**OFFICIAL** Abit BG7 (i845G) Thread

[mpeg4v2]

I just grabbed the bios, got that error (hadn't checked here yet) then went to check abit's website- they've pulled that bios! It no longer shows up on the bios list for the BG7

 

[gururu]

Dunno if they implemented changes, but it is back up. Probably had the wrong version of awardflash or something.

this bios rocks!

 

[TekViper]

i gave the updated bios a shot, and it lowered my top oc speed. With the original bios i could run 2.56 or 2.6 with my 1.6A but with the new bios i need to back it down to 2.4ghz.

 

[tyoung88]

Originally posted by: TekViper
i gave the updated bios a shot, and it lowered my top oc speed. With the original bios i could run 2.56 or 2.6 with my 1.6A but with the new bios i need to back it down to 2.4ghz.

I'm a little hesitant to upgrade to the new bios now after TekVipers post above. Anyone who is brave enough to install the new bios please post their findings. The only thing I'm hoping to get out of a new bios is better temperature reporting and the possibility of running my DLT at 400DDR

Thanks

 

[Khanivore]

I am about to update my BG7's BIOS. I'm hoping that my Samsung Original will let me do more than DDR375 it currently does, and the temperatures are sorted out too. Let's hope I see some improvements.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Rythan]

I noticed no decrease of OCable speed, or any change in the reported temperatures.

I have found that when you turn on the "Enhanced DRAM Performance" it'll lower the top speed you can run your memory at in exchange for a little extra performance. I saw the same thing with the BD7II.

 

[Khanivore]

At normal settings (nothing overclocked)...

CPU: 2.26GHz/133fsb/1.50v/47C idle
MEMORY: H/W=By CPU + By SPD (DDR333) 2.5v
TIMINGS: By SPD & Enhanced DRAM=Enabled

= Sandra MB: 2566/2563

Stability: Good. No crashes.

Looking good. Will try overclocked tests but my Samsung Original 512Mb 'DTL-TCB3' stick is giving me problems at DDR375 on normal vdimm. Before it used to be fine! Weird.

 

[gururu]

my overclockability wasn't altered with the new bios.
what it did allow me to do was use a low/by spd setting at fsb 150.

this hooked me up with a 2400 using DDR400. yes, stable.
I couldn't use this setting before, was stuck with high/4:5.

it didn't let me use low/3:4, but 'by spd' is the equivalent.
enhanced dram is useless, and limited my overclock too.

 

[TekViper]

That new bios defienetly wont let me O/C as high. I went back to the original and im back at 2.57ghz. With the new bios it maxes out at 2.4ghz. i dont know why.

 

[The Wildcard]

Khanivore: Did you get your RAM at Googlegear??? The same exact thing happened to me. IT looked used. And you know what? When i plugged it in, it shorted out. So I RMA'ed the board and the memory and it turns out it was just the memory. Googlegear then gave me a new stick of the same ram and this time, it looked TOTALLY different. It had a white sticker that said Samsung 512MB DDR333 AND it looked very new.

In general: Does anybody know if Abit fixed the new bios update so it can now be easily done in one shot??? (without resorting to switches, etc)???

And does anybody know if it has fixed the temperature inflation readings???

 

[jyrgen]

Originally posted by: Rythan
I noticed no decrease of OCable speed, or any change in the reported temperatures.
I have found that when you turn on the "Enhanced DRAM Performance" it'll lower the top speed you can run your memory at in exchange for a little extra performance.

I second to these statements.

 

[Rythan]

Abit originally was including an old version of AWDFLASH with the latest BIOS. It's now been fixed, so when you download the new BIOS you also get a recent version of AWDFLASH that shouldn't need the command line switches I used. Of course, I already flashed mine so I haven't tested this theory , but I have both "versions" of BG794.EXE, and the AWDFLASH included now is indeed newer.

 

[TekViper]

if you read your BG7 manual, you will see you NEED to use those switches, regardless if your using the new or old awdlfash.exe
you need to use /cc /cd /cp /py /sn /cks /r

 

[tyoung88]

Originally posted by: gururu
my overclockability wasn't altered with the new bios.
what it did allow me to do was use a low/by spd setting at fsb 150.

this hooked me up with a 2400 using DDR400. yes, stable.
I couldn't use this setting before, was stuck with high/4:5.

it didn't let me use low/3:4, but 'by spd' is the equivalent.
enhanced dram is useless, and limited my overclock too.

gururu,

You seem to be the only one that has actually benefited from this bios update. I'm running my BG-7 at 150mhz FSB using High:4:5 to get 375DDR. Is this what you were running before? How much of a performance increase did you see?

Anyone else have any positives using this upgrade. I figure I can try it and if it sux just switch back . . . i have to assume that underneath it all abit made an upgrade to fix things.

 

[Lizardman]

gururu or anybody did the new bios change your temps at all??

 

[MeCalvin]

I would like to know if it is possible to backup the old BIOS before flashing it.

When you run the RUNME.bat, does AWDFLASH opens up with a dialog and ask if you want to backup the old bios.

I don't want to run the bat and find out the flashing is done automatically without backup the old bios.

Cheers

 

[gururu]

hey guys,


cpu: 1.6A
old bios was most stable with following settings:

146: +5% vcore
152: +10% vcore
both at high/4:5
DRAM volts at 2.6
performance difference at 146 and 152 wasn't big enough to justify +3-5 C cpu temperature jump at +10% vcore

so i was settled at fsb 146/ DDR 366

new bios was basically the same in terms of fsb and vcore requirements.
BUT now I could use low/ by spd instead of high/4:5
this set the cpu/dram divider to 3:4, setting the memory clock at 400 MHz (fsb 150)
for me, this was enough of a difference to leave the vcore at +10%, eating the temperature increase

hope this helps!
gururu


oh yeah: the temps seemed the same to me with both bios

 

[Rythan]

MeCalvin: You just have to change Abit's .BAT file so that instead of passing AWDFLASH the /SN "no save" option, you pass /SY (Save yes).

In any case, you can always download the original version from Abit.

 

[Lizardman]

Thanks for the updata guru. I had lots of trouble messing with those Low (3:4) ratios, but I am happy running at 1:1 high so I doubt I will bother and get the new bios.

 

[Khanivore]

Originally posted by: The_Wildcard
Khanivore: Did you get your RAM at Googlegear??? The same exact thing happened to me. IT looked used. And you know what? When i plugged it in, it shorted out. So I RMA'ed the board and the memory and it turns out it was just the memory. Googlegear then gave me a new stick of the same ram and this time, it looked TOTALLY different. It had a white sticker that said Samsung 512MB DDR333 AND it looked very new.

Nope, I got my Samsung Original 512Mb 'DTL-TCB3' stick from www.overclockers.co.uk, unfortunately. I phoned them to complain about it but was told they test the modules before shipping them out. I was annoyed with that idea because since they're known as 'Overclockers', it seemed to me they were fishing out good modules for themselves and selling the bad ones to their customers. They wouldn't even give me a refund because as far as they're concerned, they sold me a PC2700 stick and that's final. I gave up.
I tried everything, even the burn-in procedure. The best I can get is DDR375 out of that stick and even THAT is unstable now. I'm going to have to sell it off. :disgust:

If anyone in UK is intending to buy things from www.overclockers.co.uk - be warned, they could sell you used stuff and then they won't give you a refund either. That's how selfish they are!!! Yes, yes, I too thought they were cool but I've learnt my lesson now, the hard way.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to receive a new replacement stick of Samsung Original 512Mb 'DTL-TCB3' stick from www.microdirect.co.uk because the first one they sent me by mistake was a Samsung on 3rd and it was as horrible as the Samsung Original www.overclockers.co.uk sent me as mentioned above. Now this stick from www.microdirect.co.uk is sweet because a) it's brand new!! and b) I just did DDR395 using only 2.6v!!! I LOVE YOU MICRO DIRECT!!! Soon I shall have a 2.72GHz+DDR400 setup. I can sense it.

 

[Khanivore]

CPU: 2.26B@2.64/155fsb/1.575v (true 1.54v)/45C idle (it's slightly cooler here today)
MEMORY: H/W=By CPU + By SPD (DDR388) 2.6v
TIMINGS: By SPD & Enhanced DRAM=Disabled

= Sandra MB: 2984/2981

Stability: Good. No crashes.

This is with a new Samsung Original 'DTL-TCB3' stick I received yesterday. I will soon try 160fsb to see if DDR400 is stable.

 

[mpeg4v2]

I tried my Corsair XMS2700 512mb RAM in my computer with the BG7 and it hits DDR394 at 2-5-2-2 now! 2.8v though. It won't hit DDR400 unfortunately But it still does 3010/3009 in Sandra roughly, which is good enough for me.

 

[MeCalvin]

Mpegv42,
great to hear you can do DDR394 with you XMS2700.

I have the exact same stick and can do only DDR350.

Did your good results came after the BIOS upgrade ?

Interested to hear if your best result before the BIOS upgrade to see if it is the same as mine.

And could you give more details about your new settings to get DDR394 (CPU speed, RAM ratio and temps...)

Cheers

 

[TekViper]

what exactly does HWstrap do? i can pick low high or by cpu. is all thats changed what memory ratios are displayed, or does it change something further?

 

[mpeg4v2]

Originally posted by: MeCalvin
Mpegv42,
great to hear you can do DDR394 with you XMS2700.

I have the exact same stick and can do only DDR350.

Did your good results came after the BIOS upgrade ?

Interested to hear if your best result before the BIOS upgrade to see if it is the same as mine.

And could you give more details about your new settings to get DDR394 (CPU speed, RAM ratio and temps...)

Cheers

Yes, they came after the bios upgrade. Previously, like many people, 3:4 with the Low setting wasn't anywhere close to stable. Now however, it is. There is a but though, I didn't get to test the RAM for that long, maybe 45 minutes, as it was in my parent's computer. Currently they're using the BG7 and I'm using a POS Soyo board as I was intending to sell the Soyo board for a Asus P4B533-V after the good things I've heard about it (actually now I'm rethinking that due to the possible problems it's having with Corsair RAM, but I digress). All I did was pop the RAM in the BG7, change the CPU to 150FSB at 3:4 and 10% voltage (note: I pintricked the board, so that's actually about 1.81v), 2.8v RAM. Proceeded to bootup and try sandra; it managed to get off one benchmark, then crashed. This was at 2.5-7-3-3. I then rebooted, changed it to 147FSB, and tried again, ran sandra again, and it got me roughly the same scores except lower about 35MB (3010/3009). I noticed, however, Sandra was reading it as 2.0-5-2-2. Whether that was right or not I don't care, as it ran for 45 minutes or so at that speed before I had to shut the computer down so I could put the RAM back in my computer for the night. I intend to switch the mobos when I get a chance, and now that the board works fine with that high RAM, I won't have to go through the hassle of selling the Soyo board (P4S Dragon Ultra, which incidently is a nice board otherwise, it's just utter crap when it comes to overclocking).