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Abit AW9D-Max Overclocking Thread

D

dekard

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 1, 2004
Messages
2,188
Edit: This is turning more into a worklog of my oc'ing results so that will will evidently become the new topic. :)

I'm starting this thread in the hopes of bringing together in one place everyone's tips one overclocking this board. I've recently upgraded to one and I'm finding its a completely stable board, in addition to being one of the nicest looking motherboards I've seen in a while.

Please post your results, we need fsb speeds, cpu and mch voltages, memory timings and which modules you are running and definately all the tweaks that made the difference for you. Also, if you have questions, please post them here and we'll work on getting them answered.

Here's a bit of Max overclocking information I thought I'd start with.

link to original post.

1) E6400 @ 3.2GHz (FSB 400 1:1), 1.375V VCore, MCH 1.76V, OCZ Plat or Corsair C4 4-4-4-15, VDim 2.1
It is Prime95 stable for several hours (more than 12, I had to stop the test due to the CPU change).
Super Pi 1M was around 17.5s, 0.6 seconds faster on the AW9D compared to the DQ6, all settings equal.

2) E6600 Week28 CPU - 3.4GHz (FSB 378 1:1) 1.375V VCore, MCH 1.65V, Corsair C4 4-4-4-15 (have to try also the Platinum). Running 2x Prime95 since 3 hours.
SuperPi 1M around 14.8s

This is really a sweet spot, because CPU VCore is rather low and so does the MCH. I think this is the 24/7 setup for me. Core temp shows 60-62C (Thermalright SI-128 and good case airflow), room temperature is 26C at the moment.

It is simply not possible to run above FSB400 stable, with both CPUs. For FSB400 the Max needs already 1.76 on the MCH. I tried using a low CPU multiplier to rule out the CPU limitations, but even so memtest fails the test 5 at just 5%. I tried MCH all the way to 1.90V, it helps to boot and start testing, but it never finishes memtest5: it freezes or corrupts the screen.
Click to expand...

Abit AW9D-Max MCH Voltmod to increase MCH voltage. Some users are reporting large drops in the actual voltage reaching the MCH and this may correct it. Please note the link is to a partially english and partially german page.
Click to expand...

Abit bios update page for the AW9D-Max


Here's a bit of information that I believe is new to these forums, the Max does in fact work inverted. I've got mine running in a v2000 case with all stock cooling at the moment and its working just fine at stock speeds. When overclocking the northbridge tends to get warm and I've got the gear to watercool it as soon as I've got some time. Still, you could use it inverted in the right circumstances with the heatpipe cooling.

My hope is to turn this into the definative page for Abit AW9-Max overclocking information.
 
I am running a e6300 pretty much out of the box with a rosewill z3 heatsink at 340 fsb with no issues and only a slight bump to the voltage on the ram ((2gb Gskill). Seems very stable. No high clock attempts on this one, just using a little extra speed to get the same performance (roughly) as the e6600. This is a really nice board. I wish I had built this one for my own. I may well do so in the near future.

I am looking forward to what happens with this board as the BIOS matures more and the features get unlocked. This thing has plenty of performance, and I think it will show more with time. The guys over at Exteme Overclocking have really been working hard to figure this board out.
 
I just bumped it to 1.85. It is rated to 2.0, so it is well within range of it's rated service. The ram I am using is F2-6400CL4D-2GB. I am of the understanding that it does not take well to being clocked up so you will want to stay around it's rated speed with these but YMMV.
 
I'm using OCZ Platinum ddr2 900 which can handle 2.1v... I'm running at less than 1.9 right now so its just idling. So far I'm stable at 2640 mhz and I'm just starting my oc's. Also, I've got a e6400 that was given to me so its a fairly low end processor. If I were buying something I'd wait for Kentsfield to come out. This is a good way to learn how to oc a c2d based proc. And I'm hoping for 3 ghz personally from this proc.

Once I get the water cooling on this processor I'll likely have much better results with my oc'ing though. Right now I'm on stock air with artic silver. I've got water cooling blocks for the processor and northbridge and an upgraded fan\heatsink combo for the southbridge.

I'm expecting good results from this setup, just have to take the time to get there.
 
I think you will get pretty far with that gear. I am just running a Rosewill z3 heatsink (I like it!) and did not even take the time to remove the chipset heatsinks and re-apply the thermal compound.

I am building a system rignt now that is peltier cooled and I have redone the chipset with AS5. It is on an Asus P5W64 WS pro, The factory pad they used on the morthbrige was only making contact on about 40% of the chip. Very sad indeed. I guess that is just the way it is. you pay $300 for a board, and they cannot even get the sinks set correctly.

I may buy an AW9D for my own system in the near future as I am really wanting to play with it more. It is quite a nice board. I just can't push a board I am going to sell. So the existing build is at it's max settings. I will be looking forward to watching where this goes.
 
Here's some update with the latest that I've learned. Most of this is cooling related, future posts will be more about oc'ing, but I knew I needed to get all the cooling straighened out before I went any farther.

First, the silent OTES system will work inverted. I was able to use this inverted and mildly overclock. I ran the system at 330 fsb and had no issues. The northbridge, southebridge and the cooler on the power all stayed at very low temperatures. This is with the stock intel cooler provided a bit of air flow and the motherboard set to automatically regulate the speed of the cpu cooler based on the cpu temps. Speeds on the cpu fan were typically in the neighborhood of 1500 rpm under load. Due to the fact I'm running Vista on this system I can't tell you the cpu temps since most of those utilities need to be updated for compatibility.

Second, I've replaced the silent OTES system partially. I have a watercooled system and had simply not taken the time yet to reinstall everything needed. Yesterday I replaced the northbridge cooling with a koolance unit. The standard mounting bracket worked perfectly and I'm completely satisfied with the results. Temps on this are wonderful. The motherboard doesn't have northbridge temp monitoring so I can't tell you what they are, but I'm running a triple 120mm rad at low speed. Its cool. :)

Third, I've replaced the southbridge cooler with a passive heatsink and its working out very well. The area gets a very small amount of cooling from nearby fans in my case and I've monitored it under load and it barely warms to the touch. This is with 2 instances of folding at home and a UT2K4 match going and overclocked to 330 fsb. I'll post pics of the unit I installed soon, but it was quite simple. In fact, its a northbridge cooler from an old intel p4 motherboard I had. I used some thermal tape I had to mount it since the location of the mounting tabs conflicted with a nearby capacitor.

Thats one issue I've had with both aftermarket coolers I tried. The space for a cooler to mount on the southbridge is rather limited on one side due to a nearby capacitor. I had to trim one to get it to fit and remount the other. All in all, I'd think the best way to mount it would be thermal tape since there's not really that much heat coming of the chip anyway.

Here's a link to the other cooler I tried. It worked great but was a bit to noisy for me. I want a silent pc and this just puts out a small amount of noise. Again, this worked just fine once I trimmed one of the mounting tabs. Cooling performance was perfect for the southbridge if a bit noisy for me. Most people would think its fine though, I'm a stickler about noise.

I'm wait for my socket 775 mounting bracket to arrive for my Koolance 10mm cpu cooler. Once it does I'll crank up the overclocks on the processor to find out its limits. I'll post here as I have more news to reports and also to show some pictures of the southbridge and northbridge. Also, the modified OTES cooler I'm using for the power rectifiers.
 
Here are 3 photos of the moptherboard installed. I took a couple of photos of the southbridge but they didn't come out well. Once the camera's batteries charge I'll snap one of it and edit this post.

Here's a photo of the entire motherboard installed. I used the flash you the lighting is pretty dim but you can still see what the board has and what I've added. A pretty clean install, if I say so myself. As you can see, I still need to wc the cpu but I don't yet have the bracket.

aw9d-max_wc_overview_flash.jpg


Here's a close up of the northbridge with the koolance cooler. Linkage of the koolance unit is a couple of posts up. I like this one and the mounting on it was super easy. also, it use 3\8 tubing so its nice and clean.

aw9d-max_wc_nb1.jpg


Finally, here's a night shot (not really, i just turned off the flash). The case can show off just a little bit. We like it!!

aw9d-max_wc_overview.jpg
 
Yes, I cut them right as they go into the voltage regulator's heatsink. Its fairly easy to do as I used a serrated knife. The metal is extremely soft so about the only thing to worry with is scratching the heatsink.

Despite what we may have heard, there is barely any liquid inside the heatpipes and certainly not enough to have to worry about it dripping onto anything important.
 
well, i'm happy to report that this board has excellent support for windows vista. I'm not seeing any issues at all and all the devices installed instantly.

the uGuru utility has not yet ben updated to support vista but that's not the boards fault.
 
Updated oc'ing results.

FSB: 380
vcore:1.45

3.04 ghz memtest and prime95 stable. I'm at 41-43c loaded with this watercooling setup. The board seems to hit a wall at 400 fsb though I'm not sure why. It may be related to the ram as that will not work at 1:1 ratio no matter what the fsb, ram voltage. I even tried my mch at 1.65 and no love there either. Off to google to find the answer!
 
alot of people on xtremesystems.org are hitting the 400FSB wall also. they say its a bios issue that limits it. there is also mention that Abit will release a new bios with a 1333 strap that might fix it and allow higher FSB.

i'm thinking about this board, the regular AW9D and also the MSI 975x plat. likely to pair one of them with a E6400. overclocking it and just want to hit 3ghz or higher, which should be easy.
 
I am pretty sure I am gonna go with the vanilla AW9D. I dont really need the few things the max has and will put the 50 bucks differance somewhere else. I plan on putting new NB/SB coolers on so I'm not so worried about the fancier heatsink either.
 
I've been able to post mine as high as 430 fsb and I hear the new beta bios 1.2 b02 raises this considerably. I've seen my setup as high as 3440 in memtest but it certainly wasn't stable for more than 30 seconds. I'm giving the new bios a shot and I'm hoping for the best.

My best stable oc with the 1.2 bios is 395 fsb or 3160 mhz. Certainly not bad at all from a chip that started at 2130 nhz but I think I've got more like 3.3 or 3.4 in it.

As always, I'll let you guys know how it goes.
 
Ok, here's a couple of shots of the koolance cpu block installed. I'm seeing great temps even overclocked... One thing I like a lot about the Koolance setup is they provide an all in one temp monitoring and fan control system. I typically run it at 5 - 6 on a day to day basis and only raise it to level 10 when I'm working on a high overclock. I'll give you temps for both.

ambient temps are 74f.

Fans at level 6 = 60% of rated power
e6400 @ 3040 mhz, 1.4v
Idle temp: 31c
Idle loop temp: 27c
Load temp: 38c
Load loop temp: 29c

Fans at level 100 = 100% of rated power
e6400 @ 3040 mhz, 1.4v
Idle temp: 29c
Idle loop temp: 26c
Load temp: 37c
Load loop temp: 28c

and here's the photos... The first one is the best since it lets you see what the board looks like with its lighting. No flash.

aw9d-max_wc_cpu.jpg


On this one I turned on the flash so you could get a better look inside. So you can see I've got a little cleanup I need to do on the wiring in the opper corner, but overall I've very pleased with the results.

aw9d-max_wc_overview2_flash.jpg
 
That case looks familiar. 2000 eh? I have a 1200 and have taped off a bit of the case vents to route air the way I want it. I think I will be replacing this setup with a Thermaltake Mozart in the near future, and will pass this on to the home server duties. I am looking forward to seeing what you can get from it with the new BIOS. I think there is still alot of potential in this board, it's just a matter of getting it sorted out.
 
hortus said:
That case looks familiar. 2000 eh? I have a 1200 and have taped off a bit of the case vents to route air the way I want it. I think I will be replacing this setup with a Thermaltake Mozart in the near future, and will pass this on to the home server duties. I am looking forward to seeing what you can get from it with the new BIOS. I think there is still alot of potential in this board, it's just a matter of getting it sorted out.
Click to expand...

thanks.. I really like the case... I plan to keep it for some time as it really has all it needs...
 
CPLB, i got the southbridge cooler from a old motherboard I had around. But most any vga \ chipset cooler will work as its standard mounting.
 
aiya said:
does the SB really get that hot to replace the HS?
Click to expand...

On this motherboard the SB is cooled by a very small hs and a heatpipe leading to a larger HS. When I pulled that system I needed to replace the small HS with something and grabbed the first decent HS I could find that would fit and match. It tends to run very cool with a minimal amount of airflow.
 
They are a bit hard to find. Newegg does carry them and is likely just out of stock right now. I walked in to a fry's and got mine there. It wasn't the cheapest price but I got the board.
 
I just got this yesterday, and will be building my rig this weekend. Before I install it in my mobo, though, is it necessary or particularly helpful to replace the thermal compound on the OTES heatsinks? How would I remove them, anyway? Sorry if this is a silly question, it's my first build in a long long time (since Pentium-100 days :eek: ).
 
Shiva said:
I just got this yesterday, and will be building my rig this weekend. Before I install it in my mobo, though, is it necessary or particularly helpful to replace the thermal compound on the OTES heatsinks? How would I remove them, anyway? Sorry if this is a silly question, it's my first build in a long long time (since Pentium-100 days :eek: ).
Click to expand...

I firmly believe there are no silly questions.

I recommend you change out the thermal pad if you intend to overclock above 400 mhz FSB, or you have particularly poor case ventilation. Otherwise the stock stuff is just fine.

you may want to check this link for some background on overclocking these processors and motherboards. http://www.overclockingwiki.org/index.php?title=Core_2_Duo

Anything else, just post back here.
 
Thanks, dekard :)

I highly doubt I'd be able to get my E6600 above 400FSB on a Zalman, so maybe I won't bother. But, just in case I ever wanted to, how would I remove the heatsinks on this particular board? They aren't screwed in, and instead have these little spring-loaded thingies I haven't yet figured out.
 
Shiva said:
Thanks, dekard :)

I highly doubt I'd be able to get my E6600 above 400FSB on a Zalman, so maybe I won't bother. But, just in case I ever wanted to, how would I remove the heatsinks on this particular board? They aren't screwed in, and instead have these little spring-loaded thingies I haven't yet figured out.
Click to expand...

You may be surprised. The 9500 is a nice cooler and the 6600 is an excellent chip. I bought one today that I'll be installing on my aw9d-max also.

You can remove the clips holding the heatsinks on the motherboard by turning it over and using a small pair of needle nose pliers to ***GENTLY*** squeeze the back side of said clip. A very slight squeeze is all thats needed. Then a little pressure on the back of the clip, pushing into the motherboard, should cause the clips to retract a bit. Then you can wriggle them off.

I can come up with a more technical description if you really need it, but i think you'll get the idea once you see the other end of the clip on the back of the motherboad.
 
Awesome, thanks again. May as well put my 12g tube of AS5 to some use. I imagine I'd need to remove the heatpipes first? I noticed they had some gunk on them too, maybe I'll want to clean it off and apply AS5 on them, too :D
 
Shiva said:
Awesome, thanks again. May as well put my 12g tube of AS5 to some use. I imagine I'd need to remove the heatpipes first? I noticed they had some gunk on them too, maybe I'll want to clean it off and apply AS5 on them, too :D
Click to expand...

as you probably already found out, the heatpipes are glued in place. your not cleaning those. :)

BTW, my 6600 overclocked to 380*9 = 3.420 ghz. working like a champ and completely stable.. i'm flashing to bios 1.3 beta and going to see if she's go any more in her.
 
looks like that bios did some good thing.. the ocz 1:1 bug is still there, but i was able to get it to 398 fsb without a lot of effort. My previous cap was 380, so this is a move in the right direction. I'm still tweaking but it looks like 3.6 ghz is in the bag... and that a stank fast machine.
 
I finally settled on 400 mhz fsb, resulting in 3,600 mhz on the processor. All in all, I'm happy with the upgrade and new bios. It was necessary to run the voltages a bit higher than I'm thrilled with, 1.575 to get it stable. But, under load its running in the mid 50's c, so that should be quite cool enough.
 
Heh, you were right about the heatpipes. I did make a fine mess on the MOSFETS, though. Not sure if AS5 would be that much more beneficial than the thermal pads on those, but can't hurt :D

Cognrats on the OC. 9x400 is my ultimate goal. Did you OC using the BIOS or uGuru?
 
Shiva said:
Heh, you were right about the heatpipes. I did make a fine mess on the MOSFETS, though. Not sure if AS5 would be that much more beneficial than the thermal pads on those, but can't hurt :D

Cognrats on the OC. 9x400 is my ultimate goal. Did you OC using the BIOS or uGuru?
Click to expand...

Haha! you made a mess... :) don't feel too bad, i pulled off those heatpipes at least 3 times before I finally modd'd anything. Just a nice complicated setup. You can see the photos of what I did above, but I replaced all the coolers except the mosfets one. But in my setup that gets a ton of air flow anyway so its doing just fine.

Bios... Window's Uguru isn't an overclocking tool at these levels. If you are the low end overclocks you can do it but for the hardcore stuff you need the bios.

One nice thing about the mosfets on this board is the temperature sensors you can see. There are 4 circuits and 4 temp sensors, thats the first time I've seen that on a motherboard.
 
I can run everything at 9x400 except orthos blend (it fails in 10seconds)



I stay at 9x375 right now till a newer bios comes out or something



my e6400 runs 8x400 no problems though

Im running the beta 1.3 bios and wierd things happen when I try to set 8x400 with my e6600 conroe:

e6600 8x400 set in uguru:


e6600 7x400 set in uguru:
 
Nettwerk said:
I can run everything at 9x400 except orthos blend (it fails in 10seconds)



my e6400 runs 8x400 no problems though

Im running the beta 1.3 bios and wierd things happen when I try to set 8x400 with my e6600 conroe:

e6600 8x400 set in uguru:


e6600 7x400 set in uguru:
Click to expand...

I'm looking for the 1.3 release version. This board just has potential written all over it, but its not there yet.
 
dekard said:
I'm looking for the 1.3 release version. This board just has potential written all over it, but its not there yet.
Click to expand...


Plus your uguru settings wont save after a motherboard powerloss. And its not the cmos battery or jumper in wrong setting.
 
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