The mobile Athlon 64 and motherboards

[DoobieOnline]

Vadrock, at this point I'd recommend picking up a 3000+ desktop version and overclocking it. I've had a lot of experience between the DTR 3200+ and retail 3000+ over the last few weeks using several different motherboards and I've got to say that the 3000+ is a MUCH better chip. I say that because it isn't nearly as picky about which RAM you can use and it seems to overclock better than my DTR while using a lot less voltage. The desktop 3000+ is also much less expensive - currently about $160 for the retail-boxed version or $150 for OEM.

As far as motherboards go, the Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR is the most stable board I've ever used. It only has 1.55 Vcore, but that's all it took to get the retail 3000+ to 2.5GHz (10x250) with Prime 95 stability. Newegg usually carries this board, but they're out of stock at the moment. For only $100 shipped, it's a steal.

The Thermalright SLK-948U is great with mobile/DTR or desktop chips. The Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 is great for desktop chips and does a great job for being so quiet.

doobie

 

[Vadrok]

Thanks!
I am not planning to overclock but based on your response
it seems that using a DTR chip was not such a great idea on my part.

 

[Dorkenstein]

What does the first post mean about removing backplates?

 

[DoobieOnline]

Vadrok - if you're not going to overclock, then the Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR motherboard should be at the top of your list. It's one of the fastest boards at stock speeds and will let you do some moderate overclocking if you ever decide to. Get the fastest retail S754 chip you can afford to go with it.

The Chaintech NVF3-250 is also a good board for stock speeds, but I can't recommend it for overclocking. I had some problems with it developing a very irritating electronic "squeal" when overclocking.

Dorkenstein - if you want to use a mobile/DTR chip, you'll have to pick up the Thermalright SLK-948U heatsink. It comes with its own backplate that you need to use so the heatsink will make good contact with the CPU core. To use the custom backplate, you need to remove the standard backplate that comes with your motherboard. Some of them are glued on and harder to get off (see the motherboard recommendations on page 1 for which ones are glued on).

doobie

 

[WebDude]

Originally posted by: DoobieOnline
Vadrock, at this point I'd recommend picking up a 3000+ desktop version and overclocking it. I've had a lot of experience between the DTR 3200+ and retail 3000+ over the last few weeks using several different motherboards and I've got to say that the 3000+ is a MUCH better chip. I say that because it isn't nearly as picky about which RAM you can use and it seems to overclock better than my DTR while using a lot less voltage. The desktop 3000+ is also much less expensive - currently about $160 for the retail-boxed version or $150 for OEM.
....
doobie

Just wondering how high you can go with your 3000+. I've got the DTR 3200+, and it impresses the hell out of me. Spec.'d to run at 2ghz, I'm doing 2.35ghz with no problems (fsb 235, 10x, 1:1). Beyond that my ram gives out. I'll know more when I switch to the OCZ Platnum 2.

 

[Starion]

Originally posted by: DoobieOnline


As far as motherboards go, the Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR is the most stable board I've ever used. It only has 1.55 Vcore, but that's all it took to get the retail 3000+ to 2.5GHz (10x250) with Prime 95 stability. Newegg usually carries this board, but they're out of stock at the moment. For only $100 shipped, it's a steal.

Sweet! What cooler were you using?

EDIT: Oh yea, do you know which core it was?

 

[DoobieOnline]

WebDude - my DTR 3200+ maxes out at 2.5GHz (see my rig link in sig). It's definitely an impressive chip, but my desktop 3000+ will do 2.5GHz while using .125 less voltage. I'm using 2x512MB OCZ PC3200 EL Platinum Rev2 at 1:1 and it's good stuff!

Starion - I've used the SLK-948U (with 92mm Panaflo H and M fans) and the Silent Boost K8 (stock fan) with the 3000+ running 2.5GHz. Both of them keep it nice and cool. I'm currently using the Silent Boost K8 on the 3000+ because I needed the SLK-948U for my DTR 3200+.

Edit: My 3000+ and my DTR 3200+ are CG rev chips.

doobie

 

[WebDude]

I'll take 2.5ghz any day of the week. I didn't know the 3000+'s were that good. But any way you can get there, get there if you can. (My OCZ comes in Fri. from the Egg).

 

[Lankshire]

Hey NichovA,

I just read got the Asus K8V SE Deluxe and read your post. How high were you able to raise the FSB/HTT to get such a good overclock considering the board doesn't have an AGP/PCI lock? What was your most stable setting with the 3200+ DTR and that motherboard?

 

[Comp10]

Just tonight I put together an Asus K8N-8 Deluxe with the Athlon 64 3000+ DTR and my system will not boot. More precisely all the fans start up for about a second then everything turns off. I'm trying to figure out what is causing this, do these symptoms sound at all like the failure to boot problem some experience with the DTR chip and certain motherboards, or do I likely have something else going on? Any input would be of great help.

 

[DoobieOnline]

The Asus K8N-E is supposed to work with the shipping bios, so it's doubtful that it's not recognizing the chip. What heatsink are you using? Have you cleared cmos with the jumper yet? Make sure your cards and memory are seated well and that all your cables are plugged in tight. The only other thing I've seen that makes the fans spin for a second and then nothing is when a board is shorting out somewhere. Check the back of the board and make sure you don't have a standoff in the wrong place or possibly something metal (like a misplaced screw) touching the board on the back, front, or sides that shouldn't be there. Good luck!

doobie

 

[silicontundra]

Hi Bar81 and everyone,

I'm a newbie to AnandTech forums, Athlon 64, and this great thread (been a AT lurker for couple years). I bought a very unusual 3200+ DTR CG proc on eBay. It looks normal, but has a ring around the periphery of the package. I have not seen any reference to this package type. Is this a special engineering sample that was yanked off a prototype laptop?

See pix here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...sPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT

This ring is raised about 1 mm above the die plane. I acquired a ThermalRight SLK-948U as recommended by your post but found that the mismatch prevents real contact cooling. I just used extra paste to fill the gap temporarily to test. Any recommendations or comments here?

I'm using a Gigabyte K8N Pro and a single 512MB Corsair PC3200 ECC + Registered memory. I'm planning to use it as a CAD WS now and a server later.

It lighted up once before shutting down, presumably thermal shutdown. It just gives one long beep now.

I assume that if I reset the BIOS, I can boot. Am I taking the proper approach in this situation?

 

[jellysandwichx]

Originally posted by: silicontundra
Hi Bar81 and everyone,

I'm a newbie to AnandTech forums, Athlon 64, and this great thread (been a AT lurker for couple years). I bought a very unusual 3200+ DTR CG proc on eBay. It looks normal, but has a ring around the periphery of the package. I have not seen any reference to this package type. Is this a special engineering sample that was yanked off a prototype laptop?

See pix here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...sPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT

This ring is raised about 1 mm above the die plane. I acquired a ThermalRight SLK-948U as recommended by your post but found that the mismatch prevents real contact cooling. I just used extra paste to fill the gap temporarily to test. Any recommendations or comments here?

I'm using a Gigabyte K8N Pro and a single 512MB Corsair PC3200 ECC + Registered memory. I'm planning to use it as a CAD WS now and a server later.

It lighted up once before shutting down, presumably thermal shutdown. It just gives one long beep now.

I assume that if I reset the BIOS, I can boot. Am I taking the proper approach in this situation?

I thought S 754 boards didn't support ECC/Registered RAM?

-jellysandwich

 

[imported_ST]

thanks for this very informative post. I've just recently got the OC bug, taking my A64 3200+ to around 2.56Ghz, but I'm itching for more.

I'm very impressed about the A64 DTR specs, especially since it has 1MB cache as opposed to 512k (i used to have a 3400 CH), but I'm seeing mixed responses on its effectiveness on OC.

Doobie states that he prefers the norm A64's to the DTR's still, because of compatibility reasons. Now what if i had access to any memory to try out? Would it be a more effective OC'er? What's the highest anyone has gone with these, air or water cooled wise?

I also see people struggling with the HSF for the dtr, but after just installing a CM Vortex Ultra and seeing the design of the CM Hyper 6, I think these would make reasonable air-cooled HSF as well, since they are "adjustable" height via the back plate screws. Anyone tried these?

 

[aaron168]

Very insightfull post. All of this, have made me wonder if anyone has had any experience with the following heatsink. The all **NEW** Thermalright XP-120 on the Athlon 64 DTR Mobile processor?? I know the heatsink ONLY fits a number of motherboard due to its HUGE size but luckly my motherboard is one of them (MSI K8T Neo-FSR). Any infor would be appreciated.

 

[NeBlackCat]

Hello all,

Just joined & read all 31 pages - brain hurts now but very worthwhile & good reading. :thumbsup:

Does anyone know whether the low power mobile Sempron (1.25v IIRC) would work in those mobos that are reporting success for the true mobile Athlon 64s ?

I want to build a 24/7 home server which idles using minimal power but has a bit of grunt when needed (no OC-ing though). The above CPU seems ideal - 9w at idle, 25w loaded!

Anyone tried such madness???

Cheers,
BC

 

[jkresh]

any thoughts on the lanparty vs the k8n-e, I currently have the k8n-e but am agrivated by ram voltage issues. I will probably be building an htpc in the next few weeks and was thinking of using a sempron, so if the dfi has a big enough advantge I will use my k8n-e with the sempron and use the lanparty as my main board. As my ocz 3700eb realy needs more then 2.7 volts.

 

[silicontundra]

Solved! I was able to finally get a stable system. On the wierd engineering sample 1MB CG Athlon 64 mobile CPU, used a small piece of copper sheeting about the size of the huge die and thin layers of white stuff with the ThermalRight SLK-948U pressing down on the whole stack. At 1.45v, I am amazed that the temp is 20C!

For the Gigabyte K8N Pro mobo, when I updated the BIOS to latest F12 (Sempron support), then the mobile Athlon 64 and mobo worked together. Changed out the memory DIMM to 512MB Mushkin Blue CL2 PC3200 SDRAM memory with integr heat spreader. While manual says EEC is supported, somehow having EEC + registered memory doesn't work well (although I did get the BIOS to light up once with it).

Also solved a dumb HD jumper config error, had a real slow boot when a single WD ATA drive was jumpered as if it is a master with slave present.

Implemented the integr SiliconImage 3512 based RAID0 with a couple SATA WD Raptor (5ms 10K) drives and this puppy sure is fast !


Regards, Phil Minneapolis, Minn, Silicon Tundra, USA

-----------

>>I'm using a Gigabyte K8N Pro and a single 512MB Corsair PC3200 ECC + Registered memory. I'm >>planning to use it as a CAD WS now and a server later.
>>
>>It lighted up once before shutting down, presumably thermal shutdown. It just gives one long beep >>now.
>>
>>I assume that if I reset the BIOS, I can boot. Am I taking the proper approach in this situation?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>I thought S 754 boards didn't support ECC/Registered RAM?
>
>-jellysandwich :thumbsup:

 

[imported_Q]

I've got a really strange problem and I really don't know what the hell is causing it.
System:
- Shuttle AN51R
- Mobile 3400+
- TR XP120
- 2 x 512MB Kingston HyperX UltraLow Latency 2-2-2-5-1
- TR NB1 on the chipset
- X800XT PE
- raid with 2xSeaget 160Gb

Everytime I unplug the computer from the power line it refuses to start with the 2 dimms of memory installed. It gives me the memory error beeps everytime. If I start the system with just one dimm and then I shut it off (but still plugged) and I put back the second memory dimm everything is just fine.
I tried also with Corsair XMS3500, BH5 chips, and it is the same.

I tried all combinations of dimms and the same.

The same system with normal (not mobile) 3000+ and Geil Ultra pc3200 (2x512) does not make any problems.

Could it be because of the mobile processor? Maybe Shuttle does not have a very good bios to recognize it?
Pls help!Thx!

 

[silicontundra]

Hi Q, I got anomous boot issues and BIOS beeps for memory using a mobo that did not have the latest BIOS. In my case with a Gigabyte K8N Pro, which was delivered with one release older F11 (1/2K4). Stuffed in a Mobile Athlon 64 3200+ 1MB L2, CG rev core. Initally was using 1 stick 512MB Corsair EEC, registered PC3200 (don't think this was the cause).

Nasty. BIOS settings would not sit still, the voltage crap that Bar81 mentioned in Section 7c(2) about seem peculiar to Gigabyte BIOS. Gigabyte's reputation was starting to dim in my eyes.

Once I flashed to F12 (8/2K4, to support Sempron procs), all boot and memory issues disappeared using 1 stick of 512MB Mushkin's Blue memory. Now using 2 sticks of 512MB Corsair Xtreme XMS 4000, with the idiot lights. Probably overkill since will never ov'clk this machine.

Machine is rock solid. Going to benchmark in the coming week.

Regards, Phil

-----------
Q writes:

>Everytime I unplug the computer from the power line it refuses to start with the 2 dimms of memory >installed. It gives me the memory error beeps everytime. If I start the system with just one dimm and then >I shut it off (but still plugged) and I put back the second memory dimm everything is just fine.
>I tried also with Corsair XMS3500, BH5 chips, and it is the same.

 

[leohuf]

What happened to the mobiles?

Now newegg only lists 2 DTR's, not one real mobile, 1.2v or 1.4v. And also, I saw at AMD site that they released a 3000+ 1.2V (35W) mobile chip...I think it's also 90nm...but I can't find it anywhere!

And AMD removed all mobiles from the Power and Thermal Data Sheet of Athlon 64!

Does anyone know anything about the future of the mobiles Athlon 64? Are they destined to desappear from the resellers?

Leo.

 

[aaron168]

Yeah that's a great question. I can't find a place to purchase the Athlon 64 3200 1.4V 1MB DTR/CG Core CPU myself. Can anybody help a fellow member. NewEgg doesn't have it......where i usually shop. Any Suggestions?? Thanks.

 

[sleepeeg3]

eBay or the forums. That's where I got mine.

Only one heatsink setup works properly without modification with the mobile CPUs, the Thermalright SLK-948U Heatsink.

Not true. PM'd bar81 about this, but he hasn't been on. The Swiftech MCX64-V & MCX6400-V also work with lidless cpus. They're expensive, don't perform quite as well, but they are still good performers and have better clearance than the Thermalright. Which if you are me, makes a difference.

 

[c0V3Ro]

i've just got a ama3200bex5ar, a vnf3-250 and a corsair value kit cl2.5. can i use the zalman 7000 with this board? can i achieve a better performance, in overclock of course, with this combo or should i sell the board and cpu and get an abit av8 and a 3000+ 90nm(939)? i'm intending to use the same zalman with both combos.
thanks all answer and suggestions

 

[Piyp]

Jess, would you give the reference for the latest bios version for the Shuttle SN85G4 V.2? I went to Shuttle's site and only found this bios fn85s235.bin , 512KB , SN85G4 (FN85) , 8/11/2004. It doesn't say anything about mobile support that I can see. And who knows if it's the same bios that you used since your post is two months old.

Thanks