Starting the A7N8X-E with a Barton 2600 Mobile - Advice needed

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Peregrin

Hi all,

I'm about to turn on my new machine, which will be my first try with a
Mobile Athlon in a Desktop MOBO. Is there a chance I may fry the CPU
before I can get in the bios to adjust the Vcore? The Vcore in the BIOS is
set initially to AUTO. What is that going to be, with a mobile CPU? And
will the CPU be recognized correctly? If not, what is likely to happen?

Is there anything I should/can do before I turn on the box, or just go
ahead and boot, and cross my toes while I use my fingers to get in the
bios and set the Vcore to say 1.5V, as fast as I can?

And can I rely on the onboard indicated CPU voltage and temp., until I'll
have installed WinXP and then MBMON?

Thanks very much for any and all advice
 
Peregrin said:
Hi all,

I'm about to turn on my new machine, which will be my first try with a
Mobile Athlon in a Desktop MOBO. Is there a chance I may fry the CPU
before I can get in the bios to adjust the Vcore? The Vcore in the BIOS is
set initially to AUTO. What is that going to be, with a mobile CPU? And
will the CPU be recognized correctly? If not, what is likely to happen?

Is there anything I should/can do before I turn on the box, or just go
ahead and boot, and cross my toes while I use my fingers to get in the
bios and set the Vcore to say 1.5V, as fast as I can?

And can I rely on the onboard indicated CPU voltage and temp., until I'll
have installed WinXP and then MBMON?

Thanks very much for any and all advice
Click to expand...
Mine started at 1.575. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I've
given my 2600XP-M more voltage, but it doesn't seem to like too
much.

Start here - "Code to CORE Voltage Definition"

http://fab51.com/cpu/barton/athlon-e23.html

I think my part number had "FQQ" as part of the string of
characters, and the voltage is coded as "1.575/1.450(Q)".
(The HSF is still on it right now, so I cannot verify the
model number for you.) What that means is, the Mobile VID
pins are set to 1.45V if plugged into a Mobile ready
motherboard, but when plugged into the A7N8X-E, the voltage
shows up as 1.575 nominal. The actual Vcore circuit always
overvolts by a tiny amount, so the live reading in the Power
Monitor will probably be 1.6V or so.

In terms of voltage, there is VCC_CORE_Nom and VCC_Core_max.
In this case VCC_CORE_Nom is 1.45 for the Q part, and
VCC_Core_Max is 0.05V more. On top of that, you are allowed
an extra 0.5V, to get to Absolute_Max. So, for the model 10
Barton datasheet I have on the screen here, your maximum overvolt
would be 1.45V+0.05V+0.50V = 2.0V. The fact that the actual
motherboard gives the processor 1.6V when it starts up, is
a non-issue. When I say 2.0V, that is the voltage at which the
processor is damaged, so don't actually go there. I find that
before you even get close to 2.0V, you'll probably find the
extra voltage is counterproductive. So far, I think 1.65 was
pretty good, and 1.7 was OK, and you might not need more than
that (it just makes it run hotter). My typical delta_T from
CPU to case is about 13C-14C, using a Zalman 7000A AlCu running
at full speed. The motherboard draws 15A from +5V when benching
and 10A from +5V when idle (under overclocked conditions). The
idle current is cut in half when running at 800MHz, and idling
at 800MHz, the delta_T can be as little as 3C.

I think the temps are realistic, as nothing on the motherboard
gets that hot.

My biggest problem so far has been RAM, and I've discovered my
cheap RAM is Memtest86 good but Prime95 bad. Assuming your RAM
is good, I think you'll enjoy this combo. Run Prime95 over night
to be absolutely sure everything is working right - Memtest86
is not enough, as I've just learned. Memtest86 is still valuable
for stuck bits, but I think Prime95 may be slightly better at
finding other problems.

HTH,
Paul
 
Paul said:
Mine started at 1.575. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I've
given my 2600XP-M more voltage, but it doesn't seem to like too
much.

Start here - "Code to CORE Voltage Definition"

http://fab51.com/cpu/barton/athlon-e23.html

I think my part number had "FQQ" as part of the string of
characters, and the voltage is coded as "1.575/1.450(Q)".
(The HSF is still on it right now, so I cannot verify the
model number for you.) What that means is, the Mobile VID
pins are set to 1.45V if plugged into a Mobile ready
motherboard, but when plugged into the A7N8X-E, the voltage
shows up as 1.575 nominal. The actual Vcore circuit always
overvolts by a tiny amount, so the live reading in the Power
Monitor will probably be 1.6V or so.

In terms of voltage, there is VCC_CORE_Nom and VCC_Core_max.
In this case VCC_CORE_Nom is 1.45 for the Q part, and
VCC_Core_Max is 0.05V more. On top of that, you are allowed
an extra 0.5V, to get to Absolute_Max. So, for the model 10
Barton datasheet I have on the screen here, your maximum overvolt
would be 1.45V+0.05V+0.50V = 2.0V. The fact that the actual
motherboard gives the processor 1.6V when it starts up, is
a non-issue. When I say 2.0V, that is the voltage at which the
processor is damaged, so don't actually go there. I find that
before you even get close to 2.0V, you'll probably find the
extra voltage is counterproductive. So far, I think 1.65 was
pretty good, and 1.7 was OK, and you might not need more than
that (it just makes it run hotter). My typical delta_T from
CPU to case is about 13C-14C, using a Zalman 7000A AlCu running
at full speed. The motherboard draws 15A from +5V when benching
and 10A from +5V when idle (under overclocked conditions). The
idle current is cut in half when running at 800MHz, and idling
at 800MHz, the delta_T can be as little as 3C.

I think the temps are realistic, as nothing on the motherboard
gets that hot.

My biggest problem so far has been RAM, and I've discovered my
cheap RAM is Memtest86 good but Prime95 bad. Assuming your RAM
is good, I think you'll enjoy this combo. Run Prime95 over night
to be absolutely sure everything is working right - Memtest86
is not enough, as I've just learned. Memtest86 is still valuable
for stuck bits, but I think Prime95 may be slightly better at
finding other problems.

HTH,
Paul
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be running any AMD at 2.0 volts without onions!
 
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