*** Official AOpen AX4C/Max (875P) Thread ***

[Scroatdog]

In an effort to make finding information about the AOpen AX4C/Max motherboard easier for all forum members, please post and discuss your issues, problems, experiences, rants, raves and FAQs here.

AnandTech Moderator

 

[shoman94]

I agree...we should make this thread official.

 

[Mangler]

I got one! Having some cold booting issues though...any one else?

 

[WizardNJ]

can you describe the issues??

Try raising your vdimm voltage to 2.7 volts if it is memory related.

Dave

 

[shoman94]

Not so far....what seems to be ailing you?

 

[Phanbot]

I just got my AX4C Max today, installation went fairly quick. I crossed my fingers when I turned it on for the first time, I wasn't sure if it would play nice with my 2 sticks of Corsair XMS3200C2 256MB SDRAM. The Gigabyte SINXP1394 certainly wouldn't boot up with this memory.

I'm still at the tweaking stage, I kept getting errors while installing XP Pro with the memory set at 2,7,2,2. I was in a hurry so I just set it at the mb's default setting and XP installed without any further problems. Some of the utilities that come on the included CD are DOA, WinBios doesn't work, silentTek works but I haven't figured out the best settings to use, Vivid Bios supposedly isn't working, and I 've read in another forum that ezclock doesn't work. I had to d/l that as it wasn't on the CD, haven't tried it out yet. I've 2 Seagate SATA HD's (120 & 80 GB) that took a while for me to figure out how to setup. I'm currently using the combined mode because I've got a WD 120GB IDE I want to copy files off of onto the SATA's. At the moment it's not visible, I'll have to move it from IDE1 to the IDE3 slot and see if I'll be able to access it from XP. Funny thing is there's supposed to be a 1.03 bios update listed on AOPen's website but it's not on any of ftp servers.

 

[Phanbot]

Another kicker is that if you've got DDR400 memory it only runs it as DDR333. You can only take advantage of DDR400 if you're running a 800 FSB cpu. No matter how much you play with bios your're stuck at DDR333 so start saving up for a 3.0GHz 800MHz P4.

 

[shoman94]

What you should have done was select ENHANCED mode then select RAID. Disable the PROMISE controller, Set you WD120 on the primary IDE.....boot with XP cd...Hit F6 when prompted then when asked, insert the floppy that came with your mobo for ICH5R 3.0 drivers. Then setup windowsXP.
If you don't want RAID then that's ok...once you enter the Raid controllers bios using CRTL-I after the bios boot screen...you can set it up as non-raid....it would actually be considered RAID READY.

Hope this helps you out. OH, I got BIOS R103...PM me with your e-mail and I'll send you the either the windows or dos version....which ever you want.

jason

 

[WizardNJ]

I've PM'ed you. Please send the 1.03 Windows bios. I called AOPEN Tech non-support and they were going to email it to me late yesterday. They sent the wrong file. I called back and they were going to resend but they never did. Useless support.

Dave

Originally posted by: shoman94

Hope this helps you out. OH, I got BIOS R103...PM me with your e-mail and I'll send you the either the windows or dos version....which ever you want.

jason

 

[WizardNJ]

AOPEN has the new 1.03 up on their ftp sites now. Loaded it in, time to play

Dave

 

[shoman94]

C'mon Anandtech....make this official....

 

[Scroatdog]

PLEASE MAKE THIS THREAD **OFFICIAL** This board has been out for a while now. PLEASE!!!!!

Well, I've been a member here for about a week, and I have learned quite a bit in that time. I set out to build my own computer, which I am happy to say is done, aside from a few programs and games yet to be installed.... I wanted to build with the best components available, and you can see in my sig I went all out.

PERFORMANCE Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to save screenshots of Sandra, but I did write the numbers down. I tried "SHift-Print Screen" to no avail. Anyhow, here's how it looks:

** All stock settings. Haven't changed anything from first boot **

CPU Arithmetic Benchmark- 8493 isse 2601/5790 MFLOPS
CPU Multimedia Benchmark - 13,904 it/s Integer 21,332 it/sec Floating Point Integer
File System Benchmark - 39,602 kb/s (???)
Memory Bandwidth - 4436 int buffered 4476 Float Buffered
Cache and Memory Benchmark - 33,030

PCMark 2002 CPU 7,395 Memory 8,375 HDD 2120

3dMark 2001 17,234 3dMark 2003 5572

** Video card settings were 'Balanced' and nothing was changed from when drivers (Cat 3.2) were initially loaded **

Overall, I am happy compared to the scores I got with my old Dell Dimension 8250. VERY happy. There are a few things that concern me, however, and I'd like to point them out in hopes of someone out there offering suggestions

Sandra file system benchmark of 39,602 seems awfully low. Sandra showed 2 ATA-100 drives beating that score by a fair margin. I'm using 2 Western Digital 80 gig 8 meg cache drives with IDE to Serial ATA connectors, and are RAID-0 on the Aopen ICH5R controller. Shouldn't this score be much higher?? I haven't done a defrag yet. Also, the stripe size is set to 32kb. Any suggestions?

In the BIOS, my memory is showing up as 2.5,7,4,4 This is OCZ PC3500EL 2x256 running dual channel DDR400. According to their website, this memory should be running at 2,6,2,2. The memory timing is by 'SPD' in the BIOS. As I stated in the beginning, not one setting was changed before benchmarking. I wanted a 'true' snaopshot of performance as the computer sees it from running these components for the first time,

Burn-In. Haven't done one yet. Should I? Or is that something reserved when overclocking?? The system has been on all day as I have been working on this and that.

The system isn't that quiet due to the top case fan (CM ATC-201 SX) being pretty loud. The front two case fans are quiet, and are plugged into the Antec FAN ONLY connectors, so the PSU controls the speed of those fans. I didn't plug the Antec fan monitoring cable to the mobo, as I ran out of connectors on the mobo. The rear exhaust fan is connected to the 'SYSFAN-3' connector on the motherboard. The wire was JUST long enough to make it. So the top case fan is running at max blast all the time. Current temps according to the SilentTek utility are telling me CPU is 40c and the system is 39c

Observations During the Build I was nervous and did not want to screw anything up. I must have spent 20 minutes applying AS3 to the CPU, to make sure it was just the right thickness. When installing the drives, I left the jumpers on Cable Select. After booting into BIOS and trying to set up the RAID array, I found that out. I then removed them and had no problems setting up the array. I must have spent over an hour getting the PSU wire bundle just right, so it wouldn't look too disorganized in there. I enjoyed working in that case. Ample amount of room, nice fit and finish. The rear panel cover for the mobo gave me a bit of trouble, but I sorted it out in the end. After setting up XP, I needed to get the partitions from my old drive onto the new array. I tried using Dirve Image from the floppy in DOS environment. The transfer rate was SLLLOOOWW! After a quick PM to Prometheus (thanks!) I ran Drive Image from Windows and it went quickly, and without a hitch.

I would like some suggestions for recommended settings. As this is my first build and coming from a Dell, I have no idea which settings are best, I don't know how to overclock the system either. I've been playing around with the Silent Tek system temp utility, but I need to read up on it some more. In the Smart Fan section, I set the CPU temp to 39, and the system temp to 31. I think this should be adequate for now.

If you have seen some settings/benches here that look totally out of the ordinary, or unusually low, please let me know, and please tell me how to correct them. I think the FIRST thing I should do is go back into the BIOS and set the memory to where it ought to be. However, the memory benches I got looked OK, and were better than PC1066 RDRAM.

Many thanks in advance for your replies. I am so happy I did this.

 

[WizardNJ]

I'll take a shot at a couple of recommendations.

First memory - You should be able to set it to manual and use 2,6,3,2. In Sandra 2003 I get 4632/4646.

Hard drives - The WD drives are only ATA100, there is no real benefit of having them on the Intel ICH5 raid vs. the Promise ATA133 raid. Intel does not recommend using the ATA to SATA adapters on the ICH5 controller. I'd suggest raid 0 on the Promise ATA133 and not use the SATA adapters. I have two SATA adapters from OKGEAR here and originally set up my machine with them. Tried both the Intel ICH5, Promise SATA, and Promise ATA133 raid. I run drives on non raid configuration and performance on single drive Sandra file system was around 27600 and did not vary by more than 100 points on each controller. Another weirdness I've noticed using ATA drives on the ICH5 with SATA adapters was during shutdown. THe secondary drive would make loud clicking sounds before powering down. It did not exhibit this symptom on either Promise controller or on the ata100 controllers. I've just upgraded to a pair of Seagate 80 gig SATA drives yesterday and now Sandra file system scores are around 37400 per drive. Also do the Sandra test on the first partition on the drive (closest to the outside edge of the platter). That will transfer information faster than a partition towards the inside of the drive platter.

Video - Your scores are higher than my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro running the same Cat 3.2 drivers. Just make sure bios is set for AGP aperature of 128 meg.

 

[Scroatdog]

Originally posted by: WizardNJ
I'll take a shot at a couple of recommendations.

First memory - You should be able to set it to manual and use 2,6,3,2. In Sandra 2003 I get 4632/4646.

I'm going to try that right away to see if it works.

Hard drives - The WD drives are only ATA100, there is no real benefit of having them on the Intel ICH5 raid vs. the Promise ATA133 raid.

NOW you tell me?? LOL. I had higher expectations. Guess I should have checked Intel's site first. But you know, I read the I875 review on LostCircuits.com, and they were using two Seagate Barracuda 7 drives in SATA RAID and got unbelievable scores. I figured I'd just use the adapters and cheat the system, and still get good scores. I couldn't justify the extra cost for two new hard drives, vice one.

Intel does not recommend using the ATA to SATA adapters on the ICH5 controller. I'd suggest raid 0 on the Promise ATA133 and not use the SATA adapters.

Hmm. Haven't had a problem yet, but I guess I shouls have researched it a little more before jumping in with both feet

Another weirdness I've noticed using ATA drives on the ICH5 with SATA adapters was during shutdown. THe secondary drive would make loud clicking sounds before powering down.

That can't be good. I haven't heard any weird clicking on shutdown yet, but I am going to shut down here soon to check. There's still ALOT I need to learn about this system. I like the Silent Tek feature, though the computer is still noisy because of the top case fan which is running full blast. I also think it was put in backwards at the factory or seomthing, so it's an intake not an exhaust. Bad on me for not checking this initially

. Also do the Sandra test on the first partition on the drive (closest to the outside edge of the platter). That will transfer information faster than a partition towards the inside of the drive platter.

Gotcha. Been doing that, but it was merely by chance. Now I know!

Video - Your scores are higher than my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro running the same Cat 3.2 drivers. Just make sure bios is set for AGP aperature of 128 meg.

I'm at 128 in BIOS. Good to go! Hey, thanks for your insight on all this. I really do appreciate it. I think the first thing I'm going to do is shut down, listen for clicking, and then turn that top case fan around so it's blowing out and not in. I've already got two 80mm intakes, and one 80mm exhaust. Later I will try to see the difference while on running the drives ATA. But you know, I really do like having them use those tiny SATA cables!!

Here's one for ya... since I'm still not all that familiar with this machine, what happens if I'm overclocking, or messing with the memory timings, and then the computer won't POST. How do I get it to POST and put the original settings back in?? Do I need to mess with the jumpers on the mobo??

Here's another one.... Can't use WinBios while Hyperthreading is on??? I need to turn it off to use WInBios????? I d/l'ed the 1.03 BIOS, unzipped it, and double clicked the WInBios icon. It's telling me I need to disable hypertherading in order to use it. Don't I have to go into the BIOS to disable hypertherading??? And if so, wouldn't that pretty much negate the need for a Win Bios, since I'm going into the BIOS to shut off hyperthreading??? I assume I can take the BIOS I d/l'ed, copy them to floppy, reboot and flash that way???

 

[Scroatdog]

I set the memory to 2-6-3-2 and am now getting 4633/4629 in Sandra. Thanks. Have you tried 2-6-2-2 or anything lower? I'm going to shut down now and check my top fan.

 

[WizardNJ]

Originally posted by: Scroatdog
I set the memory to 2-6-3-2 and am now getting 4633/4629 in Sandra. Thanks. Have you tried 2-6-2-2 or anything lower? I'm going to shut down now and check my top fan.

My OCZ PC3200EL dual channel ram would not run stable at 2,6,2,2.

The WD ATA100 drives you have are only 2/3 the theoretical bandwidth of the new WD Serial ATA drives (100 MHz vs 150 MHz) and are only 7200 compared to 10k rpm of the new WD drives. I am unfamiliar with the review that showed very high scores, do you have a link? The Seagate drives I have are serial ATA (150) and run @ 7200 rpm. Are your drives the special Edition WD drives (8 meg buffer)? That make s aBIG difference over the 2 meg buffer drives.

You definitely want the top rear fans on the case pulling air out and the bottom front pulling air in.

Dave

 

[Scroatdog]

Originally posted by: WizardNJ<br
My OCZ PC3200EL dual channel ram would not run stable at 2,6,2,2.

The WD ATA100 drives you have are only 2/3 the theoretical bandwidth of the new WD Serial ATA drives (100 MHz vs 150 MHz) and are only 7200 compared to 10k rpm of the new WD drives. I am unfamiliar with the review that showed very high scores, do you have a link? The Seagate drives I have are serial ATA (150) and run @ 7200 rpm. Are your drives the special Edition WD drives (8 meg buffer)? That make s aBIG difference over the 2 meg buffer drives.

You definitely want the top rear fans on the case pulling air out and the bottom front pulling air in.

Dave

Checked the top fan. It is pulling air out. It was just NOISY. I shut down and attached it to the FAN ONLY connector on the Antec True so the PSU could regulate the speed, instead of it running at full bore all the time. One of the front intakes is also hooked up to it. The second intake is max blast, but it's quiet. The rear exhaust is hooked to the SYSFAN3 connector on the mobo, and obviously the HSF and NB FAN are hooked to SYSFAN1 and 2, respectively.

I've been messing around with the SilenTek utility a bit to try to find a suitable noise/heat ratio.

I tried O/Cing the FSB to 210, with 2-6-3-2 mem timings, and could not get into Windows. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, or if I've got to change memory timings or increase CPU voltage to compensate. I don't really know much about overclocking, so I need to move in baby steps. I'm not going to attempt more today. I still need to load alot of programs.

Oh, and yes, the WD's are 8 meg cache. Here's the LINK They're getting 68446 kb/s with the two Seagates in RAID-0. This is on an Intel board. Also, their memoy bandwidth seems to be higher than ours. I read somewhere that the Intel board was highly optimized, so maybe with some more BIOS updates, we can reach memory bandwidth in the 5,000 range. Let me know what you think of that LosCircuits article, and if there's anything I should be doing to get a good overclock.

 

[Scroatdog]

OK. So I tried a little overclokcing But this is IT for now. I've got too many things still yet to load. I overclocked the FSB to 215, using SPD timings of 2.5-7-4-4. Booted into Windows no problem this time. CPU @ 3.25 Ghz. CPU Artihmetic benchmark was 9574/6259 Memory Bandwidth was 4805/4796. File system bench was 43,069, slightly edging out 2 ATA 100 RAID 0 drive, according to Sandra. According to SilenTek, the CPU is at 37C, while the system temp is at 38C. I am unsure how accurate that program is.

Ok, I'm really going to finish loading my programs now:frown:

 

[WizardNJ]

I think the ram is holding you back from overclocking.

Try this:
Set cpu vcore voltage to 1.60, mem voltage to 2.7 volts, and change mem timing to 2,6,3,2 and in the cpu fsb screen change mem timing from auto to 1.6x. You should hit 225 fsb without problems (mem at 360) and maybe as high as 240 fsb (mem at 384). I've been able to run stable at 240.

I have set my system back to defalut fbs and mem multiplier and now run 200 MHz fsb and 400 MHz DDR.

 

[Scroatdog]

Originally posted by: WizardNJ
I think the ram is holding you back from overclocking.

Try this:
Set cpu vcore voltage to 1.60, mem voltage to 2.7 volts, and change mem timing to 2,6,3,2 and in the cpu fsb screen change mem timing from auto to 1.6x. You should hit 225 fsb without problems (mem at 360) and maybe as high as 240 fsb (mem at 384). I've been able to run stable at 240.

I have set my system back to defalut fbs and mem multiplier and now run 200 MHz fsb and 400 MHz DDR.

It worked. I didn't go past 225 FSB, though. Remember, I'm new to overclocking and still getting used to my system. Don't want to blow it up. I used the settings you suggested:

P4 @3.39 (as reported by Sandra) 225 Mhz FSB (226x4 reported by Sandra)

Sandra CPU Arithmetic bench was Dhry: 9992 Whet: 2929/6530 MFlops
Sandra Mem Bandwidth bench : 4820/4822

Temps at idle were: CPU 41.5C SYS 38C
Temps right after 3dMark were: CPU 55.5C SYS 41C

3dMark 2001 was 18,464 Compare
I haven't overclocked the video card yet. Don't really see a need right now.

Overclocking this thing is fun. I could see how I could get myself into trouble, though. Those temps seem a little high. But, the PSU increased the fan speed of the #1 intake and top exhaust as advertised, and the mobo increased the exhaust fan, CPU fan, and NB fan as advertised.

Temps after finishing this post are CPU 37 SYS 38. So I am confident in my system's ability to cool itself off.

Many thanks, Wizard. I purchased many of my components on your recommendation, and followed your advice to get this far!!!

 

[WizardNJ]

Glad to help. I was ripping my hair out the first coule of days. Others here have been a big help including PrometheusN who helped me in setting up the drives on the ICH5 controller.

Good luck with the system, I'm happy with mine.

 

[Scroatdog]

Yes,

Prometheus too. I've already thanked him about a billion times over on asusboards.

 

[Scroatdog]

BUMP

Hey Evan, can we PLEASE make this thread "official" now?????

 

[shoman94]

Bump again...yea please...

 

[Scroatdog]

BUMP


PLEASE make this thread official..... and sticky.

Someone must be asleep behind the wheel over there:frown: