New Zotac 9300 ITX BIOS version 2K090602

betaspin

betaspin

betaspin

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There is a new Zotac 9300 ITX BIOS version 2K090602 at http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=120&dir=DESC&order=name&Itemid=577&limit=5&limitstart=10. The release notes are, as always, very terse: "Changed SmartFan PWM Frequency .Corrected BIOS Update Failure (when SmartFan function activated)". However, they still bundle in the file with the warning to switch off SmartFan before updating the BIOS. Go figure...

Given my experience with the previous BIOS (version 2K090410) before Zotac issued the SmartFan warning (=bricked MB), I am not brave enough to upgrade to the new BIOS. Feedback from more decisive forum members would be much welcome ;)
 
I'll give it a shot tomorrow and report back. CPU fan control on this board has been awful, I really hope this improves it.

3 pin case fan control would be nice too, but I'm not holding my breath.
 
Im praying they have enabled under volting on this bios and fixed the cpu multiplyer option after the lovely email i sent to customer servises from them basicly telling me to **** off and leave them to do it.




Edit : Well from the look of it they have done virtually sod all the things i asked about in an email to Zotac HK such as the cpu multiplyer option not working (changing to a lower one). Suprise suprise theres still no undervolting, im far from impressed with Zotac.
 
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Probably not worth emailing them about the problems anymore, would be better off emailing Gigabyte, Asus, DFI et all nagging them about mITX boards instead :p

Zotac should enjoy this monopoly they've got while it lasts because i know that i for one won't be touching another Zotac product once an alternative makes it to market. It's not the board itself that's the problem, i just dislike the bad attitude of their "customer service" department.
 
Well, I have also taken the plunge and updated to the newest 2K090602 BIOS. I struggle to find any changes from 2K090410, except a sightly different set of fixed cpu fan speeds. Very disappointing, indeed. The case fan control needs just a voltage regulator, which should be easy to implement.

A note on the automatic SpeedFan function: It is not as bad as it seems, but you need to increase the SpeedFan temperature a bit, which decreases the idle cpu fan speed. To observe the change, you need to reboot.

I agree that Zotac support leaves much to be desired.
 
satchef1 said:
Probably not worth emailing them about the problems anymore, would be better off emailing Gigabyte, Asus, DFI et all nagging them about mITX boards instead :p

Zotac should enjoy this monopoly they've got while it lasts because i know that i for one won't be touching another Zotac product once an alternative makes it to market. It's not the board itself that's the problem, i just dislike the bad attitude of their "customer service" department.
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Yup i will be emailing other board manufacurers such as EVGA and to ask them about mini itx because its grown a lot recently would very much appceite if others would aswell :), i wont be buying anymore Zotac products either for the reasons above.
 
Wow, now my CPU fan keeps spinning to full, then dropping, then spinning to full every few seconds. Target temp is set to 60 (to keep noise down) but neither core is above 42 at the moment.

It would actually be less annoying if the fan would just stay at 100% right now.

What I'd give for an Asus or Gigabyte ITX board.
 
Geckovich said:
Wow, now my CPU fan keeps spinning to full, then dropping, then spinning to full every few seconds. Target temp is set to 60 (to keep noise down) but neither core is above 42 at the moment.
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This is not happening on the system that I updated to 2K090602, SpeedFan seems to behave exactly as with 2K090410. I have, however, other puzzling observations.

I have two almost identical 9300 ITX systems, one with an older E5200 with M0 stepping and the other one, with the new E5200 with R0 stepping (no overclocking on either). SpeedFan behaves very differently on the two systems. On the E5200-M0 it ramps up the cpu fan very quickly with additional load, while on the E5200-R0 the reaction is way slower. Also, I have EIST enabled on both systems, and the E5200-M0 runs at 1.25V/1.15V (full load/idle), while the E5200-R0 runs at 1.24V/1.10V (identical bios settings on both). Zotac support insist that they have the latest Intel microcode with E5200-R0 support even in the 2K090410 bios, but if this were true, I would not expect to observe the E5200-M0/R0 differences.
 
I've just restarted and the CPU fan speed issue has gone away.

My biggest wish would be undervolting. Why in the name of everything wonderful do they let you increase but not decrease volts?

I can't see many people buying this board to overclock but I imagine many would want to underclock to reduce temps, noise and maybe even power consumption.
 
Black Hat said:
You and me both matey not for getting EVGA and DFI, bring on the i7 mini itx :p.
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Ha, would 6 RAM slots and an i7 socket fit onto an ITX board? I'd love to see one but pity the guy who had to try and cool one.

Not to mention trying to find an ITX PSU that could support it :P
 
So. Zotac are still being crap, I won't be buying one of these yet then.

I started a thread in general hardware asking for pointers on where to start learning to edit bios code. It was moved to motherboards (?) then ignored, go figure. This looks an ideal candidate though, can we not edit their current bios to allow such options?
 
JonJ678 said:
I started a thread in general hardware asking for pointers on where to start learning to edit bios code. It was moved to motherboards (?) then ignored, go figure. This looks an ideal candidate though, can we not edit their current bios to allow such options?
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There is a modified version of the newest 9300 ITX bios, see
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/showpost.php?p=12416374&postcount=465 (in German, download link in that post).

The features introduced in the modified bios are as follows:

  • The NB voltage can now be increased to 1.45V (instead of 1.25V)
  • The Ram voltage can be increased to 2.2V (instead of 2.1V)
  • There are finer settings for the manual fan control (fan can be slowed down below the "Quiet" option)
 
betaspin said:
There is a modified version of the newest 9300 ITX bios, see
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/showpost.php?p=12416374&postcount=465 (in German, download link in that post).

The features introduced in the modified bios are as follows:

  • The NB voltage can now be increased to 1.45V (instead of 1.25V)
  • The Ram voltage can be increased to 2.2V (instead of 2.1V)
  • There are finer settings for the manual fan control (fan can be slowed down below the "Quiet" option)
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Glad to see someones correcting the faults, please please please can we have cpu undervolting, these stupidly high temps are driving me crazy.
 
Black Hat said:
Glad to see someones correcting the faults, please please please can we have cpu undervolting, these stupidly high temps are driving me crazy.
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Most probably, the person who modified the bios on the German forum could implement cpu undervolting, if asked nicely. I compared the original and modified bios binaries and the differences are not just a byte here and there, which suggests that he can disassemble and recompile the bios.
 
Black Hat said:
Yup i will be emailing other board manufacurers such as EVGA and to ask them about mini itx because its grown a lot recently would very much appceite if others would aswell :), i wont be buying anymore Zotac products either for the reasons above.
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Time to spread this around the interwebz? The more people that get nagging the better :p

Think i'll start off with emails to Biostar and MSI. I dread to think how much EVGA/DFI mITX gaming boards would cost if the "budget" one is £120!

Geckovich said:
Ha, would 6 RAM slots and an i7 socket fit onto an ITX board? I'd love to see one but pity the guy who had to try and cool one.

Not to mention trying to find an ITX PSU that could support it :P
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Revive the DTX form factor, problem solved (up to the PSU part anyway). I wonder if there's enough clearance on the underside of the board for SODIMM modules? Expensive, but it might free up the room needed.
 
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