Reply 20 of 33, by nd22
On my Abit AA8 - NOT AA8XE - just plain AA8 with Intel 925X chipset 2gb memory modules are NO GO. I can not even obtain an image on the screen, nothing! With 1gb memory modules it boots just fine and passes Memtest.
On my Abit AA8 - NOT AA8XE - just plain AA8 with Intel 925X chipset 2gb memory modules are NO GO. I can not even obtain an image on the screen, nothing! With 1gb memory modules it boots just fine and passes Memtest.
Last night i found this link: apparently someone did succeed in running a Cedar mill on Abit AA8XE - a motherboard with Intel 925XE chipset just fine:
https://hwbot.org/submission/2188606_mr_db_re … a8xe_274.34_mhz
I am happy to report that both Abit AA8 and AA8XE support Cedar mill! Both tested with Pentium 4 630 spec number SL8Q7 and afterwards changed to Pentium 4 631 spec number SL9KG and both pass memtest just fine! Temperatures are quite a bit lower too! Noise also went down because the cooler was no longer forced to take care of Prescott! The memory problem remains - only 1gb sticks are supported!
Now onto Abit GD8 pro to see if it can take Cedar mill!
I can report that Abit GD8 PRO supports Cedar mill but the temperatures are all wrong: in the BIOS and also in EVEREST 5.50 it only detects as 1 degree Celsius!
The memory problem is also present here: only 1gb modules are supported!
Another RAM problem observed during testing with boards based on nvidia chipsets: they are highly picky about the memory used!
1. Abit NI8 SLI does not like Kingston memory but works just fine with some HP branded modules
2. Abit IN9 32x MAX does NOT like HP RAM or Kingston but works just fine with OCZ SLI ready memory!
3. ABit AW8-MAX, IL9 PRO or any motherboard with an Intel chipset tested to date work just fine with any brand of RAM!
That's motherboard manufacturer specific quirks, not Nvidia.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
Probably so. New motherboard tested: Abit AB9 quadgt flashed with the latest BIOS- all processors supported including Q9650.
One thing I noted with most LGA775 boards: the chip-set - the north-bridge - is getting pretty hot when running 4 2gb memory modules, but stay cool when using only 2 memory modules. I think using 4 modules put additional strain on the memory controller which is found in the north-bridge.
Something I actually know a bit about.
On the search for the chipset for the broadest support for CPUs, RAM (type, size and clock) and GPUs (including SLI/Crossfire) I actually made a sheet with the generic capabilities.
It includes Intel, nVidia, SiS, VIA and ATi chipsets.
Not the best in terms of formatting, but it's good enough for me and should be self-explanatory.
Of course it doesn't say anything about what a given board supports, some don't have enough slots for reaching the memory limit (I got a 945P board that only allows for 3.73 GB for some odd reason), some are not officially supported (like how Intel on the 30 series officially doesn't support any Pentium 4, but the 200 MHz FSB models they generally tend to work, or how sometimes the manufacturer supports additional CPUs, and obviously it's only for the desktop chips, so no LGA771/775 Xeons)
(On a side note, just looking for boards in specific, I came across way over 100 boards from ASUS alone, and that is just one manufacturer out of a dozen)
What it does do:
What it doesn't:
On the left are chipsets sorted by manufacturer, then series, then model. At the top CPUs, then RAM (DDR/DDR2/DDR3) with maximum size then graphics for integrated, AGP, PCIe (for PCIe also number of slots, lanes and Multi GPU support).
P3 933EB @1035 (7x148) | CUSL2-C | GF3Ti200 | 256M PC133cl3 @148cl3 | 98SE & XP Pro SP3
X5460 @4.1 (9x456) | P35-DS3R | GTX660Ti | 8G DDR2-800cl5 @912cl6 | XP Pro SP3 & 7 SP1
3570K @4.4 GHz | Z77-D3H | GTX1060 | 16G DDR3-1600cl9 @2133cl12 | 7 SP1
What does the color coding in your chart mean? eg. I have a P45 board which I'm pretty sure I used with a Pentium D at some point, but you have that colored as orange or yellow depending on the model.
I'm about to start testing this Asus P5PE-VM with a X3220 CPU. The Bios has already been modded to accept the CPU and i've found a BIOS with overclocking options so am going to have a play.
Final update ( I think 😀 ) :
All motherboard updated to the latest BIOS - including any BETA BIOS if found - I used www.soggi.org resources , excellent website! Memory compatibility is very simple :
1. Intel 865pe/915p/925x/925xe can use only 1gb dimms.
2. Intel 945p/945GT can use 2gb dimms but the board will recognize up to 3.5gb of RAM.
3. intel 955x/p965/975x/p35/x38 nvidia nforce4/600 series can use 2gb dimms for a maximum of 8gb of RAM.
Processors used: Pentium 4 3.0ghz prescott; Pentium 4 3.0ghz cedar mill; Pentium 4 3.6ghz cedar mill; Pentium D 940; Pentium D 950; E2140; E2220; E6400; E6420; E8400 C0; E8400 E0; Q6600 G0; Q8400; Q9650. As a side note I have not tested any Pentium 4/D extreme edition CPU as I do not have one.
I made a little table to be easier to read:
I have just finished testing Abit Fatal1ty F-190HD with ATI radeon xpress 1250 chipset with various processors: all Pentium 4/D; Core 2 duo/quad FSB 1066 are supported out of the box. Core 2 duo FSB 1333 such as E8400 E0 are also supported. Core 2 quad FSB 1333 are NO GO.
Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI here (nForce 650). Been running C2Q 6600 happily, but refuses to run Xeon 5450 (with or without a BIOS mod) and even QX9650. Not sure if it is the board's fault or a faulty CPU. The latter wouldn't boot in a different mobo either.
It does run SLI at 8 + 8 lanes (configurable via a small board insert), and I remember tests around the time to have SLI performance on par with 680, at least running a pair of 8800's. Happily boots off PCI-E SSD and accepts 4x2Gb of OCZ SLI-ready RAM. For that matter, it worked just fine with other OCZ memory - Platinum, Titanium, etc. Never tried Kingston, however.
Seems great at mild overclocking, but I can't for the love of me push it beyond 1200 FSB. Maybe my particular board is simply unlucky, or something. That would also explain why it happily boots either Xeon or QX, but almost instantly produces errors as Windows tries to load. Same Windows (and pretty much the entire system) is rock stable on Q6600, WITH overclock to 1200. I've even tried downclocking QX to 1200 - same story. Anyway, for what it's worth...
My Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD is running Q9650 - original CPU not Xeon - without any problems! I should mention that I upgraded most of my boards to the latest BIOS - even if the latest is a Beta Bios!