Soyo K7VME Problem

[impudence]

I think I am going to end up RMA'ing the whole kit and caboodle. I'm really pissed at soyo and tiger for selling this piece o' junk. My speakers wont stop hissing when I ask for tech supports help on it they tell me I have to talk to customer service, which is odd. Customer service tells me the problem is the DC jack for the speakers which is BS because the problem also happens when I completely remove the dc jack from the computer and plug in headphones. And the customer service has the audacity to argue with me about it. Why the hell is customer service trying to give me tech support?? At least I finally got the tech support # which is 909-292-2555 for anyone who needs it. Anyway beyond this problem I have an ongoing problem where the PC wont boot when I have an AGP video card installed. And then of course there is the fact that when I have the sides on it runs at about 55-58C at idle. GGRRR.

 

[scosmo451]

excuse my typing...have a 3 month old in my lap and dont have my glasses on

my comp was running 52c buttoned up when i got as well. after some experimenting, the biggest temp drop i got was by modding the psu. i cut out most of the webbing in the back. i was gonna cut it all out and put in a better grill, but i saved that for later. i also cut out some of the grill work on the (back?? front??) of the ps - the part inside of the comp - and screwed on a 60 mm fan blowing through the ps. installed an 80 mm fan (adjusted with the tr2 m2 controller) in the front location, sucking in - after cutting away the grill work there as well. cut a hole in the side and mounted another 80 mm fan sucking in and a wire grill off an old ps.

Mom got the baby. All the above improvements got me down to about 45-46 idling and never over 54 even running Prime95 for 16 hours. And I'm overclocked slightly to about 2 GHz on an Athlon XP 2500+ Barton. That's solely MHz - no voltage adjustments.

And those damn tin can speakers buzz on mine as well. So I don't run 'em. I've got an Altec Lansing system with sub that sounds a hell of a lot better anyway. Plugged into the same jack, there is no noise at all except what I want, even turned up full tilt. I think the noise in the stock speakers comes from the power supply end, not the card. Somewhere around here I've got an AC\DC adapter that I'm going to try one of these days to check that theory.

I've got a Rosewill nVIDIA GeForce FX5700LE card, 256MB, 8X AGP. I expected a fight with it, but there wasn't even a hint of a problem. I run Doom3 and CoD at whatever quality I want with absolutely no problems.

 

[bartbrn]

Originally posted by: scosmo451

..the biggest temp drop i got was by modding the psu. i cut out most of the webbing in the back... i also cut out some of the grill work on the (back?? front??) of the ps - the part inside of the comp - and screwed on a 60 mm fan blowing through the ps. installed an 80 mm fan (adjusted with the tr2 m2 controller) in the front location, sucking in - after cutting away the grill work there as well. cut a hole in the side and mounted another 80 mm fan sucking in and a wire grill off an old ps.

Holy Tornado, Batman! You ought to be able to attach a hose to the thing and vacuum the floor while playing Doom3. Sounds like a plan, though. Did you move the PS elsewhere in the case? I'm thinking of dropping it right to the bottom (still blowing out of the back of the case), mounted on rubber grommets for noise/vibration decoupling (with a separate ground strap), and mounting an 80mm puller right over the empty front speaker grille. Let's see... there's the CPU fan, the chip fan on the GeForce 5700, the PSU fan, the proposed front fan -- I'm gonna need more power connectors!

Bart

 

[scosmo451]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the fan on the vid card. Add one more to my total so far.

I thought about relocating the whole power supply, but outside is really the better place. If you set it inside, it's going to generate heat in the case, which is exactly the opposite of what you want, I presume. The computer I replaced with this one had the psu setting on the desk. Well, it's still running that configuration at the office.

As far as power connections, I'm all out for now. The 60 mm fan hooked to the psu is hooked to the location where the chipset fan is supposed to be. The K7VME doesn't have a fan on the chipset, but the connector is wired for power.

I've got a couple more fans that I'm considering. I'm thinking of rigging a small fan off an old Pentium 133 to the chipset heatsink. It's just about the right size and for some reason runs on 5 volts. And I have two more 80 mm fans just lying around, but then I'm back to connections. I've got some old parts I can use to fix that problem though. But about the only place I can put any fans is in the side.

 

[Lord Beeblequix]

g'morning gents.

I'm also having issues with my K7VME, tho it's just the board in a sweet aluminum windowed case.

It was working perfectly fine for 4 months running a MSI Geforce 4 ti 4600 4x card. When I relocated my 9800pro to it it was horribly unstable. My X800Pro is more stable, but it still crashes especially when it's running heavy shader games. On Soyo's website they mention other Soyo boards and probs with a 9700pro, saying to raise the AGP voltage to 1.6 from 1.5. Unfortunately the K7VME has no voltage adjustments of the sort. Anyone else suffering horrible instability with a high end video card? I requested that their programmers make available some voltage adjustments in a BIOS release. We'll see.

Side note: I contacted the Soyo people about my rebate a few days ago being that my rebate was sent mid June and still hasn't come. So much for the 12-14 weeks. They inform me I'm "approved". Yay! A few weeks and it will be here. If you haven't got your rebate just email them. They probably sold gagillions of them and are behind. Or they just hope you'll give up without a fight.

edit: got my $50 rebate check about 7 days after my email complaint.
edit II: Fixed my agp issue by simply taming it from 8x to 4x. Too bad I ordered a NFS-7 24 hours earlier. Oh well.

 

[bartbrn]

Well, after examining every component, tearing down and rebuilding 6 or 7 times, I finally did what I should have done from the start (but was too inexperienced to know it -- should've read mechbgone's step-by-step all the way through): I reduced the whole thing to just the mobo, one stick of memory, and the power supply. Cleared CMOS (with the ATX plug disconnected), checked all jumpers (with Soyo Tech support on the phone, miraculously), plugged the ATX cable back in, reset the CMOS jumper, and fired it up. CPU fan immediately spun up, but other than that, nada. No beeps, gurgles, gollums, and certainly no POST (monitor connected to on-board video). The Soyo tech said, sagely, "motherboard and CPU not communicating," immediately gave me a case number, and told me to call TigerDirect and RMA the whole MFT.

I called Tiger and they said "well... it's been way over 30 days..." I explained I work 6 days a week, and had been soliciting advice since the first time I built the thing and it didn't POST, and it had taken me an excruciatingly long time to come to the final conclusion that either the mobo or CPU (both both bought from Tiger) was dead as Julius Caesar. I also mentioned the numerous -- to say the least -- complaints about this barebones kit on this forum and many NGs and DLs. I have to say I was surprised, considering TigerDirect's usual peremptory phone support, that they finally agreed to RMA the kit and the CPU, so now it's back to square one, a couple-three months older and -- I hope! -- wiser, with all the necessary components and some building experience.

I'd like to thank everyone here who offered suggestions and wise guidance. If it doesn't work this time, it won't be for lack of knowledge.

Bart Brown

 

[scosmo451]

Well, now, we are supposed to learn more from our mistakes than from our successes, so perhaps you have become very wise indeed. Good luck on the next try.

 

[RoyKaBob]

Hope it isn't too late to jump into this thread.

At the suggestion of my younger brother who builds a lot of PCs he turned me on to the TigerDirect offer of the Barebones K7VME 52x CDROM system, which cost like $39.99 after the rebates (hey, I might get them some day).

Anyway, I ordered an AMD Athlon 3000+ Barton Core processor, the TigerDirect recommended Speez HSF, and a LiteOn 16x DVD/-RW drive (ordered all them through MWAVE). Also got good rebates on 512MB of DDR memory, a 120GB Western Digital Caviar HDD, and a Nvidia GeForce 5700 fx; all of which I did order from Tiger.

I also bought a Samsung 19" CRT, the 997DF (dyna flat) model from Best Buy for $199. I bought that local to save on shipping and for easy returns. All in all, with shipping and after rebates the system and monitor came in at just under $700. Not a bad high-end gaming machine and PC for my oldest son, or at least that was what I was going for.

I slapped it all together and got it running with Windows XP SP2 without a hitch. I have an MSDN license for Windows XP for work (home business) so that was a sunk cost.

The thing ran hot. Idled chasis temperature of 38c and CPU temp of 55c. And, I could run "CPUBurn" on high for about 30 minutes and crank the CPU temperature up to 65c. This seems hot, no?

And, the speakers suck. When I move a window around on the screen the speakers throw out static.

I did buy an "Ultra 5.25" Bay Freezer" cooling fan and put that in. That dropped the idle time chasis and CPU temp by a good 5c. And, I could run CPUBurn for over an hour and never go above CPU temp of 62C.

So, I think I have cooling under control (do I)?

But I am still not happy with the PSU and the Speakers.

I will probably buy different speakers or a nice set of headphones. And, as for the PSU, I have this sinking feeling it won't last long and that a majority of the cooling problems (that I seem to have a handle on) are caused by the poor case design and a PSU that doesn't exhaust much heat.

Anyway, those are my experiences. My son gets the PC for Christmas, along with Doom 3. Cross your fingers.

Roy

 

[RoyKaBob]

Another question about the case?

What size case fan would fit in the case, under the drive bays? I see that there is a spot for one there, but what size is that?

And, has anyone installed one there, and if so, did they use the "Case Fan" connector on the mobo?

Also, would that fan get any airflow if used as intake given the plastic front case is pretty much obscuring it, or should I just drill some holes in the case?

Thoughts, suggestions?

Roy

 

[scosmo451]

Originally posted by: RoyKaBob
Another question about the case?

What size case fan would fit in the case, under the drive bays? I see that there is a spot for one there, but what size is that?

And, has anyone installed one there, and if so, did they use the "Case Fan" connector on the mobo?

Also, would that fan get any airflow if used as intake given the plastic front case is pretty much obscuring it, or should I just drill some holes in the case?

Thoughts, suggestions?

Roy

An 80mm fan fits the front spot. I took a Dremel and got rid of the webbing that was there and improved airflow a lot. I'm considering cutting another hole in the front plastic and putting a free flow grill on it as well. I enjoy hacking things up, so not an issue there. I have a 60mm fan hooked to the back of PSU that I have hooked to the board. The front fan is hooked to my controller that came with my TR2, with my TR2 hooked directly to mobo running full speed. Fan in side and the fan I adapted to the heatsink are plugged into the wiring harness.

 

[scosmo451]

"Anyway, I ordered an AMD Athlon 3000+ Barton Core processor, the TigerDirect recommended Speez HSF"

I got the same fan/heatsink and it sucks. Or blows, depending on your outlook. Anyway, it couldn't keep my 2500+ cool for anything. Went with the TR2M2 and I run it at full speed constantly and it dropped temps 5C at least. Does your case have the infamous setup where the PSU blocks part of the CPU fan?

 

[RoyKaBob]

Yes, scosmo, I have the bad case. Only about 1/2 (oh closer to 1/3) of the right side of the HSF is visible, the rest is behind the PSU if looking directly into the case. And, if memory serves there is less than 1/2 inch between the PSU and HSF.

Not only that, but the chinsy PSU doesn't really exhaust that much air, especially if you consider how load it is.

Is idle CPU temp of 52C and *Cranking* CPU temp of 62C way too hot, cause that is where I am now? Is that good enough?

Roy

 

[scosmo451]

That's the same case I have, then. I, too, thought the PSU exhaust was kinda weak, but after removing it and comparing it to others that size, it seemed to blow just fine. I think it just has a problem with getting air through the small openings in the PSU. I took some snips and cut out much of the grillwork on the back and cut away some of the grill on the PSU case that is in the computer. And I mounted a 60mm fan to push air into the PSU. The 60mm fan I used was off the Speeze heatsink that Tiger sent. The PSU is now running very cool. And if you'd like to replace the stock fan, any 80mm fan will work.

As far as those temps, they are higher than I would want. I still run warmer than I'd like, but right now, I'm sitting at 47C and even running CPU stress tests, I never go over 55C, even lightly oc'd to around 2GHz. I've got mine set to shut the computer off if the temp gets to 65C. According to AMD, the Barton core's max temp is 85C, but I sure wouldn't want to get that high. And you also have to bear in mind that the temp sensor may not be the most accurate thing in the world. If you look under your processor, you'll see the sensor. It can be bent over and around and actually measures the air under the processor instead of directly measuring the processor. I don't know how to fix it so it is more accurate. And I don't know if it measures hot or cold. Also consider that some processors run hotter than others of the same make and model.

Have you removed the case sides and checked the temps? You might also remove the PSU with the sides off and lay it in the bottom of the case or outside and see what your temps are. This will tell you pretty much what the lowest temperature possible is with your combination. Then you can decide what route you need to take to keep cool. Every case is a tradeoff and this case needs a little attention, but can be made to work without much more expense at all. I think I've spent about 10 bucks total on improving the cooling, while reusing good parts left over from other computers. Most of it has just been work rearranging things and cutting things out.

 

[RoyKaBob]

Yeah, I tried with the case open...and it was a little better, but not substantially. Don't remember the exact numbers.

Anyway, another problem I have, which I thought was due to the speakers, was a cracking and hissing noise, especially when scrolling in a window, or moving a window around on the screen.

Seems more likely that this problem is due to PCI Latency (Google: VIA PCI Latency) and the Via chipset.

I tried that "VIA Latency Patch", but that didn't solve the problem, though it seemed to help a bit (not really sure).

I think I will put a "Turtle Beach Santa Cruz" sound card in as that is supposed to be less susceptible to latency.

Roy

 

[RoyKaBob]

The static sound noticable all the time, but moreso when moving the mouse or causing screen updates was remedied by swapping out the PSU for an Antec 350W. However, the new PSU is 1" longer and covers almost all of the HSF, and the PC runs hotter than ever...doesn't take much Doom 3 play to get the CPU to 65C, and that is with a PCI Slot Blower, a Bay Freezer and an 80mm front case fan. You just can't keep this case cool.

So, I am going to say UNCLE.

I ordered an Enermax case for NewEgg ($68 total), CS-30881TA-B3A, and I will move everything, including the new PSU over to it. I am not sure if I will keep the 52x CDROM drive, or leave it in the Soyo case as I did add a Liteon DVD burner and it rocks...how many optical drives do you need, right?

Expect to see the case, and the old PSU and possibly the CD-ROM drive on Ebay...I will probably have a starting sale price of $5 over max estimated shipping and including shipping cost in the auction. So, someone will probably buy a case, psu and cdrom drive for around $25.

Roy

 

[scosmo451]

I've got an Antec 350W PSU laying around, but, like yours, it is larger than the stock PSU, so I haven't installed it. And I'm shopping cases as well, but just haven't broken down and bought one yet. What really sucks is that the barebone kits from Tiger now have the PSU mounted up high and out of the way of the CPU fan. If I had one of those, I would probably be very happy with this combo. I'll probably buy a case locally so that I can actually touch and see it myself. Will cost more than getting from Newegg, but I'll take the hit.

Really, though, the MOBO itself is working great. Never had any problem that I traced back to it. Would like a voltage adjustment, but no complaints at this price. As far as optical drives go - the more the merrier. I'm using the factory CDROM and a burner. I'll probably remove the factory drive soon and replace it with a DVD burner. I'll still keep the CD burner, though. This is the first computer I've had with two CD drives and I'm really liking the extra options.

I just played with the speakers that came with the kit - sure enough, if I turn them up loud and start working around with windows, they make all kinds of noise. I never noticed that before as I always use another set of self-powered speakers anyway. I knew the stock speakers made noise, just didn't realize how much. They sound like crap anyway. 30 bucks at Wal-Mart will get some that sound a heck of a lot better and have their own subwoofer to boot.

 

[RoyKaBob]

Will let you know how it goes, Cosmo.

I should have the Enermax case from Egghead in a couple of days. It has gotten pretty good reviews, and will at least give me additional cooling options and the ability to go with a much taller HSF, if needed.

I read a review on the case, which I got shipped from NewEgg for $68 ($53 + sh), and it seemed like a nice sturdy case with kewl options. The review is at: http://www.bit-tech.net/review/274/

And, since this is for my 12 year old son, I thought he would enjoy the kewl factor of the blue leds.

Note that when I changed to the Antec 350w PSU the static from onboard sound pretty much disappeared. I really think the el-crapo PSU that ships with the case was simply putting out really crappy power, either under-powered, or susceptible to noise caused by activity...can't explain it any other way.

I have no complaints about the mobo and it seems you can get them for under $20 everywhere. Heck, I am considering making a media center PC with one, so that is a pretty good testimonial.

As I said, I will let you know how it goes.

This "on the cheap" gaming system is getting more expensive all the time. When it is done and I am happy with it I will setup "My Rig".

Roy

 

[RoyKaBob]

Okay, I said I would report back when I moved everything over to the Enermax case.

I have and it looks GREAT!

I have a chasis temp of 33C, and an idle CPU temp of 39C.

I haven't run CPUBurn or Doom 3 yet, but I suspect that since my idle temp has dropped 18C I shouldn't have a problem.

So chalk up $45 for a new PSU and $68 for a different case. It means I paid $39.99 (IF I EVER GET THE Soyo REBATES BACK) for a mobo, 52xcd drive, keyboard, mouse and speakers. Still not too bad a deal, as long as I get the rebates back. I could have bought the same mobo, an better keyboard, mouse, speakers for probably not too much more...maybe if I pieced them all I might have been able to get them all for under $80...but it would be close.

I am happy...for now!

Roy

 

[scosmo451]

Good to hear. Looks more and more like I'll be getting a new case myself.

 

[candiazoo]

I just ordered the barebones + Sempron kit from Tiger Direct. Now I am beginning to worry about all the problems with the powersupply being soooo close to the cpu. One poster mentioned that it was moved? But the pictures I see online show the powersupply right over/in front of the CPU. How was it situated before?

Anyway, I had really liked the idea of having a mini-tower, but maybe I will plop the MB into my old full sized case that has my P2B-D in it now. :/

But I am glad I found this forum, even if it was after-the-fact. Now I know what to expect and hopefully how to deal with it. Btw... has anyone tried to run BeOS on this board? I am going to try. It seems like it will be similar enough to some of the older Soyo MoBos that it just might work. My P2B-D is my BeOS machine now, but I would like to get 4X AGP and a little bit more speed for video and sound (I will be using my own sound card, not onboard). If BeOS does not run it will end up being either an XP gaming machine (since I only have Macs and Linux boxes now) or a box to play with DragonFly BSD.

Great forums, btw.

Mike

 

[RoyKaBob]

Candiazoo,

I wouldn't worry until you get the case in hand. It seems that TigerDirect and Soyo are shipping a different version of that case, one that is taller and with the mobo under the PSU. I suspect and hope that is what you get.


Still, however, if you get the crappy PSU you might want to change it out anyway. It is really poor in quality. I picked up a really good Antec 350W power supply at Staples last week when they had an instant $10 off deal, it cost $39.99.

Oh, and I just sold my Soyo case and PSU from the barebones kit on Ebay. Sold it for $39.99 and that included free shipping. Made no bones about the case coming from a barebones kit and I kept everything from the kit sans the case and PSU.

So, I feel much better.

Oh, and I played Doom 3 for 45 minutes last night and the CPU temp never went above 42C. NICE.

Roy

 

[RoyKaBob]

Oh, and Candiazoo, it goes without saying that you can always do what I did IF the case shows up and the PSU is right over the CPU.

And, that is, keep everything, sans the case and PSU and sell those on Ebay.

$179 (assuming that was your out of pocket, less shipping) for the mobo, cpu, speez fan, keyboard, mouse, and 52x CDROM drive is a little high, but not too bad..even less if you consider you might, one day, get a rebate.

Heck the mobo + cpu bundle (2500+ Sempron) will cost you around $100 wherever you get it from, and that doesn't include the HSF.

Again, the Enermax case that I recommended early I still HIGHLY recommend, and NewEgg seems like a class act. I got mine delivered in two days!

Trust me, if you get the crappy case and cheap PSU, do yourself a favor and send the whole thing back, or use it for parts and sell the case and PSU.

Roy

 

[candiazoo]

Alright. Well, I got the PC, but I had it delivered to work and won't be able to pick it up 'til next week now, unless I get some free time to grab it this weekend. I'll let everyone know how it works out!

Someday maybe I will invest in a real graphics card (not my old radeon) so I can play DOOM3. I tried it on my Ubuntu linux box with my NVidia FX 5200 and it was painfully slow and choppy (even with all the recommended tweaks in the config files). Sooooo next time. But good cards cost a fortune these days.

Mike

 

[RoyKaBob]

I am using the Nvidia FX 5700 LE, and it handles Doom 3 quite nicely. And, after rebate, it only cost $60.

Roy

 

[bartbrn]

RoyKaBob writ

<< Candiazoo,

I wouldn't worry until you get the case in hand. It seems that TigerDirect and Soyo are shipping a different version of that case, one that is taller and with the mobo under the PSU. I suspect and hope that is what you get. >>

Don't bet on it -- I just got my RMA replacement Soyo BB kit fromTD, and it's the same ancient load of codswallops the first one was -- the mobo is in exactly the same place, and therefore the CPU falls right behind the "more heat, less power" PSU just as before.

This time I'm going to temporarily relocate the PSU until I determine that the damned PC actually works, then permanently relocate it with my handy-dandy Dremel (or return it for full credit if it doesn't work this time).

Shows, as I should know by now, that you get what you pay for...

Bart