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Abit NF7-S v2.0 ?'s

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MrTurd Ferguson

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
I know this motherboard isn't made anymore but I was wonder if many people were using it still. I am and I kinda like it but I'd like to update my BIOS but of course there isn't one available.

I found a modded BIOS on the net but I know the file is old and I certainly have no way nor do I have the know-how to see if it's legit or not.

I'm also looking for mods for this board if anyone has any that they would share with me.

Where can I get a newer BIOS? I kinda like the way they made this modded BIOS sound but I don't know if I wanna flash mine yet or not with this thing.


Thanks!
 
MrTurd Ferguson said:
I know this motherboard isn't made anymore but I was wonder if many people were using it still. I am and I kinda like it but I'd like to update my BIOS but of course there isn't one available.

I found a modded BIOS on the net but I know the file is old and I certainly have no way nor do I have the know-how to see if it's legit or not.

I'm also looking for mods for this board if anyone has any that they would share with me.

Where can I get a newer BIOS? I kinda like the way they made this modded BIOS sound but I don't know if I wanna flash mine yet or not with this thing.


Thanks!

most recent update was d27. here it is modded
http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4596525&postcount=2402
it is cpc off, so if you have more than 512 of ram this is your bios to use

for mods to the board do a search here http://www.ocforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=128
 
I'm a complete noob and I appreciate you helping me out. But I don't know what cpc is? But I've only got 512 right this minute. I kinda like this setup and I haven't wore it out. I want to buy new stuff but I hate to get rid of something that is working now.

Thanks for the links and info...

I think it needs more cowbell....
 
The problem is the Command Per Clock (CPC) or Command Rate 1T/2T as most of you know it. Depending on what RAM you have and if you are using 1 or 2 sticks your BIOS may run it on default or 2T command rate which will decrease your bandwidth. But there is a downside to running on 1T as well depending how you look at it because you won’t be able to attain high FSB/HTT as you would with 2T but at least your bandwidth would be higher. 2T is good for those that want to stay on 1:1 ratio and avoid using dividers, but other then that you should always be under 1T if you want better performance.

I pulled this from another thread, but it still pretty much relates to the NF7 too. 2T allows for higher fsb/mem clocks. 1T is good for a small amount of RAM and lower fsb/mem clocks or a nice v-mod. If you are looking to go over 200 FSB then I would suggest you use the BIOS I linked, if not, then I will dig up the CPC off BIOS. Lemme know what you are looking to do. Post all your stats of your rig too please. Oh, and CPC off is the same as 2T, and CPC on is the same as 1T, just a different name for the same thing.


Burt Reynolds: Yeah well, why don't you give me, ah.. why don'tcha give me Ape Tit for $200.

Alex Trebek: It's not "Ape Tit." It's A Petit.. [ shakes head ] ..never mind!
 
I'll take the penis mightier for 500...haha.

To be honest with you I don't know what I'm trying to do. I'll tell you what I've got as far as my setup goes and then I'll tell you what is going on. There is another thread I posted in "can I oc this setup" it describes the problem I'm having with my CPU. However I am looking to change it.

Basically I'd like an updated BIOS cause the one I have now is just old. I'd also like something with more options or should I say better options than the version I have now. I was hoping to find something modded that had the bugs worked out and maybe what Abit just left out period.

I believe my CPU is locked as I can't change my multiplier. To get this motherboard to recognize that I have PC3200 and run it at 400FSB, I have to jack my CPU up. This is fine but when I do I also have to jack the voltage on the CPU up. And then I have a heat issue cause it won't do like a 200x11.0 on stock voltage. I'm still piddling with a stupid stock heatsink as well but I have put a rather large fan on it. I haven't tried any OCing since this and I will tomorrow when time permits.
 
ok, i read that whole other post.... flash with the bios i posted above

i will post over on that other thread too.
 
JB can you tell me what I need to set all that stuff to in my BIOS. Like what needs to be enabled and disabled? Maybe I'm missing something there too cause I really don't touch any of it.

Also I've seen some boards like this one where guys put HS on different chips, is that worth doing? What about any type of volt modding or anything else? Is it worth doing all this on this board or is it better to leave well enough alone?
 
What about that BIOS...I mean what exactly does it offer over the standard BIOS that I was running? I was just curious as to what exactly had been modded to and what is CPC?

I have another question too about this. It's my understanding that I can run 2 gigs of PC3200 but only 2 gigs. Or I can run 3 gigs of PC2700. Is there anyway to run 3 gigs of PC3200? Do you think that 3200 is the highest I can go or could I run something better or is there no better?

I'm still waiting on the HS to get here and hopefully it'll be here Monday or Tuesday. I'm very interested to see how much cooler it runs. JB, are you sure I should keep my locked Barton or should I start hunting a mobile? If I need to hunt a mobile which do you suggest? I've been thinking about a 3200+ but I believe the one I found wasn't mobile.

I'm looking to build a new system off one of the Fatal1ty boards but before I start that project I want to max this computer out and get my money's worth. I've this thing a long time and never really done anything with it. Of course chances are I might get this one running so well I won't want another computer. I don't know cause I've been let down so much with this one. Do you suggest I change anything else as far as my hardware goes?

Thanks Will
 
I'm a die-hard nf7-s fan as well.

I have 10 athlon motherboards running (or broken) at the moment.

Asus A7N8X - Caps all blown up, crappy cheap capacitors
Gigabyte G7VAX - Blew up once due to cheap caps, rma'd, blew up again off warranty, sitting in box broken
Asus A7N266 - Bad caps again, Asus is cheap.
Biostar M7VKB - only supports a 200 FSB, but runs ok, no frills, but has been a reliable board
MSI KT400 - More cheap capacitors! Swelling and leaking, can no longer handle fsb over 200, despite being a 333 board after less than 1.5 yrs of use. MSI lost a class action suit over this.
Asus A7A266 - Runs a bit hot but pretty reliable
PC-Chips - bought this not long ago on Newegg cause it was the only socket A for sale, so far so good, but too new to tell. No SATA, single channel etc.

My 3 favorites, by far, are my 2x Abit NF7-S v 2.0 and my one Abit NF7-S2. These 3 are all still in pristine condition, all high quality rubycon caps, they run 24/7 and never give me any problems. Very fast. The NF7-S v 2.0 was definitely the best socket A board ever made, and I only regret having ever bought anything else.

Ironically, I came to this forum to ask about fixing a minor annoyance on mine... lol.
 
MrTurd Ferguson said:
What about that BIOS...I mean what exactly does it offer over the standard BIOS that I was running? I was just curious as to what exactly had been modded to and what is CPC?

I have another question too about this. It's my understanding that I can run 2 gigs of PC3200 but only 2 gigs. Or I can run 3 gigs of PC2700. Is there anyway to run 3 gigs of PC3200? Do you think that 3200 is the highest I can go or could I run something better or is there no better?

I'm still waiting on the HS to get here and hopefully it'll be here Monday or Tuesday. I'm very interested to see how much cooler it runs. JB, are you sure I should keep my locked Barton or should I start hunting a mobile? If I need to hunt a mobile which do you suggest? I've been thinking about a 3200+ but I believe the one I found wasn't mobile.

I'm looking to build a new system off one of the Fatal1ty boards but before I start that project I want to max this computer out and get my money's worth. I've this thing a long time and never really done anything with it. Of course chances are I might get this one running so well I won't want another computer. I don't know cause I've been let down so much with this one. Do you suggest I change anything else as far as my hardware goes?

Thanks Will

A couple tweaks here and there to make it run better. Overall it's not a lot of change, but it's better. CPC is command per clock. It relates to the timings for the RAM. Basically when it's off it loosens the timings which allows for higher FSB/RAM clocks.

2GB is the max that the NF7 will register. You can go a high as you want for RAM, eg. 4400, but the timings on that are horrible. You really want something that will do 2.5-3-3 @ 250ish. If you can find some 3500 that will do that, that would be optimal. But some 3200 with nice timings would also be good.

Let's see where your chip gets us now. If you want, the best mobile you can get is a 2600.
 
Ok I got my heatsink I bought off Hard Forum. I got the ALX-800 like I spoke about. Here is the deal:
The fan I'm using is an Antec fan that according to Everest is turning about 3000 rpm give or take a few. It fits the heatsink perfectly but I believe I need MORE FAN...not cowbell this time.

Ok, I only ran Prime95 (version 24.14) for 38 minutes BUT this is longer than it would ever even think of running before. I made it through the 8K test and then the 10k test and the first 12K test. This was in "torture test" with small FFT's (the first selection) and like I said for just 38 minutes. I know that isn't long enough but like I said it's longer than it ever made it before. I wanted to report this to you (JB or Will whichever you like best) before I went any farther.

The mobo temp held at 27c the entire test time. Which isn't nearly as important as the CPU temp. The CPU temp started out cold at 44c. Not very impressive to me, but it was around 5 or degrees cooler than idle temps with the stock heatsink. During the test the temp peaked at 55c and held steady. A huge improvement over the stock heatsink that came with my 2500+. Before temps would soar past 70c if I'd let it go that long that is. I took the ducting out of an old HP Pavilion for the P4 processor. That white colored elbow thingie and put it against my case fan. I think my case fan is 120mm or so something like that, I don't know maybe just 80mm. Anyway I positioned it to help pull air through the heatsink. My fan on my heatsink is pulling NOT blowing and I know this might not be the best thing BUT it helps with the ducting. With the ducting...the temps fell to and stayed steady at 53c.

That is a huge improvement but I'm not where I think I should be yet. I'd like to see below 50c readings when this thing is being pushed. Everest showed a 1.76 core voltage during the entire 38 minutes. I need a bigger or better fan and I need to optimize the ducting I believe but it kinda gets into the power supply fan causing a "bog".

So where do I need to go from here? I'm getting ready to shut down and begin more work on the fan and ducting. I'm gonna see what I've got laying around here for a fan. With an Antec Sonata case temps and air flow seem to be an issue. If I didn't like the way it looks so much I'd beat this thing to pieces with a hammer. My next case is gonna be the P180 case. I like the look a lot better...
 
Ok I assume I can post a pic here. So if there is a pic attached then you can now see what I did.

However nothing changed from me "taping" it into place (half-azzed) versus me using super glue to mount it in place. No temp change at all.

:mad: Why can't I get the darn temps down on this thing? I'm getting so ticked with this thing...I MUST have a terd processor and need to make a keychain out of it.

I'm thinking seriously about going with a peltier but I don't know a lot about it. I've also been thinking about phase change:drool: but I know even less about that. There has to be a way to cool this thing down.
 
Change your RAM timings to 2.5-3-3-11 Sometimes having them too 'loose' messes things up.

That's pretty good news on the heatsink! 38min is way better than 0!! ;)

Mess with your fan setup. I would think that maybe blowing air on it may work better, since your PSU has a fan right there to take the hot air away.

Sounds like you have found your niche for your CPU. It is going to be a game of temps vs voltage to get that stable. How far do you want to push it?

The mobiles are nice because they start off with a lower stock voltage so you can OC them more. Give these links a read
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=271103
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=433985
 
Ok so you are saying to think it would be ok if I reversed that case fan to blow into that elbow and flipped my fan on my processor to blow into that heatsink instead of pulling through it?

I was actually thinking of getting something like PVC pipe and making a direct port to the fan on the processor and vent it through my case door. I was thinking of using some type of foam for a gasket on each end.

I stopped it at 38 minutes, it didn't stop itself. I was just so surprised it went that long I had to come here and tell you too. I'll change the RAM timings and see where that goes.

I did try adjusting the clock again and so far pretty much where I am is looking like where I'm gonna have to stay. That would be 200x11 @ 1.8 volts. Just about anything higher causes it to not boot Windows or I get a dreaded bunch of beeps at restart. I tried 205x11 @ 1.8v the I tried it at 1.825, 1.850 and I stopped at 1.875. I also tried 210x11 at those same voltages and I couldn't get it to cooperate with me. I tried to drop the voltage to 1.775 and run 200x11 trying to reduce the heat a bit...but it wasn't having that either. I believe I'm going to hunt a Mobile 2600+ and I'm going to hunt another way to cool this thing also.

I hate to pop this thing BUT I want it to do more. I'd love to see 2400mhz out of it but I seriously doubt it's gonna happen.
 
I've seen cpu coolers that blow air down into the heat sink and those that pull air up through it... either way gets a decent air flow through the sink and will prevent damage to the cpu. Often one will work better than the other, so give it a try and see what happens. It's safe to try it out, it won't kill your chip. Check the temps before and after though and see what is better.
 
Well I set my memory at 2.5-3-3-11. I ran Prime again and it got up to 3 hours before I stopped it. It was on the 32k test and holding at 51c with case temps at 79c. I thought that was pretty good...no errors or nothing and I believe it would have kept going but I stopped it.

Idle temp after stopping it and giving it a few minutes to cool off were 44c for the CPU and 77 for the case temp (F). It's about 75 or 76 in my house so I figured that wasn't too bad.


I hate to rob a picture from this forum and post it here but I seen this today while thumbing around here. I had nothing better to do since it's raining here and I can't work, so I saw this and I have to know what the deal is. What cooler is this and where can I get one. This looks just like the XP-120 that I have. For sure this would work slightly better atleast than what I'm trying now. I'm also thinking of buying a Koolance case and see where that gets me.
 

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