence to the fruit), and if I'm not mistaken as for an overclocking board more than just myself have found it to be so. IT has run fairly stable, as long as my timmings arn't to high, and as of now, I have also tried some corsair XMS2700 with the board and had the same results, so at least in my case the fault is not with the ram.

Kirk: Once again, I am sorry for what I said, I admit the way I went about the responce was wrong.

 

[Housey]

To say that Winbond ram barely meets minimum specs is completely bs. I run my Winbond DDR400 Cas 2,5 ram @ DDR 420 Cas 2...

 

[First]

As others have mentioned, your RAM isn't the issue, it's the board itself; overclocking isn't its strength. However, it should run Twinmos DDR400 (Winbound chips). The other reviews of the ABIT SR7-8X around the net show that the SR7-8X can't run DDR400 by Corsair or other types of DDR400, but not Twinmos.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Emrys:
Were you ever able to get your equipment running to a higer level? Understand the somewhat limited capability of the Abit, but I've been hoping with some BIOS tweaking, and if you were able to find a possible change of RAM you might have found an opening to allow a boost in performance. Keep posting !

No, Worf, you are not allowed to
kill his motherboard.

 

[Lizardman]

I have read a few reviews that say winbond DDR is some good stuff. I just know what I read because I dont have any to try for my self

 

[Emrys]

I have played a bit with my buddies corsair XMS2700 , doing the same tests as with my Winbond- changing memory timings, using the pci/agp lock, core and ddr volt, and nothing seems to help with overclocking. I still get stuck between 138-140 if I want stability and that is with a ratio of 1:1, so I'm actually not getting much out of it, since my ram is rated much higher in both cases. If I want stock speeds and ram at 400 I have to use 4:6 wich is an option, it boots fine but prime95 doesn't seem to like it to much. So at the moment that is what I am running at, because it runs stable at that, sept for when I run prime, I can fold all night and that is fine but not prime, so whatever. I have also come to the conclusion that the most anoying this is overclocking further, watching the computer post, but not load windows, it gives ya hope and then smears it in your face- what fun. Anyhow all I can hope is that a bios update will make some kind of improvement for the board and overclocking, although I don't realy belive that it will make much of a difference.

We'll see, computers are for fun, and what fun is success if you have no trials to get there,
Emrys

 

[CaptnKirk]

Have you flashed to the newest BIOS updates? There is a USB 2.0 from Aug 12th and a base system A8 July 8th revision out.
They may not help on speed, but it looks like there were some support issues with Microsoft O/S's that they addressed.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Right now this board is the lead review on AnandTech's Motherboard Review, and they point to some O'cloking weaknesses, but also list some strengths for RAM memory performance, maybe there something in that that will help you.

 

[Sunny129]

CaptnKirk, i read that PC2700 memory review at OCprices.com. it was indeed one of the most interesting articles i have ever read about memory. and the fact that he tested memory that came from retailers and not the manufacturers themselves really tells you what you're purchasing asa consumer. thanks for pointing the article out, b/c i was just about to buy memory, and i was deciding between Samsung and Corsair XMS. by the way, where did you hear that Corsair is switching from Micron to Samsung chips? and is it the XMS2700 memory they are making the changes to? i didn't catch that in the article.

 

[THUGSROOK]

even an Asus SiS board doesnt compare to a Asus i845 board.

i dont recommend SiS for overclocking at all.
it has a bunch of nice features on paper - but doesnt produce good results.
youve been suckered by options

SiS is way behind on technology.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Sunny129,

In the same article. Pg 10 is an update where Corsair submitted a revision (also XMS) to the original that was tested on Pg.2, which were with the Micron re-screens.
When the revised XMS RAM were un-cloaked (I like to use this term when the Heatspreaders are removed to reveal thier RAM chips true identity) Lo, an behold: 'SAMSUNG' !

Just like all the other performance sticks - a set of Samsungs. No need to tell you more, Samsungs really do perform just like Samsungs. The only wild card in the equation is how good is the PC Board platform that they are mounted on. I'm not sure who makes the PC Board for the ' Performance ' RAM, but I doubt that it's Samsung. Micron is the company that owns Crucial, and they reserve their best prime chips for themselves, and I'm pretty sure Samsung holds on to their best for themselves also.

I am not endorsing any Companies RAM over another, I just don't like to see people spend their hard earned money on a product that they think is great because of all the Hype, only to find out that they paid EXTRA to get a lesser product.

I use Crucial myself, because they are extremely good, and actually made here in the United States - Boise, Idaho, But I've never been there.

 

[logear1]

thanks for the headsup and the link to the HardOCP review of this board-I thought about using this for my 1st Intel system-but since it sucks for overclocking I think I'll wait for the IT7-Max2 boards -hopefully they'll be better overclockers

 

[ShinSa]

I've always thought that ASUS was a stability king, not overclocking king.

Instead, ABIT has been the overclocking king in my book.

When ASUS introduced their KT266A board, their weak overclocking performance was one of the reason that made me choose KR7A over A7V266A.

It's a shame for ABIT to produce a board that didn't meet the expectation of an eunthusiast.

I've used 3 ABIT boards so far, and I love their jumperless bios.