ABIT IN9 32X-MAX - 680i SLI Intel

[MrToad]

Thank you for the link M1keMK. That's one problem less.

In the meanwhile I managed to enable the LAN w/o crashes. It was a bizarre conflict with my wireless card. So that's two annoyances out of the way.

Now let's go for the memory...

By the way, any (feasible) suggestions about how to cool those mosfets without cutting the heatpipes of the OTES once it's gone are welcome ^^

 

[TonyM16]

Thank you for the link M1keMK. That's one problem less.

In the meanwhile I managed to enable the LAN w/o crashes. It was a bizarre conflict with my wireless card. So that's two annoyances out of the way.

Now let's go for the memory...

By the way, any (feasible) suggestions about how to cool those mosfets without cutting the heatpipes of the OTES once it's gone are welcome ^^

Is your memory sli ready memory with extra epp? if it is use sli ready to get you ram moving. To overclock set sli ready to expert. Alwyas works for me when I do it like that. For some reason trying to overclock the ram manually is just to unstable on any 680i board at the moment unfortunately. Not a big deal imo , as long as you bought certified ram.

 

[MrToad]

Is your memory sli ready memory with extra epp?

Yep, it is. Corsair 8500C5D.

But somehow is not as good as those cellshock people are using.

I should have researched more in the memory department.

 

[TonyM16]

Yep, it is. Corsair 8500C5D.

But somehow is not as good as those cellshock people are using.

I should have researched more in the memory department.

Actually I disagree. The corsair are fine, and don't sweat it. Is it the dominator? Please try sli ready. It should work for you like that. Yeah the actual ram you got is pretty low end seeing as it is only c5 at 800mhz which is what the 680i sets at default anyway well almost as it defaults at 5-5-5-18 not 5-5-5-15 like your ram is rated at. Thats what happens with my evga 680i. As sonn as I swicthed it on my ram was at 800mhz 5-5-5-18. I then tried manually setting my ram at 1111mhz with 4-4-4-12 ie my rated speed. I did this using linked fsb. It worked great for a day , but then it suddenley wouldn't boot like that. I could pass stress test with it, but I just couldn't keep the setting after a reboot.

I soon found by setting my ram to the same setting using sli ready instead, that O would get rock hard reliability. I then found the xpert setting and was able to overclock everything and set dividers all with in the confines of sli ready. This has given me massive overclocks with default stability and reliability. I suggest you try the same, as using those prinicpals I have got my ram to 1250mhz with 4-4-4-12 with a 3.6ghz E6600 and it's just as reliable as default.

 

[MrToad]

Hmmm... I will give it a shot, thank you for the insight.

Mind you, I'm not unhappy with the RAM, is just that "better" is "good"s enemy

Still, I'd be happy to sacrifice mhz for that magical 1T setting. Following your advice I'll see how much I can push it without having to change to 2T.

 

[TonyM16]

Hmmm... I will give it a shot, thank you for the insight.

Mind you, I'm not unhappy with the RAM, is just that "better" is "good"s enemy

Still, I'd be happy to sacrifice mhz for that magical 1T setting. Following your advice I'll see how much I can push it without having to change to 2T.

Oh no with 1T the max is about 800mhz for you kit and about 850mhz for top of the line ram. is that what you were doing? 1T is only for 800mhz ram. Also it makes sense to pair 1T with tighter timings. If 1T is what you want , even though core2duo prefers higher speed more than tighter timings then try 800mhz with 4-4-4-10 and 1T, if that works then try c3 and see if you get that. To get c3 at 800mh with 1T you will need the bare minimum of 3.3v and most probably 2.4v, which means you will need to buy the dominator fan kit for $13.99 from any good online shop. It wont work at any higher than that . To get 1T at 1066 you will probably need liked 3v of voltage .

 

[MrToad]

Oh no with 1T the max is about 800mhz for you kit and about 850mhz for top of the line ram. is that what you were doing? 1T is only for 800mhz ram. Also it makes sense to pair 1T with tighter timings. If 1T is what you want , even though core2duo prefers higher speed more than tighter timings then try 800mhz with 4-4-4-10 and 1T, if that works then try c3 and see if you get that. To get c3 at 800mh with 1T you will need the bare minimum of 3.3v and most probably 2.4v, which means you will need to buy the dominator fan kit for $13.99 from any good online shop. It wont work at any higher than that . To get 1T at 1066 you will probably need liked 3v of voltage .

Thanks again... In the end I'll have to buy you a beer or something ^^

Running 4-4-4-10 1T atm, with 2.7v. Will fire up Sandra and compare results.

Then I'll do some tests using higher bus speeds with 2T and compare again.

 

[TonyM16]

Thanks again... In the end I'll have to buy you a beer or something ^^

Running 4-4-4-10 1T atm, with 2.7v. Will fire up Sandra and compare results.

Then I'll do some tests using higher bus speeds with 2T and compare again.

No problem mate, but 2.7v is awfully high for your ram. I hope you know your ram. Please don't damage it. Also above i wrote 3.3v when it should have said 2.3v lol. I am only at my rated 2.4v (but my ram was really expensive so you probably won't get the same results) and think that's plenty, but ofcourse you will need really high voltages to coax slower rams in to higher speeds. Thanks for the beer

 

[M1keMK]

Right guys, its together, nice board but a few probs. Firstly memory, came up with the same error the guy above stated (I have cellshock) but got into bios and it was defaulting at 1.8v. Upped to 2.2v and its fine.
Posted right away with ONE card in there, however, since putting in the 2nd card it wont post... just beeps at me!
I will go into more detail with everything and a few other findings tomorrow, but i gotta dash out now... catch ya tomoz!

 

[MrToad]

Ops... I just noticed another funny thing.

No matter what I set the NB voltage to in the bios... it keeps going to 1.40v.

At this point I don't know if it's misreading the voltage, ignoring me completely, or both.

Edit: Must have been a glitch... if I carry on like this I'll end up chasing ghosts... Nvm that, back to 1.40v

Edit: If someone from "xtremesystems" is reading this, could you please tell SmokeyTheBandit to:

a) Check that the BIOS is setting the appropiate voltage for the memory (as mentioned in this thread).

b) Check that Keyb/Mouse support is set to OS and not BIOS (as mentioned as well)

c) Disable eSATA (in bios, under Integrated Peripheals, "Onboard SATA") and both the onboard LANs. (Had a bizarre hardware conflict with this that lead to the same symptoms described by him).

d) As suggested above, to enable EPP in uguru if his memory es EPP capable.

e) Check temperatures. I'm experiencing overheating issues atm, particularly in the NB. As we speak I had to put the computer next to the open window, completely naked (the case, not me )

 

[M1keMK]

Right guys, about to get on with it, but through i would give u a bit more detail on the events of yesterday - was in a bit of a hurry last night when i posted.
Had many little niggles with this build (such as the Galaxy being 1cm 2 long due to my res being in the way! grrrr) which is why its taken a bit longer than normal. I had 3 main issues with setting up the board.

1) - this is the main one, and a big flaw in the layout of the board imo. The molex socket for SLI power is too near the slot above it, so when you install a 2nd card (8800GTX at least anyways) the cooler hits the molex when its plugged in. Its virtually impossible to fit the card in the bottom PCI-E slot as a result. After a good lot of 'persuasion' I did just about squeeze it in, but this really is not ideal. I really cant believe that no one at abit tested this, as the power input is only really necessary if you use SLI, but it makes it really really difficult to use SLI with it plugged in!

2) - CPU Fan detect failsafe. This is important for anyone on watercooling. I decided to go straight to water, i had my loop (just CPU atm, cant get hold of blocks for the 8800's atm) ready, and my storm was begging to be used, so I stuck it straight on. Anyhow, at default bios settings the board would just powerup for a few seconds and then shut down. Thank god for the LCD display, as it indicated it was a 'CPU fan Error'. Anyway the only way I could get it to boot up was by plugging in my stock CPU fan to get into bios and change the fan detection settings.

3) - Checksum Error - As i indicated above, I had a checksum error the first time I managed to get the board to post. It could well be just the Cellshock thats affected by this. I had a feeling it wasnt using enough voltage. Managed to get into bios and sure enough it was only feeding it 1.8v. Upped it to 2.2v and problem gone.

System was then fine even got it too boot into my old windows install on one card. My current prob is that adding a 2nd card seems to stop the system booting at all. rather annoyingly its also very difficult to read the error code display with a 2nd GTX in the way! Anyhow thats what Im working on right now. Hopefully I'll get it sorted pretty quick.

 

[MrToad]

Updates on tests:

Managed to run Memtest overnight (about 9hrs) @555 4-4-4-12 2T 2.4v following the advice provided by TonyM16.

I was also able to run Sandra memory tests before the system started showing the same degree of instability I'm getting used to.

Tuesday I'll be getting a "Corsair Dominator Fan" as suggested, to discard temperature issues.

Edit: I tried the 11B02 BIOS but it just made things worse. Rolled back to original BIOS.

 

[M1keMK]

Sorted my SLI prob... now boots, and im installing windows as I type! Will have initial results soon.

 

[TonyM16]

Right guys, about to get on with it, but through i would give u a bit more detail on the events of yesterday - was in a bit of a hurry last night when i posted.
Had many little niggles with this build (such as the Galaxy being 1cm 2 long due to my res being in the way! grrrr) which is why its taken a bit longer than normal. I had 3 main issues with setting up the board.

1) - this is the main one, and a big flaw in the layout of the board imo. The molex socket for SLI power is too near the slot above it, so when you install a 2nd card (8800GTX at least anyways) the cooler hits the molex when its plugged in. Its virtually impossible to fit the card in the bottom PCI-E slot as a result. After a good lot of 'persuasion' I did just about squeeze it in, but this really is not ideal. I really cant believe that no one at abit tested this, as the power input is only really necessary if you use SLI, but it makes it really really difficult to use SLI with it plugged in!

2) - CPU Fan detect failsafe. This is important for anyone on watercooling. I decided to go straight to water, i had my loop (just CPU atm, cant get hold of blocks for the 8800's atm) ready, and my storm was begging to be used, so I stuck it straight on. Anyhow, at default bios settings the board would just powerup for a few seconds and then shut down. Thank god for the LCD display, as it indicated it was a 'CPU fan Error'. Anyway the only way I could get it to boot up was by plugging in my stock CPU fan to get into bios and change the fan detection settings.

3) - Checksum Error - As i indicated above, I had a checksum error the first time I managed to get the board to post. It could well be just the Cellshock thats affected by this. I had a feeling it wasnt using enough voltage. Managed to get into bios and sure enough it was only feeding it 1.8v. Upped it to 2.2v and problem gone.

System was then fine even got it too boot into my old windows install on one card. My current prob is that adding a 2nd card seems to stop the system booting at all. rather annoyingly its also very difficult to read the error code display with a 2nd GTX in the way! Anyhow thats what Im working on right now. Hopefully I'll get it sorted pretty quick.

To get the little sucker in , get your self a molex tool. Pull the pins out with it. Then get a dremel or something sharp to slice the empty molex in half (ofcourse I mean the top bit ). Then put the pins back in. You should now have a short enough molex to fit.

 

[M1keMK]

To get the little sucker in , get your self a molex tool. Pull the pins out with it. Then get a dremel or something sharp to slice the empty molex in half (ofcourse I mean the top bit ). Then put the pins back in. You should now have a short enough molex to fit.

Yer, i might well have to give that a go. I have a molex tool lying around here somewhere. On the other another thread here there are a couple of guys saying the IN9 max may not require it, so i'll do some stability tests 1st before i start hacking things to pieces! LOL!

 

[TonyM16]

Yer, i might well have to give that a go. I have a molex tool lying around here somewhere. On the other another thread here there are a couple of guys saying the IN9 max may not require it, so i'll do some stability tests 1st before i start hacking things to pieces! LOL!

Unless the retail board is different, the black board I saws in a magazine has the plug at the end of the board after a pci lane. Looking at the it seems like daul slot card will stop short of the plug. Is that the case. Is it the springy bit of your molex that is the problem or is the retail board different layout? As if not all you have to do is buy a molex extender cable that doesn't have springy bits and has a very small profile. That won't require any hacking. or you can just cut offf the springy bit. By the way a good stability test seems to be playing Rainbow six vegas as that really taxes the graphic cards. I think Oblivion in sli would be good aswell. Don't rely on 3d mark 06 for the gpu stability test. Someone here was completely stable for that but kept crashing in games.

 

[Flanno]

Running Rainbow 6 now with no problem.
Also tried Oblivion in sli.
Also ran Orthos on 2 cores, while doing DivX encoding on the other 2.
Seems ok so far without this connector plugged in.
Might look for that extender you were talking about.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

Sorted my SLI prob... now boots, and im installing windows as I type! Will have initial results soon.

What did you change M1keMK?

 

[Flanno]

One of the regular psu affieciandos over on JonnyGuruForums tells me that the molex is for SLI setups using cards that don't have PCI-e power connectors such as the 7600GT/GS and down.

 

[FlakMagnet]

Phew! I am sooo glad to hear that! I have just bought this mobo and also the Galaxy 1000W PSU. I want to upgrade to SLi later, and was starting to feel really worried about this.

But now I am a happy bunny