Will A7N8X Deluxe ver 1.03 Work With Barton 3200+?

[Dirk Gross]

I'm thinking of upgrading my cpu from the Thoroughbred B 2600+ (166 fsb) to
a Barton 3200+ (200 fsb). My A7N8X Deluxe is PCB 1.03. I'm already using
Corsair 3200 memory. According to Asus, the Barton 3200+ is supported from
PCB 1.04 up, so I'm not sure if that prevemts me from using it. The chart
also says my 2600+ (166) is also only compatible from 1.04 up, and I haven't
had any problems with it other than the occasional verbal message that my
system failed memory test, but starts up fine anyway! Any ideas or
experiences?

Dirk

 

[Doug Ramage]

I'm thinking of upgrading my cpu from the Thoroughbred B 2600+ (166 fsb) to
a Barton 3200+ (200 fsb). My A7N8X Deluxe is PCB 1.03. I'm already using
Corsair 3200 memory. According to Asus, the Barton 3200+ is supported from
PCB 1.04 up, so I'm not sure if that prevemts me from using it. The chart
also says my 2600+ (166) is also only compatible from 1.04 up, and I haven't
had any problems with it other than the occasional verbal message that my
system failed memory test, but starts up fine anyway! Any ideas or
experiences?

Dirk

Have you got the latest BIOS?

Mine is rev 1.04 (with the 1007 BIOS) and won't reach 200FSB with a Barton
2500-Mobile. If I had a Barton 3200 and 200FSB was still not attainable,
then I reckon I would have a case for RMAing the board.

 

[rstlne]

I'm thinking of upgrading my cpu from the Thoroughbred B 2600+ (166 fsb) to
a Barton 3200+ (200 fsb). My A7N8X Deluxe is PCB 1.03. I'm already using
Corsair 3200 memory. According to Asus, the Barton 3200+ is supported from
PCB 1.04 up, so I'm not sure if that prevemts me from using it. The chart
also says my 2600+ (166) is also only compatible from 1.04 up, and I haven't
had any problems with it other than the occasional verbal message that my
system failed memory test, but starts up fine anyway! Any ideas or
experiences?

Dirk

My first board was a 1.xx (I think 1.02 or 1.01, not sure sorry) and it
could hit the 200fsb mark..
Wondering if you can adjust the multiplier of your current chip.. if you can
then you could run it at 200 speeds!
I think the 2600+ is 11.5 * 166 so if you could knock that down to 11 and
run it @ 200 then you would have a 3200+..
Given how the 2500+'s will go up to a 220mhz fsb MAX for some people then I
would say (if your up for it and have good cooling) to try turning your fsb
up to that 200mhz mark (In steps mind ya) to see if the cpu can cope with
it. If ur chip goes to 200fsb AND the multi stays the same then it would be
faster than a 3200+

 

[Ben Pope]

I'm thinking of upgrading my cpu from the Thoroughbred B 2600+ (166 fsb)
to a Barton 3200+ (200 fsb).

I'd first have a go at overclocking your existing chip. A Tbred B will
often do 2.2GHz with the right cooling and voltage.

My A7N8X Deluxe is PCB 1.03.

Damn thats an old one

I'm already
using Corsair 3200 memory. According to Asus, the Barton 3200+ is
supported from PCB 1.04 up, so I'm not sure if that prevemts me from
using it. The chart also says my 2600+ (166) is also only compatible
from 1.04 up, and I haven't had any problems with it other than the
occasional verbal message that my system failed memory test, but starts
up fine anyway! Any ideas or experiences?

That message is VERY common. Working or not.

Your default multiplier is 12.5 - this is good, 'cos you can easily change
it down to maybe 10 (unless it's locked - not likely). Then you can slowly
up your FSB and see what you can do.

I would expect at least 180MHz FSB out of your motherboard, probably 190MHz.
One you have that working, you can try upping the multiplier (slowly) to
achieve around 2.2GHz.

Ben

 

[Dirk Gross]

Well, I changed my settings from the stock 12.5 @ 166 (2075) to 10.5 @ 200
(2100) just to see if it will take it, and it's working OK so far. I'll run
it this way for awhile and play some games to stress it a bit. Otherwise,
it seems to like 200 MHz. I'm not too interested in remaining overclocked.
I've trashed operating systems that way & I'm more interested in stability
now than seeing how far it will go before something breaks.

Dirk

 

[Dirk Gross]

Failure at 200 MHz. Video card (ATI 9700 Pro) gives GPU crashes until the
machine locks up solid. I guess no upgrade for this motherboard is in the
future. I was hoping to get a little more life out of it until the 64-bit
stuff got cheaper.

Dirk

 

[Doug Ramage]

Did you lock the AGP at 66Mhz?
--
Doug Ramage

Failure at 200 MHz. Video card (ATI 9700 Pro) gives GPU crashes until the
machine locks up solid. I guess no upgrade for this motherboard is in the
future. I was hoping to get a little more life out of it until the 64-bit
stuff got cheaper.

Dirk

 

[rstlne]

Failure at 200 MHz. Video card (ATI 9700 Pro) gives GPU crashes until the
machine locks up solid. I guess no upgrade for this motherboard is in the
future. I was hoping to get a little more life out of it until the 64-bit
stuff got cheaper.

Dirk

A reply to both of your previous post..
Firstly "Overclocking" will do no damage to the operating system.
Second is that this board WILL do 200mhz. The Video card IS NOT directly
tied to that setting.
This board (it's bios/firmware) allows you to set the videocard FSB DIRECTLY
itself.

As a guess i'll say that it's POSSIBLE your pushing your ram too far. Try
relaxing the ram settings and see if things will work better. If you get a
new motherboard JUST to get more speed and use the same componets you have
now then you are likely to see the same problems (as I feel it's not the
board, but rather the settings)

 

[Dirk Gross]

There's not much memory on the approved list. I imagine there are a lot
more that will work than what they bothered to test. And, when I bought it,
there was no such list. I'm using the latest bios, 1007. As Ben suggested,
I kept the fsb at 166 but set memory to 200 and ran Memtest86, which it
passed. If anything irks me, it's that the board was marketed as 200 MHz
capable on the ads, the box, and the manual, but now they say you need at
least version 1.04 to run 200 MHz. I can work around this, I'm going to
swap in my MSI Delta-L with NV2 Ultra 400 in place of my A7N8X Deluxe.

I don't hold a company responsible to support processors that haven't been
released yet, especially if they don't claim to. But this board was
marketed to run 200 MHz, I bought it for that purpose, and the official
documentation from Asus now says that early versions don't do it (at least
not reliably enough that they want to post it as such). I don't mean this
to be a rant against Asus. I've owned a lot of'em and will in the future.
But doggone it, if they say it runs 200 MHz fsb it ought to do it or it's a
defective design...

Dirk

 

[rstlne]

There's not much memory on the approved list. I imagine there are a lot
more that will work than what they bothered to test. And, when I bought it,
there was no such list. I'm using the latest bios, 1007. As Ben suggested,
I kept the fsb at 166 but set memory to 200 and ran Memtest86, which it
passed. If anything irks me, it's that the board was marketed as 200 MHz
capable on the ads, the box, and the manual, but now they say you need at
least version 1.04 to run 200 MHz. I can work around this, I'm going to
swap in my MSI Delta-L with NV2 Ultra 400 in place of my A7N8X Deluxe.

I don't hold a company responsible to support processors that haven't been
released yet, especially if they don't claim to. But this board was
marketed to run 200 MHz, I bought it for that purpose, and the official
documentation from Asus now says that early versions don't do it (at least
not reliably enough that they want to post it as such). I don't mean this
to be a rant against Asus. I've owned a lot of'em and will in the future.
But doggone it, if they say it runs 200 MHz fsb it ought to do it or it's a
defective design...

Dirk

Sorry dirk
please please please go look at the web page..

OverView-
"Starting from PCB version 2.0, The A7N8X Deluxe motherboard supports Front
Side Bus (FSB) 400. The users of PCB 1.06 or earlier version can update
their motherboard BIOS to get FSB 400 support. The PCB (Printed Circuit
Board) version is located beside the motherboard name printed on the
motherboard. . PCB 2.0 BIOS version or later are not compatible with PCB
1.06 or earlier BIOS versions. "

Specification-
"FSB 400* / 333 / 266 / 200 MHz
( * PCB 1.06 or earlier version need BIOS update )"

http://www.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N8X Deluxe

It is possible.. MAYBEE when your turning the multi down the system isnt
really seeing that (check with cpuid or even look at the raw numbers) and
that would mean that 200 x 11.5 (the 2600+ chip) could be pusing it a
little.

personally, I bought ram that was listed and I found that I have never had
any isue with overclocking with my 1.xx board or 2.xx board

 

[Doug Ramage]

it's

Sorry dirk
please please please go look at the web page..

OverView-
"Starting from PCB version 2.0, The A7N8X Deluxe motherboard supports Front
Side Bus (FSB) 400. The users of PCB 1.06 or earlier version can update
their motherboard BIOS to get FSB 400 support. The PCB (Printed Circuit
Board) version is located beside the motherboard name printed on the
motherboard. . PCB 2.0 BIOS version or later are not compatible with PCB
1.06 or earlier BIOS versions. "

Specification-
"FSB 400* / 333 / 266 / 200 MHz
( * PCB 1.06 or earlier version need BIOS update )"

http://www.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N8X Deluxe

It is possible.. MAYBEE when your turning the multi down the system isnt
really seeing that (check with cpuid or even look at the raw numbers) and
that would mean that 200 x 11.5 (the 2600+ chip) could be pusing it a
little.

personally, I bought ram that was listed and I found that I have never had
any isue with overclocking with my 1.xx board or 2.xx board

As already posted, my rev. 1.04 board (with latest 1007 BIOS) does not reach
200 FSB. I don't want to buy an XP3200 to find that it still does not reach
200FSB. But I would have cause to complain as the XP3200 is a 200FSB cpu.

I have bought a DFI LanParty which has, reputedly, better overclocking
capability.

 

[Dirk Gross]

Sorry dirk
please please please go look at the web page..

OverView-
"Starting from PCB version 2.0, The A7N8X Deluxe motherboard supports Front
Side Bus (FSB) 400. The users of PCB 1.06 or earlier version can update
their motherboard BIOS to get FSB 400 support. The PCB (Printed Circuit
Board) version is located beside the motherboard name printed on the
motherboard. . PCB 2.0 BIOS version or later are not compatible with PCB
1.06 or earlier BIOS versions. "

Specification-
"FSB 400* / 333 / 266 / 200 MHz
( * PCB 1.06 or earlier version need BIOS update )"

http://www.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N8X Deluxe

It is possible.. MAYBEE when your turning the multi down the system isnt
really seeing that (check with cpuid or even look at the raw numbers) and
that would mean that 200 x 11.5 (the 2600+ chip) could be pusing it a
little.

personally, I bought ram that was listed and I found that I have never had
any isue with overclocking with my 1.xx board or 2.xx board

Actually, I have been to the web site. That's where I found this:
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx
And this:
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/faq/qanda.aspx?KB_ID=84470
which both imply that ver. 1.03 and earlier don't qualify for 400 MHz cpu's.
Apparently they will only state for the record that 1.04 to 1.06 can be made
to work with bios updates. For all I know, mine will run a 400 MHz cpu.
The memory test seemed to work OK at 200 MHZ with a 166 fsb. My problems
might have been because I was overclocking the cpu (11x200 instead of the
normal 12.5x166). But since cpus can't be returned, I didn't want to drop
$200 on a Barton 3200 and find out it doesn't work. Anyway, I solved the
problem by swapping the A7N8X Deluxe into my kid's computer, and put their
MSI K7N2 Delta (w/NF2 Ultra 400) into mine. Now, it's set to run 400MHz for
certain. By the way, the MB swap went flawlessly. Windows XP booted right
up, rearranged it's drivers, rebooted, and back to normal. No reinstall or
even a need to slide in a driver disk. Sometimes your plans DO go off
without a hitch. Or, Murphy was asleep late this morning ;-)

Dirk