Abit KT7A-RAID + Athlon XP 2400?

[afgncaap]

OK, so this may be a dumb question, but I'm having a heck of a time finding an answer to this:

I have an Abit KT7A-RAID, Rev 1.3, that is currently running a Duron 800 and 256 MB of PC133. I upgraded a newer computer, leaving me with a spare Athlon XP 2400 and 512 MB of PC2100. Is it possible for the old KT7A to run the Athlon XP 2400? If so, would it need the speedier RAM?

I've checked on <A HREF="http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/bios/bios_revision.php?categories=1&model=126" target="_new">Abit's website</A> and they have a bios revision that claims to support up to Athlon 2000 (TB), but I was hoping that it may work with the 2400. If this involves underclocking the 2400, that's ok, because I really only use that computer for web, office, and minor things with Adobe Illustrator. It'd be nice if I don't have to shell out an extra $50+ to make use of my spare processor!

 

[tweebel]

If the mainboard is able to supply the voltage for the CPU you should be ablo to get it to work at 2000+ speeds. I think Crashman has something to say about this though.


You won't need different RAM, the board only supports SDRAM up to 133 MHz, you might be able to get a slight overclock out of that RAM.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by tweebel on 02/09/05 11:51 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[dannyaa]

I would like to know about this as well. I am running an old Abit KT7A-Raid mobo with a 1.2ghz Tbird Athlon processor and 512mb pc133 RAM. With an updated BIOS, what is best/fastest chip I could put in here? Sempron? XP? MP? Or just a plain old Athlon?

Also, the Athlon XP 2000+ is running at 1.67ghz. Is this the highest I can go? Is it worth the $65 upgrade price? With my current RAM, and a Radeon 9700 Pro 128mb, how would that system fair for gaming on todays games?

Thanks all...


P4c 3.2Ghz @ 800MHz Northwood / ABIT AI7 / 1GB Corsair XMS-Pro CL2 Pc3200 / 160GB Seagate SATA 7200rpm 8mb cache / BFG-Tech Nvidia GeForce 6800GT 256mb / Antec Sonata case w/Antec TruePower 380W PSU

 

[tweebel]

I think it is quite an expensive upgrade for the performance gain you get. Of course, the XP supports the SSE instruction set but the clockspeed is not that much higher.
Also, your system performance would be greatly limited by the memory interface. Even the 400 MHz FSB holds back the XP 3200+ and you would be stuck with a 266 FSB and 133 mem.
Looks like Abit discontinued support for their mainboard so it is very well possible that faster thoroughbreds work (though there is aan a and a b version, don't know if it also supports the new version (sempron, thoroughbred B)).
Maybe you can get a bit of an overclock out of the CPU and GPU. If you're lucky you have the pencil unlockable version of the Tbird which allows you to unlock the multiplier. If you can, just unlock it, buy a nice athlon xp 3200+ cooler for $ 10, arctic silver and see what it will do.

 

[dannyaa]

I do have the pencil unlockable version, I unlocked it the day I bought it to clock up the FSB to 133 if I remember right. So you think I should be able to safetly overclock the Tbird instead of getting a different CPU and achieve the same performance I would have gotten? Right now the CPU runs at 50 deg. celsius while idling.

Also, seperate question, it could go in the graphics forum but I'll just ask it here: How would a 9700pro 128mb do in this system at 1.2ghz? Would it be completely bottlenecked, or would I be able to use the card to its fullest? How would that change by changing the processor or overclocking?


P4c 3.2Ghz @ 800MHz Northwood / ABIT AI7 / 1GB Corsair XMS-Pro CL2 Pc3200 / 160GB Seagate SATA 7200rpm 8mb cache / BFG-Tech Nvidia GeForce 6800GT 256mb / Antec Sonata case w/Antec TruePower 380W PSU

 

[tweebel]

50 idling is a bit high, that's why I said get a 3200+ version, should make your temps drop with 5 degrees, which should allow you a higher overclock. The performance will roughly be the same as an XP/sempron at the same clockspeed on the same mainboard (but the newer once are of course faster because of SSE in some applications). I think you should be able to do about 1,4 GHz, but you'll never know if it will. Thats about 1800+ performance and it'll cost you only a cooler and maybe a casefan.

I think the limit for the Radeon 9700 pro is about Athlon 3200+/ P4 2.8 GHz, but it of course depends on the game. Modern games with complex physics demand a lot from the CPU but something like UT 2003 should do very well on that system.

 

[skligmund]

This is indeed possible, and it may even boot right up as is! If not, go here:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=658632#658632

Also, do searches in motherboard archives, and look in overclocking motherboards too. We are looking for posts about 2 or 3 years old, so make sure you select the 'all posts' selection in the search.

Or look up this guy, he helped me a lot: phsstpok

If you need any more help, just ask, I'll try to remeber my antics with my T-Bred A and my KT7E (basicly the same thing).

I too once had money, then I got into computers...
<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6607283" target="_new"> 3DMark </A>
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=24383" target="_new"> My Rig </A><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Skligmund on 02/10/05 08:25 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[afgncaap]

OK, so much to my dismay, I've discovered that, in fact, I have rev 1.0 of the KT7A-RAID. Even so, I've seen a number of posts saying it's possible, one of which even included a note from an Abit rep. I've also seen numerous links to a FAQ that has apparently vanished of the face of the net:

<A HREF="http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/kt7faq.htm" target="_new">http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/kt7faq.htm</A>

Anyhow, I tried popping the XP 2400 into my board anyways, and at first, it was perfectly willing to let me into the bios. I could change things up to a point, but it won't let me choose a 15x multiplier. It stops at "12 above." And everything I've tried in the bios leads to a blank screen when I reboot. What's more, the only way to get it to go into bios again is by putting the Duron back in. (Resetting CMOS and/or popping the mobo battery doesn't do it.)

I'm going to try setting the multiplier at 7x, which the link you provided claims to be 15x, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Is there something else that I'm missing here? I haven't tried playing with the voltages yet, because I'd rather not do something bad and fry anything.

 

[skligmund]

There you go, use the abnormal multiplier list and go from there. Sometimes you might get something weird, but try to find something that works for you.

Also, since this is an upgrade from a Duron, you might accept a lower multilier! Then you can up your FSB a little to help gain back your performance. With PC133, FSB is king. A computer running at 1500 MHz with 133FSB is actually slower than one running at 1430 MHz with 143FSB.

Let me know what you get, I'm curious cause I used an XP1800 on mine.

I too once had money, then I got into computers...
<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=495620" target="_new"> 3DMark </A>
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=24383" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

 

[afgncaap]

Gah, lot's of trouble getting this up, but here's what I've gotten and how I did it:

It seems no matter what settings I chose in the bios, nothing wanted to work. System would only start up (ie: show me anything on the screen) with the Duron, or on the first try with the Athlon. At this point, it would list the processor as "Unknown 2000 MHz." It also gives me a warning about "CPU is unworkable or has changed, please check Softmenu settings, press F1 to continue or DEL to enter bios." Every time I'd go into bios and try changing things, and getting nothing.

So this time, I just hit F1. System started up no problem. CPU-Z tells me it's an Unknown CPU tpye, with a 20x multiplier and 100 MHz FSB. Seems to be running perfectly stable now. I'm a bit worried it won't keep working when I reboot, of course, and it'd be nice to use that full 133 MHz FSB, but at least it's working, and I'd bet faster than the Duron at that.

I guess the advantage of running at 100 MHz is that it means I can use the extra 256 MB of PC100 I have lying around. I only have one PC133 chip (also 256 MB).

UPDATE: OK, restart worked just fine (though I guess I'll have to hit F1 every time I want to restart). Still running stable. Couldn't use my extra 256 MB of PC100 though. Is there some rule about not mixing ECC with non ECC?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by afgncaap on 02/20/05 06:26 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[skligmund]

Yeah, I think there is a problem using ecc and non-ecc on the same controller.

I too once had money, then I got into computers...
<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=495620" target="_new"> 3DMark </A>
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=24383" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

 

[phsstpok]

It wasn't clear to me that you had an unlocked XP2400+ until you got the 20 x 100 result. It's typical with legacy Abit mobos but only with unlocked processors with multipliers of 13X or higher, which yours has.

The fix for 133 Mhz bus speed and setting other multipliers is a wire mod. Setting the multipliers by wires vs BIOS or bridge mods somehow fools the northbridge into using correct bus timings. Sorry, don't have a better explanation than that. I relied on John Carcich's site for referal until it went down, about a year ago.

You can still read accounts of such mods from various forums and newsgroups. Try the Abit group at <A HREF="http://www.amdmb.com" target="_new">http://www.amdmb.com</A>, and the newsgroups alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit and alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd.

If you don't have a newsreader you can sign up for Google Groups at Google.

I don't own a KT7A but I do have another KT133A motherboard, an EPOX 8KTA3PRO. I have an Tbred B XP1700+ mod'd to be an XP2400+. It's running at 15 x 140 on the 8KTA3PRO. Getting it to work well on an 8KTA3PRO is easier than with a KT7A simply because I didn't need the wire mods to get 15 x 133 to work. I did need the wire mods to make 14 x 150 work (for 8 months before the mod failed) and to get other multipliers to work as well.

I did stick the very same processor into my Abit KT7 (no "A") for a short time. Just like yours it booted at 20 x 100 Mhz. It seemed stable but I only ran it for a couple of days.

The processor is still going strong in the Epox, for two years this month.

Wes Newell has a lot of info on overclocking with old Abit boards. He was actually running a Tbred B (XP2100+ I think) at 2400 Mhz (24 x 100, XP3200+? speeds) on his KT7. That's a heck of an overclock for a 4+ year old motherboard.

You might try Wes' site (see below).

<A HREF="http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm" target="_new">http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm</A>

Wes Newell also is available at the above mentioned user groups.

<b>A mind is a terrible thing</b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by phsstpok on 02/22/05 02:14 PM.</EM></FONT></P>