Anyone tried nVidia System Utility or nTune on A7N8X-VM or VM/400?

[bkaral1]

Hi all:

I'd like very much to run mobile Athlons on the A7N8X-VM/400 board I
have here.

However, as many of you know, there are no clock/timing settings to
speak of in the BIOS setup utility. Because a mobile Athlon has no
lock on clock settings, if it is inserted into this board, it will
default to something ridiculously low, like for example, 600 MHz.

After researching various methods of adjusting clock/timing settings
fo this board, I came up with only a couple which seemed safe.

My first choice would be to try running NVSU-the nVidia System Utility
or nTune (newer, renamed version) on the board.

Has anyone tried running either of these on the A7N8X-VM or VM/400?
Obviously it has some downsides.

Alternatively, has anyone tried using an Upgradeware XP-TMC socket
adapter to change the multiplier setting?

Thanks in advance.

Brad

 

[Paul]

Hi all:

I'd like very much to run mobile Athlons on the A7N8X-VM/400 board I
have here.

However, as many of you know, there are no clock/timing settings to
speak of in the BIOS setup utility. Because a mobile Athlon has no
lock on clock settings, if it is inserted into this board, it will
default to something ridiculously low, like for example, 600 MHz.

After researching various methods of adjusting clock/timing settings
fo this board, I came up with only a couple which seemed safe.

My first choice would be to try running NVSU-the nVidia System Utility
or nTune (newer, renamed version) on the board.

Has anyone tried running either of these on the A7N8X-VM or VM/400?
Obviously it has some downsides.

Alternatively, has anyone tried using an Upgradeware XP-TMC socket
adapter to change the multiplier setting?

Thanks in advance.

Brad

Poking around this directory, I see the NVSU utility:

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/nf2/

When you unzip NvidiaSU_v09.zip , the nvsysvals.ini contains:

"[A7N8X-E ]
cpu_min = 1.750
cpu_max = 1.850
cpu_increment_step=0.025
agp_min = 1.5
agp_max = 1.7
agp_increment_step=0.1
core_min = 1.5
core_max = 1.7
core_increment_step=0.1
mem_min = 2.6
mem_max = 2.8
mem_increment_step=0.1
aux_min = 1.6
aux_max = 1.7
aux_increment_step=0.1"

That, at least, suggests SU must have glue in the code for
each kind of motherboard being used, and if the multiplier
bits don't have GPIO pins tied to them, then it would not
be possible to use a SU like utility to do the job.

If you want this bad enough, consider modding the bottom of
the socket. The FSB pins, VID pins, and the multiplier pins
are documented on the net, and you could use defroster paint
or a similar conductive paint, to make connections. I looked
at soldering to the bottom of my motherboard, and the
through-hole sockets now being used, have hardly any lead
length on the pins. If the pins were full length, it would be
a piece of cake to wind shorting wires onto the pins, and make
the connections that way. Since a socket is sensitive to
soldering heat (you can melt and deform the plastic), I decided
not to take a chance with soldering to them. The conductive paint
remains as an alternative.

This page gives hints on how to adjust stuff:
http://www.ocinside.de/go_e.html?/html/workshop/pinmod/amd_pinmod.html

This tells you what some of the adjustments can do:
http://fab51.com/cpu/barton/athlon-e23.html

You can crosscheck the info with page 66 of a Barton datasheet:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/26237.PDF

How do you plan on handling the issues with memory ? Are you
going to run the FSB at 166MHz or 200MHz. The memory is only
supposed to run to PC2700 rates, due to some kind of limit with
the memory clock and operation of the built-in video. If the
BIOS has no useful adjustment for the memory clock, then
maybe you'll need a hacked BIOS or something ? Check on
nforcershq.com, to see if anyone has a hacked BIOS. Are
you using a separate video card ? That is supposed to allow
the hardware to use a DDR400 memory rate, if you can figure out
a way of getting the memory clock set to 200MHz.

I'd sooner pick up a A7N8X-E, a cheap video card, and do all of
this from the BIOS.

HTH,
Paul

 

[bkaral1]

Paul:

Thanks. Valuable input that was. You're definitely ahead of me in this
particular area of knowledge.

I will certainly give the NVSU utility a try when I finally get a CPU
to try with the board. I've noticed some code for Linux- cpufreq-
that is supposed to be able to change FSB settings from within Linux.
I may try to run that if I get the chance.

As things stand, I'm not really comfortable with changing the board
itself, so I think other than the NVSU, I'll also try the Upgradeware
socket-I've come across one at a great price. That requires no changes
to the board and since I'm not going to use aggressive timings, it
should not void the warranty either.

I wish I knew why Asus decided to remove all timing settings from the
BIOS of this board. If they hadn't, it would be the perfect HTPC
board.

Let me know if you find out more about this issue-and I'll do the
same.

Brad

Hi all:

I'd like very much to run mobile Athlons on the A7N8X-VM/400 board I
have here.

However, as many of you know, there are no clock/timing settings to
speak of in the BIOS setup utility. Because a mobile Athlon has no
lock on clock settings, if it is inserted into this board, it will
default to something ridiculously low, like for example, 600 MHz.

After researching various methods of adjusting clock/timing settings
fo this board, I came up with only a couple which seemed safe.

My first choice would be to try running NVSU-the nVidia System Utility
or nTune (newer, renamed version) on the board.

Has anyone tried running either of these on the A7N8X-VM or VM/400?
Obviously it has some downsides.

Alternatively, has anyone tried using an Upgradeware XP-TMC socket
adapter to change the multiplier setting?

Thanks in advance.

Brad

Poking around this directory, I see the NVSU utility:

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/nf2/

When you unzip NvidiaSU_v09.zip , the nvsysvals.ini contains:

"[A7N8X-E ]
cpu_min = 1.750
cpu_max = 1.850
cpu_increment_step=0.025
agp_min = 1.5
agp_max = 1.7
agp_increment_step=0.1
core_min = 1.5
core_max = 1.7
core_increment_step=0.1
mem_min = 2.6
mem_max = 2.8
mem_increment_step=0.1
aux_min = 1.6
aux_max = 1.7
aux_increment_step=0.1"

That, at least, suggests SU must have glue in the code for
each kind of motherboard being used, and if the multiplier
bits don't have GPIO pins tied to them, then it would not
be possible to use a SU like utility to do the job.

If you want this bad enough, consider modding the bottom of
the socket. The FSB pins, VID pins, and the multiplier pins
are documented on the net, and you could use defroster paint
or a similar conductive paint, to make connections. I looked
at soldering to the bottom of my motherboard, and the
through-hole sockets now being used, have hardly any lead
length on the pins. If the pins were full length, it would be
a piece of cake to wind shorting wires onto the pins, and make
the connections that way. Since a socket is sensitive to
soldering heat (you can melt and deform the plastic), I decided
not to take a chance with soldering to them. The conductive paint
remains as an alternative.

This page gives hints on how to adjust stuff:
http://www.ocinside.de/go_e.html?/html/workshop/pinmod/amd_pinmod.html

This tells you what some of the adjustments can do:
http://fab51.com/cpu/barton/athlon-e23.html

You can crosscheck the info with page 66 of a Barton datasheet:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/26237.PDF

How do you plan on handling the issues with memory ? Are you
going to run the FSB at 166MHz or 200MHz. The memory is only
supposed to run to PC2700 rates, due to some kind of limit with
the memory clock and operation of the built-in video. If the
BIOS has no useful adjustment for the memory clock, then
maybe you'll need a hacked BIOS or something ? Check on
nforcershq.com, to see if anyone has a hacked BIOS. Are
you using a separate video card ? That is supposed to allow
the hardware to use a DDR400 memory rate, if you can figure out
a way of getting the memory clock set to 200MHz.

I'd sooner pick up a A7N8X-E, a cheap video card, and do all of
this from the BIOS.

HTH,
Paul