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

[rbk123]

So I did a couple of benchmarks between my 2140@3.2G and my 3600 X2 @ 2.85Ghz consisting of ripping a few CD's. Surprisingly, the 2140 @ 3.2 was *slower* than the AMD chip by almost 20-22 seconds per CD.

One difference between machines is the 2140 I have XP Pro and the AMD machine is XP Home; both SP2.

 

[DAC21]

Originally posted by: rbk123
So I did a couple of benchmarks between my 2140@3.2G and my 3600 X2 @ 2.85Ghz consisting of ripping a few CD's. Surprisingly, the 2140 @ 3.2 was *slower* than the AMD chip by almost 20-22 seconds per CD.

One difference between machines is the 2140 I have XP Pro and the AMD machine is XP Home; both SP2.

Interesting results, not sure that XP is the difference. Other than the CPU, what other hardware is different? Seems there could be a number of issues, but the amount of L2 cache could be it? RAM, bloated start up apps/sys?

 

[bucd]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
No need to burn up your board and CPU with hours of torture. Try 3.3GHz under Orthos for two hours. If okay, then bump up to 3.35GHz. Run in the morning when room temp is under 73C. This will keep your core temp from breaking 75C. Also use memtest86 test#5 (50 loops) to check RAMs since you'll also overclock the memory. Drop by the Overclock forum to post your result. There's a growing thread with these value C2D CPUs.

And yes, you managed to boot with the Trio, Raptor, and OCZ! Congrat on the overclock.

Yeah..i'm very impressed with this BOARD. Was a bit worried at first, but turns out be one heck of a deal. Well worth the money.

Will need to run some benchmarks to see what i get for fun later.

Happy overclocking to everyone.

-D

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: rbk123
So I did a couple of benchmarks between my 2140@3.2G and my 3600 X2 @ 2.85Ghz consisting of ripping a few CD's. Surprisingly, the 2140 @ 3.2 was *slower* than the AMD chip by almost 20-22 seconds per CD.

One difference between machines is the 2140 I have XP Pro and the AMD machine is XP Home; both SP2.

Ripping is highly dependent on the readability of the DVD, the DVD drive, and the amount of compression with the final product. The HDD may also affect performance. I've never seen my CPU load above 65% with SC Opetron @ 2.97GHz when I rip/transcode a DVD movie. The nominal rip time for a 2 hour movie at 80% quality is around 8 min. If you rebuild the DVD, then the CPU will be taxed to the max.

Super Pi is a true number crunching application and should give a fairly accurate speed comparison.

 

[ArchAngel777]

For everyone here who is going to update their BIOS. Do NOT use Abit's Windows Utilitiy. I was screwed over twice by it. Once with a shaky system (my own fault, or so I thought at the time) and once with a rock solid stable system.

Luckily, I was able to recover both times, but it was a major pain in the ass. The reason I used the windows version is because I didn't have a FDD installed and didn't feel like hooking it up. Well, fate caught me and said, you WILL hook up a FDD one way or the other... I chose the hard way :-(

So, I just wanted to give a friendly reminder that to flash BIOS in DOS, at least with THIS motherboard. I used both methods liberally in the past, but I wont touch it anymore with this board.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Need to reset BIOS to default, load OPTIMIZED DEFAULT, then flash in windows without AV or any other non-essential application running in the background. To be 100% safe, install with floppy.

 

[rbk123]

Originally posted by: DAC21
Interesting results, not sure that XP is the difference. Other than the CPU, what other hardware is different? Seems there could be a number of issues, but the amount of L2 cache could be it? RAM, bloated start up apps/sys?

Each system is almost identical. Memory is the same - 2GB. The 2140 has a Sony DVD ROM and the 3600 has an LG DVD ROM. Both have the same hardrives - Deskstars; although the 2140 I have running the OS on one drive and the apps on a second drive, the 3600 has everything loaded on 1 drive.

I ran 3DMark03 between both earlier and the 2140 beat it by around 700 points (20,003 vs 19,300 or so).

I'm trying to think of other real world apps that I use that run long enough to give me a good benchmark, so if I come up with them I'll post as well. I seem to recall that for some reason iTunes runs faster on AMD chips - Anand had this when they did their first Conrad review. I'll see if I can find that.

 

[SantaAna]

Hello Serpent,

I changed my memory divider, and it reads 204.0 Mhz on Cpuz. Is this correct? Also, the cpu reads the same FSB. Is this correct?

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Abit will overclock the FSB by a few MHz at default settings. If CPU BUS SPEED = MEMORY FREQUENCY, then your RAMs are set to 1:1 memory divider. Raise Vcore and FSB to overclock. Make sure you manually set RAM voltage and timing to the mfr's specs.

 

[DAC21]

Well Boy's wish me luck, I'm going in! I'm hooked up, the CMOS is shunted, the Battery is out. 10 more minutes and she will be powered up, PLEASE no smoke!!



Intel E4500
IP35-E
XFX XXX 8600 GTS
Samsung SATA300 - 250GB
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum
Yate Loon 3 X 120mm
Cooler Master Centurion 531
Samsung IDE 18X burner + LG 16X burner
"Bent" AC Freezer 7 Pro

 

[rodrigu3]

hot hot does the NB get with overclocking? I'm looking at OCing an E2180 to about 3.0GHz.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

With my downdraft Big Typhoon modded with medium speed 120 x 38 mm Panaflo, I get 47C at the base of the NB heat sink, about 1/2" away from the CPU core. I use a calibrated TC to record peak temp. My NB voltage is at default (388MHz FSB). Peak NB core temp is probably around 55C. You don't need to raise NB voltage with E2180 unless you have dodgy OCZ RAMs.

 

[hokiealumnus]

Right, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to get an AC Freezer 7 Pro and I've seen several folks do it but say it needs modding. The post about moving the fan up 2-3 fins to clear the NB seems the most practical, but others have cut the fan bracket. All seem to need to bend the fins on the back to avoid the PWM. My question is: Does anyone have photos of their install? I want to see this thing on the board before I buy & try the install myself to see what I'm getting into.

On a related note, does anyone know if a TT Blue Orb II will fit over the NB / PWM heatsinks?

I'm also concerned about weight. The Freezer 7 Pro (@ 520g) is super light compared to other HSFs out there. I'm concerned with pressure on my MB as I have no room (read: $) for error here. The Blue Orb is a whopping 820g but is very close to the MB, so most of the weight will be evenly distributed. I like the TT Big Typhoon (825g) Serpent has (and the mini-typhoon as well (605g) b/c of its lower weight...opinions on that one?) but they'll put so much lateral pressure b/c they're set so far off the MB. Is this a problem?

Thanks!

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Orb will work. Cooling is just so so vs. BT or Ultra 90/120.

Freezer uses push-pin, which is a royal pain to install/remove. four push-pins apply more force per unit area on the MB. Again, okay performance for less $.

The bigger cooler uses a back plate to re-distribute the force of the extra mass over a larger surface area. If you're concerned about the applied moment on the MB, then lockwire the top of the Big Typhoon to the case. I run a wire from one of the 120mm fan's mounting hole to the side brace of my Antec SLK3000B case. With the proper tension, you can achieve near zero moment about the center of mass.

BT open box is often on sale at the Egg for $18.

 

[bal3wolf]

Does any one know if thiers a volt mod for the ip35-e i know theirs one for the pro but havet heard much on the -e board for volt mods. To guy asking about heatsinks tuniq tower works good on this board to. Xoide seems to sell heatsinks cheaper then new egg tt is 41 or 49 for led.

http://www.xoxide.com/intelsocket775.html

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Should work like IP35 Pro, except the pin location will change due to a slightly different board layout. You only need to pick-off the correct two pins going to the power control IC.

I use C1E and EIST. CPU will never see the voltage set in BIOS. If I need 1.42V to run @ 3.49GHz, then I crank up Vcore in BIOS to give me 1.42V under load. Idle voltage is around 1.3V.

 

[rodrigu3]

jab-tech has the cheapest prices I can find on heatsinks and fans

 

[DAC21]

SerpentRoyal


Anyway to shut down the Abit boot manager? Also where in the BIOS do you find the
the "Change USB keyboard and mouse support from OS to BIOS"?

 

[SerpentRoyal]

I'm not aware of any Abit boot manager. There's an Abit splash screen (page 2-6 to enabled/disable full screen logo). You can also change the boot order (page 2-6). Probably an artifact from the previous install if you're seeing some sort of boot manager. Always zero fill the HDD if it contains old data.

See page 2-12 for USB mouse and keyboard options.

 

[SantaAna]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Abit will overclock the FSB by a few MHz at default settings. If CPU BUS SPEED = MEMORY FREQUENCY, then your RAMs are set to 1:1 memory divider. Raise Vcore and FSB to overclock. Make sure you manually set RAM voltage and timing to the mfr's specs.


Thanks Serpent.

 

[DAC21]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
I'm not aware of any Abit boot manager.

OK problem fixed, I had the DVD-ROM as first boot device for the OS load. Meantime I still had the Abit Driver disk in the DVD which caused the Abit boot manager to come up when starting the rig.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

For reference to other users, select your DVD ROM near the bottom of that list (2nd from the bottom) as 1st boot. You'll see the full name of the ROM drive. Set HDD as 2nd boot. Be sure to zero fill a used HDD if it contains old data. Disable all other boot devices. Save BIOS. Reboot with the windows CD/DVD and windows will start to load. No need to hit F6 to install special drivers. Upon completion, install the Intel chipset, reboot, sound, reboot, and LAN drivers.

 

[SantaAna]

Hello Serpent,

Been trying to get past 2400, failed a couple of times, and I decided to check BIOS Version.

CPUZ says version 6.

Time to learn how to flash BIOS?

My question is this: 11 or 12?


Any safe way to flash BIOS without a floppy?

 

[hokiealumnus]

It's highly recommended you flash BIOS from a DOS environment. Windows is possible but you're taking an unnecessary risk.

You'll need to create a boot floppy to use to flash it. The one I used was easily created with this utility (drdflash, it creates a boot floppy without drivers taking up all the space).

After using that to create your boot floppy, download the BIOS of your choice (Official releases here. Beta release here.

If using version 12, unzip, copy the files to your floppy & you're done. Simply reboot with the floppy as your first boot device & once in DOS, type "runme" and it'll automagically flash for you. DO NOT POWER DOWN OR HIT ANY KEYSTROKES until it has completed.

If using v13beta, the process is slightly different. See the first post in this thread (9/4/07 update) for Serpents instructions on how to do that.

 

[imported_BS]

I can attest to this after 15 years of flashing I did a windows flash about 3 weeks ago and had it lock at 50 percent, Board dead and onto the IP35-E. Never again from within windows.