Hey guys,
I just read this at HardOCP and thought it might be relevant to the problems everyone was having with adjusting the mulitplier, Let me know what you think.
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I read your review of the K7T Pro2 motherboard, and have found it to be very accurate. Not only does it state all the good things about the board, but also the bad things I've found. I personally have the -A model, with ATA100 but that doesn't make a difference in what I am trying to tell.
I was in the same position as you (overclocking-wise) until just a few hours after I read the review. My computer would not boot at any multiplier above 9x. I got it to work, however, by writing over the L7 bridges, therefore setting the default voltage to 1.85v instead of 1.65. This is my theory about the problem:
When the motherboard starts up, it sets the multiplier, then the voltage, then the FSB frequency. That way, if I use multiplier to overclock, it doesn't have enough voltage to get the CPU going and crashes. However, if I use FSB to overclock, it has already set the new voltage and will work. By making the CPU start out at high voltage (1.85v) it will always have enough voltage to start, unless I try for something ridiculous like 1.25GHZ
Also, the default voltage max is set to 1.7. There are a few BIOS upgrades available though. The official update 1.9 adds up to 1.8, but 1.825 and 1.85 are added when I pencil the L7. There is also a "beta overclocker's bios" 1.0b14 that adds all OC'ing options (timings, CAS, etc.) to the board.
Though it's not much of a hassle to pencil the L7 bridges, MSI really should change the voltage first, THEN the multiplier. I don't mean to dis your review, I just want to inform people why this problem happens, as it seems to happen to MANY overclockers.
I just read this at HardOCP and thought it might be relevant to the problems everyone was having with adjusting the mulitplier, Let me know what you think.
------------
I read your review of the K7T Pro2 motherboard, and have found it to be very accurate. Not only does it state all the good things about the board, but also the bad things I've found. I personally have the -A model, with ATA100 but that doesn't make a difference in what I am trying to tell.
I was in the same position as you (overclocking-wise) until just a few hours after I read the review. My computer would not boot at any multiplier above 9x. I got it to work, however, by writing over the L7 bridges, therefore setting the default voltage to 1.85v instead of 1.65. This is my theory about the problem:
When the motherboard starts up, it sets the multiplier, then the voltage, then the FSB frequency. That way, if I use multiplier to overclock, it doesn't have enough voltage to get the CPU going and crashes. However, if I use FSB to overclock, it has already set the new voltage and will work. By making the CPU start out at high voltage (1.85v) it will always have enough voltage to start, unless I try for something ridiculous like 1.25GHZ
Also, the default voltage max is set to 1.7. There are a few BIOS upgrades available though. The official update 1.9 adds up to 1.8, but 1.825 and 1.85 are added when I pencil the L7. There is also a "beta overclocker's bios" 1.0b14 that adds all OC'ing options (timings, CAS, etc.) to the board.
Though it's not much of a hassle to pencil the L7 bridges, MSI really should change the voltage first, THEN the multiplier. I don't mean to dis your review, I just want to inform people why this problem happens, as it seems to happen to MANY overclockers.
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