VIO voltage raising = more overclockable EV6 bus?

[rockhard]

With the EV6 bus being a bit touchy about overclocking was wondering if raising the VIO on my Abit KT7 raid will allow higher fsb's to be achievable?
Im currently runnin VIO @ 3.4v for 105fsb. How high can u safely go and will it lead to more overclocking stability?
Im gettin a Alpha next week for my T-Bird so would like to try for 1.1ghz with the fsb as im already gettin 520/590ish mem benches in sandra. 540/610ish be real nice if i could get that fsb to be stable @ 110mhz

Anyone runnin a EV6 mobo with VIO @ 3.6v? Like to hear of your experiences doin this

rockhard =)

 

[Soccerman]

first off, how high will it go at default?

 

[rockhard]

3.3v default up to i think 3.6/4.00v (cant remember off the top of my head but sure i saw a 4.00v when i was last playin with the bios) in .1 divisions? What u reckon?

 

[dkozloski]

The breakthrough that made my Tbird SlotA 900@1100 stable was lowering VIO to 3.3v from 3.4v.

 

[Soccerman]

I should have been more specific. how high did the FSB go at default VIO?

 

[rockhard]

I tried runnin my fsb @ 105 with the TL bios and it was not very stable
When i flashed the bios to UL i automatically upped the VIO as a precaution just to see if it made any difference, hmmm?
Looks like im goin to have to play around to see if it was the new bios or the higher VIO that helped :/
Ur lowering of the VIO just sounds weird, u would think it would have made it worse!

 

[rockhard]

Hehe, just been runnin around in quake3 goin baserk with the RLauncher.
My P3 850 was never this good!
After doin some benches like the nigh on 600 bench in sandra and seein even better benches on the net from fellow t-bird tweakers wish i'd got a t-bird instead of my previous P3

Now if only i could get that EV6 bus stable @ 220mhz.
When i get my alpha i'll have another play in the bios and see what i can do. Im doin 1050mhz with a tiny coolermaster sink at 1.75v so should be able to eliminate the t-bird out of the equation at 1.1ghz and work on the mobo.

If u guys can offer me any further advice on achieving fsb stability with the EV6 bus it'd be appreciated

rockhard =)

 

[Soccerman]

oohh!

forgot this: try putting a better heatsink/fan on the northbridge!

 

[rockhard]

thanx soccerman

I'll have a rumage around in my bits box and see waht i can come up with.

rockhard =)

 

[Fozzie]

Info on cooling the PLL

Some people have reported good results from cooling the PLL on VIA boards in general and KX/T133 boards specifically. There are also reports that the boards were intentionally crippled to not support 133. This is supported by reports that by using the Turbo-PLL hack people have gotten the bus to insane speeds(+150MHz).

 

[rockhard]

Thanx Fozzie

I'll take a look on that one

Seems strange how at the moment there are loads of motherboards out that in the promo blurb claim of up 200mhz fsb's in 1 mhz increments but when it comes to the real world they just arent capable of doin what they claim

Its about time the hardware review sites started picking up on this

rockhard =)

 

[rockhard]

^^^*Update*

Just tried runnin my KT7 at 115 fsb but with memory runnin at 115mhz also.
Seems totally stable so far!

Now im beginning to wonder if its my ram? hmmm?

Ive got 3 x 64mb of Crucial PC133 Cas2 7ns.
I had this runnin just fine at 147fsb in my P3V4X so what do u guys reckon?
I know the 3x 64mb dimms is pretty dumb but thats all Crucial had in stock in the UK a few months ago and i got impatient

I was wondering if i would gain some stability by getting rid and investing in some Mushkin rev 2 or maybe some of their PC150 HSDRAM?
Some ideas/suggestions be appreciated guys,

rockhard =)

 

[MadRat]

Is there a way to run the voltage higher to the RAM?

 

[rockhard]

VIO i think is the way but am beginning to wonder if with me havin 3x dimms is whats causing the problem?

Goin to see about getting a couple of PC150 HSDRAM/rev2 dimms and see if that helps

 

[MadRat]

btw - Did you cool the chipset? You do realize that VIA makes their chipsets on inefficient die processes, right? When Intel brought out the 800-family they jumped down to a range of .18 to .25 micron chipsets whereas VIA still made their Apollo Pro133's on a .35 micron process. I highly doubt they've made the jump down to <.3 yet.

 

[jinsonxu]

Hmm, i've no cooling on my northbridge. I can only attain 113Mhz FSB maxed. Any suggestions on how i can attack a fan on the NB?

 

[Soccerman]

ahh so you were using the RAM at FSB + 33mhz before? well that could have been the problem, though 7ns SDRAM should be good for 143mhz Cas 3 (if not 2). of course, in order to be sure it wasn't the RAM, you'd have to try different RAM that you're sure isn't going to be a problem.

might I ask what other settings you had? I mean, Voltage settings, and what heatsinks you had?

 

[rockhard]

The KT7 has a sink and fan on it out of the box
I would have thought this would have been enough for a 10mhz(20) overclock? hmmm? Its runnin @ 23oC with memory @ 115, when memory is at 133 and over its 25-26oC. Surely those couple of degrees wouldnt be that critical at such a low temp yeah?

 

[MadRat]

jinsonxu-

Make sure if you use a 486 fan that there are spacers between the fan and heatsink. The 486 fans tend to sag down after a few weeks and then the blades tend to strike the heatsinks.

 

[MadRat]

rockhard-

Don't forget that the chipset is insulated by ceramic. Your temperature measurements are not going to be accurate as the heat will bleed off into the underlying PCB faster than the ceramic shell.

 

[rockhard]

soccerman

I have the memory runnin @ cas2, turbo, all the ram settings at their most aggressive settings except the 4k page option under softmenu in ram optins which is turned off as it made my system stutter

Would purchasing some PC150 EMS HSDRAM solve this problem?
Seems strange how this mobo may be pushing my ram too much yet my old P3V4X didnt? :/

 

[jinsonxu]

Hmm, from what i see, Abit MBs with a fan also only get about 113 to 115Mhz FSB. What's the usual MB temperature? My A7V without fan gets 40 plus degrees celcius.

 

[jinsonxu]

Also, what are spacers? Are they pieces of metal with holes drilled in positions to allow the screws from the fan to reach the heatsink?

 

[rockhard]

the mobo temp go's between 23-26oC.
Cant see how putting a bigger h'sink/fan on goin to be that much help when its got one already and is already runnin cool? Surely mid 20's be ok yeah?

I just look at EMS's PC150 ram and it says it runs @ 2,3,2,6? This be ideal for my needs?

 

[MadRat]

Those PowerBunny overclockers solder on new PLL chips and then supercool the chipset along with the cpu. Awhile back someone else supercooled their BX chipset alone and was able to run a dozen mHz faster in fsb.