shevalier wrote on 2023-07-09, 12:04:

My previous CUBX-L ran 1 GB of RAM at 133 MHz. Which is now - not, moreover, the memory is the same. Only 124MHz. Why play prob […]
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My previous CUBX-L ran 1 GB of RAM at 133 MHz. Which is now - not, moreover, the memory is the same. Only 124MHz.
Why play probabilities when ABit AB-BX6 2.0 already has soldered buffers?

My BX6r2 can't run 133MHz FSB, even if I just stick one stick of RAM in it. I recapped it and it didn't make a difference. I have a theory that it needs to have a hardware mod to bump vio, but I'm not going to mess with it.

One thing everyone needs to be aware of with this board is the location of the ATX connector which is the absolute worst. You'll have a power cable right in front of your rear case fan. If you want to use a modern PSU, forget about it because the extra pins will block your AGP slot. Also, one of the 3-pin fan connectors is right up against the power connector. I can't express in words just how bad the location of that connector is.

smtkr wrote on 2023-07-10, 02:41:

I recapped it and it didn't make a difference. I have a theory that it needs to have a hardware mod to bump vio, but I'm not going to mess with it.

What else does this motherboard need?
But, still 124MHz....
Against this

The actual heatsink on the northbridge should be helpful, those green things may as well not be there.

smtkr wrote on 2023-07-10, 02:41:

One thing everyone needs to be aware of with this board is the location of the ATX connector which is the absolute worst. You'll have a power cable right in front of your rear case fan. If you want to use a modern PSU, forget about it because the extra pins will block your AGP slot. Also, one of the 3-pin fan connectors is right up against the power connector. I can't express in words just how bad the location of that connector is.

Whenever there's serious space problems around the rear fan area, you can mount it externally, screw it to the other side of the hole. Put a chrome wire grille on the outside to protect it.

Wider ATX connectors, there's two solutions, an adapter cable is available with the older plug. Or you can just pop out the contacts of the extra pins, tape them up in the harness somewhere, or cut them off nearer the PSU if you're sure you'll never need them, then trim the plug down with a sharp knife or cutters.

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-07-10, 12:34:

The actual heatsink on the northbridge should be helpful, those green things may as well not be there.

Since I'm using the BX6r2 as my daily [vintage] driver, I swapped in a much better heatsink (Replacement Northbridge cooler for Abit BX6r2) and I also put some heatsinks on the power MOSFETs (which were pretty warm when running 30W CPUs).

Some time in the next 10 years, if I'm still into this hobby, I'm going to figure out the resistor programming on the VIO circuit and bump up the voltage and see if that can push me to 133MHz FSB on this. The BX6r2 runs exactly at spec. I've noticed that my P3B-F (which can easily go above 133MHz FSB) runs VIO above spec and has the ability to push even higher with a board jumper.

stamasd wrote on 2015-08-25, 11:45:

brontozaur wrote:

Out of those listed, P3B-F. However, if you want the best BX of all times - it is def ABIT, BF-6 or BX-133. They let you go by 1 MHz and are stable as hell. Used to be the top choice among connoisseurs

I had/still have a Abit BH-6. Used it with my Celeron300A overclocked to 450, well into the PIII era. Wish current motherboards were as brilliant as that one. Actually, wish Abit still made motherboards. They were the best manufacturer. Asus were decent back then, but have gone down the drain recently.

Technically, the company that bought out Abit during the 775 era still lives to this day, apparently, and they started making mobos again. Look up the AB-B760ITX.

A welcome surprise in my opinion. Even if the old ABIT is long gone due to the capacitor lawsuit (they got the worst hit out of the bunch of mobo makers that got bit by it - MSI took the least of the hit).

smtkr wrote on 2023-07-11, 00:51:

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-07-10, 12:34:

The actual heatsink on the northbridge should be helpful, those green things may as well not be there.

Since I'm using the BX6r2 as my daily [vintage] driver, I swapped in a much better heatsink (Replacement Northbridge cooler for Abit BX6r2) and I also put some heatsinks on the power MOSFETs (which were pretty warm when running 30W CPUs).

Some time in the next 10 years, if I'm still into this hobby, I'm going to figure out the resistor programming on the VIO circuit and bump up the voltage and see if that can push me to 133MHz FSB on this. The BX6r2 runs exactly at spec. I've noticed that my P3B-F (which can easily go above 133MHz FSB) runs VIO above spec and has the ability to push even higher with a board jumper.

I don't know much about power delivery but I found a site where the guy replaced the mosfets on the BX6r2.

http://alasir.com/software/ramspeed/logfiles/ … mine-440bx.html

I have this board and back in the day I had one or two of ABIT boards and what I can remember is they had awesome engineering of their boards but very lack luster components on them. It's like they spent all their money on design then super cheaped out on components.

Grem Five wrote on 2023-07-11, 14:25:

I don't know much about power delivery but I found a site where the guy replaced the mosfets on the BX6r2.

http://alasir.com/software/ramspeed/logfiles/ … mine-440bx.html

I would say they went the wrong way.

For 133MHz RAM, you either need to raise the voltage on the memory and chipset somewhere up to 3.4-3.5V.
If the motherboard allows, you do this. If not, then look for a power supply with an overvoltage 3.3V bus.
Additional capacitors near the memory slots have a good effect of stability.
For ASUS, it is necessary to replace the D1802 with a mosfet in the Vtt power supply.
Have several kilograms of SDRAM PC133. Because on 440BX you will have to pick it up. Moreover, not only the RAM sticks itself, but their combination at slots.
And lots of luck.

PS. RAM consumes about 30-40 watts.
0.5W * 8x2 * 4
More than a video card)))
3.3V Vio module is having a hard time

What if I told you that PC133 may not be what you want? "PC150" unofficial? Nah. ... PC100 made in the few months before PC133 was official, 128Mbit memory fabs were at the top of their game, 8ns on those means 8ns and a lot better, very elastic top to that bin. Granted it will top out at around 140 usually, but it's doing 133 nice and stable on most BX. After that, some of the best got relabelled 7ns, some of the next best the marginal 7.5ns... yeah don't use 7.5 ns, it's very edge case. Most of that is 256Mbit anyway which does not refresh reliably and will bluescreen you a lot. Anyway, you'll sometimes see modules labelled PC100, the best official JEDEC standard at time of manufacture, with another "133" sticker on, meaning tested at 133. When PC133 came out it solved everyone's problems though right? Well it was good for a few months for BX... then that 7.5ns nonsense started, and higher density stuff that was fine on i815/Socket A etc came out and made finding good BX RAM difficult.

Power = heat... nice little oven some of these boards make with a slot 1 cooler making a heater/roof over the 40W of RAM... some stuff won't even run at spec like that, it's getting up to 80C + in there sometimes, you want an end on fan, and take care with CPU HSF choice. ... also the converse is true, if you keep your RAM cooler than normal you can make it work better. This was on a KT133 board, but I had a stick that would only do 124 (well it might have done 127 for all I know, but my next one up was 133.) then I stuck heatsinks on it, and got it to 140.

It might not be necessary to overvolt RAM per se, you will find that a lot of PSU droop to 3.2V under load, getting that back to 3.3 may help.