XP-M 3000+ on a ABIT KT7A ver 1.3 motherboard?

[Hermskii]

Being that the ABIT KT7A was one of the most popular overclocking boards of all time, I'm sure several of you here have owned one before and know them inside and out.

I'll start by explaining what I'm trying to do. I have purchased a XP-M 3000+ processor. I have a fully functional ABIT KT7A ver 1.3 motherboard that currently runs a XP 2100 processor without any problems at all. The motherboard has the latest BIOS being "B4".

The XP-M 3000+ is a mobil processor so I thought that it came with the multiplier unlocked. This chip is a 266mhz fsb processor. Under normal conditions, it runs using a multiplier of 133 X 16.5 = 2200mhz. here is the information from the tag on the processor:

AMD Athlon
AXMA3000FKT4C Z443294G40323
IQYHA0430FPMW 1999 AMD

I also bought a total multiplier controller which is supposed to allow me to run newer CPUs on older boards by making multipliers that aren't normally available to those boards available! It is the PowerLeap PL-AXP. Here is a link to the instructions for use:

http://www.powerleap.com/pdf_files/PL-AXP_QuickStart_Guide1.pdf

Note that I'm not trying to change the multiplier on the processor. I'm trying to get the KT7A to use a multiplier of 16.5 which by default it can only go up to 12. That is why I bought the PL-AXP. Based on the directions, I should be able to apply the PL-AXP to the processor which in effect should accomplish the wired mod trick making the 16.5 multiplier available. Then, I'm supposed to set my bios multiplier to "above12" manually and simply boot the system up. When I do this, it boots at 1133mhz. Yes, that is 8.5 X 133fsb.

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong here or why it just isn't possible? I have tried tons of different configurations to make it work and either the system won't boot or it boots and gives me some off the wall amount of mhz.

I have another KT7A that is version 1.2 which runs the "A9" BIOS. I have tried a XP2600 333mhz in it and it at least sees the XP2600 as a XP2400 and runs with it just fine. If you have the time to look into this, please do and let me know what you found out. Thanks!

 

[myocardia]

nForce 2 boards have a cpu multiplier hole, between 15.5 & 17.5x. So, you're either gonna have to run that cpu @ 15x133=2.0 Ghz or @ 18x133=2.4 Ghz, which it will easily do. You'll have to give it ~1.65v of vcore for 2.4 Ghz, I would think. BTW, why in the world do you insist on running it at a 133 Mhz FSB? Run it at a 200 Mhz FSB, if you want any performance out of it.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: myocardia
nForce 2 boards have a cpu multiplier hole, between 15.5 & 17.5x. So, you're either gonna have to run that cpu @ 15x133=2.0 Ghz or @ 18x133=2.4 Ghz, which it will easily do. You'll have to give it ~1.65v of vcore for 2.4 Ghz, I would think. BTW, why in the world do you insist on running it at a 133 Mhz FSB? Run it at a 200 Mhz FSB, if you want any performance out of it.

the KT7A is a VIA KT133A board...no 166 or 200 fsb.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Stumps
the KT7A is a VIA KT133A board...no 166 or 200 fsb.

Haha, that's right. It wasn't much of an overclocker, either. Which one was the Abit AXP overclocking board that everyone used with the XP-M's? Maybe the K7-S? Anyway, the VIA chipsets didn't support the XP-M's adjustable multiplier; only the nForce 2 did. You can use an XP-M with any chipset, though, if you pin mod the processor, to make the motherboard think it doesn't have an adjustable cpu multiplier.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: Stumps
the KT7A is a VIA KT133A board...no 166 or 200 fsb.

Haha, that's right. It wasn't much of an overclocker, either. Which one was the Abit AXP overclocking board that everyone used with the XP-M's? Maybe the K7-S? Anyway, the VIA chipsets didn't support the XP-M's adjustable multiplier; only the nForce 2 did. You can use an XP-M with any chipset, though, if you pin mod the processor, to make the motherboard think it doesn't have an adjustable cpu multiplier.

you don't know much about the Abit KT7/KT7A series do you?

they were awesome overclockers, my old KT7A-RAID used to reach 150mhz FSB pretty easily and see my old 1200C T-bird, easily reach 1600mhz with a bump in FSB and a change in multiplier...and decent cooling...not bad for early 2001.

IIRC I'm not sure about barton support however, they were pretty iffy with T-bred B's, although I remember the KT7A-RAID having multipliers up to 17 (on the rev 1.3 anyway).
the softmenu should be able to change the multiplier, it can on the Palamino and T-bred cores.

But it would be pretty pointless to use that CPU with PC133 sdram...talk about bottleneck central.

 

[Hermskii]

OK! Now, how do I pin mod the mobo to think it doesn't have a adjustable cpu multiplier? Thanks. I need it to think it is a 16.5 locked multiplier cpu right?

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Stumps
you don't know much about the Abit KT7/KT7A series do you?

they were awesome overclockers, my old KT7A-RAID used to reach 150mhz FSB pretty easily and see my old 1200C T-bird, easily reach 1600mhz with a bump in FSB and a change in multiplier...and decent cooling...not bad for early 2001.

While I never owned a KT7, I owned a motherboard with the Via KT133A chipset, and replaced it with an nForce as soon as possible. What I do know for sure is that they don't support XP-M's (at least correctly) unless they're pin-modded.

Originally posted by: hermskii
OK! Now, how do I pin mod the mobo to think it doesn't have a adjustable cpu multiplier? Thanks. I need it to think it is a 16.5 locked multiplier cpu right?

Just use that link that I provided a few posts up.

 

[Hermskii]

Alright. I did the pin mod and she booted up at 1650. That was it. Pin mod was hard and scary but I did it and it didn't work either. I did it minus the PL-AXP which is nothing other than a no risk pin mod device. I would guess at this pint to call it a failure but I'm sure it isn't supposed to be and I'm doing something wrong. This board ruled in it's day and I'm positive that this can be done. I'll post again soon once I figure a way to get this done. Later!

 

[Hermskii]

OK, I found a program that changes the multiplier from within Windows. Here is a final release page and it confirms that this will work on KT133A chipsets which is what I have but it says I have to change something about a register. I need to know how to do it. Here is a copy and paste from their webpage:

Here will be articles explaining advanced hardware modifications / software settings:

desktop Athlon XP Multiplier Adjustments on the fly from Windows (click here)
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) with answers page (updated 31th December). Photos of modifies processors.

enable mutliplier on-the-fly adjustments from operating system (can be done under full load)
fully stable operation, multiplier change designed by AMD
be able to change multiplier in whole range of 3x - 24x without single wire
works even on motherboards that do not support multiplier adjustments at all !
version of this article in Czech can be found here.
- To this date function verified on following chipsets (please report other):
VIA: KT133A, KT133E (reg. 55, bit 2 = 1 for those two), KT266, KT266A, KT333 (reg. 95, bit 2 = 1 for those three), KT333CF, KT400, KT400A, KT600 (reg. D5, bit 2 = 1 for those four)





Someone please let me know how I change reg. 55, bit 2 to 1. Thanks!

 

[Hermskii]

Consider this too. It was listed prior to the final notes section I lissted above. At this point I just want to figure out how to change that D5 setting. Can you tell from the image what was done? See below:

Chipset requirements
Changing multiplier / voltage on the fly causes FID_Change special cycle to be driven on FSB. After change processor counts selected number of stabilization cycles and sleeps. This is for clock generator / voltage regulator stabilization. The FID_Change special cycle is used to communicate processor operating frequency to the northbridge during software controlled processor core voltage and frequency transitions. Chipset support is required for P-State transitions to work!

You do not really need chipset designed for notebooks. At least VIA KT333 and VIA KT600 chipsets support P-States transitions. But northbridge has to be properly configured.

Darn, if HTML would have been allowed here I'd be able to show the image. Sorry.

(click for larger image)

On VIA KT600 there is in register D5 bit 2 that defines if northbridge should recognize FID_Change special cycle. For P-States transitions to work, set this bit to one.

I don't know if other chipsets than KT333 and KT600 support FID_Change but since VIA chipsets are often used in mobile and desktop systems with no design difference, this signal should be supported on all VIA chipsets that were designed after first Mobile Athlon 4 processor was launched back in summer 2001. It may also be supported on SiS chipsets.

Since I do not have VIA, SiS nor nVidia chipset datasheets, I won't tell you what bits needs to be adjusted. But I expect settings on VIA KT400, KT400A and derivates with integrated graphics to be the same as those for KT600. Often the bit would be set correctly by motherboard manufacturer - this was the case of two EPoX motherboards I tested multiplier on-the-fly change on. You can verify if the bit is set to correct value by running excelent diagnostic program called HWiNFO32 that lists north bridge settings.

 

[timzak]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: Stumps
the KT7A is a VIA KT133A board...no 166 or 200 fsb.

Anyway, the VIA chipsets didn't support the XP-M's adjustable multiplier; only the nForce 2 did. You can use an XP-M with any chipset, though, if you pin mod the processor, to make the motherboard think it doesn't have an adjustable cpu multiplier.

I own a VIA KT600 chipset mobo (Abit KV7) that is completely unlocked with my XP-Mobile processor. No pin-modding needed. Can run any FSB or multiplier, limited only to cpu and memory overclockability. It's main weakness is it is slower clock-for-clock, and overclocks to much lower FSBs than the nforce2 chipset. Currently running an XP-M 2500+ @ 200x11. It'll take the cpu up to 211x11.5 24/7 stable, and 211x12 at dangerous temps. I keep it at 200x11 to keep temps and noise down.

 

[Hermskii]

Success! See below:

I just wanted you all to be the first to know that I just did it! I know how, can and do run an XP-M 3000+ AMD processor on my ABIT KT7A version 1.3 motherboard! What is really exciting though is that though I have not done it just yet but I'm positive that I can do this on a pre 1.3 version of this motherboard as well! Not only that, I've learned how to unlock any AMD processor even if it is super-locked! I have learned lots in the last 2 weeks! The best part of all of this is you can do it all without modifiying your processor, or using pin mods or anything like that!

I can't wait to tell you all about it but tomorrow night is the final testing for this for me and then I'll post everything. It was sorta hard to learn how to do and I searched for hours each night, chasing down leads and hunting for impossible to find required files but it all boils down to this: You can run almost any XP processor on any version of a ABIT KT7A mobo under certain and usually easy to meet conditions. More later! By the way, just to drive this home to you about how excited I am right now. I have a KT7A in my hot garage right now running a XP-M 3000+ on stock air and my cpu temp is 38C. I haven't even begun to overclock it yet! More on this soon. Later!

 

[timzak]

cool! keep us posted.

 

[Hermskii]

Update:

I ended up using a modded BIOS from apple_rom called the R10 BIOS in order to run my XP-M 3000+ processor on my KT7A version 1.3 motherboard. It runs at the stock speed of 2200mhz and I can overclock it more by way of adding to the FSB without having to up the voltage any. So far, the furthest I went was up to 2365mhz. I never wanted to overclock it so I have taken her back down to 2200mhz.

My first solution was going to be a device which was supposed to unlock the multipliers and allow this chip to run on my old mobo. That plan failed badly. Then I found a software solution which after changing a certain register in the Northbridge allowed me to change the multiplier from 12.5 up to 16.5 while the PC was running. That worked ok but I'd have to run a seperate program to save the setting and then run another to make it take place each time I booted. That all seemed a little too hard.

Then I found the BIOS I mentioned and after lots of messing with it I was able to run the processor without any issues.

I had also tried to increase the quantity of ram from from 384mb up to 1.5gb. Then PC reboots all of the time with that much but if I keep it at 512mb it runs solid.

I mispoke to say that you can easily run any XP processor on this board. I still think you can run just about all of the XP 266fsb processors on it but it may take some work and risk to your processor. MAYBE some risk I said. I'll be happy to help anyone who wants to try it the ways I've learned to do it. I'll point you in the direction of the web pages you'll need in order to succeed.

Using the R10 bios I HAVE NOT been able to get any of the pre version 1.3 KT7A mobos to use XP processors to the fullest extent so far. I just wanted to give this thread an update. Later!

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: timzak
I own a VIA KT600 chipset mobo (Abit KV7) that is completely unlocked with my XP-Mobile processor. No pin-modding needed. Can run any FSB or multiplier, limited only to cpu and memory overclockability. It's main weakness is it is slower clock-for-clock, and overclocks to much lower FSBs than the nforce2 chipset. Currently running an XP-M 2500+ @ 200x11. It'll take the cpu up to 211x11.5 24/7 stable, and 211x12 at dangerous temps. I keep it at 200x11 to keep temps and noise down.

Oops, I forgot about the KT600's that hardly anyone bought, since it still couldn't keep up with the nForce2 chipsets.