**OFFICIAL** Abit BG7 (i845G) Thread

[MeCalvin]

For me, new BIOS is only good if Enhanced DRAM is enabled.

New most stable results:

145 fsb
HIGH
4:5
2.5,7,3,3
std VCore
2.7VRAM

This is the first time that I have passed DDR350 on my Corsair.

First time that I get 9767 from 3DMark.

Great !!!!

Still, my XMS2700 is not giving me DDR400. Guess I should have chosen the Samsung.
At the time only Corsair gives lifetime warranty. But now I hear some vendors give Samsung
lifetime as well.

This is a great forum....

 

[snoopyb0y]

MeCalvin can u run your system at low HW strap , 3:4 ram ratio, have enhanced DRAM enabled and still be stable?

 

[MeCalvin]

No,
not at 140fsb.
3:4 would make DDR373. Not stable. Always crash in test 13, the one with the moving donut.

RAM max out around DDR360.
Running stable (knock on wood) at 145fsb
4:5 = DDR363.

Hear people with other XMS2700 can do higher DDR, really want to know what else I can do to reach that....

 

[gururu]

MeCalvin,

I couldn't hit fsb 145 at default vcore. At +10% though, I could get up to 152. higher vcore
doesn't improve your stability?


gururu

 

[Rythan]

I've found that higher Vcore will help RAM stability... I was at std vcore with a 2.26B, and could hit 160FSB fine 1:1 with Corsair XMS3200, but couldn't get Prime95 to pass if I switched to 4:5, even with 2.8V on memory. At +10% core though 160FSB with DDR400 is perfectly stable.

 

[MeCalvin]

The way I see it is keeping the fsb constant at 140 for example,
if the system is stable at 4:5 and not stable at 3:4, then you
would pump up the vRAM. Right ?

Not sure how vCore would affect stability with constant fsb and increasing RAM speed, could someone explain.

Anyway, I did blindly tried that, increase vCore to +10% with 140fsb and 3:4 RAM ratio, but the "donut test" in
3DMark still crashes.

Now there is something I don't quite understand the bySPD setting. Why at 150fsb, bySPD would give you 3:4 ratio.
Maybe I have read the post wrong.

Question: with some RAM settings, Sandra refuses to show RAM speed. Beside getting out the calculator, how else
do you find the DDR speed of you RAM.

Question: Some poster quote one number for their Sandra test, which test is this and which number do they refer to....
I use 3DMark because it quotes one number, but most posters here use Sandra.

I note that if I use std vRAM, at higher fsb my rig won't POST. I have to hold down INSERT ot get back in and ramp up the vRAM to
2.7V before the rig would POST.

Anyone have anythought on the lack of 8xAGP setting on th new BIOS ?

 

[gururu]

how i do it:
at 1:1, see how high I can take my fsb (0, 5, 10% vcores).
leave vram at default.
stick with the highest fsb.
give ram a +.1V adjustment
try 4:5, and then 3:4 both at low memory settings (2.5, 5, 3, 3)
try fast memory settings
drop ram -.1V to see if still stable

byspd gives 3:4 in LOW setting and 4:5 in HIGH setting (H/W)
sandra can't read 4:5 off the BG7 bios (in my experience); i use calculator
sandra CAN read 3:4 however.

the sandra test is memory bandwidth in MB/s
the number reported is usually an average of the integer/floating point rates.

i'm using onboard video, which hides the agp settings in the new BIOS. never noticed the 8X option in the old BIOS.
very interesting... couldn't have been functional since i845G doesn't support it....or does it?!

gururu

 

[mike9390]

The 845G has never supported AGP 8X. No Intel motherboard supports AGP 8X. Only VIA's and SIS's new boards do. To use the 3:4 setting it's best to set your H/W Strap to "LOW" and your DRAM Ratio to "By SPD". This is more stable on my BG7. MeCalvin how high can you run your FSB with the 1:1 ratio? If your DDR won't overclock higher maybe your CPU will.

Mike

 

[MeCalvin]

Thanks for the directions,
will try tonight.

Cannot tell you what is highest fsb with 1:1 RAM, too involved with the RAM.
I thought that RAM bandwidth is more important than higher fsb, so I fixed
my fsb at 140 and spent time playing with the RAM settings. It's like saying
140fsb is my highest and most stable fsb at std vCore and set the RAM from there.

So anyway, never did realise that running low/byspd is the same as low/3:4, but more
stable. Will try again tonight.

Last night results:
1. 145 high/4:5 std vCore, 2.7 vRAM, 2.5/7/3/3 3dMark 9767
2. 145 high/byspd (blindly chose this), std vCore,2.7vRAM 2.5/7/3/3 3dMark 9781 Interestingly higher score
3. 145 high/byspd, 2.5/5/2/2 std vCore, 2.7vRAM 3dMark 9878 woho!!!!

 

[mike9390]

Your right that bandwidth matters, I was just wondering how high your CPU would overclock. The magic number seems to be DDR400 but you have to be able to hit 150 at 3:4 or 160 at 4:5. If your CPU won't do 150 or 160 it doesn't matter about your ram. Have you tried 2.8v on your DDR? Did it help any?

If you can get stability at your current 145 and 4:5 then that's pretty good. I know you will never be satisfied, I know I can't, but that's still a good overclock.

Mike

 

[snoopyb0y]

Just wondering MeCalvin if your recent results posted are with the new bios or old bios. I think i remember you saying you were reverting back to old bios..?

For me it seems only the old bios will do 130-135 FSB with ram setting at 2-2-2-5, new bios i have to go 2-3-3-6 or higher. I was able to use low HW strap with old bios at ram ratio 3:4 but had to downclock from 135 to 130 FSB in order to be stable. I have also found that 3D mark numbers to be higher with faster ram versus faster CPU. I am hoping to hit DDR400 but so far its not getting there. Now i am wondering if i should have paid premium for my corsair XMS 3000C2 or got samsung instead. What i might try is 2.5-3-3-6 or higher in order to hit DDR400 but the specs on my ram (on Corsair's site) is suppose to go as high as 370mhz with 2-3-3-6. I have not been able to hit this with 3:4 ratio, and my cpu is not stable at higher fsb to test this figure out, sigh....

Just want to get an up to date anaysis from you guys. Are more ppl staying with new bios or old bios?

 

[MeCalvin]

Discovered Enhanced DRAM.
Staying with the new BIOS.
I can get 146/HIGH/Byspd with it, at std vcore and 2.7vram.

Tried out some stuffs last night.
OK at 150fsb 1:1 std vcore

NOT OK at 150fsb HIGH byspd stdvcore and 2.8vRAM

So pumped up until +10v, and a minute into test, rig's temp alm went off.
Not sure where from, but I've only got MB5 running, setting alarms for 60C. At idle the CPU was 53C, could not
see the temp in 3DMark. Got nervous and rebooted the PC, did not even bother to check the temp.

May be I'll wait until my Doc5 is installed and then I can see my temp always.

The tried 140fsb LOW/bySPD +5v and 2.8vRAM, NOT OK.

Folks, you think I am too conservative with 60C temp alarm. Should I ignore the alarms and go back to testing at +10v.
Don't want any badness to PC.

Again, the new BIOS is better than the old BIOS, at least for me anyway.

 

[gururu]

MeCalvin,

sounds like you are having fun!
I am surprised you've had to push your memory to 2.8V. that's pretty high.
as far as temps go. at +10% vcore I run a temperature of about 46-47 C on average at idle (on a cool day).
It gets high 50's, low 60's on heavy load.

i set my alarm at 69 C. you may need some better cooling. i leave my case open, have an old P3 fan on my chipset heatsink, and two 80mm fans blowing on the cpu/chipset/memory area. I noticed that the chipset and memory stays a lot cooler with the extra air.
you'd increase your potential greatly to start using +10% vcore, just figure out a better cooling environment. my limit on idle is 50 C.

gururu

 

[jyrgen]

Anyone tried Mr Natural's BIOS for BG7?

 

[gururu]

what the heck is that mr natural's bios?! tempting... but scary!

 

[tyoung88]

I haven't looked too hard yet but the site doesn't seem to say what enhancements the bios actually does. The only thing I see it that it adds Mr Natural image on bootup.

hmmm, seems a little risky to me. But maybe it'll give us 3ghz OCs! Who wants to try!?

 

[Khanivore]

Come on guys, one of you must be brave enough to give Mr Natural's BIOS a shot!

 

[gururu]

I tried it! it seems to be safe. I already went back to 94 though.
a couple of things about it.
1) I couldn't get rid of the stupid mr. natural logo even after trying to disable it.
2) it gave 'auto' and '0' options for some of the RAM speed settings. neither would let me boot. maybe better memory...
3) no success for a higher overclock

seems to be all that it incorporated. let me use all of my 94 BIOS settings just fine.

gururu

 

[MeCalvin]

New bios is out.

BIOS ID: AH

Has anyone try it ?

 

[gururu]

MeCalvin,

since I tried the Mr. Natural BIOS, do you wanna try out this one?

 

[LastRide]

gururu,I think he wants you to try it first to see if its safe

 

[5150Joker]

New bios works fine. I don't see any difference compared to the 6/26 one.

 

[MeCalvin]

Please don't misunderstand,
I was not asking anyone to be a guinea pig.

Just looking for opinions on the new BIOS.

I am trying out now anyhow....

 

[LastRide]

I was just being sarcastic.

 

[gururu]

Yea MeCalvin, I was just kidding too. I actually tried it right after I sent that post. Its like 5150 joker said.
nothing new, except a newfound compatibility for the upcoming 2.8s!

my floppy tweaked right after running awdflash. Luckily, the BIOS copying hadn't been done. Had quite a scare....