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A64 Mobile 4000

andyp

andyp

andyp

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Joined
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i'm sure one or two people around here have been expecting this post (mentioning no names - you know who you are ;))

Yesterday I received the above processor. Having read as much as possible about the thing and support for it, I found out that Epox don't officially support any Turion or Newark E5 rev. cores for their desktop boards, and neither will they write in any support for it in future BIOS releases. My board is the 8N-PAJ PCIe.

However, on the back of reading a post on another board detailing a way to get these CPU's working in an Epox board, I went ahead and purchased the processor anyway.

Swapping out my 3700 clawhammer for the Newark caused the board not to POST, and the onboard error LED's showed a CPU error - which I expected.

The method to get the Newark to work is to disable cool n quiet and manually adjust the multiplier to the lowest (4x) whilst having the Claw in, then pop the Newark in. Then boot into windows at 800mhz - use whatever utility to increase the voltage and multi up to stock - which then enables you to adjust the multi and voltage in the BIOS, to ramp the chip up to stock - hey presto one working Mobile 4000 Newark ripe for overclocking.

Fair enough - everything was going rather swimmingly until I tried to adjust the voltage through windows - every time I tried it, the system hung and needed resetting. The multiplier could be upped to 12x, but it would hang at 13x. I used CPUMSR and CBID to attempt this under windows.

I also tried changing these settings through the BIOS, which caused some very strange results. No matter how many times I tried to change the voltage, it always reset itself back to 1.1 (stock is 1.35) and occasionally just wouldn't POST at all. The multiplier would change, stepping up in 1x increments. at 7x and 8x the BIOS showed stock voltage and the corresponding multiplier, yet as soon as i went past 8x it reverted back to 1.1v - then the CMOS needed clearing as soon as i went to 13x as the system refused to do anything at all.

The CPU reports itself correctly in CPU-Z, Newark mobile core, SSE3, 90nm etc. yet the only thing that seems to be holding me back is the system hanging as soon as I try to up the voltage in windows.

Now I know i'm going to get the 'why did you buy it if you know your board didn't support it' replies, but i've kinda got half way there by making the thing POST and being able to do certain things like up the multiplier in the BIOS and I've seen it report the voltage correctly (as well as correctly retaining my RAM timings which doesn't happen when it POST's at 1.1v).

So, anyone have any ideas? :D
 
Looks like the DFI nF4X Infinity S754 board will be the best bet, from reading around.

However, none available in the UK as far as I can see :)
 
Well the plot thickens.... surprisingly enough :)

I tried one more time to get the 4000 working, and it wouldn't even POST. The mobo onboard debug LEDS showed an 'FF' error which is a CMOS problem according to the manual. So I pretty much gave up on it - and popped the 3700 back in. Cue one screwed BIOS - I reset the CMOS, took the battery out and all that shenanigans. The board then POSTed fine, but it seems stuck at the factory default settings, CPU overvolted 0.1v, RAM at 3-3-3-7 2T - any attempt at all to change this hangs the system and it defaults back. Then Windows wouldn't load.... at all.

Naturally frustrated (the Newark nearly ended up as a rather fetching key fob) I've just finished a complete reinstall of XP and seem to be stuck with a rather crippled system. It works fine and seems stable enough, but the BIOS defaults are stuck it seems.

I've been in touch with Epox who have reiterated what I've already read elsewhere - they won't, and they don't intend to support any of the rev. E5 CPU's (although E6 support was written into an updated BIOS last year). So to hell with them. They claim to 'be the best for compatibility and support' yet they won't even write in (a process which I gather for someone in the know, isn't really that hard) support for what is essentially the ultimate performance component for Socket 754. I've spent quite a number of hours looking around for unofficial BIOS's for the Epox and there's none to be had anywhere.

So at the moment I'm pretty stuck. I loved my DFI NF3 250GB board when I had it, and up until now I've been pleasantly surprised by this Epox board. The Biostar board is Micro-ATX so I don't think I'll be going down that route. Given my previous jollies with DFI I think, although rather inconvenient, it seems like the best bet.

Although, it's certainly not all plain sailing from there. The great people over at DFI street (if I'm not allowed to say that, shout up and I'll remove the mention) are as helpful as always and one of them had this to say...

I feel your pain with the Epox. I dumped my 8KDA3J because of a lack of Newark support and, of course, because it didn't have PCI-E.

Just FYI, here's what a poster at *** named ****** said about Newark and the NF4X:

"Another quibble is the bios doesn't fully support my Newark. It won't restart....I have to power down each time."
Click to expand...

*deep breath* Soooooo...... :D
 
On the other hand - upon doing just a few minutes reading about these here Biostar T-Force 6100 boards, there's some huge overclocks and virtually flawless support going on with the Newarks. And I can pick one up for around 40 quid in the UK.

Stupid question coming up - will the Micro-ATX form factor of this board be a problem with my Antec Antec PlusView 1000AMG case? As much as I want to get this whole thing up and running, I don't want to be using sellotape, string and blu-tack to hold it all together :D

*edit - and I have a rather huge Leadtek 256MB 7800GTX to squeeze in there as well. The bottom edge of the card rests on the Epox's (used) IDE connector and causes the PCIe socket-locking connector thingymabob (i love technical jargon :D) not to click into place properly. The card is seated well enough and doesn't waggle about or come out of the socket, but it's just not 100% secure. Wonder if there'll be any problems there?
 
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Ah it's fine, all this is part of the fun for me.

The thrill of the chase and all that.... :D
 
regarding the case - here's a picture of it naked.



I'm not sure of the standoff configuration on M-ATX boards. Would I be best off asking in the cases or motherboards forum?
 
The thing is ordered - should be with me tomorrow hopefully.

And cue another reinstall of windows...... :D
 
Quite a find! Just after I've gone and ordered the Biostar as well :p

could very well be one for the future though, when the time comes.

let us know when you get a reply back from Asrock!
 
I've been under the impression the Newarks have the E6 memory controller - I've never seen it confirmed of course but that's the general thought. Maybe it's wrong.

I'm a little concerned about the memory not running a divider with 2gb though - I wouldn't have thought that is a motherboard issue as Meths has the pretty bulletproof DFI 250gb. However I'll give it a try when my new mobo finally arrives on tuesday.

Given my 3700 Clawhammer maxes out at 2750mhz, I think I'm gonna be seeing quite an improvement with the Newark whatever happens.

And if anyone's up for some competition, I'm game :D

Also, just a word on steppings - my 4000 Newark (sat on my desk in front of me, taunting me) is CAB2E 0535RPMW.

Would be good if more people who obtained these CPU's were to post their steppings too :)
 
The 4000+ is a Newark core - essentially a San Diego core for S754.

As for getting hold of a mobile 4000, you're looking at importing one.
 
That depends - I managed to get mine insured delivery from the states for just under £170.

However, it wasn't bought 'from a shop' so to speak.

There's a number of online retailers in the states who stock these chips but none of the them ship to the UK unfortunately.
 
between 170 and 190 notes seems to be the going rate for the Yankee ones.

One UK online retailer lists them at £215, but they're perpetually out of stock, on a 1-2 week back-order from a distribution warehouse and I was fobbed off with them saying my payment details were incorrect (they weren't incorrect at all) - all in all I think it was their way of saying they didn't have any and weren't getting any. Avoid that one if you come across it and are tempted.

Back to my little saga - my new motherboard isn't going to be arriving on tuesday, it'll be here tomorrow. However it's the first fixture of the new cricket season so I'll be messing with it on sunday.
 
Meths on here has the DFI 250GB - and is getting upwards of 3ghz as I'm sure you've seen.

As for other 754 PCIe boards - none that we know of officially support the rev E5 mobile Newark CPU's, and I gather Turion support is very patchy at best.

Epox boards don't support the mobiles, as I've found out recently! Pastymuncher is waiting on Asrock emailing him back regarding an SLI 754 board and Newark support (he has 2x 7800GT's). From many hours scouring many forums, the board I'm getting (Biostar Tforce 6100) seems to hold the best support for the Newarks. It's PCIe, but because it's a Micro-ATX board only has 2x SATA ports and 2x DIMM slots. However it's generally regarded as the Nforce4 equivalent of the DFI NF3, great for clocking.

If I were you I'd steer clear of anything AGP if you're even less than a moderate gamer. PCIe will hold you in good stead for any future upgrades.
 
just a little update as to my Mobile fiasco.

Yesterday I received my Biostar Tforce 6100. So I was up bright and early to get it installed and up and running. After a run-in with a rather large wasp hell bent on attacking me, I finally managed to seat the motherboard and power up with just the 3700 claw, graphics card, memory and hard disk connected. Switched on the power and what should greet me but a lovely fireworks display from the +12v socket, a few capacitors and some other gubbins that I have no idea about.

One dead motherboard.

So I've now got my Epox back in (amazingly everything still works!!) and am awaiting a reply from the outlet I got the board from as to what they want to do about it.

Great :rolleyes:
 
Speaking of impolite and harsh - I've been in contact with the company I ordered the Biostar from regarding this issue and they are basically apportioning blame for the whole episode completely onto me. They claim that a motherboard would never go pop like it did as they are rigourously tested before being shipped from manufacture (which is fair enough, it has all the relevant QC information on it) and because a motherboard is classed as a 'fire hazard', it must be me that's sabotaged it in some way. I think they're trying to say I don't know what I'm doing - I explained I've been building systems for years, right from the K6 days and I've built numerous K8 rigs for myself and others. Their only reply to that is, and I quote verbatim "I think Biostar will want to be asking you some serious questions before they would even think of replacing the board under RMA".

To say I'm annoyed with them, not to mention frustrated at the whole thing, is rather an understatement.
 
marc mercer said:
Damn - thats a real shame. i was hoping to hear how you got on with the biostar. I hope you are going to give it another go - I've built several systems with that board and had no problems
Click to expand...

I will be giving it another go, for sure.

That damn Newark is STILL sitting on my desk in front of me grinning.

I will get it working.
 
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