Abit IP35-E Review (500MHz FSB board)...$90 @ NewEgg + $6.61 ship

[imported_jnk]

hope it doesnt get broken.... there's only a tiny bit of space between the fins and the Northbridge sink...

translated hehe.

artic freezer pro 7

 

[jhigh2000]

Originally posted by: timtodd

I run 12 BIOS because it's a hair faster than 13. I can live with the extra 13 seconds of boot time.

Oops. I got the bios version mixed up. Based on your quote above I am going to go with 12.

SerpentRoyal,

If the following was true, which would you go with and why?

1) 3-3-3-8-2T @ 333MHz (2.1v). Stable.
2) 4-4-4-12-2T @ 400MHz (2.2v). Stable.
3) 4-4-4-12-2T @ 333MHz (1.9v). Stable.

What would be your second pick and why?
What would be your third pick and why?

This will help me set my priorities in regard to OCing and configuring my memory.

Thanks!

I can confirm that #3 is stable (at least for me). To me, #3 makes sense for a 9x333 overclock because:

a) timings are still pretty good
b) 1:1 ratio (no real world performance difference at 1:1.20)
c) Voltage is still pretty low

Btw, #2 was also 100% stable for me (since that is spec for the memory). Giving up a little bit of performance in synthetic benchmarks in exchange for a lower Vdim seemed to me a reasonable tradeoff.

 

[timtodd]

Thanks jnk,

I found that it was a tight fit after I had ordered it.

I am glad other people have paved the way ahead of me, but still not looking forward to it. Especially when SerpentRoyal is reporting that it doesn't cool as well as the BT. There haven't been any openboxes on newegg for the BT lately either.

This thread/topic had some helpful info on getting the Arctic Freezer Pro 7 to fit. Here are the relevant posts:

Heidfirst -

the AC freezer 7 fits with a bit of surgery to the fan bracket

Kupe -

The NB Heatsink is pretty high. Like Heidfirst, I was able to get my freezer 7 pro in with some difficulty. I didn't cut anything though, so the NB heatsink and the Freezer's fan casing are touching. Here are some pictures to give you a better idea of what you'll have to deal with.

Overview
Detail 1
Detail 2

I was a little worried that I might mess up the contact with the NB and its heatsink, but it seems fine and temps are normal. I had considered going back to the stock heatsink, but everything is fine so I'm just leaving it this way.

I was also wondering about the molex connector. As you can see, I have mine connected. Not sure if it's necessary or not though.

Kupe -

I decided to take another look at it, because I was able to get the heatsink in pretty easily, but
I had to nudge the NB HS a bit to get the fan on. I took some pictures:

Lifted NB HS
Lift 2

As you can see, the fan casing was lifting the NB cooler a bit. I wasn't having any temp or stability problems, but this worried me. I decided to take Heidfirst's advice and snip a bit of the fan bracket off. I took a picture with it off while I was at it:

No fan

As you can see, the heatsink fits just fine, although I kind of had to slide the lower two fins under the little lip at the top of the NB HS.

And here's what it looks like after clipping off the offending corner:
After

hardly ideal, but everything's fine now. According to the box, the freezer 7 Pro is 104 mm long, while the fan casing is 107 mm long. Those 3 mm make a good bit of difference it seems.

I'd wager that if your cooler is less than 104 mm length-wise (up and down when looking at the installed MB) you'll probably be fine.

Husky55 -

Freezer7 is not a perfect fit. But if you bend the thin AL layer of the Freezer7 on top of the NB it will fit OK. Be sure to set the pins securely. That's what I did.

Others just trim the excess AL layer which I do not think is too elegant.

I was a little surprised it did not fit perfectly.

Conlan -

I received my IP35 today and the AC7 Freezer HSF will fit without trimming by following this quick and easy procedure:

1. Remove the fan assy. from the HS.

2. Gently bend up the corner of the bottom 2 fins that interfere with the NB Cooler, leaving a small gap between the bottom 2 fins and the bottom 3rd fin.

3. Install the HS only on the mobo.

4. Reinstall the fan assy. aligning the bottom of the fan shroud under the bottom 3rd fin, This will relocate the fan assy. slightly higher on the HS providing clearance over the NB HS.

This should not affect cooling as you are only moving the fan assy. up 2 fins.

I'll fire mine up over the weekend and post back how it went.

hokiealumnus -

Also, I was given photos of what you have to do to an AC Freezer 7 Pro to get it to work w/ our lovely NB heat sink. See the raised fan here. See the fin bending you'll have to do here.

Thanks to DAC21 for providing those! If that open box BT for $18 comes up on Newegg, I'll be all over it. Do they ship it with any thermal paste? If the open box doesn't pop up, it's the Freezer 7 Pro for me!

 

[imported_jnk]

you can try the BT, or the thermalright ultima 90. It's small and anandtech has a review of it here too.

 

[hokiealumnus]

There was actually an Open Box yesterday (or the day before?)...it lasted all of maybe two hours. You can't search for it, you have to click through to the CPU Fans & Heatsinks section and narrow it to the Thermaltake brand. Scroll down and it's listed there. Of course, that's only if they have them.

 

[timtodd]

Thanks for the help guys. Much appreciated. May keep watching to see if a BT comes up openbox. We are probably competing with each other for them. (Thanks to SerpentRoyal )

1) jhigh2000 - Good to hear you were able to use the Crucial Ballistix. Were you able to push your system past 333? RealWorld performance (i.e. noticeable) is where it is at.

2) SerpentRoyal, do you think there would be a realworld difference (i.e. noticeable) between 2 & 3?
Edit: I will test with 32M Super Pi when my system is up and running.

3) Anyone have success dropping the temp by replacing the fan that comes with the BT or with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro?

4) Tannahill, how was the Cooler Master RC-690 for your build? I have the same one. Any suggestions?

 

[JBT]

I just ordered this board along with a Q6600, Hopefully they will be here before this weekend. This looks like a great wealth of info thank you for all your hard work!

 

[jhigh2000]

Originally posted by: timtodd

1) jhigh2000 - Good to hear you were able to use the Crucial Ballistix. Were you able to push your system past 333? RealWorld performance (i.e. noticeable) is where it is at.

I haven't tried to push it yet beyond 9x333. For now, I'm happy with 9x333 as a nice, conservative 24x7 overclock.

 

[timtodd]

jhigh2000 - Sounds cool (better to err on the safe side for sure), did you have any problems with the Ballistix memory or your OC?

hokiealumnus - So you ended up going with the BT? I saw some posts of yours over at ABIT's forums. How long did it take for you to get an openbox, or did you spring for a non-openbox?

 

[hokiealumnus]

No way...couldn't afford $44.99...but $18.99 I could certainly do...and did. With AS Ceramique & shipping, total was $30 & change. A total steal! It came up about two weeks after I started looking. Not sure how often they do it though. Its packaging had obviously been opened but all the parts were intact and unopened. I guess the person saw how big it actually was and decided they couldn't do it.

 

[rodrigu3]

Here are the pics of the new rig
Note in the closeup that I stabilized the top of ultra extreme 120 to the case with some plastic ties. I was worried about the weight and although I did do a penny mod, it still rotated slightly. This solution took care of all that.



New rig

Closeup of wiring - nice and clean

In the dark - purdy

 

[jhigh2000]

Originally posted by: timtodd
jhigh2000 - Sounds cool (better to err on the safe side for sure), did you have any problems with the Ballistix memory or your OC?

No problems with the memory.

My only issue with the build was a strange intermittent boot issue, where XP would occasionally hang right at the beginning of the the loading screen where you could just barely see the windows logo.

After comparing my settings to the optimized defaults, I realized I had disabled the IDE controller (I don't have any IDE devices). As a test I enabled the controller..windows loaded and detected new hardware. Since i've done this, I haven't had any more boot issues. I don't know if it's just my board or what happened. I did originally install windows with the IDE controller disabled, so I suppose it was intermittently handing while it was polling for IDE devices (just a theory). Still scratching my head on that one.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: timtodd
Sorry, I wasn't more clear. Those were theoretical numbers based on your posts yesterday with jhigh2000 (who also has Crucial Ballistix). I was trying to figure out what might be better and why. My equipment comes tomorrow, so I haven't had a chance to test anything yet. Excited by the prospect of putting the new system together and waiting for my parts to arrive, I was looking for a deeper knowledge of the subject and was attempting to theorize. I.e. Too much time on my hands. When I get the system together, I will see what I come up with and go from there. Thanks a bunch.

I copied and pasted this thread/topic into Word so I could search it better. It is 431 pages in Word. :shocked:



BIOS question:



9-04-07 (Is this what we are calling BIOS 13?)

Beta BIOS is slower than 11 BIOS (same settings). Was 16.3 seconds 1M SP. Now 16.7 seconds with Beta BIOS. Might be some minor memory timing adjustments.

I see the same numbers in Memset...Beta vs 11 BIOS. Beta BIOS is clearly slower by about 0.4 sec per 1M Super Pi. That's equivalent to a drop of 50 to 60MHz core speed.

Page 159 of 431.


9-15-07 (BIOS 12))

An official new 12 BIOS for IP35-E/IP35

-Added more RAM timing options (as low as 1, plus 1T/2T)
-Fixed CPU temp to reflect true core temperature
-Fixed Super Pi speed issue of previous Beta BIOS

It appears that the double post patch and the FP Audio selector menu were omitted from the Beta BIOS. No double post during restart. The system will double post after the PC is shut down.

Page 181 of 431.

Is BIOS 12 as fast as BIOS 11?

I took in 431 pages of posts yesterday, so my thinking may be affected.

13 is BETA BIOS. It is slower than 11 and 12 (both about the same for me). I'm currently running 12 BIOS.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: jnk
regarding the E2160 temp issues, those who did the test were other users and not me. Ill update you guys if we find a fix for this, hopefully we do.

@tim, i apologize for sounding a bit negative but i think i read somewhere that the freezer pro wont fit on our board. let me search for that, i hope im wrong.

btw, you have nicely specced system arriving

It can be very tight fit. You may need to do some tree trimming. Nothing major, though.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: jhigh2000

Originally posted by: timtodd

I run 12 BIOS because it's a hair faster than 13. I can live with the extra 13 seconds of boot time.

Oops. I got the bios version mixed up. Based on your quote above I am going to go with 12.

SerpentRoyal,

If the following was true, which would you go with and why?

1) 3-3-3-8-2T @ 333MHz (2.1v). Stable.
2) 4-4-4-12-2T @ 400MHz (2.2v). Stable.
3) 4-4-4-12-2T @ 333MHz (1.9v). Stable.

What would be your second pick and why?
What would be your third pick and why?

This will help me set my priorities in regard to OCing and configuring my memory.

Thanks!

I can confirm that #3 is stable (at least for me). To me, #3 makes sense for a 9x333 overclock because:

a) timings are still pretty good
b) 1:1 ratio (no real world performance difference at 1:1.20)
c) Voltage is still pretty low

Btw, #2 was also 100% stable for me (since that is spec for the memory). Giving up a little bit of performance in synthetic benchmarks in exchange for a lower Vdim seemed to me a reasonable tradeoff.

Can you run #2 at 1.8, 1.9, or 2.0V? If yes, then I'd vote for #2.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: timtodd
Thanks jnk,

I found that it was a tight fit after I had ordered it.

I am glad other people have paved the way ahead of me, but still not looking forward to it. Especially when SerpentRoyal is reporting that it doesn't cool as well as the BT. There haven't been any openboxes on newegg for the BT lately either.

This thread/topic had some helpful info on getting the Arctic Freezer Pro 7 to fit. Here are the relevant posts:

Heidfirst -

the AC freezer 7 fits with a bit of surgery to the fan bracket

Kupe -

The NB Heatsink is pretty high. Like Heidfirst, I was able to get my freezer 7 pro in with some difficulty. I didn't cut anything though, so the NB heatsink and the Freezer's fan casing are touching. Here are some pictures to give you a better idea of what you'll have to deal with.

Overview
Detail 1
Detail 2

I was a little worried that I might mess up the contact with the NB and its heatsink, but it seems fine and temps are normal. I had considered going back to the stock heatsink, but everything is fine so I'm just leaving it this way.

I was also wondering about the molex connector. As you can see, I have mine connected. Not sure if it's necessary or not though.

Kupe -

I decided to take another look at it, because I was able to get the heatsink in pretty easily, but
I had to nudge the NB HS a bit to get the fan on. I took some pictures:

Lifted NB HS
Lift 2

As you can see, the fan casing was lifting the NB cooler a bit. I wasn't having any temp or stability problems, but this worried me. I decided to take Heidfirst's advice and snip a bit of the fan bracket off. I took a picture with it off while I was at it:

No fan

As you can see, the heatsink fits just fine, although I kind of had to slide the lower two fins under the little lip at the top of the NB HS.

And here's what it looks like after clipping off the offending corner:
After

hardly ideal, but everything's fine now. According to the box, the freezer 7 Pro is 104 mm long, while the fan casing is 107 mm long. Those 3 mm make a good bit of difference it seems.

I'd wager that if your cooler is less than 104 mm length-wise (up and down when looking at the installed MB) you'll probably be fine.

Husky55 -

Freezer7 is not a perfect fit. But if you bend the thin AL layer of the Freezer7 on top of the NB it will fit OK. Be sure to set the pins securely. That's what I did.

Others just trim the excess AL layer which I do not think is too elegant.

I was a little surprised it did not fit perfectly.

Conlan -

I received my IP35 today and the AC7 Freezer HSF will fit without trimming by following this quick and easy procedure:

1. Remove the fan assy. from the HS.

2. Gently bend up the corner of the bottom 2 fins that interfere with the NB Cooler, leaving a small gap between the bottom 2 fins and the bottom 3rd fin.

3. Install the HS only on the mobo.

4. Reinstall the fan assy. aligning the bottom of the fan shroud under the bottom 3rd fin, This will relocate the fan assy. slightly higher on the HS providing clearance over the NB HS.

This should not affect cooling as you are only moving the fan assy. up 2 fins.

I'll fire mine up over the weekend and post back how it went.

hokiealumnus -

Also, I was given photos of what you have to do to an AC Freezer 7 Pro to get it to work w/ our lovely NB heat sink. See the raised fan here. See the fin bending you'll have to do here.

Thanks to DAC21 for providing those! If that open box BT for $18 comes up on Newegg, I'll be all over it. Do they ship it with any thermal paste? If the open box doesn't pop up, it's the Freezer 7 Pro for me!

BT is HUGE. That's why it's a better cooler. Freezer is still excellent if you don't want to push the CPU north of 3.2GHz.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: timtodd
Thanks for the help guys. Much appreciated. May keep watching to see if a BT comes up openbox. We are probably competing with each other for them. (Thanks to SerpentRoyal )

1) jhigh2000 - Good to hear you were able to use the Crucial Ballistix. Were you able to push your system past 333? RealWorld performance (i.e. noticeable) is where it is at.

2) SerpentRoyal, do you think there would be a realworld difference (i.e. noticeable) between 2 & 3?
Edit: I will test with 32M Super Pi when my system is up and running.

3) Anyone have success dropping the temp by replacing the fan that comes with the BT or with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro?

4) Tannahill, how was the Cooler Master RC-690 for your build? I have the same one. Any suggestions?

Upgrading the BT's 1300 rpm fan to 120 x 38mm 2300 rpm Panaflo will drop core temp by 2 to 3C.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: JBT
I just ordered this board along with a Q6600, Hopefully they will be here before this weekend. This looks like a great wealth of info thank you for all your hard work!

Glad 2 help. Most of us are too cheap to fork over $100 for a board. This little gem can keep up with the big boys at 1/2 the price.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: hokiealumnus
No way...couldn't afford $44.99...but $18.99 I could certainly do...and did. With AS Ceramique & shipping, total was $30 & change. A total steal! It came up about two weeks after I started looking. Not sure how often they do it though. Its packaging had obviously been opened but all the parts were intact and unopened. I guess the person saw how big it actually was and decided they couldn't do it.

His junk is your crown jewel. I bought four a few months back. Two with free ship. One had a missing clip. Call Thermaltake and they sent me a new installation kit.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: rodrigu3
Here are the pics of the new rig
Note in the closeup that I stabilized the top of ultra extreme 120 to the case with some plastic ties. I was worried about the weight and although I did do a penny mod, it still rotated slightly. This solution took care of all that.



New rig

Closeup of wiring - nice and clean

In the dark - purdy

Ohhh...chick magnet. Much more entertaining than my Antec SLK3000B. Thanks for the pics!

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: jhigh2000

Originally posted by: timtodd
jhigh2000 - Sounds cool (better to err on the safe side for sure), did you have any problems with the Ballistix memory or your OC?

No problems with the memory.

My only issue with the build was a strange intermittent boot issue, where XP would occasionally hang right at the beginning of the the loading screen where you could just barely see the windows logo.

After comparing my settings to the optimized defaults, I realized I had disabled the IDE controller (I don't have any IDE devices). As a test I enabled the controller..windows loaded and detected new hardware. Since i've done this, I haven't had any more boot issues. I don't know if it's just my board or what happened. I did originally install windows with the IDE controller disabled, so I suppose it was intermittently handing while it was polling for IDE devices (just a theory). Still scratching my head on that one.

OH...you should clear CMOS and load optimized default. Reboot into windows and change only Vdimm and USB mouse/keyboard support. Windows will load ALL the essential drivers. Not a good idea to kill IDE before you install windows.

 

[timtodd]

I think I may be selling my Arctic Cooler unopened.

Sure, I would probably get the AC to work, but why go through the hassle if it isn't as efficient as the BT. At least this is my thinking.

SerpentRoyal - Do we want the Big Typhoon and not the Big Typhoon VX? Just want to make sure. Does the BT come with a thermal compound already applied? If so, is there an temp advantage in applying a non-stock thermal compound?

If there is an advantage, what thermal compound would you recommend for the BT? Any tips/suggestions/links on applying the compound? How many hours do you give for curing of the compound?
btw - you rock!

I was looking at the directions for applying the Arctic Silver Ceramique to a dual core cpu. Ceramique direction (Dual Core)

Any pointers out there? I think I will use the high purity isotpropyl alcohol and a coffee filter to clean (if necessary).

I will keep researching.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: timtodd
I think I may be selling my Arctic Cooler unopened.

Sure, I would probably get the AC to work, but why go through the hassle if it isn't as efficient as the BT. At least this is my thinking.

SerpentRoyal - What thermal paste would you recommend for the BT? Any tips on applying the paste? How many hours do you give for curing the thermal paste?
btw - you rock!

I was looking at the directions for applying the Arctic Silver Ceramique to a dual core cpu. Ceramique direction (Dual Core)

Any pointers out there? I think I will use the high purity isotpropyl alcohol and a coffee filter to clean (if necessary).

I will keep researching.

I use AS5 cause someone gave me a huge tub. Hehehehhh. Use a CC to spread a thin layer on top of the heat spreader. Once the BT in on top of the heat spreader, apply a downward force of 30 lbs to the base of the BT to squeeze out the paste. Be sure to put the MB on a firm surface to avoid bending. Tighten the four screws in an X pattern...a little bit at each corner until you cannot rotate the BT by twisting the top of the BT's fan. DO NOT apply excessive torque!

I did not notice any drop in temperature after the curing period...+250 hours. Also note that the resolution of my thermal probe is around +/- 1C. Therefore, there may be an improvement, but the gain is too small to show up on this sensor. I'd say you may see a 1C drop under ideal condition.

If you don't have very good mating surfaces, then the benefit of AS5 may be greater because the AS5 is substituting air gaps.

I use reagent grade IPA for cleaning. Wet Qtips with IPA work okay for me. Don't drink coffee.

 

[timtodd]

Dang, I drink coffee.

Would it help to lap the HS and is it not to difficult?

An interesting link on lapping and modding the BT:
http://www.overclock.net/amd-a...r-thermaltake-big.html

 

[Massium]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the great information going on in this thread. I actually changed some of my component selection based on the feedback going on here. The build went nearly flawless. I did not update the bios - the dual boot doesn't bother me yet...

According to speedfan 4.33 I am at 20C idle and 26C during gaming. These seem too low but I haven't re-checked them with coretemp yet. Still have some cables to clean up then will try to overclock a bit in the near future...

Only thing not in the picture below is a 80mm fan I added to bring in air under the video card (runs @ 62C during load).

IP35-E build

Parts List:
C2D E6750
IP35-E (of course)
Big Typhoon (w/ AS5)
4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800
Radeon HD2900PRO 512MB
Seagate Barracuda - 500MB - 16MB cache
Old Sony IDE DVD-RW (my only carry over part)
Case - Rosewill R5604 (excellent budget case)
Windows Vista 64bit Home Premium OEM