Overclocking ASUS A7M/266

[Guest]

I recently bought an A7M/266, Athlon 1.4 (266fsb), 256 MB DDR Corsair cas-2.
Initially I had problems just getting the system to boot at 133Mhz FSB while using jumperless mode. It worked fine up to about 127 Mhz but any more was too unstable or just didnt boot.

Then the system didnt boot at all. I took the CMOS battery out for 10 minutes which enabled me to boot up again. I then switched to using the on-board DIP switches to adjust the FSB. This proved to be far more stable and I am now running at 133Mhz fine. However this seem to leave no potential for overclocking, since the manual only gives settings upto 133Mhz using DIP switches.

Does anyone know if I can use the DIP switches to overclock the FSB beyond 133Mhz? Or a solution to the jumperless adjustment instability?

My current core voltage is 1.8 and vio/vio1 voltages are default. I am using the latest BIOS (1004) and via drivers, etc. Thanks

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

Whats the watt on Power Supply??
Increasing the core voltage to 1.85 or 1.90 might help with stability.

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[Guest]

Fatjimmy,

I have first hand knowledge of the lovely (either you love it or hate it) A7M266, as it powered my system not more than a month ago. Ive read horror stories of people who could not get the FSB to 133, however, I never had any trouble with this. I actually ran stable at 135/270 FSB which spurred the 1.333 to 1350. As for true overclocking, unless you want to run that FSB at a dangerously high rate and risk killing your AGP and PCI cards, your SOL. The jumpers dont work for diddly, unless you have that board modded (cut, soldered, etc. etc.) I became tired of waiting for ASUS to put out a BIOS which would support overclocking, and I wanted RAID onboard (something which the AMD chipsets never seem to have onboard) and wanted to ditch that horrid VIA 686B Southbridge. Be sure to doulbe chekc all of your jumper settings to assure you re in jumper free mode all the way across. Perhaps try running at the default core voltage and jumperfree, and set the RAM settings to SPD or maybe the slower setting of 2.5. Please note I never ran the 1.4 on that board, perhaps it is soemthing with that combo.

<font color=purple><b>Its not easy being purple</b></font color=purple>
<font color=green><b>AMD</b></font color=green>

 

[Guest]

so what board did you replace your's with a month ago? I have the same complaints (don't like th VIA southbridge, want on-board RADI, and want to overclock)
I'm trying to wait for a SIS 735 chipset... but my money is burning a hole in my pocket


I always forget to sign stuff

 

[peach]

<font color=blue>I am also curious - what did you replace it with that didn't have the <font color=black>"horrid VIA 686B Southbridge"?

<i><font color=blue>on company time....</i>

 

[Guest]

The horrid 686B Southbridge was replaced by the new VIA Kt266 chipset, consisting of the VT8366 Nothbridge and the VT8233 southbridge. The seem to give me a little less problems with the soundblaster/amd setup. VIA admmited themselves that the 686B had flaws and consumers were basically forked until a new chipset came out. Also, find an AMD chipset board with onboard RAID and I might consider it!

<font color=purple><b>Its not easy being purple</b></font color=purple>
<font color=green><b>AMD</b></font color=green>

 

[Guest]

DOH! Sorry, I forgot to mention the board. I aquired an MSI K7T266Pro RAID board. RAID kicks all forms of arse!! (Please you SCSI guys no replies! I argue about it once a week with the guy I work with!)

<font color=purple><b>Its not easy being purple</b></font color=purple>
<font color=green><b>AMD</b></font color=green>

 

[ahallada]

I have an A7M266 with a 1.33Ghz 266FSB and it is working great from the start. Micron PC2100 512MB C=2.5. I would have prefered the C=2, but Crucial didn't have it on their website at the time. Sisoft Sandra Benchmark outperforming the Pentium 4 1.6Ghz in all CPU tests and outperforms their AMD 4 1.33Ghz spec. in Multimedia testing. I'm using a Koolance case with Sparkle 300W and V running at 1.78V. I unhooked the case fan and all I have running for fans is my powersupply and chipset fan. Best combination I've ever owned. MOBO temp. 34C and CPU 48C-49C depending on workload. Bios version 1003.
Good luck.
Allen

 

[tibou]

Will Asus eventually come out with a bios update that will allow you to modify the clock multiplier for the A7M?

 

[FatBurger]

The Abit KG7-RAID will be out soon. AMD 761...but it has the 686b

-----------------
Whoever thinks up a good sig for me gets a prize

 

[Guest]

Finally got the bitch working properly ;-)

Running Stably now at 133FSB. Makes a world of a difference. In fact I eventually managed to get it to 148FSB @cas2 but obviously since the mobo doesn't have multipliers for thr PCI and AGP buses this may not be a sensible long-term solution. Never did get Windows to load with 150, but never mind. Anyway, my advice to anyone with the same problem is give it some time. Patience is the key. If you're having trouble in jumperless mode switch to jumperfree for the time being. Then SLOWLY raise the FSB - don't go from 100 to 150 in one go, never seems to work.

btw Thanks all for the support

 

[ahallada]

Haven't heard of any Bios updates that will allow for overclocking the A7M266 yet. Doesn't make sense to me since they are bragging about the overclockability of the A7A266 over 25% on the website and the A7V133 is easy to overclock with. Any thoughts from others?

 

[Guest]

Personally I think it's unlikely that we will ever see a BIOS upgrade that allows this as the A7M/266 was mainly meant for the OEM market and thus not so muxh for overclocking......

In hindsight maybe the KT7A-RAID or A7V/133 would've been a better idea

 

[ahallada]

Is it just Asus, or are all these AMD761 based motherboards difficult to overclock? Also on that RAID AMD based motherboard, what about that Gigabyte GA-7DXR? I know they were having a few problems with the earlier GA-7DX, but heard they got it fixed. Anyone using this board?
Allen

 

[ahallada]

Wow, what timing. Just as I was posting my last comments I got this email from Asus on the A7M266. Doesn't look good folks. AMD is protecting their processors. I guess I don't blame them as I wouldn't want a bunch of fried processors coming back from overclocking. Here is the email.

Dear customer,
Thanks for choosing ASUSTeK.

As you known, the CPU multiplier has been locked by AMD, so we don¡¦t
know whether the option will be used in the future BIOS, it¡¦s decided by
our RD. Sorry for your any inconvenience.

--
with regards
ASUS Customer Service Center Shanghai

 

[peach]

<font color=blue>So, <font color=purple>BigPurple<font color=blue>, do you still really like the MSI K7T266Pro RAID? How easy was it to oc - does it use software like ABIT, or was it dips switches or what? How is the raid controller performing? - I have the KT7A RAID with 75gxp desktars right now and love it. But it is not DDR. I was looking at the KG7 but as you pointed out, it still has the 686 Southbridge. Remind me though, why is the 686 so bad?

<i><font color=blue>on company time....</i>

 

[Guest]

Mr Peach

To answer your question, Yes. I do indeed like my K7T266 Pro. Its pretty stable and was a breeze to overclock. Since the 1.4 ships unlocked, you can tweak both FSB and multiplyer in the BIOS. I was only able to achieve 1508mhz and have the system stable, perhaps I could squeeze another 33 out somewhere, but its not worth the risk to my cards. Right now i'm running 137x11, which is rock solid and fast as hell. Ive read other reports on OC'ing the 1.4 and everyone runs into the same problems when they get over 1.5. Explorer lockups, looseing mouse support. No boot etc etc.

Let it not be said that I dont have my peeves with it though. First, when you unplug the power supply to do maintenance, it resets the bus speeds so you have to re-overclock the SOB(Ive used 2 power supplies and witht he same results). No biggie. Second, the new KT266 chipset still has those dreaded popping sounds from a conflict with SB Live Platinum 5.1 cards (and probably others) but not as bad as the 686B. Hmm, now theres also the problem with huge frickin capacitors so close to the Northbridge that I couldnt mount my blorb on it. And on the purely technical side, the frickin thing is missing the pins to plug the HDD light to for the RAID setup. Its clearly marked where they should go but were never soldered on. I am a weenie for never taking the board back and replacing it for this, and customer support never replied to me. Im living with it I guess.

Overall, I give this baby two thumbs up, with one being bent a little .

<font color=purple><b>Its not easy being purple</b></font color=purple>
<font color=green><b>AMD</b></font color=green>