Abit BD7 and P4 1.6A (Northwood)

[Mathwiz]

I just placed my order for the BD7 and the 1.6GHZ Northwood.

Is anyone running this combination?
If so, how does it perform?
I noticed there is no BIOS update for this board on Abit's website. So I guess the only BIOS
is the origional one?
I used a BH6 ver1.02 for a while, and it was a sweet board. It served me well, until I moved on to
a Asus CUSL2. Now I am going to give Abit a try again.

Comments welcome.

 

[Binge]

Mathwiz, I got the same board and chip on order.
Let us know how it works out.
Im in the market for a good HSF now.
I would love the Swiftech MCX478 - but 70+ for a hsf?
Thats half the cost of the chip!

 

[l0rdb0iNk]

I have the BD7 with a standard P4 1.6 @ 1.9. I am ordering my 1.6A tonight.
The BD7 is a good board but it does have some minor flaws.
The main thing that concerned me was the use of both thermal grease and a TIM on the chipset :Q
I fixed it up with some ASG and everything was good to go.
I could probably get this P4 to 2Ghz with better cooling.
Currently I run the stock Intel HSF with ASG.

 

[Strawberrymom]

get the sunflower

 

[l0rdb0iNk]

I was thinking about getting either the Swiftech MCX478 or the Thermaltake Volcano 7+.

 

[BadThad]

What made you all decide on the Abit board? From the tests I've read Gigabyte seems to have about the best board for P4's.

Just wondering, seeing Abit's history of hit/miss quality.

hummmm...maybe something like this:

Review

 

[Mathwiz]

"What made you all decide on the Abit board? From the tests I've read Gigabyte seems to have about the best board for P4's."

"Just wondering, seeing Abit's history of hit/miss quality."

Bad,

Asus and Abit have been getting the most positive feedback in the forums. (Which is where I
consider the most accurate knowledge is).

I'm sure the Gigabyte GA-8IRX flavor boards are good boards as well, however they have stuff
I don't need at this time. ex USB 2.0, ATA 133. Sound is the only thing on the Abit I wont use.

The exclusive BD7 features I like are 1. Locking the PCI bus , and I like the three USB ports instead of two. If I need more USB ports, I already have a three port bracket.

Although not exclusive, I also like the diagnostic LED on board.

PLUS......I can see myself, after I have upgraded to my next motherboard, using this board without
the hassle of a case, to test and troubleshoot hardware on a bench. (This due to the power and reset
buttons mounted on the Mobo. Man, talk about convience!

Concerning Abits track record, I have only had great luck with their boards. If my board is defective,
I'll RMA for another one. I know there are good ones. ala, the reviews.

As far as a HSF, I will wait til the offerings for P4 mature a little as I am sure they will due to the
amount of fresh, aggressive, overclocking going on with the Northwood. (The stocks seem to be
doing pretty well).

Bottom line-----------Intel chipset stability, plus the intriguing possibilities of the 1.6A Northwood.
This should be fun.

BTW, I have two 256MB Crucial PC2100 (Micron chips) that I bought direct online Oct. 11th for
a grand total of $56.00 that I really want to unseal from their antistatic bag. (Caught it at rock bottom)

 

[Mathwiz]

Binge,
I'm curious where you bought your mobo and cpu. Deciding where to get mine was the hardest
part . Availability, decent price, and a high resellerratings.com rating made it tough. I settled on
Multiwave Direct. This is my first purchase from them.

 

[RADON]

I decided on the Abit BD7-Raid for 2 reasons. I originally bought this with a P4 1.8.

1.) Ability to lock pci bus at (33, 37.5, etc.)
2.) Ability to take voltage from default 1.75 to 2.2 (difference of 0.45)

Now that I have a P4 2.0A, I'm dissappointed that I'm only able to take
voltage from default 1.5 to 1.625 (difference of 0.125)

I've emailed abit tech support (still waiting) about a bios update to allow for
the same difference voltage on the northwoods (ie 1.95).

My $.02

 

[BadThad]

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated. The Abit sounds good except for the core voltage possibilities, that needs to be addressed.

 

[mikeg]

Let us know how hight you get the 1.6A P4 up too. Looks like thats the next setup Im going for.
Mike

 

[Binge]

Mathwiz,
I bought my board and chip through Mwave.
Then....DOH!.... I have been using AMD for so long I forgot that I needed a new P/S.
SO I ordered a new P/S from Newegg.

 

[Duvie]

binge...

What was your old power supply and why did you think you needed a new one...There are many power supplies that are amd and p4 ready...


I have the sparkle 350 watt power supply I bought for high quality power for my 1.4tbird, but not only amd approved and recommended but pentium 4 ready...

 

[DashK]

[update, stay away]

 

[Binge]

Duvie,
I was still using the 300w PS that came with my case. Works fine for my AMD chip on my KT7a-R....but it lacks that second 4 pin connector the Abit BD7 requires. I was wondering though - does someone make an adapter that would turn a standard drive plug into what is needed for the p4 boards?

 

[JRC]

Directron.com sells them. $8.99 But they have a $10 minimum-order requirement.
Pentium 4 12VATX Adapter

 

[Zap]

<< BTW, I have two 256MB Crucial PC2100 (Micron chips) that I bought direct online Oct. 11th for a grand total of $56.00 that I really want to unseal from their antistatic bag. (Caught it at rock bottom) >>


You lucky b@stard!!!

I've also been eyeing such a combo. I actually am not too familiar with P4 motherboards. I was eyeing the MSI 645 Pro board, but the locked 33/66 PCI/AGP of the Abit board seems like the best solution for us tweakers.

 

[Binge]

Got my 1.6a, BD7, and a new power supply delivered today.
Should be the weekend before I have the time to install it all.
I'll report back with the over clock if anyone is interested.
My chip's S code is SL668 MALAY

Question: Should I remove the "thermal tape" from the stock heat sink and use Artic Silver in its place?
If so, what works good to remove the tape?

 

[subhuman]

Binge - yes. Use a razor blade. Careful not to scratch the heatsync, though - go slow. Rubbing alcohol (over 90% is better) will help remove the residue. If you scratch the heatsync use 2000 grit sandpaper on it with a perfectly flat surface, should fix it right up. Artic Silver is prefered, but not required. It COULD help your overclock

 

[skeeteroplagus]

I got my BD7 + 1.6A all setup last night. I am currently running it at 2.24 GHz. with stock cooling (140 MHz. FSB). This is using the DDR at PC200 spec, so the memory is running at 280 MHz. effectively currently. One thing that I did notice is that my voltages in the hardware monitoring are really low (1.47v to be exact) and I am specifying them to run at 1.6.... I am not sure if this is a bios issue, and can't download the latest bios because abit's ftp is currently down... I have once tested a batch of TH7's had a problem like this with the CPU core voltage being way low, but I am pretty confident that this is probably a bios issue saying the NW's require less voltage... I guess this means two things: My CPU owns (2.24 Ghz. at default voltage), and my BD7 may / maynot be defective. I haven't tried any higher yet, for some reason my crucial wont dance at 140 MHz, 200 DDR when using cas2, only cas2.5... Once again I am hoping this is a BIOS issue because I have ran my memory at much higher speeds before on other platforms. Next week the northwood will get watercooling, so I am expecting a nice 2.5 + GHz. out of it.

 

[Binge]

Skeeteroplagus - what kind of water setup are you going with?
Ive been flirting with the idea for a while now.

 

[zzzz]

does this board support registered DDR?

 

[l0rdb0iNk]

I just installed my 1.6A tonight in my BD7. I am able to get 2352Nhz 147x16 with the stock Intel HSF. This is with my ram settings at PC200 CAS 2.5 7-3-3. The highest bus speed I can get my cpu with PC266 CAS 2 5-2-2 is 107Mhz:|.
I am looking to get some better ram. Which brands of PC2700/PC3000 should I pickup? Is anyone having better luck with Corsair, Mushkin, or Kingston?

 

[mikeg]

So what settings are you using in the bios for you OC? I have noticed on mine that the cpu multiplyer is set to 17 no 16 and if I change it to anything else I get error beebs when I restart. Plz let me know what your settings are.

 

[brueger]

Quick question -- I just got my 1.6a and am ready to install it. I noticed a small hole on the top of the processor and wonder if I have to do anything special when I apply the thermal paste. I am using a Swiftech heatsink instead of the stock one.

---- Bill