New toy @ s754

[go_for]

Got myself a new toy for my s754 CPUs. Came across this Biostar NF61S Micro 754 Ver. 6.0
The board is brand new, although mfd. in April 2007

Had a look at the BIOS earlier, seem there are few items hidden, but awdbedit is not able to display cleartext, so I can not modify it.
Something to do with how they put the BIOS together, need another tool for it. Someone here that knows?

Well, have not posted the board yet, lest hope it is not a dud. Going to have a go at it this w/e.

Some claim fairly good OC with this board. Also newegg had this board back in the day, check its reviews

It is not a Tforce6100, but it could be close, if there is way to open items in BIOS.

[Stone_age]

Use the latest version of Modbin if you just want to check for hidden items. As a safety precaution after using modbin, Open up the file with CBrom which will fix the chksum.

You may want to wander over to the rebels haven, ad download his bios modding PDF. It's a little hard to follow, and for some reason he uses his hex editor in 20bit mode (bios files are written in 16bit) which makes the offsets hard to follow. I'm surprised TicTac or the other guru's never mentioned that.

[go_for]

Great info, thanks SA!
So I can unhide stuff and save with Modbin?
I hooked up the board as a cardboard build with the 3100+ and 2x512MB DDR400, booted a couple of Linux live CDs as a test, using onboard VGA. phew, it works (so far)

The board came with an old BIOS, I'll see to that later.

1h memtest 5&7 passed OK.

took it up to 2703MHz for a short while with a +10% increase in vcore.

[Stone_age]

Yes, you can unhide stuff with Modbin and move stuff around. You may be able to unhide the 183 divider, some memory settings, etc. you can also rename stuff. Play with it for awhile, and always double check your work before you flash it.

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Just some screenshot. Note the HT link. The BIOS setting does not appear to take. The POST screen shows 4X, BIOS setting is 3X, while CPU-Z says 4X. hmm, maybe a newer BIOS has a fix.

EDIT:

ah well, this board/CPU combo has no problem posting and memtesting at 9x300MHz, 3x HT (but HT setting does not work).
Currently using Corsair 1GB at 450Mhz DDR /1T.


It hits a wall at 275MHz HT, will not pass Mersenne Prime test above that. Max vcore 1.52V(default vcore 1.37V).

Think I will try the wire in socket mod first to get the vcore up a bit.
The location of wires is more difficult than in s939, soo..

For curiosity put the KillaWatt to measure power consumption. At 2700MHz :
-full load : 95-100W
-idle: 45W

At 2500MHz :

-2D desktop : 60W

The above without CnQ, using onboard VGA.
The ethernet conn. seem to contribute some 3-5W in this.

[Stone_age]

I can't remember if it does for sure, but I think A64 tweaker allows adjusting HT through windows.

[go_for]

@ Zila, they have put your photo on the box cover...is not this a small world

-- Mar 6th, '10, 16:56 --

A64tweaker did not show an option for HT. Since I am on 64bit OS, A64Info and Clockgen did not work, tried comp. mode but no go.

[OptyTrooper]

nTune allows for HT multi adjustment.

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thanks Opty, I did not come to think of ntune with this. I will give it a go.

EDIT: tried Ntune, the HT multi option is there, but it has no effect, it says setting failed and remains at 4X.

Also updated the BIOS, but did not help.

So now the board is "stuck" at 275MHz top, HT link @ 1100MHz .