AM2 690G OC'ing?

[BlingBlingArsch]

will the board allow undervolting? like 0.8-0.85Vcore?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Nope, unfortunately not

 

[najames]

WhoBeDaPlaya, I've been waiting for you to post results. Unfortunately, I have not had any time to do even look at mine, zero. I have been doing a LOT of work around the house, broke another damned sprinkler head while mowing, barely bumped it with my foot. Never use recycled old thinner walled plastic pipe. My wife just got back from Thailand Tuesday, chaos.

Sorry the heatpipe didn't work/fit, bummer. Now you know why I said I wasn't sure what some of the options in the BIOS were for!!!

Have you tried the other BIOS? So did yours stop at 265 initially too before changing dividers? As I vaguely recall, lowering the speed of the onboard graphics eliminated the goofy message. I really thought there would be decent overclocking with this setup, it was just far too easy to 260. So, are you leaving it at 9.5x300 as your permanent settings? So much for the 205 limit eh.

Other that lowering power requirements a little, I think that this setup runs cool and you don't need to undervolt at default speed. Temps WhoBeDaPlaya? Core Temp says 16C on the cores but the Microfly thermal sensor taped ot the edge of the CPU says 30C at idle now, don't know if I trust either.

I used this SYBA IEEE 1394a FireWire PCI Card because it has a header for the front ports on my MicroFly case, cost $10.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124034

Jim

 

[Double Trouble]

Does the Sapphire Pure PI-AM2RS690MHD come with component tv output? My HDTV doesn't have a dvi or hdmi input so I need component output. I noticed on the newegg pictures that there is no cable / breakout / bracket for it, but can anyone confirm?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Originally posted by: najames
I used this SYBA IEEE 1394a FireWire PCI Card because it has a header for the front ports on my MicroFly case, cost $10.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124034

Jim

Doh! I've been looking high and low for a card with the internal connector like that. Ended up going to the extreme end - bought a $15 used Audigy 1 in FS/FT

 

[najames]

I have an hour or so to goof around with the Biostar TA690G again.

It will undervolt, although all the settings are driving me NUTS. If you go into the BIOS and look at under Advanced BIOS Features => CPU Feature => NPT Vid Control, it lists settings from 0.5500 to 1.350. I reset the BIOS to defaults, then set this to 1.150, and again to 1.000V. I rebooted fine and ran CPU-Z and it reads as seen below for 1.150 and 1.000 reespectively. Sure looks like it's undervolting to me and I'm typing this on the 1.000V setting.

1.150V

1.000V


Update: With voltage set to 1.000V as described above, I can also use the additions in the Overclock Navigator Engine to fine tune voltage. These become additions to your NPT Vid Control settings. So many settings, so little time!!!

 

[avi85]

I'm thinking of getting the biostar for my parents, does anybody know where they are in stock?

Edit: n/m, just found it at the egg, it wasn't there yesterday

 

[pollyp]

Does the biostar support Dolby Digital Live as the Sapphire.
The sapphire is not possible to find ín Europe, at the moment atleast.

 

[najames]

Dolby Digital Live? Uhhh, I haven't even gotten through all the BIOS settings yet.

Biostar website Realtek ALC888 8+2-Channel HD CODEC
(Manual) 7.1 channels audio out (ALC888)
2 channels out HDMI audio
high definition audio

Sapphire sound specs (Sapphiretech website)
* Intel High Definition Audio (Azalia)
* Realtek ALC882D HD Audio CODEC

You did look on the specs for the Realtek chips they use didn't you? If you look in the link below it does say the ALC888 supports it. Now you know as much as I do.

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/dow...D=1&GetDown=true&Downloads=true#ALC888

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

Originally posted by: najames
I have an hour or so to goof around with the Biostar TA690G again.

It will undervolt, although all the settings are driving me NUTS. If you go into the BIOS and look at under Advanced BIOS Features => CPU Feature => NPT Vid Control, it lists settings from 0.5500 to 1.350. I reset the BIOS to defaults, then set this to 1.150, and again to 1.000V. I rebooted fine and ran CPU-Z and it reads as seen below for 1.150 and 1.000 reespectively. Sure looks like it's undervolting to me and I'm typing this on the 1.000V setting.

1.150V

1.000V


Update: With voltage set to 1.000V as described above, I can also use the additions in the Overclock Navigator Engine to fine tune voltage. These become additions to your NPT Vid Control settings. So many settings, so little time!!!

weird, WhoBeDaPlaya said undervolting was not possible, but its a nice surprise if it really can undervolt since i need a board that can do both: overclock & undervolt.
so if u still got the time pls check out how low the vcore will go.

 

[najames]

It booted at 0.950V in the BIOS, which shows as 0.928V in CPU-Z. It also ran Core Temp, and SuperPI ok. I tried 0.900V and it didn't do diddly squat. Now I have to figure out how to get it to post again, likely a clear, hope I can reach the jumper in this little case. There is a 0.925V setting in the middle. Your on your own now pal.

I suspect WhoBeDaPlaya is concerned about the OC, not the undervolts. I found it out because this looked redundant to the "added" volts. I played with both to find out one is a base and the other is an additional amount that can be added. Like we've said, there are a LOT of settings in the bios, too many for my needs.

I had it at about 1.15V and it was able to overclock, I only tried about 210 though. I still think it was amazing that it would overclock while undervolting at the same time.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

thx for the info m8! i think ill give this board a try asap.

 

[pollyp]

Originally posted by: najames

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/dow...D=1&GetDown=true&Downloads=true#ALC888

Thanks for the link, it looks like both support Dolby Digital Live so it is up to the drivers/software I guess. Biostar doesn't state Dolby Digital Live compatible but Sapphire does.

Could you tell me if AMD "Cool n Quiet" works ok on your board? I read someone have had troubles with this on the Biostar mb (post from Toms hardware) .

Are the PCIs locked at 33hz so it is possible to add a PCI-based Firewirecard to run stable?

Gary mentioned this which scared me a little...

"AMD still has some BIOS work to do between the IGP/PCI/PCIe locks to get them above 300"

 

[tomatom]

Now I have to figure out how to get it to post again, likely a clear, hope I can reach the jumper in this little case.

... in the old days < 486s ? > , my daughter showed me how to

use super-glue or a hot glue gun t0 attach a toothpick to a jumper .

I still have a couple in my tool box for testing new setups ...

 

[najames]

I could actually reach the clearing jumper fairly easily. It's somewhat close to one the edge of the board at the end of the slot. I reset it, had to reconfig the BIOS settings, and was good to go.

I honestly don't see CNQ in the BIOS, hmmm. If you undervolt it a little bit, I don't think you would really miss it if you have a Brisbane. It will still run at full speed, but cool and quiet too, temps drop with volts.

WhoBeDaPlaya, have you tested the PCI slots? It seems like there was a setting somewhere to set the speed, can't remember. I'm not overclocked right now and need to head to the office.

I intended to do some quick benchmarks for a couple hours and install Linux, now am down to 14days left on my WinXP 30day test period. Doh!!

Edit: FYI - I noticed that USB mice are disabled by default in the BIOS.

 

[pollyp]

Is the motherboard chip supported by Speedfan and RMClock so that fans can be controlled and board undervolted when idle ?

 

[Basilisk]

Re: Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-AM2RS690MHD

I was puzzled by this board as I couldn't find any for sale [Froogle & other searches]. NewEgg no longer lists it (unless I've made some gross typo's). But the features listed in this thread had me Really Interested.

So I went to the Sapphire site and found images of a starkly-equipped m/b where most of the anticipated features were absent. And -no- user manual for it was down-loadable -- or at least I couldn't find any. I've grown to love these on-line manuals for their answers to technical questions; a shame Sapphire doesn't provide them.

Next, I found a review with images of the package contents. YIKES! There are FIVE brackets and the PCI-e x1 slot is consumed by an HDMI card. I'm not a person for screaming "WTF", but this about did it!


I'll try to calm down... this isn't really a big deal. How many folks would require all those brackets? But... by the time you're using the HDMI & SPDIF brackets, and need a tuner and a wireless-LAN card you've consumed your uATX slots and depend on your case's FireWire (and further USB ports).

'Guess this isn't my Dream m/b. If there are miracles, the reason it's unavailable is that Sapphire's re-doing the m/b with more features having on-board brackets -- plenty of room (and why do they keep putting those parallel ports on m/b?)!

Sorry for venting here, but knowing about all those brackets may be of some use to anyone thinking of this board -- if it's ever available again.

 

[pollyp]

Originally posted by: Basilisk
Re: Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-AM2RS690MHD
-no- user manual for it was down-loadable -- or at least I couldn't find any.

PI-AM2RS690MHD Manual can be found here

Could anyone provide me with a Biostar ta690g manual ?

 

[najames]

Wow, that Sapphire board has connectors for the connectors!! That is one nice thing about the Biostar, it has DVI and VGA onboard w/o using slots. If only they would have just stuck on firewire too!!

I'll see if Biostar's small manual is on the CD tonight. How to host it?? Hmmm.

 

[Basilisk]

Originally posted by: pollyp PI-AM2RS690MHD Manual can be found here

Hah! Thanks! I was obsessively looking for "manual", but you found it under "drivers". Doh!

The manual reads as if one of those five brackets provides both optical and coaxial SPDIF, which I'd hoped for.

 

[najames]

Please try this link for the Biostar TA690G manual and let me know if it works.

http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=134066

It appears to work if you click on download and enter the code in the little popup box. I said very bad words trying to make a quick and dirty web page on Geoshitty.

 

[pollyp]

Thanks najames for the manual and answering some of my earlier questions.

Are you satisfied with the Biostar mb? Do you find it stable?

I agree it's a pitty the didn't include firewire onboard (since my tv needs it) but I have an pci fw-card I can use.

Have you used it with RMClock, a great way to keep it quite.

Edit: Biostars website is really crappy and not up-to-date, don't you just hate that.

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: pollyp
Edit: Biostars website is really crappy and not up-to-date, don't you just hate that.

YES!!!
I've been trying to get information about the Biostar TForce 570 SLI but besides a basic specs page, nothing...

 

[najames]

I am extremely satisfied with this board and yes it is VERY stable. This board just runs and doesn't seem to care if you undervolt or overclock. The only crashes have occurred when I exceeded the overclock of 264 (won't get into windows), undervolted below 0.950V, or undervolted and overclocked at the same time beyond reason. I only have tested with onboard video, SuperTalent 667 RAM, other RAM brands may be different. I haven't tried RMClock, looks nice though. I will say this board is very quiet in the MicroFly case with a quiet Seasonic PSU anyway. This rig will be a Linux PC and I plan on installing VMware Player and some Win2000/XP VMs in case I need Micro$oft apps like TurboTax. I am really considering this board for another HTPC build with a bigger CPU, that should say something.

I just wish someone would create 30hour days so I would have more time to work on this stuff, 1-2 hours late at night makes it a slow process.

Biostar's US site is even worse than the Taiwanese site. I guess if it is between a good product and a good website, I'd take the product.

oops, I did run Speedfan but only to look at CPU temps a couple times. Core Temp was running during a testing crash. Afterwards it would always give a BSOD if I ran it, didn't try reinstalling though.

 

[pollyp]

There is a April 2nd bios on the Chinese biostar website that according to the translation "Support C "N" Q function and solve problems installing RAID ". This website seems like the most updated one actually.



Since the chines manual shows an english bios I guess the bios is in english.
Anyone dared to try it?

Which Bios is the best overlocker ?