Welcome to my NF7 (S) Page. NOTE this guide is mostly for the version 2.0 mobo's.
If you’re a regular or noob at Pc Perspective Abit Forums, then you might have missed or no doubt have seen the thread "Just got my NF7 today with the stuffs my pards told me to get". Now the reason "we" started that thread was to show how important it is to have good hardware installed in this board before attempting any serious OCing or "Racing" as my pards like to call it. If you haven't read that thread then go read it and you will get a good idea of what the NF7 can do when good hardware is configured correctly.
Next up before we start is the "obvious" point and that is that my pards and I by design, do not run the –S version of the REV2.0 motherboard with SATA. However the -S board is referenced here as well as the standard board.. AND I will include any findings I have on the -S boards. The reason "we" do not run SATA is that "we" do not see it to be fast enough "yet" to be a viable option, in fact the particular PATA raid card "we" do run will give "most" SATA setups a run for their money. AND most important we do not have to stick to the later bios's, with fixes in them for the un-corrupted use of SATA, which do not normally allow a high fsb OC (Unless you are running one of the newer moded bios). Anyway enough off that I will try and explain that in detail later.
The difference between the standard and the -S boards is that the -S has Firewire, SATA and Soundstorm Audio. Now if you’re in need of any of those then you know which way to go. If you do not use any of those extras, then go the standard board route and save you some monies.
I have seen the same question over and over again at the forum "Does the -S board OC better than the standard board?" Answer = NO. Both the NF7 and the NF7-S are running on the Ultra 400 chipset. BUT the -S boards do have the limitation of being stuck to the less OC-able later bios revisions when the SATA functions are used and SATA corruption rears its ugly head which usually means running only a later bios revision. More on this later.
Okay I have to mention this as I see many of the new NF7-S2/NF7-S2G mobo's released and so many folks mistaking them for the NF7/NF7-S Version 2 mobo's. These are not the same mobo's at all the NF7-S2/NF7-S2G are based on the same design as the NF7/NF7-S but are budget version's of the former boards, the Overclockability of the S2(G) models compared to the former V2.0 mobo's are not very good at all, this is all down to the cheaper components Abit have opted to use on these mobo's....Just so as those looking for the same results as the original Version 2.0 mobo's KNOW that they will NOT get the same performance as is shown here, this guide is for the V2.0 mobo's and not really for the S2/S2G mobo's...Although you will be able to use this FAQ for reference...
So with your, nice shiny new NF7 out of the box, follow on as I endeavour to highlight some known pitfalls in setting the motherboard up for maximum performance, as well as try to highlight some points that will produce a greater potential for OCing success.
Version. I will try and cover the basics out of the box before you need to insert the mobo in your case. Get it out of the box and make sure it is a version 2.0 board you have. The sticker next to the PCI slots will tell you which version you have.
(See Below).
North Bridge. The next thing you want to do is remove the NB HSF. Some needle nose pliers or tweezers will help squeeze the clips together on the hind end of the mobo. Squeeze and push, but be gentle, DO NOT SCRAPE YOUR BOARD, try not to slip and scratch the motherboard. Once the HSF is off, underneath it there is some "goop" on the NB. You should wipe off both the NB and the HSF. Be careful not to get any old “goop” on the mobo itself.
Re-coat the NB with Artic Silver 3 and replace the HSF. Note most users do say that the standard HSF is enough when the above procedure is followed. I replaced mine with a copper vanteq chipset cooler. This allowed me to run at a lower chipset voltage than previously with the standard HSF. That is just my finding and might not be the same for your mobo.
High or Low Fsb Mobo. If you are really going to push for high fsb OCing, then at this point I suggest getting the mobo in the case and fired up. Now this is important with this mobo as there appears to be no set regimental "type" that Abit is churning out. In fact there seem to be two specific “types” of NF7 style mobo. One that will do 220fsb and above and one that will not do anything above the 215-220 fsb range. The only way to know if you have got a good OCing mobo or a bad one is to get it fired up and try using some high FSB’s. If you can get to around 220fsb on a TBred (more on a Barton) with ease then you are laughing and once you follow the tips to come, then you will hopefully get higher fsb with little effort. Don't worry about setting up a serious stable system initially, just get it partitioned with winblows loaded and push the fsb. Once you are sure you can get in at the 220fsb range (and higher i.e. Barton) then switch it off as we have other things to do. IF ON THE OTHER HAND it will not OC to a high fsb and is looking to be a crap OCing mobo; then the answer I am afraid is to RMA the mobo or be happy with your lot. NOW you have to remember that to do 220fsb+, you must have very good Memory and P/supply to get there. No point in RMA’ing a perfectly good OC board if the rest of your hardware is the limiting factor.
Memory. So that leads me straight on to the memory for this board. Now all you know that, my pards and I, only use the TwinMos PC3700 with the 4.3ns B chips on it, but you don't have to. BH5 memory is meant to run quite high fsb as well. Take a look around the forum at what others are using to run a high FSB. Take it from me though, the TwinMos stuff flew to 246fsb straight out of the box and I know that RGone has benched it at 250fsb using bios d10.bin. This is the stuff if you can get your hands on it. When OCing, always try and run 256mb modules as they OC better than the 512mb or higher sticks. Try running 2x256 in Dual Channel as you should get a 5% increase. Some find a single stick in Single Channel to get them higher fsb than two sticks in DC. It’s up to you test and try it. For Dual Channel use slots 1&3 or 2&3.
(See Below)
I use 2&3 as they go higher and still stable. If you want to run 3 sticks of ram and still run dual channel then you should have 2x256 in slots 1&2 and a 512 in slot 3.
2x256 = 512 in slots 1&2 and slot 3 is filled with a 512 gives you dual channel....
Power Supply. Next up is PSU now rule of thumb here is too get a good quality 450W +. THEN check that your 12+ rail and 3.3+ rail are getting good flow at heavy load, if they are under average then you will pay for it in the OCing race. RMA and get a decent one that has strong +12V & +3.3V rails......Also while I am here the NF7/S draws considerably from the +12v rail just the same as P4's so YES you should plug in the P4 Molex plug as well as the standard ATX Molex.
(SEE BELOW)
Yes connect both of them as the manual is a little unclear about that!!!!! The P4 Molex should be inserted into the Four pin square connector above the normal ATX connector, image above.
Mobile / TBred L12 Mod. So now you have got all our hardware and determined you have a good OCing mobo i.e. 220+fsb. The next thing we have to do is the L12 mod by wire trick. This is for the folks running the Tbred 133 cpu's and the 133 Mobile cpu's. THIS IS NOT FOR BARTON core cpu's just for the TBred/Mobile cpu's. If you have a Barton and your hardware & mobo are capable, then you should easily go well past the 220FSB. The L12 mod for TBred/Mobile is done simply by inserting a 1 cm strand of telephone wire into 2 holes in the cpu socket, bend it in the shape of a U and insert it in holes that are marked in the picture below. Blue markings at the lower left of the image of CPU socket
WATCH you don't drop the wire on the mobo and lose it, tweezers help with this job. Once the wire is in place, just pop your TBred/Mobile on top and a little pressure will seat it nicely. This L12 Mod fools your NF7 version 2.0 into thinking your 133fsb CPU is in fact a 166fsb cpu and will allow a higher OC (Again depending on the good board/bad board scenario), now you should be able to attain a flying FSB while using a T-Bred/Mobile CPU.
South Bridge. For the SB try placing a passive HS on there (or active if you like) as this will give some stability when shooting for high FSB’s. While your there and the board is out of the case why not try some HS on the Mosfets as well to keep them cool as they get real hot when Racing...
10/10.5X Multi Problem. When you have all that sorted, then its time to shoe horn that mobo back in the case. Now it is time for the bios. Again if you have been keeping track at the forums we have been trying to get a fix for a major problem in the NF7/S bios. (See this thread for the low-down) The problem occurs when running ABOVE 222fsb with Cpu Interface Enabled on a 10x or 10.5x multiplier and exhibits itself when you get a no boot, usually accompanied by the dreaded sirens. This happens with all the bios's EXCEPT the d1.0 bios. Yes I will repeat; that 90% or better of the time, this occurs with all the bios's except the d1.0. Now this is obviously a pain in the a$$ for the SATA board folks as they have to use any bios d1.4 and higher as those bios's sort out most of the known SATA corruption problem. So going back to d1.0 was not an option until the Mickey Padge SNF7_d10.bin bios came along. Mickey managed to flash the newer SATA, but now removed, Silicon Image fix into the d10.bin, using a cumbersome NVFlash utility. Around 75% of SNF7_d10.bin, users say that the bios mod works and they get no corruption (including Mickey himself). Unfortunately there are still some folks that are getting corruption using it. The only way for you to know if it will work for your setup is to try it. You can download it here. What's all the hullabaloo then???? Well, you really want CPU Interface Enabled as greater bandwidth is attainable with it enabled. And the 10/10.5 multis are the optimal ones for good OCing most Athlon CPU’s that run default around 2200mhz, but these two multipliers are just not functional in the later bios's, with CPU Interface ENABLED. Also who wants to sit at under 222fsb when you know the ram is good for 250FSB. Nuff said.
TicTac moded bios, fixed the 10x/10.5x multi problem outlined above. TicTac has inserted the romsip table from the original d1.0 bios into most of the newer bios. You can download them here. Yes the Sata corruption problem still remains FIXED even though he is using "part" of an older bios in a newer bios.
FlashMenu.
Flashing back and forward on the NF7 is best done with Abit's FlashMenu. And yes its done from within Winblow's. Hehehe..... Scary for the first timer that is used to DOS flashing. Still it works perfectly. You can get different version's from the Downloads page, its advisable to use the 1.20 version as it is reported to work best with little loss of memory bandwidth..
1. Run the FlashMenu proggy and choose to flash from FILE. Note: it is recommended to download the bios file to your hard drive and place the “dot bin” file in the FlashMenu folder.
2. Browse to the bios “dot bin” you want to flash.
3. Choose Open and the flash will begin.
4. Once finished it will ask to reboot. DON'T just yet, choose NO and repeat the flash again, YES that's correct do the flash twice so that it takes better. It helps with instabilities.
5. Now reboot when it asks if you want to Reboot this time.
6. The puter "Should" warm boot. If it fails to fully boot where you can enter the CMOS for setting, just shut down completely with the power button. Hold it in for 5 seconds or until the computer shuts down fully. Turn off the P/supply switch on the rear @ P/supply or remove the power cord from the wall outlet or the P/supply. While the power is completely removed from the computer you should push the power button in on the front of the computer and usually the fans or a light on the front of computer will come on momentarily to discharge the P/Supply.
7. Now re-establish power to the computer AND while holding down the INSERT key on the keyboard you press the power button on the front of the case and it should boot up with defaults set and allow you to enter the bios at post using the DEL key and set your cmos however you wish (for help see bios settings)
NOTE: DO NOT choose to flash from Internet as there is too much chance of it Messing up.
NOTE: DO NOT OC when attempting to flash a bios. If you’re not sure about flashing then, it is time to learn the correct procedures, as it is a near necessity to flash the bios at one time or the other when seeking the ultimate performance available in the NF7/S motherboard series.
NOTE: The best way to flash back to an older bios revision is with FlashMenu so use it. It can be done with DOS and a Floppy but FlashMenu is easier.
NOTE: If flashing the bios rom a lot, or pushing OC to the edge, then it might be advisable to purchase a backup bios rom chip, or if you have the monies purchase a BIOS Saviour.....
Version 2.0 motherboards and the "D" bios.
I repeat this again as you see me describe all bios here with a d in front of it i.e. d1.0. These bios's with a “d” in bios name are for version 2.0 mobo only. If you flash your version 2.0 mobo with a bios that DOES NOT HAVE A “D” in the bios name, then your mobo bios is FUBAR. Remember this as we have seen it happen folks. Bios's without a “d” are for version 1.0/1.2 mobo only. Take heed.
Notice: If you have fubared your bios rom and live in the UK and need a replacement rom or your existing rom flashed again. Go see this website Motherboard Bios Flash UK and they will sort you out and have your mobo running again in no time.
To tell which bios you have, check out the bottom right hand side of the screen at post. i.e. 6A61BA1BC-10 the last number 10 in this example denotes bios nf7d_1.0.bin.
Bios Settings
This a rough guide of the settings I use at 237fsb. They might work for you and they might not, BUT it is a guide. Test and Try is the only way to find your rigs "Sweet Spot"
NOTE: when flashing a bios do not attempt any of these settings. Always go with the default settings ie.200fsb etc. These settings are for Racing only not bios flashing. You have been warned.
A glimpse at bios settings. Starting with SoftMenu III Setup.
(SEE BELOW)
Pay attention to the "Power Supply Controller" voltages part as these are what will help stabilize an OC’d system. These are what I run day to day. If you try running with CPU Interface Disabled it might help with stability but a waste of time if serious OCing is intended as it impacts on Memory Bandwidth when Disabled. These settings are off course on the d1.0 bios as we are running a 10x multi at 237fsb...Now off course once you get up there then you can easily back off or even up the voltages to see where your rig will be most stable. I see so many in the forum try for high FSB’s and they just are not giving enough volts to their system and can’t understand why they get no where. More volts and then back off to see where it works for you and all this with an eye to good cooling and to allow the extra voltage required normally for a stable OC.
Note 1: NF7 Over volts the memory about 0.2v so if your DDR Volts are set as above for 2.9v then this will actually be 3.1v in the bios or there about. Very handy that is indeed for OCing.
Note 2: NF7 Under volts the Cpu Volts so that if you intend on running your rig at defaults then the 1.65v standard on your cpu will actually be under at around 1.55v. So the trick is to set the Cpu Volts for 1.7v-1.75v when setting up. This will eliminate any under volting instabilities.
Note 3: I run my Barton at 1.875v but that is just me. Do not run to much volts through your cpu without a decent cooling solution. Just because I do and it works doesn't mean yours will handle it. As I keep "stressing" TEST & TRY first....
The Advanced Chipset Features....slack timings are the best way to start out and then you can tighten them up as you go..
Again I see so many say "But my ram is rated at Cas2.0, why would I want to run it at Cas2.5" Quite simply to get a higher fsb. There is not that great a difference from 2.0 to 2.5 when benching your memory. BUT there is a notable difference when trying to reach a high FSB. Attain the high FSB/OC and then you will see the difference in your bench marks....2.0 is too aggressive with little increase in Bandwidth. Try it at 2.5 to see how high you can go.
Raid Sata/Pata
For raid0 or other raid setup ideally you would use 2 HDD the same capacity and identical models i.e. 2 x 80gb Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9's. Place your PATA HDD on the Sata using the adapter
supplied or on a Pata PCI raid card if using the standard mobo. At Boot you will see a prompt like below for the -S boards or similar if using Pata PCI Raid. To set up raid follow the prompt and hit the Ctrl + S (Or what ever your raid card prompts you to do) keys to enter raid setup and set your HDD's stripe how you like...
Below is an extract from the manual on setting up Sata raid on the -S boards.
If you are using Raid then you will have to have either the SATA/PATA raid driver on a floppy to install at boot using the F6 key, so that winblows will recognize the drives in the raid array (assuming you are using Xp/2000)
Creating partitions is best done with a proggy like PM8 or similar or you could make the C partition with fdisk and then create the rest of your partitions from Winblows.....Up to you entirely...
Note: Barton week 39 cpu's are all looking to be multiplier locked so beware if you decide to go this route. Try finding one older than week 39 as they are still out there just now....
Note: Most people are now buying mobile cpu's as they all come unlocked and are a better option than the above locked Barton's.
Corrupt Bios
Here is a classic problem with Younger NF7 mobo's.
On some young mobo's especially "young" ones, people have ran into trouble when they started over clocking and ran into a big problem that their system now does not boot and can't be resurrected. There is no video signal at boot time? Fans turn, HDD spin up, red & green lights are on , on the mobo....tried clearing CMOS but it does not help? Any ideas what to do next?
Answer to this as described above is you have hosed your BIOS chip. Most over-clockers will have encountered this in OCing NF2 boards. It's a well-documented problem of the NF2 chipset saving new BIOS settings via the NB memory - which corrupts the data when FSB is "out of spec". It's generally a problem to younger boards but as they get "run in", they mature and the problem disappears. As I have said before, because of this flakiness its a good idea to have another bios rom and hot-flash the old one if this happens to you, if your into OCing then a backup spare Bios rom or a Bios Saviour will not go amiss.
Beep Codes for ABIT AWARD BIOS Motherboards
1. No beep at all - this means your motherboard is dead, either due to a defective or underpowered power supply, poorly seated CPU or RAM, or a dead-on-arrival board
2. One Beep - board is working fine
3. One long Beep then machine shuts down - faulty, improperly installed or missing CPU
4. 1 short (Beep) System booting is normally
5. 2 short (Beep) CMOS setting error
6. 1 long - 1 short (Beep) DRAM ERROR
7. 1 long - 2 short(Beep) Display card or monitor connected error
8. 1 long - 3 short(Beep) Keyboard Error
9. 1 long - 9 short(Beep) ROM Error
10. Long(Beep) continuous DRAM isn't inserted correctly
11. Short(Beep) continuous POWER supply has a problem
12. A two-tone siren, generally caused by overheating or out of specification voltages
Four beeps then machine shuts down. This is because this version of the BIOS will shut down your machine if no fan tachometer signal is detected on the fan header. Make sure you attach a fan to the FAN1 or FAN4 header or clear CMOS to reset to default (no checking).
Usb2 Bracket
The Usb2 bracket that comes with the mobo (NF7 non -S) should be attached to the Usb2 Header on the motherboard. If you attach it to the Usb1 Header then you will not get Usb2 functionality. This should also apply to the NF7-S boards. Setting in the bios to 1 & 2 will give USb2 functionality. If when connecting a peripheral to the Usb2 bracket and you are told that "You need a high speed connection" then you have connected the Usb2 bracket to the wrong Header on the mobo.......See Below.....
Hardware Monitor
There are a few hardware monitors that can be downloaded from Abit's ftp sites or web sites. I am using the NF7EQ 1112 just now as it looks cool and is pretty close to the correct temps and volts for my needs.......
Notice: I have an External CdRw Usb2 drive and when it is connected to the Usb2 bracket (above) and powered on, the temps on the cpu core increase by 9C, Yeah that's right a whopping 9C. Now I just thought to warn folks about this especially when trying to race high with the NF7, having Usb2 devices connected to the bracket is gonna increase those temps......see below pics...
(Cdrw powered off) (Cdrw powered on)
The volts on my Qtec550W Psu are not that bad as you can see from the below pictures. BUT if you look closely at the right hand pic you will notice the +12V rail has dropped to 11.86v, this as above is with the Usb2 Cdrw drive powered on. So if you are OCin your NF7 high then ya all watch the +12v rail and your cpu temps when running Usb2 devices connected to the bracket. It will have an impact on your Oc.....
Note: Abit EQ does not work after update to D2.3 bios . To fix it do the following!
1. Uninstall your Winbond Hardware Monitor Software/Older AbitEQ version
2. Download the latest AbitEQ Software from Abit
3. Install Latest AbitEQ
Quick Setup Guide
1. First off disable the USB/Ethernet/Audio from in the bios. Also any Parallel/Serial ports you won't use. This prevents Winblow's from assigning shared IRQ's to all these devices at install....
2. While you are in the bios disable APIC (Not ACPI both are different) APIC has given more than its fair share of headaches on the NF7 so disable it before attempting any reinstall of OS or formats of HDD......
3. Setup your Raid or Partition and format your Harddrives.
3. Install WinXP SP1 (Important you install SP1so that the USB2 drivers are installed when you enable Usb 1+2 in the bios again)
4. Install any Sata raid Drivers during the Win Xp install i.e have the Sata drivers on a floppy at install and hit F6 when prompted with the raid floppy inserted, follow the on screen instructions etc......If you do not install the Sata Raid drivers then Winblows will not recognise any partitions on the Raid Hdd's correctly.
5. Install NF2 Chipset drivers. You can get some of Mwarhead's remix drivers from here. Do a search there are plenty of Remix packs going around that you should experiment with to find what works for your mobo.
(a) Most certainly you will be using Ati or Nvidia Agp card, either way when you have unpacked the chipset drivers do your self a favour and delete the "Display" folder so that it does not get installed. It causes conflicts with AGP cards.......
(b) If you choose not to install the SW IDE driver (in the box) from the NF2 chipset drivers then your ATA133/Udma6 HDD will only run at ATA100/Udma5 as that is all that the (canned) WinXp drivers support. To get the full function of the Hdd(s) test a few of the Nvidia IDE drivers out first before you settle on one that suits your mobo. For some users the Ide drivers work for and others they don't, some sacrifice the Udma6 performance for stability. Your choice as I say test and try...
6. Install DirectX 9.0c
7. Install Graphics card driver....
8. Reboot and start enabling the Onboard devices that you will "USE" one at a time. When asked for the driver for each device just point it to the path you unpacked the chipset drivers to......
9. USb2 will be detected if you installed WinXp Sp1 no drivers needed....
NF7 Fsb Utilities.
There are a couple of fsb utilities out there that will allow you to increase the fsb on the fly from windows. These utilities allow you to squeeze as much as you can out of your DDR when in Winblows and a must for all OC'ers....
First of is nf7vcore or 8rdavcore is what is downloaded. A simple little utility that was originally for the Epox 8rda mobo's that also works on the NF7 v2.0. You might need to install the giveio driver manually but the site explains what to do......
Get it here.....ClockGen
Also there is the Nvidia System Utility. This is the least used as most prefer the other 2 utility's above. But it is here if you want to try it. This is from the read me file from the nf7d_2.0 bios which is needed to run this utility. <<<Please download the nvsuoem.ini file and install nVidia System Utility with this ini file (replace the nvsuoem.ini file in the NVSysutil zip file with the ini file you download from Abits site)>>>>
Get it here...NVSysutil.
Hints and Tips for Troubleshooting.
1. If you don't like using flashmenu or cant boot into windows or want to flash back to an older bios for any reason then you could try these.
A:\>awdflash nf7d_23.bin /cc /cd /cp /py /sn /cks /r or A:\>awdflash /tiny nf7d_23.bin
2. No Source File Found? Some users are getting this after a bad bios flash. When inserting the floppy with the bios.bin/awdflash/abitfae/runme files, they recieve the "No Source File Found" the answer to there probs is to replace the Awdflash.exe from an Asus a7n8x-dlx bios. The version actually says 8.23Z and not 8.23K like on the Abit's one. Download Awdflash 8.23Z
3. To get the best OC out of your board try cooling all these points with heasinks etc.
This Faq would not have been possible if not for the help of RGone, Vec7 the rest of the NF7 Pow's and the users across at AMD Motherboards Abit forums....
