Official ABIT AB9 QuadGT Review/Overclock/Guide Thread

Nelly · 26 Mar 2007 at 04:18

Official Abit Forums

http://forum.uabit.com/

Reviews

Anandtech Review
Tweaktown
Nordic Hardware Review
Hardocp Review

Compatable Ram List

OCZ 2GB FlexXLC Edition DDR2 PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4
OCZ 2GB Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4
OCZ 2GB ATI CrossFire Edition DDR2 PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4
OCZ 2GB SLI-Ready Edition DDR2 PC2-8500 (2x1GB) CAS5

Patriot 2GB Extreme Performance DDR2 PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4
Patriot 4GB Extreme Performance DDR2 PC2-6400 (2x2GB) CAS5

Crucial 2GB Ballistix Tracer (with LEDs), DDR2 PC2-8000 (2x1GB) CAS5
Crucial 2GB Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4
Crucial 2GB 10th Anniversary DDR2 PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS3 (Limited Edition)
Crucial 2GB Ballistix DDR2 PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS3

Team 2GB Xtreem DDR2 PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS3

Kingston 2GB HyperX DDR2 PC2-8500 (2x1GB) CAS5

Mushkin 2GB DDR2 EM2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5

Corsair 2GB Dominator DDR2 PC2-8500 (2x1GB) CAS5

CellShock 2GB DDR2 PC6400 (2x1GB) CAS4

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-6400 (2x2GB) CAS5

Official BIOS

WARNING:- DO NOT USE THE WINDOWS FLASHMENU METHOD TO UPDATE YOUR BIOS, HIGH RISK OF BIOS FAILIURE!

CPU support list
How to update the BIOS?
How to boot an Abit board from a USB flash drive
AWDFLASH revision 20061017172020 - 13/10/2006

BIOS ID:10

1. First release.
2. BIOS compiled date: 12/11/2006

BIOS ID:11

1. Enhanced overclocking ability.
2. Modify the Voltage adjusting function.
3. Fixed an issue that the system hangs during Vista installation, when using a Kentsfield CPU.
4. Fixed an issue where the system sometimes hangs on POST code 2A.
5. Fixed the JMB363 performance issue.
6. JMB363 now works as intended when enabling ICH8R RAID ROM.
7. The "EIST adjusting" function now works as intended.
8. BIOS compiled date: 3/27/2007

BIOS ID:13

1. Fixed the onboard Ethernet may disappeared after running mem86.
2. BIOS compiled date: 04/18/2007

BIOS ID:14

1. Support FSB1333 CPUs.
2. BIOS compiled date: 06/21/2007

BIOS ID:15

1. The ICH8R AHCI function now works as intended.
2. BIOS compiled date: 07/18/2007

Beta BIOS

WARNING:- DO NOT USE THE WINDOWS FLASHMENU METHOD TO UPDATE YOUR BIOS, HIGH RISK OF BIOS FAILIURE!

DISCLAIMER:
Universal abit will not be held responsible or liable for any damage made with using a BETA BIOS.
Please proceed with discretion and do not attempt to use unless you know what you are doing!

Instruction Manual

English Version (Revison 2) - 8th May 07

DRIVERS

RAID/AHCI Software - Intel® Matrix Storage Manager v 7.6.0.1011 for 2000/XP/2003/64bit - 2nd August 07 *NEW*

INTEL Chipset Driver v 8.3.0.1013 for 2000/XP/2003/64bit - 22nd June 07

Intel ICH7R/8R Raid Installation Disk V1.03 for 2000/XP/2003/64bit

JMicron Installation Disk V1.02 for 2000/XP/2003/64bit

JMicron SATA Driver V 1.17.21 for 2000/XP/2003/64bit - 23rd July 07

Realtek 8110SC Gigabit Lan V6.73 Driver for Win9x/Me/2000/XP/2003 - 20th August 07 *NEW*

Realtek 8110SC Gigabit Lan V6.196 Driver for Vista 32bit / Vista 64bit - 20th August 07 *NEW*

Realtek High Audio Definition R175 Driver for 2000/XP/2003/64bit - 31st August 07 *NEW*

Realtek High Audio Definition R175 Driver for Vista 32bit/Vista 64bit - 31st August 07 *NEW*

Abit AirPace Wi-Fi Card Driver V1.0.116.20 for XP / 2003 / 64bit

Abit AirPace Wi-Fi Card Driver V1.0.116.20 for Vista 32bit / Vista 64bit

Utilities

Abit uGuru 3.1X v3.104 for 2000/XP/2003/Vista/64bit - 7th June 07

WJA96 · 26 Mar 2007 at 08:50

This the probably the best of these 'Official' thread starts I've seen. Well done. We now need a basic overclocking guide. As I won't have my board until Wednesday, that gives you 2 days to do it

BUFF · 26 Mar 2007 at 10:04

WJA96 said:
As I won't have my board until Wednesday,

oh ho?

CompMan · 26 Mar 2007 at 18:30

The price of this board gently ceeping down too
methink i duth buy it when it's £75 and has mature bios.
Bye bye ds3.Hello 6600 and quad gt.

Nelly · 29 Mar 2007 at 13:20

Update:

1) Added Ram Compatability: Will add more as I an when. . .
2) Beta Bios M621E_11.B07 + Fixes table.
3) Updated latest drivers for Win XP & Vista.

The $6m Dan · 30 Mar 2007 at 10:24

I've been looking at this board for an imminent Core 2 upgrade.
Looking forward to some feedback on all your experiences

BUFF · 30 Mar 2007 at 11:48

It's v. nice & seems v. RAM friendly - I can't actually recall anybody saying that they've had a compatibility problem.
Highest reported fsb afaik is ~570 but whilst it's still technically on the 1067 strap apparently latencies start easing ~464+ so performance above that may not improve (or possibly even decrease).

There is a newer, further improved beta B08.
I don't think that they can be far off a full release.

The $6m Dan · 30 Mar 2007 at 14:15

Can I just ask what heat sinks people are using with this board?

I'm concerned that my Scythe Ninja might not fit due to the proximity of the other two motherboard coolers. There's not much info on this board at the moment, especially on these forums where most people go for the DS3.
Do I have anything to worry about?

Cheers
Dan

BUFF · 30 Mar 2007 at 16:05

I use a Thermalright XP-120.
Unfortunately I don't know what you need to check if the Scythe will fit.

FirebarUK · 30 Mar 2007 at 17:47

Finally! The beta 08 has fixed my QX6700 stuck multiplier (x6) in Vista x64. EIST now works perfectly in it too

The $6m Dan · 30 Mar 2007 at 21:40

BUFF said:
I use a Thermalright XP-120.
Unfortunately I don't know what you need to check if the Scythe will fit.

Thanks

You have a large heatsink too, so would you say that the XP-120 clears any nearby transistors or capacitors easily or only just?

Cheers
Dan

The $6m Dan · 4 Apr 2007 at 10:15

Is any body using this board with vista?
Any problems to report? Or did the installation go smoothly?

Cheers
Dan

MikeOCUK · 4 Apr 2007 at 11:53

is it possible to update the bios without waiting for it go go through the boot process. like holding down keys so it does it without laoding the bios first?

iv got issues with mine, and it dies just as it reads from any ide/sata drive. all menus etc work fine in the bios.

FirebarUK · 4 Apr 2007 at 11:55

Just disable the jmicron controller in the BIOS, or unplug your HDD's and CD/DVD drives then put the floppy as the first boot device and update that way.

MikeOCUK · 4 Apr 2007 at 12:32

not sure this will work. this is my problem copied from another post.

----------------------------------------------------------------
my abit quad GT arrived yesterday. However it wont boot. As soon as it tried to read off a cd, or hard drive i get fancy symbols and coloured blocks all over the screen.
So far iv tried .......

660 cpu
820 cpu

corsair xms2, 512mb stick on its own in all the slots, then crucial balaistix 1gb stick in all the slots.

x850xt in both slots
6200 LE in both slots

removed all connectors, usb, firewire, hard drives

iv tried underclocking the cpu and memory.

nothing makes any difference, get the same problem everytime.

is this a corrupt bios or faulty board?
---------------------------------------------------------

ill give it a go later when i get home

SGCWill · 4 Apr 2007 at 16:42

MikeOCUK, I had a similar problem with an older motherboard, tried doing as was suggested by a tech support guy from a competitor, and I RMA'd the 6600GT's I were using 3 times (that's 6 different cards.) and it turned out that the PCI-E slot was damaged. Once it ran OK until I started CSS and then it just crashed out and started displaying the random characters and missing letters out of text.

Try all your stuff in a different mobo if possible, if not, RMA it as faulty and try again.

Also make sure you're not shorting out the board on the case - did that once with an old IC7G, incidentally it's my longest running computer.

BUFF · 4 Apr 2007 at 19:14

The $6m Dan said:
Is any body using this board with vista?
Any problems to report? Or did the installation go smoothly?

there are certainly a couple of people on abit-USA using Vista so you might want to check the threads there.

MikeOCUK · 4 Apr 2007 at 19:28

ok iv figured out now, it boots fine until it sees a hard drive. i need to flash the bios but i need an image file to burn to my usb pen as i dont have a floppy drive on my laptop.
iv got a proggy to put the image onto the usb pen, but i cant find an image. has anybody got one? or know where i can get one?

BUFF · 4 Apr 2007 at 22:36

How to boot an Abit board from a USB flash drive
http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=121953

The links in the first post should get you an appropriate BIOS (if it's a beta you will probably have to change the file name to .bin from Bxx)

Nelly · 4 Apr 2007 at 23:32

BUFF said:
How to boot an Abit board from a USB flash drive
http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=121953

The links in the first post should get you an appropriate BIOS (if it's a beta you will probably have to change the file name to .bin from Bxx)

Added to the first thread where the bios is. . . ! :cool:

Richh said:
Seemed to be time to do a walkthrough on this. Booting to a DOS prompt from a USB key is easy to do, is the best way to flash your BIOS, and has a load more uses. Hell, you can even put an entire OS on a big one if you want - which can make a really neat option for, say, an in-car PC. No need for a shock-prone conventional hard disk.

Anyway. To do this, the first thing you need to find is the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

Install it, and then use it to format your USB key as a DOS startup disk like this:

You can select FAT or FAT32 as the file system, but do not select NTFS! The HP utility installer package should come with the DOS system files, or you can use your own.

Note that Windows built-in format utility will not create the necessary active primary partition on your drive key, so go get that HP tool, it works, the Windows one doesn't!

If you are going to use the drive to flash your BIOS, copy over the Awdflash, binary file, batch file or however else you want to do it.

Once done, restart your system with your USB drive connected and DEL into the BIOS.

The key setting is in the Hard Disk Boot Priority section:

You need to put USB-HDD0 - your flash drive, above your primary boot hard disk. In the image above, the disgo has been moved up above Intel Volume0, which is the OS boot volume.

Once done, make sure that Hard Disk is one of the three boot device options, and it might also be worthwhile disabling the "Boot Other Device" function, as this is often a cause of weird boot problems.

F10 and exit, and when your system restarts, it should boot from your USB drive. Simple!

**Official ABIT AB9 QuadGT Review/Overclock/Guide Thread**

Official ABIT AB9 QuadGT Review/Overclock/Guide Thread