Stormfury asked about the current status of my non-recommended A7N8X Deluxe AMD motherboard, so here it goes:
The new 1002 BIOS did eliminate some of the errors in the old BIOS, but it didn't resolve the low FSB issue. However, something else did, which I will return to shortly.
To repeat the situation, the board wouldn't allow a higher FSB than around 152 MHz in Dual Channel mode with memory frequency set to sync. In single channel mode it would go a lot higher.
I decided to RMA my 2x256MB GeIL PC3500 Ultra, which by the way was performing just great in single channel mode, but very bad in Dual Channel mode. Instead I bought some very expensive memory which was specifically validated for Dual Channel operation, namely 2x256MB OCZ EL DDR PC-3500 Dual Channel. This really made a difference, the board is now stable at a 196MHz FSB.
But more wants more, so I have already prepared the next couple of moves in the quest for an extremly high FSB. As my CPU is already watercooled, I have exchanged the passive heatsink on the Northbridge with a chipset waterblock from Innovatek. I have also added a passive heatsink on the southbridge. The only thing left, is to increase the voltage to the northbridge. Unfortunately this is not possible to do with the current BIOS, which is really a shame, since I have the cooling necessary to cope with the increased heat. I will most likely, within the next couple of weeks, apply the so-called VDD mod, in which the chipset voltage is increased to about 1.75V. This should allow the FSB to reach around 225 MHz.
The A7N8X Deluxe is not the natural overclockers choice, but it's the most feature rich, and with a certain amount of work (which will likely void the warranty) it can be made to run very fast. The ultimate overclockers choice still is, without any doubt, the Epox 8RDA+. But both boards are very picky about the used memory (the A7N8X Deluxe seems to be the worst), so have this in mind if a 200MHz+ FSB is your goal. It requires high quality, special validated and very expensive memory or just plain luck. This has to taken into account, as it increases the overall cost on this AMD based system. I paid more for the memory, than I paid for the CPU + the A7N8X Deluxe together.
<i>/Copenhagen - Clockspeed will make the difference... in the end</i>
The new 1002 BIOS did eliminate some of the errors in the old BIOS, but it didn't resolve the low FSB issue. However, something else did, which I will return to shortly.
To repeat the situation, the board wouldn't allow a higher FSB than around 152 MHz in Dual Channel mode with memory frequency set to sync. In single channel mode it would go a lot higher.
I decided to RMA my 2x256MB GeIL PC3500 Ultra, which by the way was performing just great in single channel mode, but very bad in Dual Channel mode. Instead I bought some very expensive memory which was specifically validated for Dual Channel operation, namely 2x256MB OCZ EL DDR PC-3500 Dual Channel. This really made a difference, the board is now stable at a 196MHz FSB.
But more wants more, so I have already prepared the next couple of moves in the quest for an extremly high FSB. As my CPU is already watercooled, I have exchanged the passive heatsink on the Northbridge with a chipset waterblock from Innovatek. I have also added a passive heatsink on the southbridge. The only thing left, is to increase the voltage to the northbridge. Unfortunately this is not possible to do with the current BIOS, which is really a shame, since I have the cooling necessary to cope with the increased heat. I will most likely, within the next couple of weeks, apply the so-called VDD mod, in which the chipset voltage is increased to about 1.75V. This should allow the FSB to reach around 225 MHz.
The A7N8X Deluxe is not the natural overclockers choice, but it's the most feature rich, and with a certain amount of work (which will likely void the warranty) it can be made to run very fast. The ultimate overclockers choice still is, without any doubt, the Epox 8RDA+. But both boards are very picky about the used memory (the A7N8X Deluxe seems to be the worst), so have this in mind if a 200MHz+ FSB is your goal. It requires high quality, special validated and very expensive memory or just plain luck. This has to taken into account, as it increases the overall cost on this AMD based system. I paid more for the memory, than I paid for the CPU + the A7N8X Deluxe together.
<i>/Copenhagen - Clockspeed will make the difference... in the end</i>