Oldfarts "new" setup

[oldfart]

Actually, the CPU, mobo and ram all came from the FS/T forum.

Sorry, but dont have the time for a fancy Thugsrook review today. Maybe when I get some spare time. Here it is short and sweet.

TEST SYSTEM
Albatron PX845PE Pro BIOS 1.08
P4 2.4B SL6EF C1
Corsair XMS3200C2 2x 512mb
Alpha 8942 HS | Panaflo L1A | AS3
Antec True330W | Santa Cruz | WD1200JB 120gb
GF4600 | 30.82 drivers | Win2K Pro SP3
Full specs are in my system rigs profile

Not done with final tweaking, but this is how she looks so far:

170 FSB | 3.06 GHz | DDR425 | 1.55 Vcore (set to 1.6 in BIOS)

I'm sure the CPU can go higher, but I will likely have to drop to 1:1 since the mem wont go too much higher. The temp readings on this board seem very low. I'll be replacing the Panaflo L1A with an M1A before I go any higher on the CPU speed.

This mobo will be replaced with a Springdale PE or maybe a Canterwood once they are available.

 

[fhetw]

looking nice. did you buy your proc from newegg? or elsewhere /me needs a c1 not another b0

 

[sash1]

Originally posted by: fhetw
looking nice. did you buy your proc from newegg? or elsewhere /me needs a c1 not another b0

He already said "Actually, the CPU, mobo and ram all came from the FS/T forum."

~Aunix

 

[oldfart]

Got the CPU from Caboob. I wanted to be sure I got a good one.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Congrats! that's a nice chip he sold you

 

[Duvie]

I am glad you got to the 3ghz mark you wanted...

 

[Mikki]

Very nice oldfart, darn nice chip... I know whatcha mean about getting a good one, I'm buying a used one also... I know you said you're gonna replace the board, just wanted to see what you thought of it...I'm seeing quite a few people buying Albatron boards...

 

[oldfart]

Positives:
Good no frills board. Very nice overclocker, great price. Speedfan also works on this board. You can use it to vary CPU/case fan rpm based on temps (too bad temps dont work well).

Negatives
The Vcore and +12 seem kind of low, but it doesn't appear to hurt anything. The NB HS is kind of small. Temp readings are funky at best. Doesn't come with an I/O shield.

The only reason I'll be replacing it is to put my two sticks of XMS to good use in a DC DDR board when Springdale/Canterwood come out. If I stayed with SC DDR, nothing wrong with it at all. Great PE board (Evan and Duvie like it. I couldn't go wrong).

Caboob was great! Gave me a very fair price on the CPU. It overclocks very nicely just as he said it would. I bought a CPU from someone else on this board (noone that hangs out here) and it was a real DUD! 145 FSB max. :| I got the mobo from lupohki, the Corsair also came from the FS/T forum. Once I get the M1A, Ill see how far it will go.

 

[Duvie]

Dont forget the memory controller allows us to clock our memory much higher and stable....I have seen many mobos that have issues with high ram speeds regardless of timings...

i845d (epox 4bda) mobo = 426mhz ddr cas 2.5,3,3,6 max stable in memtest...anything higher and startup issues

i845g (epox 4g4a & 4g4a+) mobo = 408mhz cas 2.5,3,3,6 max stable...just a bit higher and no boot at all...

i845pe (albatron Pev pro) mobo = 450mhz cas 2.5,3,3,7 max stable...boots at 460mhz ddr 2.8v but get too many errors in memtest for my liking!!!

Also with the i845pe mobo I was able to run 410+mhz ddr at cas 2,3,3,6 (spd) with memory when I couldn't on any of the other boards...

 

[Duvie]

Some of the negatives are resulting from the design and layout of the board...much smaller board in size makes mor e cramp quarters...I think the sys temps may be for real as the idle sys temp is a like like my epox 4g4a mobo...It just loads extremely high about 4-5c over my 4g4a, but eh proximity of the nB chip to cpu I believe is a factor to that...

 

[oldfart]

Yeah, Duvie has had more time with the board than I and knows the ins and outs. BTW, thanks for all the help! The board is small especially compared to the 4BDA2+ which is a pretty big board. The NB is very close to the CPU. The HS could have easily been taller though. It is very stable. On my 4BDA, I could run DDR426 max (ram limit), but had boot issues above DDR416. From what I see, there is no case temp. There is a CPU temp which seems to read on the low side. The other temp reading I think is the NB temp? Right now, CPU temp shows 36C and the system temp is 41C. Definately not case temp.

Great board though. Overclocks like crazy and is very stable. No regrets.

 

[Jgtdragon]

Nice job. Looks good.

 

[oldfart]

Almost forgot:

Positives:
NO COLD/WARM BOOT PROBLEMS!!

Not all 845PE boards have this issue.

 

[Thor86]

Nice OC!

 

[THUGSROOK]

i wonder how long that PSU will survive?

nice OC

 

[oldfart]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
i wonder how long that PSU will survive?

nice OC

Thanks!
I dont see why the PS wont survive. It's been fine for a year so far. Yeah, I'm 600+ Mhz faster in the CPU speed, but at a lower Vcore than the old setup. I've seen reviews where the Antec True330 has more actual power than 400 watt supplies from other mfgrs. It'll be just fine.

 

[Mikki]

Thanks for the info oldfart and Duvie, I appreciate it...

 

[SupermanCK]

nice...
how are you the vcore flux and 3.3 flux on ur sys?

 

[jhites]

This mobo will be replaced with a Springdale PE or maybe a Canterwood once they are available.

I wish they would hurry up with those.
These granite bays are getting old.

Glad to see you got a good chip.

 

[Mikki]

Originally posted by: jhites

This mobo will be replaced with a Springdale PE or maybe a Canterwood once they are available.

I wish they would hurry up with those.
These granite bays are getting old.

Glad to see you got a good chip.

lol! They've only been out for a couple months! Hehe...

 

[AtomicDude512]

Looks good.