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DFI Infinity Vcore Volt Mod - a step by step guide

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felinusz

Senior Overclocking Magus
Joined
Feb 26, 2003
Location
Taiwan
DFI Infinity Vcore Volt Mod
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Disclaimer - I am not responsible for anything bad that happens as a result of this mod. If good things happen, feel free to mail me money :D

The DFI Infinity has established itself as the greatest nForce 2 FSB overclocking board, and boasts an impressive array of stock voltage options.

It has one drawback voltage-wise however, that being a comparitively low stock Vcore limit of 2.0 volts. Here is a quick step by step guide to an easy Vcore voltage modification for this board, which will allow you to feed your chip as much Vcore as you want ;)

Please be warned that overvolting your processor can be hazardous, and can cause permanent damage to your chip. To stay safe, try to avoid exceeding 2.2 volts on standard cooling for extended periods of time.

Here are the materials which you will need for this modification:

1. A 50K Ohm Variable Resistor (also called a Linear Potentiometer, a VR, and a Pot)

2. A Soldering Iron, and some fine soldering compound

3. A Hot Glue Gun

4. Some sturdy wire (fan plug wires will do the trick)

5. A 3-pin fan plug, with the ground (black) wire still attached

(optional) 6. A Pomona Grabber. I highly reccomend that you use a Pomona Grabber, as it is easily removeable, and makes the modification a lot easier to do without killing your board - as there is no direct soldering neccessary.

If you plan on raising your Vcore voltage above 2.1 volts after the modification, you will also need to do the VSENSE voltage modification for this board. You will need a second 50K Ohm Variable Resistor, as well as more wire, a second fan plug, and a second Pomona grabber (if you are reluctant to solder the modification).
 
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The below picture is of a completed volt mod, and the Integrated Circuit which you will solder to (or attach to with a Pomona grabber) in order to raise the Vcore voltage. It should be easy to find, as it is located right above and to the right of the 12V Vcore cable plug.
 

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  • nfiivcore.jpg
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Please note that in the above picture, the modification has been done by directly soldering to the IC. Not only is this dangerous (IC's are heat sensitive), it takes some serious soldering skill to pull off without shorting something, and killing your board.

Use a Pomona grabber if you cannot solder, or are uncomfortable soldering this modification. If you try and solder to the tiny IC, and slip badly enough, you will probably kill your board. Be careful!

Pin 7 (labelled in the picture) is the one which you will be working with.

Pin 10 is for a different modification, the VSENSE voltage modification you will need to do if you plan on going above 2.1 volts. The VSENSE modification follows the exact same steps written below, except that you attach your Pomona grabber, or bare wire contact, to Pin 10 instead of Pin 7.

The Modification
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Your first step is to solder a piece of your sturdy wire to ONE (either) of the outer pins of your potentiometer (NOT THE CENTER ONE). Solder the other end of the wire (the one you just soldered to the potentiometer) to your Pomona grabber, or leave it bare if you intend to simply solder it to IC pin #7 directly.

Your next step is to solder the wire attached to the ground pin of your 3-Pin fan plug to the center pin of the potentiometer. The ground wire is black, and is at the back of the plug. Make sure that the wire from the 3-pin fan plug is the black ground wire - the modification will not work if it isn't.

Next attach your Pomona grabber to pin #7 as shown in the above picture. If you aren't using a Pomona grabber, then solder directly to pin #7 with your bare wire end. Be careful if you solder it directly, and make sure you use fine solder, and a decent quality soldering iron. Be careful!

The soldering is all done now. Give yourself a pat on the back :)

Now use your hot glue gun to cover (smother them) the solder points, and the point of connection from your Pomona grabber if you used one. This will prevent your volt mod from falling off the board. Hot glue isn't conductive, and is totally safe - so go heavy with it.

Now use the hot glue gun to glue the Variable resistor somewhere discreet on the board. This will prevent it from 'dangling', and pulling the volt mod off of the board. It also makes it look cooler. :)

Now plug the 3-pin fan-plug attached to the center pin of your Variable Resistor into any available 3-pin power port on your motherboard.

The next step is extremely important. Turn the knob on your variable resistor, or turn the screw (if you have a trimmer style VR), so that it is dead in the center of the turn range. This will prevent you from supplying too much voltage to your processor when you first start up. Now is also a good time to clear your BIOS CMOS.

Start up your board, set the Vcore in the bios to the lowest setting, underclock your processor to 1000 MHz or lower, and boot into your OS. Check the Vcore voltage using Motherboard Moniter 5, and compare it to what it is set at in the BIOS. It should be slightly higher than it is set at in the BIOS. Congatulations! You successfully pulled off the volt mod!

Slowly turn the knob on your VR. Does the Vcore voltage go up or down? Set the VR so that the Vcore is overvolted at a comfortable level. Restart your computer, and resume overclocking! :)

Be sure to remember that your actual Vcore voltage will be higher than it is set at in the BIOS. Using Motherboard Moniter 5 to keep track of your voltage is a good idea, and has prevented many mishaps for me in the past. The overvolt level will depend on how far over you turned the knob on your variable resistor. Be careful! Too much voltage can permanently damage your processor!

I hope this quick guide was helpful. Thanks to Cow2ie for getting me to write it up :)

The picture, and method is from www.malvescorner.com - where the volt mod was originally posted. I got this procedure from another forum where several other users did this mod. I hope it works for all of you, and allows you some more overclocking headroom :)
 
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The VSENSE voltage modification, which tricks the board into allowing you to raise the Vcore voltage above 2.1 volts, follows exactly the same procedure as above.

There is only one difference, that being that you use Pin # 10 in the diagram, instead of Pin #7, as you did for the Vcore modification.

The VSENSE modification tricks the board into reading the voltage as lower than it actually is, fooling the board so that it doesn't cut you off at 2.1 volts.

It is a good idea to use a seperate fan header on the motherboard for each volt mod ground. A less attractive and less practical alternative to using fan headers as a ground, is using the motherboard mounting posts.

If you do these modifications using Pomona grabbers, it is quite easy, with little chance of a mess-up, or a damaged board.

Always double check, and then triple check, your connections before powering your board on, and always, always, *always* unplug the power cord from your PSU before doing any voltage modification work!
 
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question: should both vcore and vsense trimmers be set to the same resistance? are both vsense and vcore 50k pots? confusing - should the volt be changed while the power is on? could you post a pic of the mobo before you sodder to the fan header? (the gule is in the way).

another pic - high res:
P1150012.JPG


oh and how high were you able to up the core voltage to?

btw, awesome guide sticky this sucker

pamona grabbers @ radioshack: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&product_id=270-334
 
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question: should both vcore and vsense trimmers be set to the same resistance? are both vsense and vcore 50k pots? confusing - should the volt be changed while the power is on? could you post a pic of the mobo before you sodder to the fan header? (the gule is in the way).

another pic - high res:
http://www.angelfire.com/sk2/hwl/P1150012.JPG

oh and how high were you able to up the core voltage to?

btw, awesome guide sticky this sucker

pamona grabbers @ radioshack: http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...ct_id=270-334

Both modifications use 50K Ohm Variable resistors. You should slowly change the variable resistor's resistance when the machine is on, with Windows open, and MBM 5 open - in order to determine which way you turn your variable resistor in order to raise the voltage, and which way to turn it in order to lower the voltage.

Make sure that the VR's knob is set dead center, for a median resistance when you first start up. Also be sure to clear your BIOS CMOS after the modification and boot at stock voltages, so that you don't overvolt by an unsafe amount when you first turn the machine on.

By adjusting the VR's resistance with windows and MBM 5 open you can also read the Vcore voltage, and see how much of an overvolt you have set, so that you can choose your Vcore accordingly in the BIOS. If you set your volt mod's overvolt to 0.2V, a 1.5V selection in the BIOS will give you a 1.7V actual Vcore - this is why you need to be careful, and start up with stock voltages after doing the volt mod.

In the above picture, the fan header is not visible, and the fan plug was not used as per my guide's instructions. You aren't soldering directly to the fan header on the motherboard if you do it my way, you are instead plugging the fan plug you attached to your VR into the motherboard header. This is a far more practical grounding method for motherboard volt mods, and I prefer it because it is easily removeable, and aesthetically pleasing. If you actually use the motherboard fan headers for fans, you can ground through the board mounting posts instead, or even rig up a ground through your power supply.

The VSENSE mod is *required* to raise your Vcore over 2.1 volts. You lower the resistance of the 50K Ohm VR to trick the board into thinking that the Vcore is lower than it really is, so that the board won't cut you off.

So, you basically just see how high you can get your Vcore with the VSENSE resistance somewhere near the middle of the 50K Ohm VR, and then slowly lower the VSENSE modification resistance in order to go higher if you hit a "wall", and still are crazy enough to want more Vcore voltage ;).
 
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thanks, that really cleared up... well every question i had. ive seen other less-indepth guides and they confused me even more. i plan on doing this on my infinity when i get it soon. heh ill be one of those crazy kids who push 2.3v!

thanks man, keep up the good workz!
 
you had better get some good *** cooling for 2.3:eek:

I dont plan on needing anything more than 2.1 or 2.2 at the most
 
You're welcome :)

If you plan on running your Vcore up that high, you should have some hefty cooling going if you don't want to burn-out your chip.

Performance degradation might occur after long term exposure at such high voltages, and several people have found that their chip slowly needs more and more voltage to hold a stable speed, eventually needing an overvolt to even run at stock speed stably.

Thanks for the Pomona grabber link, I was looking for a place to buy a bunch more cheaply. They sure are useful :)
 
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Thanks for the Pomona grabber link, I was looking for a place to buy a bunch more cheaply. They sure are usefu
are these grabbers the tiny ones that can grab that chip wire without problems? some people have said the radio shack grabbers are a piece of ***, can anybody who has used them clear things up please????
 
Pomona grabbers are used to 'clamp' onto and form a connection with IC pins. Hot Glue on the connection is still a good idea however, as it lowers the risk of the grabber being bumped off of the IC pin. I just realized that the Radio Shack Grabbers are different then the ones I've got here, which say Pomona right on them (I don't know if Pomona is a brand name, or a specification, or what).

I can't order the ones from Radio Shack, as I'm in Canada. I don't know if they will work or not, but they should. The IC pins you're working with aren't too small, so the Radio Shack grabbers probably would work just fine.

I don't own a DFI Ultra Infinity, but I've used Pomona grabbers with NF7-Ss, and an ASUS A7N8X-Deluxe - they're idiot proof ;).
 
Another member here asked me to explain the process step-by-step. Once I'd written it all out, I figured that I may as well post it to share with everyone. :)
 
Thru the years with modding mobo's with grabbers, the pomona are great. The radio shack ones are trash. The pomona grabbers are like tweezers, when opened they have a small leg on each side of the ic wire an when cliped on or contracted the hold real good. The radio shack has just one leg an like a very small hook at the end an do not hold very well. Pomona grabbers are the best way to go for a non solder connection.
 
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