Abit's "solution" to overclock TH7II

[Guest]

All,

With a TH7II-RAID motherboard and a P4 2Ghz, the mobo will NOT run if it is overclocked by 40Mhz. I have submitted 5 e-mails to Abit technical about this and other questions. None of the responses from Abit addressed my questions. I've even requested to send my mobo back to Abit, postage paid. Abit did not respond. In fact, the very last response from Abit USA is:

Dear Customer,
Try not to overclock your CPU.

Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
[name withheld]

My response to the above pathetic "solution" is:

Try not to design your motherboards with overclocking features and then overcharge consumers for those features...

That is Abit's support for their customers. For now on, I'm telling others to stay away from ABit and read web reviews of their motherboards with suspicion! Go with some other brand (Asus, etc.) and don't let the review hypes fool you.

 

[peteb]

Are you sure it is their motherboard and not your components? I'm not doubting you, but if we can see the components and details what and how you are trying to do it - we may be able to assist...

-* <font color=red> Under Offer </font color=red> *-
email for application details

 

[Guest]

All,

I solved my overclocking issue WITHOUT Abit's technical support. Apparently, the Abit BIOS that shipped with my TH7II-RAID has an undocumented bug. The BIOS ID is 37, dated 7/19/2001.

With the settings shown here:

CPU Operating Speed = User Defined
External Clock (CPU/PCI) = 102Mhz/33.33Mhz (as opposed to 100Mhz CPU clock)
Mult. Factor = x20
AGPCLK/CPUCLK (AGP Clock) = Fixed
Speed Error Hold = Disabled

CPU Power Supply = CPU Default
Core Voltage = 1.75V

RDRAM Bus Freq. = Auto
Diff. Current = 6x

Note that the AGP clock is set to Fixed, meaning that the PCI is held at the normal 33Mhz and the AGP clock at normal 66Mhz. After saving the BIOS change, my XP workstation boots with no issue. However, after turning off the workstation and turning it back on, the workstation will not boot; instead, it goes into alarm (beeps at regular intervals) and the Abit POST LED displays “AE” or “F5” or something else.

Only after I change the AGP clock from Fixed to 2/3 does the XP workstation boot several times without any glitch. It is not a Vcore issue. I also tried overclocking the workstation using the following settings:


CPU Operating Speed = User Defined
External Clock (CPU/PCI) = 102Mhz/33.33Mhz (as opposed to 100Mhz CPU clock)
Mult. Factor = x20
AGPCLK/CPUCLK (AGP Clock) = Fixed
Speed Error Hold = Disabled


CPU Power Supply = User Defined
Core Voltage = 1.85V

RDRAM Bus Freq. = Auto
Diff. Current = 6x

Needless to say, the workstation went into alarm on the next hard boot. It is a BIOS issue that Abit needs to address. I use an ASUS mobo for my P3 and it runs like a champ at 60Mhz+ above specs. No BIOS issues there.

Speaking of BIOS, in one of the e-mails sent to me from Abit technical, it was suggested that I update my BIOS to the current one. From Abit’s webpage I downloaded the most current BIOS for the TH7/TH7II (dated October 15 2001) and tried to flash it to the TH7II-RAID. Following the included installation guide to the letter, I got a message that stated my system is not compatible with the BIOS image. I could not flash my motherboard with the newer BIOS.

Folks, is this the kind of support that you expect after spending $180 bucks on a motherboard? Not to mention that the on-board IDE RAID did not initially work with Windows XP Pro. Abit does not include a USB bracket for the 4th USB header port but instead throws in a useless game port cable.

In addition, I sent several e-mails to Abit technical support about the 40Mhz overclocking issue and some BIOS setting questions. The response I got was, well, lacking to say the least. I can’t believe that some web reviewers actually recommended this Abit TH7II. My advice: Take your hard earned money to another motherboard company (i.e. ASUS, MSI, etc.) and, though no guarantees, you’ll probably be better off than where I was with Abit and the TH7II-RAID.

Don’t fall for the review hypes!


PS: The High Point IDE RAID controller on the TH7II only supports hard drives, as expected. I was curious and connected a DVD-ROM and Zip 250 to the controller. The HPT37xx cannot recognize the devices as strictly IDE. Too bad. It would have been a real plus to give customers the flexibility to use the RAID controller in IDE-only configurations as well as RAID configurations.

--F100

 

[Guest]

System #2

Abit TH7II-RAID, BIOS ID 37, 7/19/2001
P4 2GHz., Retail heat-sink/fan with thermal grease
768MB Rambus PC800
Windows XP Professional, Version 5.1.2600, Build 2600 (with latest updates)
Creative Audigy
LeadTek GeForce3 TDH with heat-sink/fan
Pioneer 106S CD-ROM/DVD
Iomega Zip 250, IDE and USB
Panasonic 3.5” FDD (I hate FDD!)
20GB IBM 7200 ATA/100 HD (x2), RAID 0 Array
3COM 10/100 3CR990-TX-97 NIC
Antec SX1040B, 400WPS, 80mm fans (x4)

The problem occurs with the following BIOS settings:

CPU Operating Speed = User Defined
External Clocl (CPU/PCI) = 102Mhz/33.33Mhz (as opposed to 100Mhz CPU clock)
Mult. Factor = x20
AGPCLK/CPUCLK (AGP Clock) = Fixed (this means PCI = 33Mhz and AGP = 66Mhz I am assuming here)
Speed Error Hold = Disabled


CPU Power Supply = CPU Default
Core Voltage = 1.75V (I've tried 1.85V as well)

RDRAM Bus Freq. = Auto
Diff. Current = 6x

After the first hard boot of my workstation, it goes into alarm and will not boot.

Now, I make one change to the above BIOS setting:

AGPCLK/CPUCLK (AGP Clock) = 2/3

Then my XP workstation hard boots with no problem, running at 2040Mhz.

--F100