K7T Pro2-A Problem

[Dexion]

After owning this board on my Duron rig, I decided to go for "Optimal" performance. I swapped the KT7-Raid & K7T Pro2A hoping for a more "overclockable" and "stable" system. Using the KT7 Pro2A on my Duron, it posted at 950mhz without hesitation, however when I popped in my Tbird 850(that ran at 1Ghz on the KT7) it failed to even post at 1Ghz with the same settings and voltage. Being persistant, I reseated and remounted the HSF dozens of times without any luck. I have the newest K7T pro2-A BIOS.

Funny thing is, my Duron is now running at 1Ghz without a problem. Is the K7T not able to reach higher overclockable speeds??

Just in case you guys don't understand:

Athlon Tbird 850 (Same chip on 2 boards)
KT7-Raid: Tbird 850@1010Mhz 10x101Mhz 1.85volts
K7T-Pro2: Tbird 850@950 9.5x100mhz 1.85volts

Duron 600
KT7-Raid: Duron 600@1000mhz 10x100mhz 1.8volts
K7T-Pro2: Duron 600@950 9.5x100 1.8volts

Same chips, bad performance on the MSI.

 

[micron]

My 800 T-Bird does 1GHz on my K7T Pro2-A.

 

[Dexion]

Well the question is, would your 800 post higher on a KT7-Raid? That seems to be the conclusion here, at least thats what I'm experiencing with the 2 boards.

 

[Subversal]

Hmm when I had my KT7 I never overclocked. I now have two MSI pro2-a's and I have been having s few problems overclocking. For example I can run my Duron 800@1000 for 36 hours cracking rc5... then do a reboot and I can't even POST. Also I can't run 10x100 but it runs 10x101 with no problem... but I leave it at 105x9.5. I am thinking the same thing Dexion. Sacrifice performance for stability.


BTW nice web designs Dex

 

[Cosmic_Horror]

as interesting as the information is that you have posted it can hardly be taken as an overall picture of overclockabilty.

If you tested a thousand cpu's on a thousand k7t pro2-A and a thousand KT7-Raid and then see what picture it paints.

 

[Dexion]

Thanks for the compliments Subversal.

I managed to inch closer to 1Ghz for my Tbird. Running at 9.5x103mhz its the closest stable speed, at 1Ghz it posts but fails to boot windows.

I did notice a slight change of voltage. The abit KT7 adds 0.07volts extra whereas the K7T Pro2-A gives 0.04 volts. I believe this may be the problem.

That extra .3 volts may be the sole reason why it doesn't remain stable. ANy idea if theres any mods to the K7T pro2-A board to increase the maximum voltage?

 

[Dexion]

<< as interesting as the information is that you have posted it can hardly be taken as an overall picture of overclockabilty. If you tested a thousand cpu's on a thousand k7t pro2-A and a thousand KT7-Raid and then see what picture it paints. >>



Well I wish I could test it with thousands of CPUs and thousands of the same boards, however under those circumstances thats not possible. Even Anandtech is not able to do this. Both boards are very good boards, however this issue came up under my &quot;experience&quot; working with it. If you notice I stress &quot;MY experience&quot; because I know that it may not be the case if I had another K7T Pro2-A board, but right now this board seems like a flawless/working board which gives no reason to conclude that its defective. What does remain fact is that under my current condition, the MSI isn't able to achieve higher clock speeds.

 

[Dexion]

I guess nobody knows how to increase the maximum voltage?

 

[Subversal]

I think 1.92 is the max... I don't know of any mod to increase the voltage on the Pro2-A's. You can get 1.92 by closing the L7's or use the 10b14 BIOS.

 

[Dexion]

hmm.. . 1.92 is maybe what I need. Is there a good tuturial out there on how to close the L7's? Do I need to physically break the L7 connections?

 

[Subversal]

Dex just connect them with a #2 pencil... use the same trick that connects the L1's to connect the L7's.

BTW the max in the Vcore selection is 1.85 but the board adds the extra voltage.

 

[Cosmic_Horror]

Dexion

I was in no way having a go at you, and I do appricated that these are your experiences. I hope I have not offended because that was not my intent. I do not wish someone to jump at the conclusion that your experiences are typical results with such a tiny sample space.

 

[DaddyG]

Dexion,

I think that MSI has a problem in the way they initialize the cpu when overclocking through the BIOS. Connecting the L7 bridges (just do it exactly like the L1s), starts the cpu initialization at a high default voltage. Simply increasing the voltage in the BIOS doesn't work, because the cpu still powers up at the lower voltage.

Even though I am not a fan of ABIT due to quality issues, I'm pretty sure they have much more experience in overclocking than MSI.

 

[ndee]

OK, you're talking about wuat, 50 or 60 MHz? Hhhmmmm, I really don't think it matters when you're at the GHz barrier...... just my 2 cents

 

[Dexion]

ndee: No I don't mind the 50-60mhz difference, however it just bothers me that I just can't run it on the MSI the same speed that was on the Abit. Overall there is a small decrease in speed, this is fact that can't be denied. I see it in RC5.

I tried connecting the L7 pins, unfortunately that has not increased the voltage nor backed Daddy G's theory with the &quot;power up&quot;.

Plainly, I give up. I'm going to swap the ABIT back to my current system and run the Duron at 950 again. It simply doesn't make sense to run my faster and more expensive processor slower than before.

 

[Subversal]

Dex,

What max voltage did you see? You'd see 1.85 in the VCORE in the BIOS but as you know setting it the VCORE to 1.8 the mainboard adds .5-.7 to the voltage to if you set it at 1.85 you'd see 1.91-1.92. Well I closed the L7's (well only two were cut so connected them) and it boots fine at 10x100 now even with my VCORE at 1.8. Seems DaddyG theory worked on my mainboard. I assumed with the 10b14 BIOS (which allows the voltage up to 1.85) it would power up at the higher voltage.

 

[Dexion]

The Max voltage on my Motherboard Monitor is 1.89volts. I connected all the L7's which is 1.85volts, so Daddy G's theory is supposedly working here. I guess my Tbird just doesn't like 1Ghz on the MSI. It refuses to boot windows.

 

[Subversal]

What about the Duron? I just was able to boot at 1050 but shortly windows locked up.

 

[MeloManiac]

I am about to overclock my TBird 900 on my MSI Pro 2-a system so I find this discussion interesting. So.... Will connecting the L7 bridges overrule my BIOS voltage settings so I can only run it at that high voltage? And.... how do you have to connect the L7 - just like the L1?